Deconstructing Memorado: How a Brain Training Veteran Stays Sharp (and Monetizes)

The Onboarding Gauntlet: Personalization Meets Paywalls

Memorado uses a multi-step onboarding process (around 10 steps) to personalize the experience and introduce its value proposition early. It starts with the basics:

• Age Input: Standard personalization data point to tailor recommendations.
• Goal Selection: Users identify key areas like improving name recall or achieving better sleep. This immediately frames the app around tangible benefits. 🤔

However, Memorado doesn't shy away from introducing monetization early. Users encounter subscription offers before the core experience is fully revealed.

• Initial Offer: A "Welcome Offer" pops up, presenting a discounted first year ($29.99, save 25%) before reverting to the standard $39.99 annually. This leverages anchoring and scarcity.
• Post-Personalization Pitch: After gathering user goals, another paywall appears, offering a $39.99 annual plan often bundled with a 7-day free trial. This acts as a soft paywall, allowing hesitant users a taste before committing.

Throughout onboarding and on paywalls, Memorado heavily relies on social proof and authority signals: "Best Apps of 2017," "Editor's Choice," "Join over 10 million satisfied users," and impressive user ratings (4.7-star average). Trust building is clearly a priority. ✨

Core Loop: Gamified Brain Training Across Multiple Skills

At its heart, Memorado offers a suite of brain games designed to challenge different cognitive functions. The "Today's Brain training" workout guides users through a series of these mini-games:

• Colored Confusion (Reaction): A classic Stroop test variant – does the word's meaning match its font color? Tests processing speed and inhibition. 🎨
• Power Memory (Memory): A spatial recall game where users memorize and replicate patterns on a grid. Starts simple, scales complexity. 🧠
• Speed Match (Speed): Requires quickly identifying and tapping matching symbols or colors. Tests visual scanning and processing speed. 💨
• Signs in the Sky (Concentration): Users must spot the unique symbol among distractors floating on screen. Demands focus and visual discrimination. ⭐
• Strategic Pyramids (Logic): A Tower of Hanoi-style puzzle involving moving colored blocks between shelves according to rules. Challenges planning and problem-solving. 🧱

Completing the workout provides immediate feedback: points earned for each skill category (Reaction, Memory, Speed, Concentration, Logic), a total brain points score, and level progression (starting at "Novice"). This gamified loop provides clear goals and rewards. 🏆

Expanding the Mind: IQ Tests, Mindfulness & More

Memorado strategically expands beyond pure brain games, broadening its appeal:

• Quick IQ Test: Positioned prominently, this feature offers a quick approximation of IQ with questions covering analogies ("Finger is to hand, what leaf is to..."), logical reasoning ("All singers are famous..."), and basic math ("What is a half of a quarter of 240?"). It even includes a social comparison nudge ("Are you smarter than your friends?") with sharing options. 🤔💡
• Mindfulness & Sleep: A significant section dedicated to mental well-being, featuring guided meditations ("Welcome," "Quick Breather," "Morning Motivation") and sleep aids like sleep stories ("The Rainforest," "The Train Journey," "Frog Song"). The audio player is functional, offering standard controls and download options. This taps into the massive wellness market. 🧘‍♀️😴
• Language Learning: The inclusion of games like "Sliding Cards (ES)" and "Spelling Bee (ES)" suggests an attempt to branch into language acquisition, potentially leveraging existing cognitive training mechanics. 🇪🇸

This diversification allows Memorado to cater to users seeking comprehensive mental fitness, not just cognitive enhancement.

Monetization Deep Dive: The Soft Sell Strategy

Memorado primarily employs a soft paywall strategy centered around a free trial for its annual subscription.

• Free Trial Focus: The most consistent offer seems to be the $39.99 annual subscription, which includes a 7-day free trial. This lowers the barrier to entry compared to an immediate purchase.
• Clear Value Proposition: Paywalls explicitly list the benefits of Premium: boosting mental capacity, daily IQ tests & stats, 40+ games, 150+ meditations, and 100+ sleep sessions. Quantifiable benefits make the offer tangible. ✅
• Annual-First: The focus is clearly on the annual plan, often highlighting the savings compared to potential monthly costs (though monthly isn't always prominently displayed).

While an initial, potentially more aggressive, discount offer exists, the fallback to a standard price with a free trial suggests A/B testing or a strategy aimed at capturing users later in their journey if they skip the first offer.

Design & User Experience: Calming Consistency

Memorado maintains a consistent visual identity:

• Aesthetics: Dark, deep blue/teal backgrounds with subtle particle animations create a calming, focused atmosphere. Game interfaces are generally clean and uncluttered.
• Navigation: Uses standard mobile UI patterns (bottom navigation, scrollable lists) making it relatively easy to find different sections like Games, Mindfulness, and Progress tracking.
• Performance Feedback: The app introduces its proprietary "BQ" (Brain Quotient) score, aggregating test results into an easy-to-understand metric, similar to IQ. Progress graphs visualize improvement over time, reinforcing the app's value. 📊

The overall UX feels polished and professional, fitting for an app dealing with cognitive function and relaxation.

Key Takeaways: Lessons from a Veteran App

Memorado's longevity and continued revenue generation offer valuable lessons:

1. Evolve Beyond the Core: Starting as a brain game app, Memorado successfully integrated mindfulness, sleep, and even language elements, broadening its appeal and user base.
2. Personalization is Key: The onboarding quiz, while incorporating paywalls, aims to tailor the experience, making users feel understood and increasing investment.
3. Leverage Social Proof: Consistently highlighting user numbers, ratings, and awards builds credibility, crucial for apps in the health and wellness space.
4. Soft Paywalls Work: Offering a free trial for an annual subscription remains a powerful tactic to convert users by lowering initial friction.
5. Combine Gamification with Tangible Benefits: Points and levels motivate, but linking activities to real-world goals (better memory, sleep, focus) provides deeper value.

By dissecting apps like Memorado, we can see how combining proven UX patterns, smart monetization strategies, and continuous feature evolution allows even older apps to thrive. Understanding these intricate flows and user journeys is critical for building successful mobile products today.