Find the entry plan that converts free users

Run a packaging experiment that tests a new entry plan for free users.

Overview

When free users hit the limits of the free plan, Plus, your first paid plan, can feel like too big a step. You can test whether a smaller plan between Free and Plus fits them better before you add it to your catalog for good.

In this tutorial, you run a packaging experiment with pricing tables in Chargebee Growth. First, you create Starter, a new plan between Free and Plus, in Chargebee Billing. Then you create an audience of free users close to their usage limits, build a test pricing table that adds Starter, and run an Acquisition play that compares your current pricing table with the test table.

What you learn: whether a better-fitting entry plan converts free users who would otherwise stay free.

Before you start

1. Connect Growth and Billing. Make sure Chargebee Growth is enabled and connected to your Chargebee Billing site.
2. Create the Starter plan in Billing. Create Starter as a new plan with its plan price in Chargebee Billing, bundled and priced for users graduating from Free. Add it to the same product family as your other plans so it can appear alongside them on the pricing table.
3. Integrate Growth with your application. Have your app development team follow the dynamic pricing table integration guide so Growth can present the right pricing table to users in your app.
4. Set up the control pricing table. Create and launch a pricing table in Chargebee Growth with your current plans. This is your control.

Implementation steps

Follow these steps to set up and run a packaging experiment for free users.

1. Create and map a custom field for "plan usage percent" in Growth

1. In Growth, navigate to Settings > Setup.
2. Under Field mappings, select Map fields.
3. Scroll down to Field Mapping and select the button View & map passed data. A modal appears.
4. On the modal, under Custom Chargebee Retention fields, select the +add a new field button and enter the following details:
   1. Field Label: "Plan used percent".
   2. Data Type: "Integer".
   3. JS Name: "custom.plan_used_percent".
5. Select the Save changes button. The modal closes.
6. Scroll down and fill in the form above the Add custom field button:
   1. Name: "Plan used percent".
   2. Type: "Integer".
   3. Source Field dropdown: Under API & Chargebee.js, select Plan used percent.
7. Select the Add custom field button.
8. Select the Save changes button.

2. Create an audience of free users near their limits

Target free users who are close to their usage limits. Create an audience:

1. In Growth, navigate to People > Audiences.
2. Create a new audience with the following AND conditions defined:
   • Condition 1:
     • Property: "Plan ID".
     • Operator: "starts with".
     • Value: "free".
   • Condition 2:
     • Property: "Plan used percent".
     • Operator: "Greater than or equal to".
     • Value: "80".
3. Select the Done button to save the audience.

This selects customers subscribed to plan prices that belong to the Free plan and have used at least 80% of their plan limit.

3. Create the test pricing table

1. Create the test pricing table that matches the control table.
2. Customize the test pricing table to add Starter:
   1. Open the test pricing table and select the New User tab.
   2. Select Manage Product Catalog and add the Starter plan you created in Billing.
   3. Drag Starter into position between Free and Plus, and set its description, feature list, and button text so it reads clearly next to the other plans.
3. Select Preview to confirm the test table includes Starter.

4. Create an Acquisition play to run the experiment

Use a play to split your audience between the control and test pricing tables.

1. In Growth, go to Plays > Acquisition.
2. Select Create New Play, select the Pricing Table play type, and then select Proceed.
3. Under Choose your Audience, select the audience you created in step 2.
4. Select Targeting & Experimentation.
5. Under Control, select your current pricing table and set the percentage of traffic to send to it—for example, 50%.
6. Under Actions, select Show pricing table and select the test pricing table you created in step 3.
7. Select Review & Publish, set the play Priority, and then select Publish Play.

Result

Eligible free users are now split between the control and test pricing tables. After the play runs for the length of your experiment, open the play report to compare free-to-paid conversion and the plan users choose across the two groups, and see whether Starter converts users who would otherwise stay free.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to:

• Create the Starter plan in Chargebee Billing.
• Create an audience of Free users near their usage limits.
• Build a control pricing table and a test pricing table that adds Starter.
• Run an Acquisition play that splits traffic between the two tables.
• Use the play report to compare conversion and plan choice before adding Starter to your standard pricing table.