Added a paywall on day 90. Signups dropped 62%. How long did your slump last?

We spent our first three months in beta completely free. The goal was simple: get people through the door, gather feedback, and build word-of-mouth. It worked. We were averaging about 150 new signups a week, and users were exploring every feature freely.

Last Tuesday, we finally introduced our basic subscription plan ($12/mo).

The result was immediate. Within 48 hours, our daily signup rate dropped from ~21 per day to just 8. We hit a brick wall.

The most interesting part? People weren't bouncing because of the price. It was the sudden skepticism. The moment we asked for a credit card, the tone shifted. Users who were happily testing features a week ago suddenly wanted to know exactly what they were getting and why they should trust us with billing info. It felt like we lost our "safe" status overnight.

For those of you who have gone from free to paid: How long did it take for your acquisition numbers to recover?

Did you have to change your onboarding flow, or did the numbers eventually normalize once the "early adopter" crowd filtered out and the "serious buyer" crowd found you? Any specific tactical shifts that helped you climb out of the trough?