I removed the hard paywall from my SaaS.

Since then, MRR is up 237%.

Trial-to-paid went from 45% to 74%. Churn dropped from 9.29% to 4.7%.

Before, users had to finish onboarding and immediately start a 14 day free trial with card details before they could really use Affonso.

That meant they had to commit before they could properly:

- set up their affiliate program

- connect their payment provider

- configure commissions

- upload resources

- test the dashboard

- understand if Affonso was actually a fit

On January 12, I changed that.

Now users can sign up, complete onboarding, and access the full platform without starting the trial immediately.

They can set up their affiliate program first.

The only moment they need to start the trial is when they actually want to invite affiliates and go live.

I was afraid removing the hard paywall would lower intent.

The opposite happened.

People now start the trial when they’re actually ready to use the product, not while they’re still trying to figure out whether it works for them.

For Affonso, this makes way more sense.

Setting up an affiliate program takes preparation. You need tracking, commission rules, branding, resources, payment settings, and sometimes an embedded dashboard.

Starting the trial before all of that is ready just wastes the trial.

Now users can prepare everything first and use the 14day trial when they’re ready to launch.

Less pressure. Better-qualified trials. Higher conversion. Lower churn.

Silvestro

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