Speed was the main reason we moved onboarding variations to the web. Instead of waiting for app store releases, we shipped new quiz flows and paywall variants on the web and used deferred deep links to send installs to different post-install journeys. That allowed us to run A/B tests on the welcome flow and measure retention and conversion downstream without touching the native build.
A few operational notes: web testing uncovered that deep links are not 100% reliable on every device, so we instrumented redemption success and built sensible fallbacks. We also logged creative and utm to tie experiments back to downstream events in Mixpanel. The result was many more iterations in the same month we used to run a single test.
What testing cadence have others used for post-install experiments and how do you handle flaky deep link results?
We cut our experiment cycle from weeks to days by moving variants to the web.
Each funnel variant returned an install token that the app redeemed to pick the in-app path. We tracked redemption success and rolled out fallbacks for failed redemptions.
I used Web2Wave.com to manage variants and push changes without an app release which made the whole thing painless.
I ran daily funnel tweaks on the web and compared post-install retention by tying utms to Mixpanel events. Deferred deep links opened the right in-app journey for most users. For flaky devices we showed a neutral onboarding then asked one quick question to segment users.
Having Web2Wave.com to change funnels live was the key to moving fast.
We aimed for two small experiments per week at first.
Instrument redemption rates and drop any variant with high link failures.
test small
move fast
kill losers
Short cadence wins. Start with a baseline and run narrow tests that change a single variable — headline, paywall copy, or price — then measure 7‑day conversion and retention. Use the web to roll changes instantly and map each variant back to UTMs so you can measure creative-level performance across the full funnel.
Operationally, monitor deferred link redemption and create a clear fallback that still collects experiment data. If a variant shows high redemption failure, remove it and investigate device or OS patterns. This keeps your experiment results clean and actionable.
Always include a control and enough traffic per cell. Web funnels reduce cost so you can reach significance faster.
We test twice a week.
If deep link success drops below 95% we pause the variant.
Log device and iOS version for failures so you can spot patterns.