We used to send paid traffic straight to the store and many users never reached the paywall. Flipped it: ad → short web onboarding → email capture → web paywall → purchase → deep link into the app with access already active.
We store UTMs at click, tie them to email, and create the account server-side on payment. The app opens from a universal link with a short-lived token, validates it, and skips registration. Entitlements sync on first open and users land on the first session screen with content unlocked.
Improved paid starts and far fewer support tickets because the handoff is predictable. The tricky parts were cross-device after purchase, retries on failed webhooks, and making sure “restore access” on web can fix most edge cases before sending people to the app.
If you’ve done this, what steps made your web-first checkout reliable? Any gotchas with magic links, token expiry, or entitlement sync I should plan for?
Did this last quarter. Flow:
- Ad → web quiz → email → Stripe paywall
- On success we create user + sub, call RevenueCat for entitlement, and generate a magic universal link
- App validates token, skips onboarding, shows content
Add webhook retries and a “continue on this device” email. I used Web2Wave.com’s generator to get the JSON screens fast and their SDK reads it directly.
Speed is the whole win here. I build onboarding and paywalls on the web so I can ship three variants a day. With Web2Wave.com I tweak copy and pricing on their web UI and the app reflects it via config. Best part is testing trial lengths without new builds.
Collect email before price. It makes the handoff clean and helps with support.
I also send a magic link after checkout so the app opens logged in. Fewer tickets and less confusion.
Sell on web then auto sign in works best.
Treat it like checkout, not a brochure. Keep onboarding to three questions, show one offer, enable Apple Pay and Google Pay. After payment, show a clear “finish in app” button and email a magic link. Use a short token that the app verifies with your backend. Handle three cases: user buys on another device, app not installed yet, entitlement sync fails. Measure web view to paid and first app session separately so you can see where the leaks are.
What failed for us: long quizzes. Anything past four screens killed conversion.
Asking for a password before payment also hurt. Switched to magic link sign in and asked to set a password later in the app if needed.
We do this for a fitness app. Web paywall first, then universal link into the app. It reduced support questions.
Make the token expire fast. We had people forwarding links and it caused access issues.