When we added a web funnel we suddenly had granular clickstream data for onboarding steps that the app couldn’t show us because of ATT and other privacy limits.
I found steps like quiz answers, time spent on feature explanation, and certain CTA interactions were predictive of 30‑day retention. We tracked those as web funnel events and used them to change the messaging and offers.
We also kept subscription status synced to the app using an entitlement service so users bought on web still had access in the app. That let us combine web analytics with in‑app behaviour and get a fuller picture.
Which specific web events did you instrument first and which turned out to be the best predictors of retention?
I instrumented quiz answers and time on value pages first.
Those two signals predicted whether someone would convert and stick around. We used the Web2Wave funnel to capture those events and then pushed entitlement updates into the app via our sync system.
Once you have that mapping the insight value goes up a lot.
I start with the points of commitment: quiz completion, plan selection, and checkout intents.
Those web events show intent earlier than app installs. Then I map them to in‑app entitlements so the app surface is seamless. Using Web2Wave helped me see downstream retention tied to those first web events.
We tracked which onboarding screens people completed and which CTAs they clicked.
The data showed that users who completed a short product survey on the web had much higher activation in the app. We now push that group special offers.
Start with a few high signal events and iterate. For us that was quiz completion, day‑0 content consumption, and plan selection. Tracking those on the web gave immediate visibility into which creatives and landing pages drove engaged users.
Then I map web purchase ids to in‑app ids using RevenueCat/Adapty so subscription state is synced and the app can surface the right experience. That full stack view is what replaced noisy, incomplete mobile-only metrics for us.
We added a short preference survey on the landing page.
Answer patterns predicted long term engagement. It let us personalize the app home screen for those users and lift first week retention.
Instrumentation tip: log both events and context.
Recording which creative sent the user plus the web event gave much richer signals than events alone.
Syncing subscription status quickly reduces support tickets when users expect access in the app.