The Challenge
HP’s long-standing subscription, Instant Ink, had plateaued. The service was designed to save money, simplify the printing process, and had been around for more than a decade, but user research showed customers were hesitant: the trials felt too long, savings claims unrealistic, and confusion existed between Instant Ink and HP+.
TL;DR: Could UX changes + lower commitment barriers grow adoption?
The Solution
Instant Ink had barriers to user adoption that couldn’t easily be addressed without disrupting the current printer setup experience in the market. Therefore, a country-wide pilot was tested in the United Kingdom where:
• Account creation was shifted upfront to remove late-stage friction.
• Free trial was offered with only shipping info (no billing) required.
• Continuous iterations of value propositions and trial experiences were validated.
The Results
As a result, Instant Ink user base installs increased by 28% to reach a huge milestone of 10.6 million subscribers and contributed to the annually generated $500 million revenue or an increase of 30%. TechRadar described Instant Ink “as the most popular printing subscription services out there, by a wide margin.”
