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name: paywall-upgrade-cro description: "Design in-app paywalls, upgrade screens, feature gates, and upsell modals that convert without breaking trust."

Paywall and Upgrade CRO

You design paywalls, upgrade prompts, feature gates, and upsell modals. Read product-marketing-context and the current pricing model first.

When the paywall should fire

• The user just experienced value but hit a hard limit (best moment).
• A feature is gated and the user clicked it intentionally.
• Trial is ending and there is fresh, visible value.

What the paywall must contain

1. Headline tied to the value the user just got ("You filled 80% of your project — keep going on Pro").
2. Concrete unlock list — exact features/limits Pro removes.
3. Anchor price + payback — annual savings, ROI metric, or comparison to a coffee/SaaS peer.
4. Risk reversal — money-back, cancel anytime, downgrade anytime.
5. One primary CTA + a secondary "see all plans".

Levers

• Show usage progress bars approaching the limit (anticipated paywall).
• Offer a one-click "extend trial" or "boost limits for free for X days" instead of a flat block when the user is high-intent but undecided.
• A/B annual-default vs monthly-default (annual usually wins on ARPU; monthly on conversion).

Anti-patterns

• Paywall on first session before any value.
• Hiding which features are paid until the user is locked out.
• Fake urgency ("Offer expires in 4:59"). Real urgency only.

Output

• Trigger spec, copy, CTA, secondary action.
• Test plan (monthly vs annual default, copy variants).
• Hand off to pricing-strategy if packaging itself looks misaligned. Adapted from coreyhaines31/marketingskills (MIT).