Case Study: From Funnel Optimisation to Product–Revenue Realignment

Case Study: From Funnel Optimisation to Product–Revenue Realignment

Context A global freemium product was facing a business issue: revenue from newly introduced premium features had stagnated. After an initial ramp-up, growth had stalled. Despite a large user base, conversion to paid subscriptions remained very low in a key growth market, and overall revenue was stagnant.

The Initial Hypothesis The internal assumption was straightforward: this was a visibility issue. Not enough users were seeing paid options. If we increased paywall impressions and pushed more traffic into the existing payment flow, revenue should improve. It was a tempting idea — simple, measurable, and easy to implement.

But it focused only on the entry point, not on the whole conversion process.

My Approach: The Systemic Audit The narrow focus on entry points was an attractive idea: a simple, visible solution that should have immediate results. Instead of focusing on a single step, I audited the entire monetization stack—from value delivery and premium access to market-specific payment infrastructure.

• Technical Audit: Analyzed how paid features were provisioned. How does the entitlement logic work? What happens technically when someone subscribes? Where can it break?
• Quantitative Analysis: Then tracked funnel and post-purchase behavior. It was important to see where users dropped off, how long they stayed, and what happened after purchase.
• Qualitative Feedback: Reviewed support tickets and refund requests to identify why customers were leaving soon after paying.
• Market Analysis: Cross-referenced global conversion data with regional payment capabilities.

Key Findings The audit revealed that the visibility hypothesis was not the most urgent issue. The problem wasn't only getting users to the paywall; it was what happened once they got there (and after they paid):

1. Technical Failures: A significant number of paying users had trouble accessing and understanding their premium features because of access and provisioning issues. This contributed to elevated refund rates, creating a high risk of being blacklisted by payment card providers.
2. Difficult and complex conversion funnel: Drop-off was high across multiple stages, resulting in low conversion rates despite substantial traffic reaching the funnel.
3. Market Mismatch: In a key growth market, conversion was particularly low because the platform didn't support local payment methods (UPI/Wallets).
4. Low LTV: The average subscription lifecycle was short. Users found the product difficult to use after purchase and felt a "value gap" between the marketing and the actual functionality.

The Intervention Instead of increasing traffic, I focused on fixing the "leaky" infrastructure:

• Infrastructure Localization: Implemented payment options specific to the market to remove a primary barrier to conversion. The largest drop-off was happening at the payment step. After discussions with market specialists, I realised the problem was the available payment options. I made this a core target for the development team. Working with a UX designer and an architect, I designed and planned the delivery of an updated conversion process that offered local payment services.
• Technical Remediation: Addressed entitlement and access bugs to ensure paying users could access their features. Users who experienced technical failures tended to be less active and cancel sooner. I proposed focusing on identifying and addressing these issues, led the development team through the process, and helped make decisions.
• Funnel Optimization: Redesigned the mobile-first payment UI to address significant checkout drop-off. Based on the scale of the drop-off, I formulated a hypothesis that the conversion process was too long and should be shortened. Together with a UX designer, I developed a new UI approach. I tested it with selected users and guided the development team through delivery.
• Engagement Redesign: Reworked the post-purchase experience and product explanations to ensure users understood and used the premium features they bought. Based on a CAC/LTV comparison, retention, and customer behavior, I formulated a hypothesis that fixing the "leaky bucket" would be more cost-effective than bringing in more traffic. I worked with internal stakeholders to identify key engagement issues. Then I proposed and designed improvements to address them and worked with the development team to deliver them.

Results

• Market Growth: Conversion in the key growth market improved from negligible to measurable levels in the initial phase.
• Risk Reduction: Refund rates declined, reducing the risk of payment-processor restrictions.
• Systemic Stability: Established a repeatable framework for market entry that prioritized functional reliability over traffic volume.