Field note

The silent gap between paywall view and first purchase

9 June 2026

Many catalogues record the plan screen and the success receipt, and nothing about the payment sheet that sits between them.

Customer holding a card near a counter

A learning app we reviewed had paywall_viewed and purchase_success. The store sheet, the failed 3-D Secure attempt, and the “use gift code” branch were invisible. Growth blamed copy. Engineering blamed the store. Neither could see the abandoned sheet.

We asked for a recording of a failed purchase on a Malaysian card. The sheet sat for eleven seconds, then the user backed out. No event. The findings pack added purchase_sheet_opened and purchase_sheet_dismissed to the “please send” list.

If your first-purchase funnel has two steps, suspect a missing sheet rather than a mysterious audience.