We made a mistake once. Our app was supposed to have a soft paywall — the kind with a skip button so people could browse around first, get a feel for...
We made a mistake once. Our app was supposed to have a soft paywall — the kind with a skip button so people could browse around first, get a feel for things. Except we forgot to add the skip button.
So what happened was: you download the app, tap through three screens explaining the premise, and then hit a hard paywall. No way around it. Pay or leave.
It converted like crazy.
When we looked at the numbers, it was obvious something was off — in a good way. Conversion was way higher than expected. The graph looked wrong. It took a minute to even realize what had happened.
Here is the thing about soft paywalls: they feel polite, but they also give people a reason to keep browsing without committing. A hard paywall forces a decision. You either see enough value in those first few screens to pay, or you leave. There is no middle ground where someone hangs around forever on the free tier and never converts.
Those three onboarding screens did all the heavy lifting. They explained the problem the app solves — clearly and quickly. By the time someone hit the paywall, they already understood the value proposition. The paywall was just the next logical step.
Most founders treat paywalls like an obstacle they need to apologize for. They push them deeper into the experience, add skip buttons, offer extended free trials — anything to avoid the moment of asking for money.
But if your onboarding clearly communicates value, an early paywall can actually work in your favor. The people who pay are genuinely interested. You get real revenue signal earlier. And you stop burning resources on users who were never going to convert anyway.
The lesson: paywalls matter more than most people think. The placement and structure of your paywall is a real growth lever, not just a checkout page. If your onboarding does its job, a hard paywall is not a barrier — it is a filter for the right users.
At Grade, we think about this same principle with creator payments. The moment you ask a creator to do work before getting paid is a paywall of its own. Structure it right — clear expectations, verified deliverables, fast payment — and both sides commit. Structure it wrong, and good creators bounce before they start.
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