# In-product upsell and feature-gating placement Source: Lazyweb Research 16 data-backed questions on In-product upsell and feature-gating placement. HTML: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/category/in-product-upsell-and-feature-gating-placement Markdown: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/category/in-product-upsell-and-feature-gating-placement.md ## Questions - [Where do freemium apps place upgrade prompts inside the product?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/where-freemium-apps-place-in-product-upgrade-prompts) Across 809 tracked mobile apps, the most common in-product upgrade placement is an upgrade banner or prompt, present in 34% (271/809) of apps.[1] A premium/pro badge on a gated feature (22%, 176/809)… - [Lock icons, blurred previews, or usage limits: how do apps gate features?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-apps-gate-features-lock-icons-vs-usage-limits) Lock-icon gating is the most common of these three, used by 12% of 809 tracked apps (94/809), versus 5% for usage-meter/limit gating (44/809).[1] Blurred-preview gating is effectively unmeasurable —… - [What percent of settings screens surface the upgrade entry point?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/what-percent-of-settings-screens-show-upgrade-entry) Among the 321 tracked apps that have a captured settings/account/profile screen, 35% (112) surface an upgrade, premium, subscribe, or unlock entry point on that surface.[3] That makes settings one of… - [How aggressive are subscription apps with in-product upsells?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-aggressive-are-subscription-apps-with-in-product-upsells) Subscription-model apps are the most upsell-heavy cohort: 56% (232/417) run an in-product upgrade banner or prompt, versus 43% of advertising-model apps (75/176) and just 15% of cross-subsidized-funn… - [Do advertising-model apps upsell differently than subscription apps?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/do-advertising-apps-upsell-differently-than-subscription-apps) Yes. Advertising-model apps run in-product upgrade banners less often than subscription apps — 43% (75/176) vs 56% (232/417) — and lean less on hard gating (26% unlock CTA, 16% lock gating vs 32% and… - [Should I use a usage meter or a hard lock to gate a feature?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/should-i-use-a-usage-meter-or-a-hard-lock-to-gate) The market strongly favors hard locks: lock-icon gating appears in 12% of 809 apps (94/809) and unlock CTAs in 20% (159/809), while usage-meter/limit gating is used by only 5% (44/809).[1] Usage gati… - [Are blurred-preview paywalls actually a common gating pattern?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/are-blurred-preview-paywalls-actually-common) No. Across 809 tracked apps, a tightened blurred-premium-preview pattern matched just 1 app / 3 screenshots — not enough to publish a prevalence.[1] Raw %blur% matching is almost entirely loading-ove… - [Premium badge or unlock CTA: which pattern do more apps use to signal a gated feature?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/premium-badge-vs-unlock-cta-which-signals-gating) Premium/pro badges are slightly more common than unlock CTAs: 22% of 809 apps (176/809) put a premium or pro badge on a gated feature, versus 20% (159/809) that use an explicit 'unlock' CTA.[1] Both… - [How common is a dedicated in-product upsell banner or card?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-common-are-dedicated-in-product-upsell-banners) A dedicated upsell/promotional/subscription banner or card appears in 9% of 809 tracked apps (71/809) — much rarer than the broader 'upgrade banner/prompt' pattern at 34% (271/809).[1] The gap tells… - [How common are checkout-upsell (order-bump) screens in mobile apps?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-common-are-checkout-upsell-order-bump-screens) Checkout-upsell screens are rare in the mobile corpus: only 70 canonical screens across 23,407 are categorized as 'checkout upsell'.[3] By comparison, cancel-subscription screens — where retention sa… - [Where do retention save-offers and downgrade upsells appear?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/where-do-retention-save-offers-appear-cancel-flow) The cancellation flow is the concentrated surface: 332 of 23,407 canonical mobile screens are categorized as cancel-subscription screens, where save-offers and downgrade upsells appear.[3] That's nea… - [Where do web apps place in-product upsells?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/where-do-web-apps-place-in-product-upsells) In the web corpus, 82% of labeled product screens are in-product (9,645/11,753), and the two largest in-product surfaces are settings (1,351 screens) and dashboard (1,088) — both fully in-product.[4]… - [How often do apps experiment on in-product upsell and gating?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-often-do-apps-experiment-on-upsell-and-gating) Gating and upsell are a heavily-tested area: 622 of 4,814 detected UI experiments (13%) touch in-product upsell/gating vocabulary — unlock, locked, feature gate, upsell, upgrade, premium, usage limit… - [How do apps frame single-feature utility gates (pay to unlock just this)?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-apps-frame-single-feature-utility-gates) Single-feature gates isolate one feature behind an unlock/Continue CTA and are best understood through observed experiments rather than a single prevalence number: unlock CTAs overall appear in 20% o… - [How do cross-subsidized-funnel apps handle in-product upsell?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-cross-subsidized-funnel-apps-handle-in-product-upsell) They upsell in-product far less: only 15% of cross-subsidized-funnel apps (18/124) run an in-product upgrade banner, versus 56% of subscription apps and 43% of advertising apps.[2] Other gating mecha… - [What is the prevalence benchmark for each in-product upsell mechanic?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/in-product-upsell-mechanic-prevalence-benchmark) Across 809 tracked mobile apps, upgrade banners lead at 34% (271/809), followed by premium badges 22% (176), unlock CTAs 20% (159), lock-icon gating 12% (94), dedicated upsell cards 9% (71), and usag…