So you decided to offer a free trial… but how do you actually get people to convert to paid subscribers once the trial’s over?

In this edition of HealthTech Hype, I’m putting Femtasy (a women’s sexual wellness app from Berlin) under the microscope 🔬

Check out this Figma file to see the full breakdown ↓

🧬 DECODED: Femtasy’s cancellation flow 🧬

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🤩 What Femtasy does well:

1. They ask for your credit card upfront. This is proven to increase paid conversions.

This works thanks to the Endowment Effect – a cognitive bias where people overvalue things they already possess.

When users enter their credit card details, they subconsciously feel a sense of ownership even if they haven’t paid yet. The longer they use the app, the more integrated it becomes into their routine, increasing reluctance to let it go once the trial ends.

Inertia also plays a role here. It shifts the decision-making process from an active “Do I want to buy this?” at the end of the trial to a passive “Do I *really* want to go through the effort of canceling?”

So what happens: people often default to doing nothing.

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2. They show you how much of the app you’ve already discovered, and how much is left to explore.

Showing the user’s progress during the trial gives a feeling of accomplishment or a fear of missing out before the free period ends.

During a trial, celebrate user wins with your app as much as possible to motivate them to continue. The goal is for them to reach their “aha” moment – or the moment they’ve seen the full value you offer (and decide they can’t live without it).

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3. They personalize the home screen and welcome you the first time you open the app.

I loved that after completing a short onboarding questionnaire, they did a lil’ countdown telling me that my experience was being personalized. It made me excited for what was to come.

According to the Business of Apps, 89% of marketers report that app personalization increases revenue.

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4. They ask why you want to cancel.

It’s important to know why people leave so you can learn about your community, what their needs are, and what they’re looking for in your solution. And use that to continually optimize your offer.

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​5. If you want to cancel, they show you a message from the founder and her photo. Plus an offer to extend the trial for another week.

This adds a nice personal touch. It may make people less likely to cancel because it feels like they are rejecting the founder herself rather than a faceless app. I’d suggest Femtasy to take this one step further by turning the photo into a video.

Extending the one-month trial kicks in the principle of Reciprocity. They’ve given so much free value, so users are more likely to subscribe.

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6. If you still choose to push “cancel”, they offer 30% off the yearly subscription.

This is smart placement to prevent people from canceling. It feels like such a sweet deal in addition to the free month, it’s hard to say “no”.

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7. After you cancel, they show on the home screen how much is left of the trial. With a CTA to claim the offer.

Love this. They make it super easy to convert to the paid subscription even after you’ve cancelled the trial.

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👀 What could be improved:

1. They should add a time limit to the 30% offer to convince people to buy now rather than later (AKA never).
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2. I didn’t receive any push notifications or SMS during the trial period.

I’d recommend incorporating notifications to help ensure people use the app and get value from it.

Plus, did you know that text messages have an open rate of 98%? Sending an SMS reminder about the 30% offer could significantly increase Femtasy's paid conversions.

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3. As you’ll see in the Figma file, the email experience leaves a lot to be desired. I only received 2 emails during the one-month trial – one to confirm my email, and one saying goodbye.

To convert more free trial users into subscribers, I’d suggest for Femtasy to create a strategic flow of emails that guides new users on a journey through the app, prompting them to listen to their next audio and celebrating their progress every time they complete an action.

I’d also love some background on the “why” of the company and some clear differentiation to alternative solutions.

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All in all, Femtasy does a fantastic job within the app to prevent free trial cancellations.

By leveling up their email experience and incorporating SMS to their strategy, they'd likely see a big increase in paid conversions.

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P.S. Looking for the Figma file? It’s right here 🧬 DECODED: Femtasy’s cancellation flow 🧬

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