You make a great point about real-life experiences. Growing up as a JW, and looking back (even before I left) I realized that there was literally nothing in my life that was good that was because I was a JW. The only reason I was a JW was because I was scared they might be right. If that's the only thing keeping you in, you're much more likely to actually examine the question of whether or not they're right - if they bring benefits NOW (instead of just the claimed benefit of surviving armageddon) it would make people much less likely to even start questioning whether it's true. Most people are, at a basic level, practical about such things - even if it's not true if it benefits you to be a JW you'd not bother looking at whether it's true or not.
Of course they love to tout that being a JW is the "best way of living" and that they're the "happiest people on earth" but I suspect that most who've grown up as a JW have had some serious reservations about those two claims at one time or another. They rely solely on indoctrination to keep the kids going, and that's a weakness for them - if they reinforced it with some (even just a token) actual benefits I think it would keep a lot more kids trapped in the cult. The problem is that said benefits cost money/time that could be better used if donated to the central org, and therefore it is seen as a waste to do anything like that.
I'm glad that they're failing so miserably to retain the youth.
