Added for comparison · okara.ai

Okara AI CMO

An 'AI CMO' for startups and SMBs: reads your website, writes product, competitor and strategy docs, then runs specialist agents (SEO, GEO, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, articles, influencer, UGC video, coding fixes).

Why it's here: Replacement for Relay.app, which shut down in September 2026. Okara sells the same thing as Kite ('AI CMO', '100,000+ businesses'), so its trial-to-paid flow is the most direct benchmark in this set.

Full flow20 steps

How they turn free users into paying ones

Okara gives away the thinking and charges for the doing. The free plan delivers analysis (a product brief, a 30-day strategy, a competitor list, an SEO audit) in minutes, then padlocks every execution agent and most documents behind a 7-day, card-required trial that defaults to the annual plan. The upgrade is pushed from all sides: a full-screen picker the moment onboarding ends, persistent banners, lock icons on documents and agents, locked-agent modals over blurred previews of the work, and an Agent Log that narrates 'X unlocks on the paid plan' as it works. The log also asks for small commitments (connect Google Analytics, confirm social handles) with countdown 'Do it later' buttons.

Sharpest tactic

The live Agent Log as an upsell channel: the agent narrates its real work for your company and, in the same voice, tells you which next steps 'unlock on the paid plan'.

The flow, step by step

Click any screenshot to enlarge; use ← → to page through. Viewport 1440×900; tall pages are full-page captures. Steps marked docs come from public help pages, not the live app.

Step 1 — Okara landing: 'Meet Okara, the AI CMO. The only AI CMO you need for growth and marketing.' One website box + 'Start free trial' ('7-day free trial · Cancel anytime'), 9 specialist agents (Influencer, Reddit, SEO, Writer, GEO, Coding, UGC, X, LinkedIn), header 'Start Free'

Step 2 — Pricing: 'Start with a free trial'. Annual preselected ('2 months free'): AI CMO Lite $108/mo ($129 monthly), AI CMO Pro $208/mo ($249 monthly, 'Most Popular'). Both CTAs 'Start 7-day free trial · Cancel anytime'; '100,000+ businesses growing with AI CMO'

Step 4 — After 'Continue with email': Okara emails a set-password link rather than a code

Step 5 — Email: 'Set up your Okara password' (link valid 24 h)

Step 6 — Signed in, Okara lands back on the homepage: the product starts from the website box ('Enter your website' → 'Start free trial'), entered kite.ai

Onboarding 1/3 'Create your profile' (name + role), with 'Your CMO is already analysing your website while you answer'

Step 8 — Onboarding 2/3 company: website (prefilled kite.ai), country, employee count, industry. Behind the modal the dashboard is already filling in (Product Information + Design Guide docs, 28-day content calendar) and shows 'Free plan' + 'Start free trial'

Step 9 — Onboarding 3/3: 'How did you hear about us?' (incl. 'AI Search (ChatGPT, Perplexity…)'), current marketing tools, other GTM tools wanted

Step 10 — Right after onboarding, a full-screen plan picker: 'Start your free trial now', with a live pill 'Okara is working on your website · kite.ai' while you choose. Annual preselected ('2 months free'): Lite $108/mo, Pro $208/mo 'Most Popular', both 'Start 7-day free trial · Cancel anytime'

Step 11 — Card required for the trial (STOPPED here, no card entered). Stripe: 'Try Okara CMO Pro, 7 days free, then ₹246,537/year starting Nov 4' (~$2,490 annual, INR from India IP), 'Total due today ₹0.00', 2,000 credits included. The trial auto-converts to a full annual charge

Step 12 — Free dashboard after closing the picker (Escape): a terminal-style 'Agent Log' narrates live work ('Jasper AI, Gumloop, Tofu HQ, Copy.ai are your main competitors… Creating your free marketing strategy') and asks to connect Google Analytics with a 'Do it later · 0:48' countdown. Locks on Competitor Analysis, Content calendar and Design Guide; two trial CTAs ('Unlock your full AI CMO, free for 7 days' top-right, 'Put your growth on autopilot' sidebar); footer 'Free plan'

Step 13 — Clicking a locked document (Competitor Analysis) opens the same full-screen trial picker, now with a close ✕. Every lock routes to 'Start your free trial now'

Step 14 — Free deliverable #1: an accurate 'Product Information' brief for Kite (one-liner, what it does, category, target customers, business model) built from the website in ~2 minutes

Step 15 — Locked agent: 'Influencer is locked. Finds and briefs matched creators, then launches campaigns for you. Included in a higher plan' over a blurred table of the work it would do. Two buttons: 'Unlock Influencer' and a free taste, 'Ask the CMO what it would do'

Step 16 — The Agent Log doubles as an upsell feed. While doing the free work (5-step run: crawl, docs, competitors, 30-day strategy, SEO audit) it prints '[Articles] AI-written articles unlocks on the paid plan', '[LinkedIn] LinkedIn posts unlocks on the paid plan', 'UGC Video Agent unlocks…', 'Influencer Agent unlocks…'

