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Understanding Trial Conversion Charts

  • 16 November 2021
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I ran an A/B test on free trials vs non-free trials and I’m trying to understand the results.

The thing I’m most confused about is the difference between the revenue chart and the trial conversion chart. When a trial converts, is that when it shows as revenue?

Here’s a chart comparing the same product for the last week. It is generating revenue, but no trials are converting

https://cln.sh/f9zbQK

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Best answer by Jens 16 November 2021, 14:06

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Hi @lewis42 ,

The big difference between these two charts is the cohorting (i.e., how individual transactions are sliced along the time axis). The revenue chart shows revenue when it’s occurring – i.e., for a plan with a trial, typically on the date the trial converts to a paying subscription. (There would be some edge cases here, e.g. users whose store account had a trial in the past won’t be eligible for another trial, so if they start another subscription, they immediately generate revenue).

The trial conversion chart, on the other hand, cohorts customers by their date of acquisition (i.e., when they were first seen using the app). That is several days before the trial converts. E.g., a user who starts using the app on 1 November, starts a 7-day trial on 7 November, and converts to paying subscriber on 14 November would show up as part of the conversion rate cohort for 1 November in the trial conversion chart.

Cohorting by install date helps make sure that conversion rates are calculated correctly – if you just compare number of installs, trial starts, and trial conversions that happen on any given day, you will otherwise end up with a lot of fluctuations (since those aren’t the same sets of customers).

Hope that helps!

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