{"id":"res-pm-app-store-trial-rules","audience":"product-managers","category":"research","technique":"grounding","title":"Check subscription trial designs against the app store rules","free":false,"task":"Your team proposed 4 designs for a free trial in your meditation app, and you want to check them against the app store's subscription guidelines before design review. You want one numbered line per design, under 50 words total, each starting Allowed, Not allowed, or Guidelines don't say, then the rule number in parentheses where one applies. Use only the current guidelines, plain text, nothing else.","materialLabel":"The app store guidelines and your trial designs (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"APPSHELF SUBSCRIPTION GUIDELINES (rev. Sept 2026)\nG1. Free trials must clearly show the price that will be charged after the trial, and when.\nG2. Trials must be at least 3 days long.\nG3. Apps may not require a subscription to use features that were previously free without notice.\nG4. The cancel option must be reachable within 2 taps from the account screen.\n(rev. March 2025 allowed trials as short as 1 day.)\n\n-----\nPROPOSED TRIAL DESIGNS\n1. A 2-day free trial to drive faster decisions.\n2. A trial screen showing \"$59.99/year after your 7-day free trial ends on [date].\"\n3. Cancel button inside Settings > Account > Subscription > Manage > Cancel (4 taps from the account screen).\n4. Offer a discounted first month at $1.99 after the trial.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":50},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Using the old revision","why":"The 2025 note allowed 1-day trials, which would make design 1 look fine.","fix":"Say: \"Use only the Sept 2026 guidelines.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Guessing on uncovered ideas","why":"The AI judges the discount by what stores usually allow.","fix":"Add: \"If no rule covers it, write Guidelines don't say.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Not counting the taps","why":"A long path to Cancel can look reasonable unless someone counts against the rule.","fix":"Add: \"Check every design against every rule.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands 10-20% over.","fix":"Cap each line: \"each line under 8 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Getting markdown back","why":"AI defaults to bold labels and headings, which show up as stray symbols in the design review notes.","fix":"Ask for \"plain text, no bold, no headings.\"","checks":["plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Gives exact labels","patterns":["allowed","guidelines don't say","label"]},{"label":"Names the current version","patterns":["current","sept(ember)?","2026","not the (2025|old|march)"]},{"label":"Asks for rule numbers","patterns":["rule number","\\(G\\d","cite","which rule"]},{"label":"Sets a length limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","one (short )?sentence","word (limit|count)"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown","no formatting","no headings"]}],"hint":"Store rules get revised, and some ideas aren't covered. Tell the AI which revision counts, give it three labels, and ask for the rule number.","rubricLabels":["Design 1 is Not allowed (G2: at least 3 days, under the current revision, not the 2025 one)","Design 2 is Allowed (G1) and design 3 is Not allowed (G4: more than 2 taps)","Design 4 (discounted first month) is Guidelines don't say, and the output is only the 4 lines with no intro or design suggestions"]}