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TL;DR
Mao Bern, developer of Prayer Lock ($40k/month), breaks down his screen-by-screen onboarding flow. He explains why treating your onboarding as a sales funnel — rather than a setup wizard — and making it longer (10-15 minutes) can increase conversions 5x via loss aversion. This links directly to mobile-app-monetization and product-led-growth.
Biggest lessons
- Onboarding is a sales funnel — every screen prior to the paywall exists to build a logical and emotional case for why the user should pay. An app’s onboarding is its single most important component.
- Longer onboarding converts better — shorter onboardings suffer from low conversion. Prayer Lock’s conversion rate to free trials jumped from 3% to 15% (a 5x increase) when they expanded onboarding to a comprehensive 10-15 minute flow. This works due to loss aversion: users who invest 10 minutes are highly reluctant to throw away that effort and will start the trial.
- Ask questions to create self-reflection — questions in onboarding are not for the developer; they are designed to make the user acknowledge their pain points and convince themselves they need a solution.
- Reflect answers back — take the user’s answers and state them back to them (e.g. “We see that you want to achieve X”). This makes the product feel immediately personalized and makes the user feel heard.
- Obsess over marketing and onboarding first — do not waste time adding minor features to the app until you hit a baseline 10% download-to-trial rate.
The Three Pillars of Onboarding
1. Introduction (Setting the Story)
- Problem & Solution (First 3 Screens): Introduce the app, frame the user’s problem immediately (e.g. “Does your phone get more attention than God?”), and propose the solution (e.g. “Prayer Lock helps you put God first”). Confusion kills conversion.
- Aha! Moment (Under 1 Minute): Hit the user with a personal, shocking realization. E.g., asking their screen time and showing a stat calculating they will spend 16 years on their phone over their lifetime, then offering the app as the antidote.
- Active Reflection: Ask structured, deliberate questions about their struggles and goals.
- Reflection Screen: Reiterate the user’s selected answers to show a tailored plan.
2. Climax (The Experience)
- Feature Tryout: Let the user experience the main value proposition inside the onboarding (e.g., generating their first custom prayer).
- The Review Prompt: Ask for a review at the emotional peak of the climax. Show a gamification element (like a 1-day streak fire animation) and immediately prompt for a review. Since most users won’t pay, getting a review is the next best action they can take for your ASO and social proof.
3. Conclusion (Closing the Deal)
- Journey Summary: Connect the app to a specific habit timeline (e.g. “You will build a prayer habit in 30 days”).
- Upfront Pricing Comparison: Compare the trial cost to a mundane real-world purchase (e.g. comparing the price of one coffee a month to spiritual peace). Only do this if you offer a free trial.
- The Commitment Check: Ask the user directly, “How committed are you to achieving this?” 95% will tap “extremely committed” or “very committed,” securing psychological buy-in.
- Paywall Notification Tip: The only critical addition to the paywall is a clear notice: “We will remind you 1 day before your free trial ends.” This builds trust and lowers the barrier to subscribing.
Related
- mobile-app-monetization — monetize mobile traffic
- product-led-growth — letting the product drive adoption and conversion
- launch-playbook — building early loops