Mobile App Onboarding

App retention refers to the capacity of an application to sustain users' engagement and activity for a specified duration after they have downloaded and installed it on their devices. It gauges the proportion of users who revisit the app after their initial download and reuse it. Essentially, app retention is an indicator of user loyalty and demonstrates the app's ability to deliver a positive user experience and satisfy user requirements over time. Retention rates are typically measured on Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30. High app retention rates are critical for the success of an app because they suggest that users perceive value in the app and are inclined to continue using it in the future.

The trial-to-paid funnel describes the complete user journey from initiating a free trial to becoming a paying subscriber, including all intermediate steps and decision points along the way. This funnel typically includes: trial start → onboarding/activation → feature engagement → value realization → renewal decision → paid conversion. Each stage has its own conversion rate and drop-off risks. The trial-to-paid funnel is distinct from broader acquisition funnels because the user has already committed to trying the product — the challenge is demonstrating enough value during the trial window to justify ongoing payment. Key optimization levers within the trial-to-paid funnel include: targeted onboarding that quickly guides users to their "aha moment," progressive feature revelation that gives users reasons to return throughout the trial, timely nudges and reminders about trial expiry, and strategic offers (discounts or plan suggestions) for users showing signs of disengagement. Apps with web-based subscription flows can extend the trial-to-paid funnel to include web touchpoints — such as email sequences, web-based engagement dashboards, and browser-based renewal reminders — that complement in-app communications.

Mobile app conversion rate (CR or CVR) is the percentage of users who achieve a specific goal within the app, such as making a purchase, creating an account, subscribing to a service, or completing a survey. Conversion rates are an important metric for mobile app developers and marketers as they indicate the effectiveness of the app in driving user engagement and achieving business goals. A higher conversion rate typically means that the app is successfully guiding users towards the desired action, while a lower conversion rate may indicate that there are issues with the user experience or the app's marketing strategy.

Funnel analysis is the process of tracking and measuring how users progress through a defined sequence of steps toward a desired outcome, such as installing an app, starting a free trial, or completing a subscription purchase. Each step in the funnel represents a conversion point where some users proceed and others drop off. For mobile subscription apps, common funnel stages include: ad impression → ad click → landing page view → app install or web checkout → onboarding completion → paywall view → trial start → paid conversion. By measuring the conversion rate between each stage, product and growth teams can identify where the largest drop-offs occur and prioritize optimization efforts accordingly. Funnel analysis is essential for both in-app flows (onboarding to paywall to purchase) and web-to-app flows (ad click to landing page to web checkout to app activation). Advanced funnel analysis segments users by acquisition source, geography, device type, or cohort to identify which segments convert best and where each segment encounters friction.

Web-to-App (Web2App) refers to the strategy and infrastructure that enables mobile app developers to acquire users and process subscription purchases through web-based flows before transitioning the user into the native mobile app experience. In a Web2App model, a user typically discovers the app through a paid advertisement or organic search, lands on a web page where they learn about the product's value proposition, completes a subscription purchase through a web-based checkout (processed by a third-party payment provider like Stripe), and is then directed to download and activate the app with their subscription already provisioned. The Web2App model has gained significant adoption among subscription apps for several reasons: it allows developers to avoid the 15–30% App Store and Google Play commissions by processing payments outside the native billing systems; it provides richer attribution data since web-based tracking isn't subject to the same ATT restrictions that limit in-app attribution on iOS; it offers a larger canvas for communicating value and presenting offers compared to in-app paywalls; and it enables more flexible pricing, offer, and discount strategies that aren't constrained by app store billing rules. The primary technical challenges of Web2App include maintaining a seamless user experience across the web-to-app transition, reliably syncing subscription entitlements between the web billing system and the app backend, handling edge cases (user doesn't download the app, switches devices, etc.), and solving post-iOS 14.5 attribution challenges that affect the ability to connect web conversion events to the advertising campaigns that drove them.