# Paywall CTA to web checkout: -11.9% conversion, ~+20% net proceeds

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Paywall (App)
- Date shared: 2025-05
- Test run by: [Superwall](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/superwall/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://superwall.com/blog/initial-data-is-in-app-to-web-conversion-rates-after-the-app-store-ruling
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/app-to-web-checkout-early-tests/

Sending the paywall button to web checkout instead of Apple's in-app purchase cut initial conversion by 11.9% but raised net proceeds by about 19.85%. Superwall ran these early tests across US iOS apps after the 2025 App Store ruling and published the pooled data on the Superwall blog.

## Result

**Initial conversion -11.9%; net proceeds about +19.85%**

- Initial conversion: -11.9% (negative). Switching from app to browser adds friction.
- Net proceeds: about +19.85%, because web payments skip Apple's 30% fee.
- Superwall's model assumes trial-to-paid is the same on web. If it rises 10%, it estimates net proceeds could rise about 32%.
- For apps on Apple's 15% Small Business rate, Superwall estimates web checkout would cut net proceeds by about 1.3% at current trial-to-paid rates.

## Control

A standard in-app paywall. Tapping the button started Apple's in-app purchase flow.

## Variant

The same paywall, but the button opened an external browser with Superwall's web checkout. After paying, users returned to the app via a deep link.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Leaving the app for a browser and typing payment details is harder than a one-tap Apple purchase, so fewer users finish.
- Each web sale keeps much more revenue, which more than makes up for the lost conversions at a 30% fee.
- At a 15% fee the margin gain is smaller, so the conversion drop can wipe it out.

## Caveats

Early data pooled across several US iOS apps; sample size and duration were not shared. The proceeds figure is a model that assumes trial-to-paid stays the same, and refund and chargeback effects were not yet known. Superwall sells the web checkout used.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we send our paywall button to web checkout instead of Apple IAP, then net proceeds will rise because we avoid the App Store fee, even if fewer users finish checkout.
- Primary metric: Net proceeds per paywall viewer
- Guardrail: Initial conversion
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid
- Guardrail: Refund and chargeback rate
- Who should test it: US iOS apps paying Apple's 30% fee. Apps on the 15% Small Business rate may lose money unless web trial-to-paid improves.

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Credit: Superwall ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/app-to-web-checkout-early-tests/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.