Building and marketing a mobile app is hard; turning that hard work into profit is even harder. Until recently, developers unwilling to surrender up to 30 % of every sale to Apple’s in-app purchase system had little choice. But the legal ripples from the Epic Games v. Apple case have begun to change the rules. iOS apps operating in the United States can now tap into new audiences by inviting users to pay on the web, bypassing Apple’s commission.
The web isn’t new, but the playbook has evolved
Click on image for full size.
Source: Paddle
In our recent online event, Lucas Lovell, VP of Product at Paddle, shared compelling data from companies implementing web acquisition and app-to-web payment strategies. The results reveal just how much revenue mobile apps are leaving on the table.
The hidden audience opportunity
The most striking finding to emerge from the session was that users acquired through web funnels typically have only a 15% overlap with those acquired on mobile. This means 85% of a potential web audience remains completely untapped by mobile-only acquisition strategies.
Major players like Noom and Flo Health have leveraged web acquisition to dramatically expand their user bases while improving attribution capabilities that aren’t subject to Apple’s privacy restrictions.
Early app-to-web results show promise despite variance
Following the Epic Games v. Apple court ruling, early adopters are navigating uncharted territory with results that swing dramatically based on implementation approach.
The variance is staggering. Lovell shared data from seven different experiments where outcomes ranged from a nearly 190% positive impact on average revenue per user to a devastating 38% negative impact. SuperWall, a mobile paywall builder, reported a slight conversion dip but an overall 20% increase in net proceeds for companies paying Apple’s 30% fee. Meanwhile, Stoic, a Paddle customer, experienced only a 5% conversion drop while achieving a 15% overall revenue increase.
“We’re very much in an experimentation phase,” Lovell emphasized. “Some companies are winning, some are still struggling to make it work.” One thing is certain, success isn’t guaranteed by simply adding a “pay on web” button to your paywall. It takes a lot more to succeed in this Wild West of web payments.
The “Moments That Matter” framework
Lovell’s key insight challenges the industry’s checkout obsession. His “Moments That Matter” framework identifies five critical conversion points:
- Click-to-view: Ad creative and targeting
- View-to-paywall: Onboarding and messaging
- Paywall-to-checkout: Pricing transparency and design
- Checkout-to-paid: Payment optimization and localization
- Paid-to-retained: Retention flows and communication
“Most folks are optimizing their checkout but not thinking about everything else,” Lovell explained, pointing out that checkout should be seen as just a small moment of a much larger funnel. “Checkout isn’t everything. By ignoring the rest of the purchase experience, you’re actually leaving revenue on the table.”
Optimizing your funnel
Click on image for full size.
Source: Paddle
Improving conversion by 10% early in the funnel has exponential downstream impact compared to optimizing checkout alone. But there’s a darker truth hiding in the data.
Lovell warned against companies deploying “dark UX tactics” to artificially inflate checkout conversion, only to see retention rates crater due to increased refunds and chargebacks from misleading pricing. “It’s not just about maximizing revenue at conversion,” he stressed. “If you’re not transparent about pricing upfront, it will bite you on renewal. Your Trustpilot reviews will tank.”
The framework demands holistic thinking. Developers should aim to optimize every moment while measuring cumulative impact through metrics like return on ad spend, lifetime value, and customer acquisition cost.
Beyond fee reduction: The real web advantage
While avoiding Apple’s 30% fee grabs headlines, Lovell’s data reveals companies are staying for reasons that go far beyond saving money. “Yes, the fee reduction is definitely the catalyst,” he explained, “but many of them are staying for these other advantages.”
- Billing flexibility
- Improved cash flow
- Customer relationship control
- Attribution clarity
The freedom to experiment with billing models proves transformative. “The web as a platform to monetize your customers is unrestricted in terms of the billing and pricing models that you can deploy,” Lovell noted. Companies can finally offer special promotions, complex bundling of multiple products in one subscription, flexible discounting, and add-on structures — all impossible within the rigid frameworks of the App Store.
Cash flow improvements caught even Lovell by surprise. “It has really been quite surprising to see just how many mobile app developers have gone to the web purely to improve their cash flow capabilities.” Instead of waiting a month or more for App Store payouts, companies now access their revenue within days, providing crucial capital for reinvestment in growth.
Perhaps most valuable is regaining control over customer relationships. Companies can now communicate directly with users, build sophisticated retention flows, and deploy cancellation-saving tactics like targeted discounts or plan downgrades.
For web-acquired users, the attribution benefits are game-changing. These funnels aren’t subject to Apple’s privacy restrictions, allowing companies to “directly track users from paid ads and optimize them more effectively.”
As Lovell summarized: “Better economics, more control, and faster learning through more rapid, iterative experimentation.”
Implementation reality check
Web payments may seem straightforward, but they’re far more complex than most people realize. The complexity extends far beyond simply adding a payment link that redirects to the web.
When companies leave the App Store ecosystem, they suddenly inherit responsibilities that Apple previously handled as part of that 30% fee.
As Lovell explained, “Apple and Google Play Store handle all of your chargebacks and disputes. They handle fraud. They handle payment methods for all geographies. They do orchestrations, sales tax, and more.”
Moving to web payments means app businesses must suddenly handle:
- Sales tax compliance across jurisdictions
- Fraud prevention and chargeback handling
- Payment method localization for different markets
- Payment orchestration
- Authorization optimization to maximize payment acceptance
- Currency and language localization
“If you’re using a traditional payment processors, all of that operational complexity will suddenly be your responsibility once you’re outside of the App Store,” Lovell warned. This explains why many companies are exploring different approaches to managing this increased operational burden.
The resource requirements for getting started remain surprisingly manageable though. “A growth marketer paired with an engineer can sort of get this up and running within a few days,” Lovell said. However, companies serious about scaling their experimentation — potentially running hundreds of tests simultaneously like big consumer apps — will need dedicated growth teams or trusted partners specializing in payment infrastructure for mobile apps (like Paddle).
The key is starting small to build a business case: “You can just start testing and then build that business case and then present that back internally to get more resource over time.”
Ready to unlock your app’s hidden revenue potential?
Watch the full session for Lucas Lovell’s complete framework breakdown, see detailed case studies, and learn how to implement web acquisition strategies that could transform your app monetization. Watch here.
