“if they X out of this paywall or escape it will take them to a transaction abandoned paywall which is basically just a discounted offer for only $20 a year”

Use an Abandoned Paywall to Capture Price-Sensitive Users With a Discount

Evan runs a two-tier paywall: the primary offer is $40/year or $7/week with a 3-day free trial. Anyone who exits without converting is immediately shown a 50%-off fallback. This salvages revenue from users who balked at full price without cheapening the main offer for users willing to pay it.