Timeline
Q2 2025
Client
Philo
Category
OTT | Streaming | Growth UX
Product Duration
2 Months
Data showed a clear bottleneck:
55% abandonment on TV at the “email + payment” step
31% abandonment on mobile web at the same step
Support tickets spiked around “When will I be charged?” and “I thought this was free.”
Root causes:
Identity friction on TV (typing emails with a remote; code-email mismatches).
Trial terms buried; users didn’t see first-charge date or cancel-anytime up front.
Payment friction on mobile web (card-first, weak wallet surfacing; ambiguous auth/hold messaging).
I narrowed scope to three interventions that would move numbers without ballooning build time.
A) Cross-Device QR Handoff (TV)
Replaced email entry on TV with QR → mobile handoff: scan code, complete identity + payment on phone, auto-pair back to TV.
10-minute pairing window with live countdown and one-tap “refresh code.”
State save across devices; no restart if a step fails.
Why it works: kills remote typing and timeouts; users finish on the device that’s fastest for forms.
B) Trial Terms, Up Front (All Devices)
New top-of-flow money panel:
“Free for 7 days”
“First charge on [DATE] at $X”
“Cancel anytime—no fees”
Inline tooltip explaining auth holds vs charges in plain English.
Sticky summary persists through checkout; no surprises.
Why it works: sets expectations before commitment; reduces last-second fear.
C) Wallet-First Payments (mWeb + Hand-off Flow)
Reordered methods: Apple Pay / Google Pay / Cash App Pay surfaced first when available; card remains a secondary option.
Real-time validation and clearer error states.
Soft-retry + card updater enabled server-side (Eng) with transparent copy client-side.
Why it works: fewer fields, higher auth, less friction on small screens.
D) Plain-Language Microcopy + Trust
Rewrote money copy: “We’ll place a small temporary hold to confirm your card. You won’t be charged until [DATE].”
Added network and compliance badges only where anxiety spiked (payment step), not everywhere.
Why it works: confidence without clutter.
E) Instrumentation & Experiment Design
New event taxonomy (
trial_viewed,trial_charge_date_seen,payment_method_surface,auth_result,handoff_start/success).Device-specific funnels to isolate TV vs mWeb.
Shipped behind flags; 50/50 audience split, powered for +5pp conversion detection.
After first 6 weeks:
Metric | Before | After | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
Trial Completion (all) | 62% | 79% | +17 pp |
TV Signup Abandonment | 55% | 28% | –27 pp |
Day-8 Trial → Paid | 48% | 60% | +12 pp |
Avg. Signup Time (TV) | 3:20 | 1:05 | –67% |
Payment Auth Success (mWeb) | 86.1% | 89.9% | +3.8 pp |
Billing-Expectation Tickets | baseline | —37% | down |
Chargebacks per 1k trials | baseline | —19% | down |
