Why Power Users Pay (and Casual Users Don’t)

Most apps chase features. The users who pay aren’t buying primitives; they’re buying outcomes at intensity. Power users hit a repeatable moment every day (or multiple times a day) and the product removes, compresses, and automates that moment. Casual users never reach that cadence.

It isn’t about “more features.” It’s about a system that makes one job unavoidable and fast. Price against intensity, design for an owned moment, and instrument the path.

The Operating Assumptions (and why they matter)

Goal
- Monetize repeatable, high‑intensity outcomes—not menu breadth. Earn a daily slot.
Constraint
- Most users will never configure complex setups. Assume low effort tolerance, fragmented contexts, and mobile interruptions.
Customer
- Split cohorts by intensity: explorers (0–1×/week), habituals (2–4×/week), power users (≥5×/week). Different defaults and pricing.
Moment
- Owned moments drive willingness to pay. Casual use without a moment yields churn.

Practical implications

Design for one path to a daily outcome; remove steps until it’s under 2 minutes.
Ship opinionated defaults that produce an immediate draft; let experts customize later.
Instrument intensity (sessions per week, moments completed, automation usage) as first‑class signals.

Distribution: Two Very Different Machines

Parity distribution (keeps casual users lurking)
- Feature lists and template galleries; broad SEO targeting nouns; passive marketplace listings
Intensity distribution (creates power users)
- Problem pages titled by the job at cadence: “Run a 90‑second standup from calendar + commits daily”
- 60–90s clips showing before/after at real speed; keyboard‑only, one edit, schedule the next run
- Integrations that trigger your moment: meeting end webhook, git push, end‑of‑day notification
- Weekly artifacts: one clip, one problem page, one integration listing; CTAs to schedule tomorrow’s run

Checklist to publish

Hook names the cadence and outcome (“daily standup in 90 seconds”)
Demo shows the trigger, the draft, the accept/send, and the scheduled next
CTA asks for a scheduled run, not account creation

Go deeper: Why indie apps fail without distribution

Product: Craft vs Coverage

Craft (win by intensity)
- Own a single recurring moment; TTV < 120s for new cohorts; P50 repeat within 48h
- Defaults over options; draft‑first UI; momentum surfaces instead of inventory
- Remove → Compress → Automate; triggers that fire at the moment users feel friction
Coverage (lose by parity)
- Menu breadth (lists, boards, tags) with no defined cadence; dashboards reporting status
- “AI everywhere” without a sharp job; customization debt that blocks activation

Design patterns to steal

One‑decision onboarding: one permission + live preview; accept the first useful draft
Momentum surface: show “what moved since last time,” streaks, commitments completed
Cadence scheduler: pre‑schedule the next run at the moment of success

Pricing and Packaging

Price on intensity, not primitives
- Free: manual runs (1×/day), no automation, low storage
- Pro: scheduled runs, auto‑ingest sources (calendar/repo/issues), sharing
- Team: governance, audit, SLAs for triggers/integrations; admin views of cadence and outcomes
Trial design
- Trial begins at the moment (e.g., meeting end → notes draft → send); success is scheduling the next run
- Measure trial conversion by scheduled cadence adoption, not pageviews
Packaging rules
- Don’t sell templates; sell “daily standup auto‑drafts” or “end‑of‑day summaries that ship”

Where Founders Go Wrong

Pricing on features while power users pay for reduced time and reliable cadence
Blank‑slate onboarding; no credible draft; expecting users to architect their own workflow
Broad SEO without jobs/moments; traffic that doesn’t convert to intensity
Measuring clicks, MAUs, exports; not TTV, 48h repeat, weekly rhythm, automation usage
Premature enterprise packaging; no proof assets tied to cadence/outcomes

Go deeper: What founders get wrong about app reviews

Two Operating Systems You Can Adopt

Intensity OS (weekly)
- Ship one improvement to reduce time or increase reliability for the owned moment
- Publish one 60–90s clip showing the moment shift; include live keyboard demo
- Instrument TTV and 48h repeat; review weekly by cohort (explorers, habituals, power)
- Release one integration that triggers your moment automatically (meeting end, git push)
- Write one problem page that maps search intent to your moment; add internal links
Parity OS (avoid)
- Ship new primitives every sprint; let dashboards grow; no cadence emerges
- Add settings before defaults work; customization debt kills activation
- Publish feature lists; no outcomes; no intensity

Decision Framework (Pick Your Game)

Ask and answer honestly:

Which recurring moment will you own? Name the trigger and the output.
Can a new user get to a useful outcome in under 120 seconds? If not, remove steps.
What gets deleted because this ships? Write the subtraction list.
How will you prove it in 7 days? Choose a metric and a cohort.

Your answers choose the moment and the pricing logic. Stop blending the rules.

Concrete Moves (Do These Next)

Map the moment shift: “Before → After” in one sentence; ship the smallest version in a week
Collapse onboarding to one screen with a live preview and one permission request
Pre‑schedule the next run at the moment of success; replace dashboards with a momentum surface
Ship opinionated defaults; hide options until the first success
Instrument the right metrics and events
- Metrics: TTV (minutes), 48h repeat of the moment, weekly rhythm, automation usage, cadence adoption
- Events: signup, source_connected:{calendar|git|issue_tracker}, generated_first_summary, accepted_first_summary, scheduled_next_moment, moment_completed

Implementation notes

Intensity measurement: track moments_completed_per_week and schedule adherence; alert if adherence < 60%
TTV: log t0=signup and t1= first useful output; track P50/P90; flag cohorts where P50 > 2 minutes
Repeat: attribute completion to scheduled triggers; measure 48h repeat and weekly rhythm

The Human Difference

People pay for consistency and relief at the exact moment they feel friction
Your job is to make one cadence feel inevitable and light, every single day
Tell human stories in release notes and demos; narrative turns intensity into habit

Final Thought

Power users aren’t buying features—they’re buying a reliable cadence that produces outcomes fast. If you own one moment, remove steps until it’s under two minutes, and instrument intensity, you’ll know who pays and why. Casual users will churn; that’s fine. Build for the users who keep you open all day.

Spread the love