Web-to-app and web checkout tactics

Web (Stripe) cancel flow: ask why they're canceling, then test three save offers - discount (e.g. 30% off), pause for 3 months (students leaving for summer), and for users cancelling during a free trial 'Do you just need more time?' with 7 extra trial days. Shown in a web view in-app for Stripe subscribers; plans to bring to Apple/Google retention offers.

A/B test, half of users each: in-app purchase only vs. web checkout only. Iteration 1: paywall button sent users to the web. Iteration 2: in-app paywall with package selection (monthly/annual, via RevenueCat) and a 'Start Today' button; the tap opens Safari to a stripped-down Stripe page showing only the chosen plan, styled like Apple's in-app purchase sheet, then auto-redirects back into the app. No extra discount for paying on the web, to protect LTV. Next ideas: let users choose web or in-app, and route only high-intent placements (e.g. after the welcome class) to web.

Non-subscribers on the Skylight device could scan a QR code to subscribe; it used to open a web checkout. Flipped it to Apple in-app purchase so the user scans and subscribes on their phone in one step. Skylight also kept IAP rather than moving subscriptions to the web after anti-steering changes, because their test showed the conversion gain from less friction outweighs the 30%/15% Apple fee (only a fraction of subscribers pay via Apple, since most subscribe in the owned web channel).

To test if web purchase was viable at all, the existing in-app onboarding was replicated one-to-one as a web funnel and some paid traffic was sent to it.

Used ChatGPT to make a one-page HTML site (runify.xyz) with a one-sentence pitch and rank images. Two options: pay $5 via a Stripe link to become an 'early adopter' (lifetime subscription once live) or join the email waitlist. All Reels traffic pointed there.

Trained an in-house model that predicts a speaker's origin from ~10 seconds of speech and launched it as a separate web app (accentoracle.com): no download, no gate, no trial; record your voice and get results instantly, then get invited into the BoldVoice app. Shared it in the monthly investor update; a Korean angel investor posted it on Threads. After it spread, invested in accuracy and stability.

About 90% of traffic goes to a long personalized quiz on the website. The quiz educates users on the product, overcomes objections, raises perceived value and shows how personalized the plan will be; answers are used to build the user's plan in the app. Tested traffic to the App Store vs the quiz: the quiz converted much higher. An almost identical quiz inside the iOS app converted worse than web, while the same quiz on Android converted about as well as web. They may retest App Store traffic later.

Only paid channel is Meta, with UGC creative, sending traffic to a web funnel. One metric governs spend: 'marketing cash ROI' (basically same-day ROAS) kept positive, helped by the annual/monthly mix and by not scaling spend too fast. No lifecycle email, paywall tests, geo expansion, Google Ads, TikTok or SEO.

Built V1 as a web app in about a week with AI coding (Supabase, Vercel, Mailgun, Stripe, OpenAI API, Tavily search API, Claude Code), charged from the start with Stripe, and skipped polish like logos. Web revenue and feedback came first; a few months later he built a native Swift iOS app (Vercel backend, Supabase, RevenueCat, Superwall paywall A/B tests).

Added HSA payment at web checkout via Flex (RevenueCat integration). Users select a qualifying category (e.g. diastasis recti, pelvic floor exercises); checkout is longer. Free trial offered only on the annual plan for HSA. Launched quietly without announcement. Trigger: users had long been submitting receipts to insurance for reimbursement and asking in DMs.

Users (incarcerated people) and customers (their families outside) are different people. Families pay a monthly subscription of $15 or $20 depending on plan, with a discount for yearly billing.

On web funnels, mostly no free trial; instead a heavily discounted first period (example: first month at half price). Rationale: the ad platform optimizes on paying users rather than trial starters who cancel a minute later. Free trials still used in some cases. Guest notes results depend on the app and must be tested.