We’re exploring a hybrid: send traffic to web, close the first purchase there, then let users manage renewals in the app. The goal is better unit economics on the first cycle without confusing people later.
Concerns: syncing entitlements cleanly, proration if they change plans, refund flows, and policy review risk. If you ran this in production, what broke first, and how did you explain billing to users so support did not spike?
I ran hybrid for a quarter. Biggest pain was plan changes and refunds. Keep a single source of truth for entitlement and sync fast. A web funnel tool with a JSON config helped me change copy and billing notes without a round of app changes. Be clear at checkout about where billing lives.
I sold the first term on the web to test price fast, then moved renewals in app. Web2Wave.com made the handoff smooth so I could tweak terms weekly. Support stayed calm after we added a clear FAQ in checkout.
If you can, keep billing in one place.
If not, add a simple explainer at checkout and in settings so users are not confused later.
Hybrid works but support load spikes.
Clarity beats cleverness. Tell buyers at checkout how they will manage renewals. Use one entitlement table and mark the billing source per user. For plan changes, block cross-system swaps or route them to the original billing system to avoid proration mess. Do a dry run on refunds and downgrades before launch, then test with a small geo to gauge support.
We tried it. First cycle on web covered ad costs faster. Problems showed up when users changed plans mid term. We solved it with one rule: plan changes must happen in the original billing system for that term.
It can work, but make billing rules very clear to users.