How data-driven product changes and monetization iterations made PepTalk the No. 1 motivational audio & video app worldwide.

The Backstory

PepTalk is a motivational app that strives to have all your motivational content needs available in one place. The app was created by Dark Knight Inc. Kovalee identified strong retention rates and a good conversion rate from trial started to trial converted during the preliminary tests, which showed that with Kovalee's expertise and knowledge, there was a great opportunity to scale the app into becoming the No. 1 motivational app on the App Store.

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The Goals

• Improve conversion rate to subscription
• Make the content more accessible and diversified
• Scale user acquisition sustainably and reach profitability

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The Solution

Optimizing Onboarding/sign-up funnel

Following the official start of the partnership, the team ran an A/B Test on the onboarding and sign-up process to offer users a more customized and engaging experience. The results were significant, with a three-fold increase in conversion rate (CVR) to paying users achieved. With the help of Karbon, Kovalee’s powerful A/B test tool, it was clear that the winning version of the A/B test did have a much higher user LTV which allowed the team to further scale user acquisition and improve ROAS (Return On Ad Spend). In addition, the tailored approach was well received by users and provided a smooth and user-friendly sign-up process which improved the signup rate substantially.

Optimize paywall and subscription offering & pricing

Since one of the key areas to improve was the conversion of new users to paying users, Kovalee tackled both the paywall being used and the subscription offering to enhance the conversion. Analyzing the results of the A/B tests using Karbon, the team found a significant increase in user LTV in the new versions of the paywall and pricing. Furthermore, the iterations on the paywall increased the number of yearly subscriptions purchased which in turn further improve user LTV and ROAS.

Change the structure of the app

To improve user retention, Kovalee looked for the main source of user engagement in the app. The analysis lead to the conclusion that video content was the most popular format and a driver for retention. As a result, the team ran an A/B test on changing the app structure to better highlight the video content while still clearly displaying the rest of the content in the app. Comparing the performance of the app home screens we saw an increase in short- and long term retention and user LTV.

Scale user acquisition sustainably and improve ROAS

Scaling user acquisition sustainably requires having performant creatives and well-structured UA campaigns. To find the best creatives Kovalee tested more than 500 creatives to date to find the ones that satisfy all the key metrics. In terms of campaign structure, the UA team ran campaigns that were adapted to scale with SKAN. In addition, Meta Advantage + campaigns were used to identify user engagement by country. Having users grouped by user value, allowed the team to run app event-optimized campaigns based on a conversion value mixed model. Ultimately, finding the right creatives and campaigns to run allowed the team to decrease the CPM threefold; while doubling the conversion to subscription and drastically increasing ROAS.

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The Result

Following all the optimizations, the team was able to drastically improve PepTalk in both product and user acquisition. This has allowed us to improve user LTV and CPI simultaneously which in turn led to scaling the app quickly without sacrificing profitability. Following the partnership with Kovalee, PepTalk became the No. 1 motivation app on the App Store and ranks in the top 50 in several countries. The plan moving forward is to scale the app further and work on developing the Google Play Store version to scale the PepTalk brand globally.

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