85% of Business App Trials Start on Day 0. Don’t Waste Your Shot. The Latest Data from 75,000 Apps and RevenueCat
"So get them onboarded instantly, so they stick. On Day 0. The data from 75,000 apps says you just have to."
So RevenueCat has its latest “Sate of Subscription Apps 2025” report out and there is a ton of great stuff in here. I’m fortune that SaaStr Fund was the first investor in RevenueCat in 2018 and today it’s grown into the #1 tool to manage mobile subscriptions, powering 40% of all mobile subscription apps, and even ChatGPT’s mobile app itself.
So they see the full data on 40% of all mobile subscription apps — and a ton of data from it. Across a stunning 75,000 paid subscription mobile apps. Not all of it is relevant to B2B but a big chunk is.
My big takeaways:
#1. 85% of Business App Trials (and 82% of All Paid) Start on Day 0. So Don’t Waste Your Shot.
Too many folks in SaaS and B2B … just waste their shot. Make it too hard to get going. Too to sign-up. Too hard to migrate over. Just too … hard. Sometimes intentionally, so sales and marketing can screen leans. But just as often, by not going the extra yard here.
And the RevenueCat data confirms that if you do — most folks won’t come back. Most folks either start now — or they never start. At least in freemium and PLG and mobile apps. So don’t even assume they’ll come back later. Get them into the very best free trial you can, ASAP, with the least friction and the most value.
#2. Longer Trials Convert at a Higher Rate
Ok this is interesting in B2B especially. Longer trials across 70,000+ apps convert at a much higher rate (45.7%) than shorter trials (26.8%).
In SaaS, sales and marketing often push for 14-day trials to move them down the funnel fast. And as founders we often start with 30-day trials. But the RevenueCat data suggests even longer may work well. As you can see below, conversions remain strong even at Week 6:
I know all our focus on hitting the month and certain KPIs makes us often want to know earlier if a free user or a trial user is going to convert. But if they are using it and getting value, the RevenueCat data is a reminder to be patient here. It may even be better if they convert later, and get more value.
Back in the day at Adobe Sign, we saw our smallest customers take on average 6 months to convert from Free to Paid. What if we’d cut them off after 14 or even 30 days?
#3. It Takes Mobile Business Apps 222 Days to Hit $10,000 ACV
An interesting reminder for SMB and freemium apps … to earn it. In SaaS, we try so hard to get everyone to buy all the seats up front, the push the deal up. But maybe 70,000 mobile paid apps say … that’s wrong. Maybe give it more time. At least 222 days 😉
Again a lot of these mobile subscriptions aren’t B2B SaaS, but many are, and even more are business apps and no matter what, we can all learn a ton from the data on 70,000+ paid mobile subscription apps. That’s a lot of apps.
My biggest take away? Hurry Up — But Be Patient.
If someone is truly going to invest the time to try your app, use it, and get real benefits out of it, that’s what matters most.
So get them onboarded instantly, so they stick. On Day 0. The data from 75,000 apps says you just have to.
And if it takes them 3 or 6 months to convert to paid, maybe that’s OK. The data says it is. And you’re going long, after all.