Step 17 — Free deliverable #2: 'Kite Marketing Strategy Document' (ICP, positioning vs Jasper/Copy.ai/HubSpot Breeze, messaging). Top banner trades data for quality: 'Want a better marketing strategy? I'll use real traffic and search data… Connect Search Console / Google Analytics' (not connected)

Step 18 — The Agent Log keeps asking for small commitments inline with countdown defaults: 'One last thing: I found what looks like your social handles… can you confirm it?' (Save & Continue / 'Do it later · 0:51'), the same pattern as its Google Analytics connect ask

Step 19 — Agents grid on Free: all 8 agents (Influencer, Reddit, GEO, SEO fixes, X, Articles, LinkedIn, UGC) carry a padlock and 'Locked'. The free plan = analysis documents only; every execution agent needs the card-backed trial

Step 20 — Account menu: '20 Credits' balance with 'Upgrade', plus 'Invite Friends & Earn Money' referral and a 'Product tour'

Monetization mechanics

Trial / free offer	7-day free trial of Lite or Pro, card required, auto-converts to the selected plan (annual by default). Separately, a free plan with documents only.
Card required	Yes for the 7-day trial (Stripe, ₹0 due today); No for the free plan
What free actually allows	Free plan: 20 credits, 2 unlocked documents (Product Information, Marketing Strategy), competitor list, SEO audit and an X monitor. Locked: Competitor Analysis, Content calendar, Design Guide and Content Strategy docs, plus all 8 execution agents.
How usage is shown	Credits appear only in the account menu ('20 Credits · Upgrade'). Locks are shown as padlock icons on documents and agents, and the Agent Log prints which features 'unlock on the paid plan'.
Discounts & annual nudges	Annual preselected everywhere with '2 months free' badges (Lite $108 vs $129, Pro $208 vs $249). No promo countdowns.
Sales assist	Enterprise plan (SSO, multiple websites) via sales; a 'Product tour' in the account menu. No demo prompt in the self-serve flow.
Time to value	~3 minutes: website entered at sign-in; Product Information and a 30-day Marketing Strategy for Kite were ready by the end of the 3-screen onboarding.
Aha moment	Watching the terminal-style Agent Log research Kite's competitors (it found Jasper, Gumloop, Tofu, Copy.ai, HubSpot Breeze, Lindy) and write an accurate product brief and ICP/positioning strategy while you fill in the profile.
Account used	Email sign-up (set-password link) with throwaway okarawwfp2j@maxxspace.com (mail.tm). Website entered: kite.ai.
Geo note	Stripe trial checkout shows INR (₹246,537/yr for Pro annual ≈ $2,490) with a USD toggle, from the India IP.

Plans

Plan	Price	Billing	Includes
Free	$0		20 credits, website analysis docs (Product Information, 30-day Marketing Strategy), competitor list, SEO audit; all 8 agents locked
AI CMO Lite	$129/mo monthly; $108/mo billed annually ($1,290/yr)	monthly or annual ('2 months free')	'Limited AI CMO access': website analysis, strategies, SEO, GEO (15 prompts), Influencer, X (30+ posts/mo), Coding agent
AI CMO Pro ('Most Popular')	$249/mo monthly; $208/mo billed annually ($2,490/yr)	monthly or annual	Full agent suite incl. Reddit, AI Content Writer, LinkedIn, UGC Videos; 2,000 credits
Enterprise	custom		SSO, multiple websites

Paywall triggers

Finishing onboarding → full-screen 'Start your free trial now' picker (step 10)
Clicking any locked document → same picker (step 13)
Opening any agent → '<Agent> is locked… Included in a higher plan' over a blurred table of example work (step 15)

Upgrade prompts & copy

Landing/pricing: 'Start free trial', 'Start 7-day free trial · Cancel anytime' (steps 1-2)
Post-onboarding picker with a live 'Okara is working on your website · kite.ai' pill (step 10)
Persistent top-right banner 'Unlock your full AI CMO, free for 7 days' + sidebar card 'Put your growth on autopilot' (step 12)
Agent Log lines '[LinkedIn] LinkedIn posts unlocks on the paid plan' etc. (step 16)
Locked-agent modal: 'Unlock Influencer' and 'Ask the CMO what it would do' (step 15)
Account menu 'Upgrade' + 'Invite Friends & Earn Money' (step 20)

Lifecycle emails

Set up your Okara password (verify, 2026-10-28 21:10 UTC)

What Kite could take from it

Give the strategy away and charge for execution: a free, accurate brief and plan proves the agent understands the business, and the locked agents then read as 'let it do this for me'.
Narrate the agent's work in real time (a log or activity feed). It makes the wait feel like progress, and it is the most natural place to mention what a paid plan would do next.
'Ask the CMO what it would do' on a locked feature is a clever free taste; Kite could let trial users preview a paid action as a plan before paying.
Card-required trials that default to annual (₹246k/yr after 7 days) maximize conversion but carry refund and trust risk; Kite's no-card credit ladder is the friendlier counter-position.

Caveats: The in-app Chat panel never finished loading in the test browser, so 'Ask the CMO what it would do' produced no visible answer. Only the set-password email arrived during the run. Relay.app was the originally planned product; its homepage now says it shut down in September 2026 (captured under products/relay).