Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Why Web Onboarding Should Sell The Problem, Instead Of The Solution – Leon Sasson, Rise Science

Leon Sasson, co-founder/CTO of Rise Science (sleep app), on making web funnels work after copying app onboarding to web failed (2022). Web ads reach an older, e-commerce-minded audience higher in the consideration phase, so web onboarding should deepen and personalize the problem rather than rush to an aha moment. Also: test creative on web and app separately, shorter plans and discounted first paid periods instead of free trials, polished self-serve billing, persona-matched funnels.

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7 tactics

Rise Science · B2C · sleep and energy app

Rebuild the app's onboarding as a web funnel

Didn't work in two tries, 'not even close'; project parked

“I was pretty naive, "Hey, let's rebuild our app onboarding in web."”

Failedweb-to-apponboarding

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Rise Science · B2C · sleep and energy app

On the web, help visitors see their problem before pitching the app

Founder calls it super promising after hundreds of iterations; no numbers

“you're just going trying to go deeper on understanding the problem and personalizing it, but not going straight into solutions, because they might not be sold on the solution yet”

Workedweb-to-apponboarding

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Rise Science · B2C · sleep and energy app

Test each ad in both web-funnel and app-install campaigns, separately

Ads that flopped for app installs sometimes win on web, and vice versa

“we often see creative that maybe wasn't working on app that now starts working on web, and the other way around”

Workedpaid-socialweb-to-app

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Rise Science · B2C · sleep and energy app

On the web, charge half price for the first month instead of a free trial

Tested better than free trials; ads stop finding people who cancel at once

“we tend to not offer free trials on web, which is maybe the biggest difference”

Workedpricingweb-to-app

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Rise Science · B2C · sleep and energy app

Push monthly and quarterly plans on the web instead of annual

Founder says web needs different packaging; no numbers

“We tend to skew to shorter-term plans, so monthly, quarterly. But we test everything”

Unknownpricingweb-to-app

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Rise Science · B2C · sleep and energy app

Build a separate web funnel for each ad's target persona

Early, interesting wins; not a big breakthrough yet

“It hasn't been a huge breakthrough yet, because it does require an [inaudible 00:16:05] more complex operations between marketing, and product, and coordination of everything”

Mixedweb-to-apppaid-social

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Rise Science · B2C · sleep and energy app

Make canceling, refunds and plan changes easy before judging web tests

Without it, trial conversion looks falsely high and chargebacks pile up

“everything from taking the payment, to canceling your subscription, to changing plans, to requesting refunds, to the customer support, to potentially handling chargebacks, you have to get incredibly good at that as table stakes”

Unknownpayments-checkoutcustomer-support

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-03-05

Numbers mentioned

Subject	Metric	Value	Quote
Rise Science	count Web funnel iterations after restarting web as a separate channel	hundreds and hundreds approximate	“I mean, hundreds and hundreds of iterations to get the right mechanism of what's going to work on web is different than app”
Rise Science	share Example discount on the first paid month offered instead of a free trial on web ('first month might be half the price')	50% illustrative	“"Hey, the first month might be half the price." Or whatever measure it might be”
Rise Science	time to milestone Time needed to know if a creative works on app campaigns (longer on low budgets); much faster on web	1–2 weeks approximate	“you might need to wait a week or two to know if it's working”