Using User Research to Drive Messaging for the SPYPOINT Insiders Club Free Trial

CONTENT DESIGN · UX WRITING · USER RESEARCH

CONTEXT 

Brand: SPYPOINT
Platform: Mobile and web app
Audience: SPYPOINT customers without an Insiders Club membership

TL;DR

Before writing a single screen for the SPYPOINT Insiders Club free trial, I identified that the most recent user research on the club was three years old. I advocated for new research, getting a set of questions added to SPYPOINT's annual survey. The findings identified which benefits users valued most — and that shaped every messaging decision for the trial.

The research also revealed that some benefits had become obsolete as the industry changed and camera hardware improved — a product-level insight that came directly out of a content design process. The trial gave users firsthand experience of the club's most valued benefit, with the goal of converting them to paid members. It launched across onboarding screens, in-app tiles, banners, and feature screens, with a dedicated comparison screen showing users exactly what the trial included versus full membership.

BACKGROUND

The SPYPOINT Insiders Club is a yearly VIP subscription offering members a package of benefits:

  • 250 photos per month per camera
  • 20% off accessories and paid transmission plans
  • 50 HD photos
  • Extended gallery history
  • Dedicated support line
  • Access to premium app features including advanced mapping, extra AI species filters, and camera sharing

To test whether a free trial could increase club subscriptions, SPYPOINT introduced a 14-day trial giving users access to all Insiders Club features except the monetary discounts. The trial needed maximum visibility throughout the app — with in-app tiles, banners, and onboarding screens — and required a consistent content strategy across every touchpoint.

THE RESEARCH GAP

A separate initiative — a series of internal workshops I lead to align on Insiders Club messaging more broadly — surfaced an important problem: the most recent user research about the club was from 2022, three years earlier. Not only had the industry landscape changed significantly since then, but camera hardware had also improved. For example, the average camera clarity had increased from roughly 20 MP to 48 MP, which had direct implications for how valuable some benefits actually were to current users.

Rather than continue building messaging on outdated assumptions, new research was advocated for. A set of questions about the Insiders Club was added to SPYPOINT's annual user survey, asking respondents to rank benefits by importance and share whether they were aware of everything membership included. When the trial project began, those findings were ready — and shaped every content decision that followed.


WHAT THE RESEARCH FOUND 

Users ranked benefits clearly. Three stood out as most valuable; others ranked surprisingly low — in ways that reflected how much the product had evolved since those benefits were first introduced.

Ranked highest
250 photos per month per camera
The core utility benefit — more images means more visibility over wildlife activity.
 
Ranked highest
20% off transmission plans and accessories
Recurring savings on an ongoing cost — high perceived value.
Ranked lowest
Extended gallery history (1 year vs. 30 days)
Low value — users download photos to their devices, making cloud history less relevant.
Ranked lowest
50 HD photos
Perceived as low value now that most cameras already shoot at 48 MP — a benefit introduced when cameras were 20 MP.

The low rankings on gallery history and HD photos weren't just a messaging insight — they pointed to a product-level issue. Benefits that had been compelling when the club launched had become largely irrelevant as the hardware improved. This finding was shared with the broader team as a signal that the Insiders Club benefit set needed to be reevaluated.

A MESSAGING CHALLENGE

The research created a specific tension for the trial. The two highest-ranked benefits after photo volume were both monetary discounts — and neither was available during the free trial. Writing copy that led with the most compelling benefits wasn't possible when those benefits were off the table.

The solution was to anchor all trial messaging around the 250 photos benefit, and to be precise about what the trial included without misleading users about what full membership offered. This required one careful word choice in particular:

 250 free photos → 250 photos included
Calling the photos 'free' during the trial would have been inaccurate — for paid members, they are actually part of a subscription they pay for.

THE EXPERIENCE

The trial copy spanned multiple touchpoints across the mobile and web app, designed to introduce the trial, guide users through its features, and surface the value of membership at the moments most likely to drive conversion.

1. In-app tiles and banners
Entry points across high-traffic areas of the app — including the home camera screen and filters section — introduced the trial and its primary benefit.
2. What's new onboarding screens
Introduced the trial on first encounter, leading with the most research-validated benefits.
3. Trial vs. membership comparison screen
A dedicated screen showed users exactly what the trial included versus the full membership — making the absence of discounts visible and honest rather than something users would discover only at the conversion moment.
4. In-app feature screens
Screens introducing premium features like advanced mapping and camera sharing connected each feature to the trial, reinforcing the value of converting to a paid membership at the moments users were actively experiencing those benefits.

OUTCOME

The trial launched with a research-informed content strategy that prioritized the benefits users had explicitly said mattered most to them, while being transparent about what the trial did and did not include. The comparison screen ensured users understood the full value of paid membership without the trial copy misrepresenting it.

Beyond the trial, the research exercise had a lasting impact: it surfaced that several Insiders Club benefits had become less relevant as the product evolved, prompting a broader conversation about updating the membership offering. A content design initiative had generated a product insight.