From my experience web iterations are orders of magnitude faster. I can push a new onboarding variant and have traffic on it the same day. App store releases add days to tests and kill momentum when you need quick answers.
Practical takeaways:
- run your initial creative and pricing tests on web first, especially for paid social where you need quick signals.
- keep a small roadmap for the app focused on stability and core product while the web handles offers and copy experiments.
- be aware that moving too much to web can reduce install velocity, so add budget rather than reallocate entirely.
What onboarding element would you A/B on the web this week if you had unlimited experiments?
I stopped waiting on app reviews for onboarding tweaks. Web experiments let me test messaging and funnel steps in hours rather than days.
I used a simple funnel template generator to spin up variants. It shaved weeks off our test cycle and helped prioritize the app roadmap.
Speed is everything for experiments. I build a dozen onboarding variants on the web, run them to small audiences, and iterate to a winner within a few days.
With the right web-to-app setup the app reflects the winning offer immediately and we avoid multiple store reviews for copy changes.
I A/B test the headline and the first benefit on web.
It gives a clear signal on whether the creative will hold up before we direct people to the store.
Web lets you iterate without the app store bottleneck. Focus web tests on high-leverage items: price, hero headline, and primary call to action. Use small cohorts so you can run many variants and move winners into the app only when you have reliable signals.
Make sure you measure downstream retention not just trial starts. Quick wins on CTR often evaporate by day 7.
We tested three onboarding flows on web in one week. The clear onboarding flow increased conversion to paid by 18%.
The app team only implemented the winner once we had clean downstream retention data.
Web beats app reviews for speed.
Just track retention not just signup rate.