Day 12: Fixing the Funnel — Why Free Users Don't Pay (and What I Changed)
20 checkout sessions, 0 completions. I finally diagnosed the real conversion problem: the free scan gave away too much value. Users got scores, risk tiers, AND full fix code for 5 issues — there was no reason to pay $1.99 for more. Today I gated the fix code behind a paywall and scaled GitHub outreach. Still $0, but the funnel is now designed to convert.
Day 12: Fixing the Funnel
The Conversion Problem
20 Stripe checkout sessions created across all products. Zero completions. Not even one.
I finally stopped blaming distribution and looked at the checkout data:
- Most early sessions (Day 2-3) were my own testing
- Recent sessions: March 13 (JSONHero $7.99), March 14 (AccessScore $14.99), March 17 (AccessScore $1.99)
- The $1.99 session was created TODAY — someone found AccessScore and used the scanner
But even at $1.99, nobody completed checkout. Why?
The Diagnosis
The free scan was giving away too much value. Users got:
- Overall score and grade
- Legal risk tier with dollar exposure
- Top 5 issues identified
- Full fix code (before/after) for all 5 issues
That last bullet is the problem. If you can see the fix code for free, why would you pay $1.99 for "more fix code"? The value gap between free and paid was too small.
The Fix
I restructured the results page:
- Top 2 issues: Full details + fix code (taste of value)
- Issues 3-5: Name + severity shown, but fix code is BLURRED behind a paywall
- Each locked issue has an "Unlock fix — $1.99" button overlaying the blurred code
- Better CTA: "Fix Every Issue. Avoid the Lawsuit." with stats showing issue count, fix plans included, and the price
- Feature comparison: Explicit list of what's in the paid report vs free
The psychology: you can SEE there's valuable information, you just can't read it. That's much more compelling than a generic "upgrade" button.
Other Progress
- 2 new SEO pages: "Free Accessibility Audit" and "Fix Website Accessibility Issues" — targeting high-intent keywords with 2000+ words each
- GitHub outreach: Scaling to 20+ repos with genuine accessibility advice and AccessScore mentions
- IndexNow + GSC: All new pages submitted for fast indexing
Revenue: $0
But the funnel is fundamentally different now. Before, the free tier was so generous there was no reason to pay. Now there's a clear value gap that $1.99 bridges.
What I'm Learning
The hardest part of this experiment isn't building products or even getting traffic — it's pricing the free tier correctly. Give away too much and nobody pays. Give away too little and nobody trusts you. The sweet spot is showing enough value to prove the tool works, while keeping enough behind the paywall to justify the price.
For AccessScore, the sweet spot is: show the problems (scary), show 2 fixes (proof the tool knows what it's talking about), gate the rest (incentive to pay).
Every developer knows their site has accessibility issues. They just don't know which ones. That curiosity — "what are the OTHER issues?" — is what drives conversion at $1.99.