We Gave Customers SAR 100—and They Still Did Not Use the Product

When we launched Cura, we assumed the problem was price and kept raising the free credit to SAR 100. Then we called the people who never used the service and discovered the real question had nothing to do with cost.

This post is a translation of the original Arabic article.

When we launched the first version of Cura in 2015, we assumed that people wanted fast access to a doctor and that the world was eagerly waiting for our service (a very optimistic assumption). We opened the service and waited.

The usage we expected did not arrive.

Perhaps price was the problem, we thought (jumping to a new assumption without verifying). We added free credit to the user's wallet: first SAR 50, then SAR 80, and finally SAR 100.

Some people still did not use the service.

When we called them, we discovered that the question in their minds was not, "How much will this consultation cost?"

It was, "Are these real doctors? Is this safe? Can I trust you?"

We were trying to solve a trust problem with a price discount.

An incentive cannot remove every barrier

Reducing the price, offering credit or adding a gift is one of the easiest marketing decisions. The number is clear, implementation is fast, and the result appears measurable.

But weak adoption can have very different causes:

There is no urgent need.
The user does not understand the product.
The experience is difficult.
The user does not trust the provider.
The promised outcome does not appear credible.
The cost of a possible error feels too high.
The user lacks a suitable payment method.
The beneficiary and the payer are different people.

If the barrier is diagnosed incorrectly, a stronger incentive can increase the loss without changing behavior.

Price comes after value and trust

Price still matters. It simply sits within a wider sequence.

Before adopting a product, a user must answer several questions in order:

Do I have a problem worth solving now?
Do I understand what the product will do?
Do I believe it can deliver that result?
Do I trust the people providing it?
Is the risk acceptable?
Is the price fair relative to the value?

If the process breaks at question three or four, the user never reaches a meaningful price comparison.

A discount cannot compensate for a reputation that does not yet exist. A free offer cannot make an unfamiliar health service feel safe in the patient's mind.

Speak to the people who did not buy

Reaching active users who already use your product is easy — they are available, willing, and can describe what they liked and disliked.

At the beginning of a market, however, the most important insight may sit with the person who stopped before using the product.

Reach out to people who:

Registered but did not begin
Reached payment and left
Used the product once and never returned
Chose the traditional alternative despite your product being faster
Rejected the offer even when it became free

Do not ask only, "Why did you not buy?" The answer is often general and polite.

Reconstruct the decision moment:

What were you trying to accomplish?
What was the first thing you did not understand?
What made you hesitate?
What did you do instead?
Which evidence would have changed your decision?

The goal is not to collect opinions. It is to identify the mechanism that stopped the behavior.

Trust is part of the product

In sensitive sectors, trust cannot be added through advertising alone. It must be built into operations in ways the user can see or feel:

Visible verification of provider identity and licensing
A clear explanation of what the service can and cannot do
An escalation pathway when digital care is not appropriate
Understandable data protection, not only a long privacy policy
Consistent quality
A trusted institution or partner that reduces uncertainty
Transparency when something goes wrong

Trust — or the golden seal of credibility — is not a message added after the product is complete. It is part of its architecture.

When does an incentive help?

An incentive is useful when value is understood and trust already exists, but the user needs a small push to try a new behavior.

It can reduce the fear attached to a first purchase, encourage appropriate repeat use, or help someone move from a familiar alternative to a new experience.

Before increasing the offer, however, ask: is non-use genuinely a price-sensitivity problem — or evidence that the customer does not want the product in the way it has been presented?

The market returns founders to reality

We assumed that an obvious and urgent need would translate automatically into adoption. The market taught us that need was not enough. Patients also had to trust the doctor, the platform, and the legitimacy and safety of remote care itself.

Assumptions often look reasonable inside the team's meeting room, on the whiteboard. Their true value is revealed only when they encounter the behavior of someone who does not know the company's story and does not share its enthusiasm.

If a customer rejects a free product, do not increase the gift.

Stop and ask: what are we really selling — and what is the customer afraid of before buying it?