Paywall button to a web checkout: -25% instant conversions, +17% LTV
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsZumba routed its paywall button to a Stripe web checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay preselected, and LTV rose 17% even though immediate conversions fell 25%.
Lucy Levy and Nicole Page of Zumba shared the result on the Sub Club podcast, published on the RevenueCat blog.
- Immediate conversions: down 25%. This is a real cost at the top of the funnel.
- Annual plan share and retention: both rose.
- LTV: up 17% overall, which more than made up for fewer instant buyers.
The change
The paywall button opens a web checkout instead of the native purchase sheet.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The paywall used the native in-app purchase checkout.
Variant
The paywall button opened a Stripe web checkout, with Apple Pay and Google Pay preselected to cut friction.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Leaving the app adds a step, so fewer people bought right away.
- The users who did buy on the web picked annual plans more and stayed longer.
- Web billing avoids app store fees, though the write-up does not say how much of the LTV gain came from that.
Caveats: Sample size, duration and test setup were not shared. RevenueCat's customer story gives +15% LTV for the same change, and RevenueCat sells web billing tools, so the result is vendor-published.
Who ran it
Zumba ran this test. Source: RevenueCat blog (Sub Club podcast write-up). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
How to run this test on your app
- Hypothesis
- If we send paywall taps to a web checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay preselected, then LTV will rise because buyers choose annual plans and stay longer, even if fewer buy right away.
- Primary metric
- LTV per paywall viewer
- Guardrails
- Immediate conversion rate
- Annual plan share
- Refunds and chargebacks
- Who should test it
- Apps in markets where app store rules allow linking to web checkout, with enough volume to wait for LTV data. It may not pay off for apps that live on impulse buys.
Questions
Will web checkout lower my conversion rate?
It did at Zumba, by 25% for immediate conversions.
LTV still rose 17% because of more annual plans and better retention.
Why preselect Apple Pay and Google Pay?
It keeps the web checkout close to the one-tap feel of in-app purchase, which reduces drop-off.
How long should I run this test?
Long enough to measure LTV, not just first purchases, since the gain here came from plan mix and retention.
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