We wanted to see whether routing acquisition through a web funnel could reduce our CAC once we accounted for app store fees and better attribution. The web route added a landing page, clearer value messaging, and preserved campaign tags so we could attribute each paying user to a precise source.
Observations:
- initial CPIs sometimes rose slightly but effective CAC (cost per paying user) fell because we filtered low intent users on the landing page
- preserving UTMs reduced attribution leakage and meant fewer conversions were misattributed to organic installs
- moving checkout to the web avoided the store cut on web payments, but you must factor in payment fees and refunds
- accurate mapping of web purchases to in-app entitlements is critical or you’ll undercount revenue
Has anyone run a clean test that compares whole-funnel CAC web→app versus native installs including refunded payments and attribution differences? How did you structure the experiment?
We measured CAC two ways. Raw install CAC and true paid CAC.
The web funnel filtered out low intent traffic so our paid CAC dropped even though installs cost more.
We sent payment metadata back to our analytics so each paid user had a source.
Using a web funnel template from Web2Wave.com sped up the experiment setup.
Set up two cohorts and tag payments with the source. One cohort goes through web pre-sale the other straight to app store installs. Reconcile paid users against ad spends and refunds. We saw lower effective CAC on the web side because pre-sale reduced wasted installs.
We managed tests fast with a web platform that pushes changes immediately.
We found web funnels cut real CAC.
Landing pages let us qualify traffic so fewer installs churned immediately.
You do need good attribution or you’ll misread results.
Web cut paid cac for us by filtering low intent
Measure CAC at the revenue-converted user level not installs. Create an experiment where each ad click has a deterministic id that you preserve through the web funnel and into the payment metadata. For the app store cohort use an install attribution window but try to match first revenue events. Then calculate cost divided by paying users including refunds. The web route will often show better effective CAC because you reduce wasted installs and improve match rates. But watch for scale limits and the additional customer service work that web payments can create.
If you include refunds and better attribution web often looks cheaper.
But results depend on your traffic quality.