# Adding a 30%-off web option next to IAP: paid conversion 6.3% to 5.9%

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Paywall (App)
- Elements: Discounts, Plans
- Date shared: 2025-05
- Test run by: [RevenueCat](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/revenuecat/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.revenuecat.com/blog/growth/iap-vs-web-purchases-conversion-test/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/dipsea-iap-plus-discounted-web-option/

Adding a web subscription at 30% off the annual price next to in-app purchase lowered conversion to paying from 6.3% to 5.9% on Dipsea's paywall. RevenueCat ran the test on Dipsea, the audio stories app it owns, and published it on the RevenueCat blog. Trial-to-paid rose, but not enough to make up for fewer trial starts.

## Result

**6.3% → 5.9% conversion to paying**

- Conversion to paying: 6.3% to 5.9% (198 vs 187 paid customers). A small loss.
- Initial conversion: 27.0% to 23.5%. The second option meant fewer trial or subscription starts.
- Trial-to-paid: 25.0% to 28.2%, the best of all variants.
- Proceeds per user: about $2.09 vs $1.94 at a 30% store fee, so the discount ate the fee savings.

## Control

A clone of Dipsea's native paywall with Apple in-app purchase only: $69.99 annual, $25.99 quarterly and $12.99 monthly.

## Variant

The paywall offered both an in-app purchase with a 7-day free trial and a web annual plan at $47.99, a 30% discount, behind a "save 30% on web" button.

## Why it likely lost (our reading)

- Two buttons make for a harder choice, and some users who tapped the web option dropped off in the browser.
- The 30% discount may have drawn users who meant to pay, which fits the higher trial-to-paid.
- Matching the store fee with a discount leaves no margin gain on web purchases, so any lost conversions cost money.

## Caveats

About 3,100 new US iOS users per variant over about three weeks, in one app; the gap in paid customers is small (187 vs 198). RevenueCat sells the web billing product tested.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we add a discounted web subscription next to in-app purchase, then proceeds per user will rise, because some users will choose the cheaper web plan and we keep more of each sale.
- Primary metric: Net proceeds per new user after store and payment fees
- Guardrail: Initial conversion rate
- Guardrail: Conversion to paying
- Guardrail: Renewal rate by purchase channel
- Who should test it: US apps that must keep in-app purchase but can link to web checkout, and pay the full 30% fee. Try smaller discounts too; a 30% discount gives back all the fee savings.

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Credit: RevenueCat ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/dipsea-iap-plus-discounted-web-option/).
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.