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Question

40-45% Billing Error


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Hi!

I recently launched a hard paywall in my app and have had a fair few people each day sign up to the 3 day free trial.

Around 55% of users remain after the 3 day trial but I am finding that when it ends around 40-45% of the remaining users are running into 'billing errors' meaning they end up not paying at the end of the trial despite never cancelling.

The app does target a younger audience, but this still feels way too high. 

Has anyone come across this issue before at such a high % and if so, is there anything we can do to try and improve this number?

Thank you!

6 replies

Ryan Glanz
RevenueCat Staff
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  • RevenueCat Staff
  • 364 replies
  • April 26, 2023

Hi,

Yeah, that’s pretty common. We have a recent report out that found that 38% of users who start a trial end up becoming subscribers. So that number of failed purchases isn’t uncommon.

It can get especially high on Android because some users/countries aren’t required to submit a payment method before signing up for a trial.


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  • Author
  • New Member
  • 1 reply
  • April 26, 2023

Hey @Ryan Glanz!

Thank for getting back to me. Yep, I understand that a 30-40% conversion from start trial to paying is quite normal, but is it normal to have such a high billing error rate? 

For clarification these users are not cancelling, they are going into the billing error grace period because there is something wrong with their payment method. 

I know this happens, but it probably shouldn't be happening at such a high rate. 

We are also 100% IOS and based in the US.

Let me know if any other ideas come to mind.

Thanks! 


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As of last week we are observing a very high rate of BILLING_ERROR webhook calls. Not sure if that’s related to the new sandbox billing features announced by Apple on Apr 19. Any insights, @Ryan Glanz ?


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JRC_STP wrote:

Hey @Ryan Glanz!

Thank for getting back to me. Yep, I understand that a 30-40% conversion from start trial to paying is quite normal, but is it normal to have such a high billing error rate? 

For clarification these users are not cancelling, they are going into the billing error grace period because there is something wrong with their payment method. 

I know this happens, but it probably shouldn't be happening at such a high rate. 

We are also 100% IOS and based in the US.

Let me know if any other ideas come to mind.

Thanks! 

I'm from Brazil and I created an application, we offered 7 days of testing for users and after that, we had a large volume of "pending payments" and "billing issue" did you experience this too?

I had 35 subscriptions and only 5 converted.

Did you manage to solve it?


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I’ve been looking into this error for a long time. High billing error rates is normal. We get over 60% billing errors from free trials on android. There is not much you can do about it. It’s on Apple and Google end. 

Only thing you do really do is set a long enough grace period may help get a few recovered. Or get rid of free trial. Another thing you can test is $1 trial so you know their card works before giving access.


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  • Member
  • 5 replies
  • July 30, 2024

Hi did you get any more clarity? We are seeing 70% billing failure from trial to paid. It doesn’t make any sense. 


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