Podcast Summary: How Mojo Increased ARPU 60% in Just Five Months
Sub Club by RevenueCat – March 1, 2026
Guest: Michal Parizek, Senior Growth Product Manager at Mojo
Hosts: David Barnard & Jacob Eiting
Episode Overview
In this episode of Sub Club, host David Barnard sits down with Michal Parizek from Mojo to dive into the growth strategies and experiments that led to a remarkable 60% increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) in just five months. The discussion focuses on the nuances of paywall design, pricing experiments, regional differences, and the critical importance of experiment velocity in subscription app growth.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Experiments that Drove 60% ARPU Growth
- Focus Area: Paywall and Pricing Experiments
- Mojo’s approach centered around three high-impact experiments, notably:
- Defaulting to a Yearly Plan:
- The default paywall initially displayed both yearly and monthly plans. Mojo tested relegating the monthly plan behind a "View All Plans" button.
- Result: Increased yearly plan adoption by 15–20 percentage points.
- Quote:
“We’ve tried putting the monthly plan under sort of like a ‘view all plans’ button. …That really helped drive our yearly plan adoption a lot.”
— Michal Parizek [01:52]
- Monthly Plan Anchoring:
- Displayed the yearly plan with an equivalent per-month price (e.g., “$10/month equiv.”), while keeping the monthly plan price visibly much higher.
- Result: Significant increase in yearly plan conversions, especially in Latin American countries.
- Quote:
“…A small line next to our yearly plan which says like that price is equivalent of earning $10 a month…that actually did work very well.”
— Michal Parizek [03:05]
- Localized Pricing in Latin America:
- Moved away from simple exchange-rate-based pricing, testing lower prices specifically for Brazil and Mexico.
- Result: Substantial uplift in ARPU in those regions.
- Quote:
“…We also tested a bit lower prices and it turned out it was actually better.”
— Michal Parizek [04:50]
- Defaulting to a Yearly Plan:
2. Measuring Success and Avoiding Pitfalls
- Primary Metric: ARPU in the first seven days (ARPU 7D), chosen to optimize early revenue for user acquisition loops.
- Quote:
“…Average revenue per user in the first seven days. …We wanted to optimize the new revenue because of also sort of supporting the user acquisition loop…”
— Michal Parizek [05:51]
- Quote:
- Retention vs. Revenue Tradeoff: Mojo tracked 7-day cancellation rates as a retention proxy, adjusting pricing when renewal rates dropped.
- Quote:
“…Higher prices, usually you see sort of higher cancellation rates and lower renewal rates with high prices. That’s kind of quite reasonable.”
— Michal Parizek [07:38]
- Quote:
- Stacking Experiment Results: Ensured gains were cumulative and sustained across geographies by sequentially testing in each key market.
- Quote:
“…We make sure that particular change is actually bringing additional incremental revenue, you know, in all those key segments according to Geo typically.”
— Michal Parizek [09:35]
- Quote:
3. Regional & Cultural Differences in Paywall Performance
- A Surprising Japan vs. US Paywall Experiment:
- A long, information-rich paywall with reviews and comparisons excelled in Japan (+20% revenue), but failed in the US, where clean, visual-heavy and concise paywalls performed better.
- Quote:
“…Long scrolling paywall with a lot of information…worked incredibly well in Japan…But actually the same design kind of failed in the US…”
— Michal Parizek [11:18]
4. Beyond Onboarding: Leveraging Existing Users
- Mojo’s Unique Revenue Split:
- Only 50% of conversions occur on Day 1 (vs. industry norm of 80%), indicating strong ongoing conversion from existing users.
- Key Drivers:
- A generous freemium tier so users retain value and engage longer.
- Regular paywall campaigns for existing users (e.g., triggering a paywall once per week upon app open), responsible for 15% of new revenue.
- Quote:
“That paywall campaign actually drove, I think about 15% of new revenue from the existing user base…”
— Michal Parizek [13:25]
- User Reaction to Recurring Paywalls:
- Paywall on app open (capped at once per week) generated little to no negative feedback or reviews.
- Quote:
“…I specifically actually asked a colleague from support and he really mentioned that. That user complaining. I did once, like, a quite thorough analysis…[found] no negative about having a paywall a lot of times displayed…”
— Michal Parizek [15:21] - Host's Reflection:
“It’s surprising sometimes when people are getting something for free, they tolerate more than we assume.”
— David Barnard [16:10]
5. Experiment Velocity: “The Number One Growth Asset”
- Importance of Velocity:
- Higher experiment velocity leads to greater cumulative gains and fast learning cycles.
- Use of a third-party paywall platform allowed rapid test deployment (from weeks/months to days).
- Quote:
“…If the velocity is, I think, even…more important because there’s more shots you take, there’s essentially higher chance you win…”
— Michal Parizek [17:42]
- Parallel Testing by Region:
- Simultaneous testing “streams” per region (US/English, Europe, Latin America), each running tests on a weekly/bi-weekly cadence.
- Quote:
“…We typically had like these streams of tests for each this specific kind of GEO bucket. And we’ve run tests in all of them, three in parallel.”
— Michal Parizek [19:03]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
“I think a great way to summarize this whole episode is you should be testing a lot. If you’re not, you’re leaving revenue on the table.”
— David Barnard [19:57] -
“I really encourage everyone to essentially just try to just say, yeah, test it. A/B test it, just measure it…most of all, you will be surprised…”
— Michal Parizek [17:11]
Timestamps for Important Segments
- [01:52] – ARPU growth experiments overview
- [03:05] – Anchoring strategy & Latin America results
- [05:51] – Chosen success metrics and rationale
- [07:38] – Retention/cancellation rates and long-term revenue modeling
- [09:35] – How to stack (and validate) experiment results
- [11:18] – Regional paywall design differences (Japan vs. US)
- [12:34] – Ongoing conversion from existing users & after-onboarding tactics
- [14:47] – Reaction to recurring paywall; examining user tolerance
- [17:42] – Importance and mechanics of high experiment velocity
- [19:03] – Regional testing cadence explained
- [19:57] – Episode summary & actionable takeaway
Closing Thoughts
Mojo’s journey highlights the power of relentless experimentation, localization, and velocity in subscription growth. By continually A/B testing not just pricing but also paywall design and user journey touchpoints—while being attuned to regional market behavior—any subscription app can unlock substantial ARPU and revenue growth.
Michal Parizek’s final advice:
“If you want to learn more about your payable testing and monetization, just follow me on LinkedIn…” [20:31]
Interested in more details? Reach out to Michal on LinkedIn and check out the full RevenueCat Sub Club episode in your podcatcher of choice.
