Original title: Pathways to premium: How habits and benefits shape conversion and retention in freemium subscription models
Daniel Kreimer, Lukas Stoppacher, Walter Hauser, Thomas Foscht +1 · September 2026
Many digital apps offer free versions hoping people will pay for premium subscriptions. But companies do not fully understand what makes users actually upgrade and stay. Researchers studied how user habits and perceived benefits drive these decisions across four field studies. They found that building habits in the free app has two opposing effects. Regular free use can boost upgrades because it reminds users of what premium might offer. However, that same routine can trap users in inertia, making them stay free forever. Habits formed while testing premium features, along with real experienced perks, generally help paid conversion and keep subscribers long term. Surprisingly, during discounted trials, very strong premium habits actually led to worse retention than moderate habits.
You always buy coffee from the same cart every morning. You know the barista, the taste, the price, and you never think about switching, even when a new café with better coffee opens nearby. That habit can be a push toward the new café, because you trust the vendor, or a pull that keeps you anchored to the cart. In this paper, the cart is the free version and the café is premium, and the same habit can drive conversion or block it.
For any company running a freemium app, knowing when habits help or hurt determines whether trial offers actually convert users or just reinforce free usage. Understanding this double‑edged effect lets designers shape free and trial experiences to nudge paying behavior without alienating free users.
The abstract doesn't say. It reports findings from four field studies in a freemium setting, so the patterns may not hold in other contexts, and the relationships are observed, not proven causal.
Ask anything about this paper. Answers come from its abstract, and say so when the abstract doesn't cover your question.
Pathways to premium: How habits and benefits shape conversion and retention in freemium subscription models — Daniel Kreimer, Lukas Stoppacher, Walter Hauser et al. — Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science — doi:10.1007/s11747-026-01205-w
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.