Floorplan & Report paywalls @Polycam

Defining a value-first upsell strategy

Imagine you're one of Polycam's ideal customers—a contractor who signed up for a free account and used your iPhone Pro to capture your client's apartment before a remodeling job. You process the 3D spatial capture and see the mesh model on the app. You notice the Report tool and tap to explore it, but immediately hit a static paywall modal. It offers no preview, no explanation of what the feature does—just a prompt to upgrade to the $400/year Business tier. You dismiss it and move on.

/ THE PROBLEM

This wasn't just a Spatial Report problem. Across Polycam's platform, valuable features sat behind paywalls that failed to communicate their value, leaving potential revenue on the table and users unaware of tools that could solve their problems.

/ THE CHALLENGE

As a senior designer, I was initially tasked with productizing Spatial Report from 0-1 in time for a major launch event (Vision 25) in early 2025. Right out of the gate, the paid conversion was strong.

After the launch, I transitioned to a Growth PM role where I led efforts to analyze and optimize paywall conversions across multiple features.

/ MY ROLE

Through targeted experiments on feature paywalls—including Spatial Report and the related Floor Plan tool—we transformed how users discovered premium features, opened entirely new upgrade funnels, and reactivated dormant revenue streams.

/ OUTCOMES

Responsibilities

User research, Usertesting, A/B testing, Stakeholder Management, Product Design, Product Management

Tools

Analytics platform, experimentation platform, user research tools, design tools, project management tools

device or platform

Responsive web, iOS

timeline

Spatial Report (v1): September 2024 – February 2025
Paywall work: July 2025 – September 2025

team

1 Product Designer and PM (Me). Spatial Report (v.1): 3 Engineers; Growth Experiment: 1 Engineer.

—

Launching spatial report

First, we built the Spatial Report (v.1)

Polycam's Floor Plan tool instantly generates 2D floor plans from LiDAR capture data and was gaining significant traction among target customers. I was tasked with designing Spatial Report, a closely related feature.

We started by reviewing competitor offerings

I researched publicly available competitor products to inform the design direction and invited the team to discuss which features were most compelling.

We ran usability tests on the design prototype

Through user interviews and usability tests, as well as conversations with potential users in relevant industries, I gained a deeper understanding of their use cases, industry-specific needs, and the nuanced factors that could make or break the product.

We incorporated PLG elements from the start

To ensure launch success, I included a blurred floor plan preview—featuring the 2D floor plan for Pro users and a generic sample report for free users—so everyone would understand what "Spatial Report" meant.

Usability testing on Report prototype

A page of the Spatial Report pdf as shown to Pro customers.

A link to the pricing page is added to each page of the pdf for easy check out.

The dimensions are blurred — the user must upgrade to reveal.

—

Monitoring the launch data

Pro-to-Business conversion was strong

Spatial Report converted Pro users to Business subscriptions far better than other features. The partially concealed preview was working—users could see enough value to upgrade. However, Free-to-Pro conversion remained weak because free users still encountered a static paywall with no preview at all.

Later, I transitioned to Growth PM (while still designing), and my first task was to audit our paywalls and improve conversions

—

Understanding the problem

I wondered: what if the user journey matters more than the paywall's visual design?

I created a data table that tracked paywall traffic and conversion rates at each funnel entry point to identify the greatest potential for revenue uplift.

One of the most impactful areas to tackle was Pro and Business upgrades from the Free tier for Floor Plan and Spatial Report—two similar features.

The initial temptation would have been to immediately redesign the paywall assets, content and button copy. But as I investigated further, I realized—with high confidence—that there was another intervention we could try out that might lead to greater conversion improvements much faster...

—

Forming our next hypothesis

... showing free users a blurred preview of their floor plan

When we released Spatial Report, we didn't show free users the personalized, blurred preview that we show Pro users because floor plans featured inside the report is a Pro feature.

But the preview worked so well for Pro users that we wondered: what if we showed free users their floor plan with blurred dimensions? They'd see the shape and layout, but the measurements—the most valuable part—would stay hidden.

Our hypothesis:

"Even if we disclose more gated features to lower-tier users, more people will convert out of frustration with workarounds than they would without understanding the paid feature's value."

A/B test control: Free users get a generic, static promotional screen as soon as they tap on Floor Plan.

—

A/B Testing

We tested a floor plan preview with free users—and it worked

The experiment validated our hypothesis and showed meaningful improvements in conversion performance. New upgrade funnels emerged that the static paywall had previously blocked. The results validated our hypothesis.

A/B test treatment: Showing the floor plan preview to free users

—

Informing next steps with experimentation

Further enhancements on the paywall design

Since free users could now see blurred floor plans, we could safely introduce blurred Spatial Reports to them as well.

The new Spatial Report upgrade experience

Introducing a "contextual paywall"

Not all features are easy to discover or understand. Even after seeing sample reports and previews, users may not immediately grasp how a feature—especially one with an enigmatic name like "Spatial Report"—applies to their work.

This is where thoughtful paywall design can explain the value, now that we've improved the journey leading users there.

The new Spatial Report contextual paywall on desktop web

—

Outcomes

Building on small wins

Spatial Report performed well from launch

From day one, Spatial Report showed strong conversion performance among feature-specific paywalls.

Report success and Floor Plan experiment wins helped guide next steps for both features

An experiment on Floor Plan previews opened entirely new upgrade funnels for the platform, generating meaningful business revenue impact.

The win was not random

Proving this hypothesis set an important strategic precedent. The success showed that giving freemium users a taste of premium features drives stronger conversions than strictly limiting access.

—

Takeaway

"Treat the whole app like it is a paywall"

A key learning from this is that demonstrating personalized value throughout the user journey has far greater impact on conversion than endlessly optimizing paywall design alone.

Growth teams often focus narrowly on three steps around the paywall—the step before it, the click-through, and checkout. But what if we expanded our view to treat the entire app experience with the same level of attention?

In other words: what if the whole app functioned as a paywall—constantly demonstrating value and guiding users toward conversion?

Lai-Jing has a rare mix of design and product growth expertise. With an architecture background, She brings sharp attention to detail and applied that to 3D scanning and capture. She started in design, then moved into product growth and management, leading work on paywalls, upgrade flows, and revenue optimization. A strong partner who bridges design thinking with business impact.

— Ethan Goldspier, VP Sales and Business Development at Polycam

As a designer, Lai-Jing was remarkably flexible and pragmatic, always willing to iterate quickly and adapt to constraints. When she moved into product management with a focus on growth, she demonstrated an exceptional ability to plan ahead and leverage AI tools thoughtfully to enhance productivity and inform our strategies. [...]

— Siavash Zamani, Growth Engineer at Polycam

Lai Jing is the person on your team who doesn't stop thinking about strategic issues. Sometimes, I'd have a random idea about something we were designing, post it on Slack, and she and I would riff on it back and forth, just for fun. Her mind never stops digging deeper, asking hard questions to uncover insights, and creatively solutioning around them. It was a privilege to work with her on the Growth team and the Product team at Polycam.

— Wyatt Roy, Brand Marketing Specialist

[... Lai Jing] approaches her work with passion, creativity, and a sharp eye for detail. She also did a great job of balancing business and customer needs with technical realities — she deeply cares about creating thoughtful, customer-centered products, while also collaborating openly with engineering to find solutions when the first approach wasn’t feasible. Her professionalism, adaptability, and genuine collaborative spirit made her a joy to work with, and I would be excited to work with her again on any team.

— Marc Deetjen, CV Engineer at Polycam

Loading...

Lai-Jing Chu