Andrey Shakhtin, founder and CEO of FunnelFox, explains why web subscriptions convert and monetize better than the app store, how to stand up a minimum viable web-to-app test, and the payment risks that can freeze your revenue once you scale.
What you'll learn:
• Why full-funnel conversion (impression to purchase) runs roughly 2x higher on web than in-app, and how the app store install step explains the gap
• Why web LTV is about 2x in-app on annual plans and at least 50% higher on monthly
• The two structural reasons web LTV is higher: quiz funnels skew toward older, higher-willingness-to-pay buyers, and you control retention end to end
• How owning the payment stack lets you run custom cancellation flows and dunning (failed-payment recovery) that Apple and Google never expose
• Why deterministic post-ATT attribution makes web the fastest creative-testing loop you have
• Why a web funnel is the cheapest way to validate a product, sometimes before the app exists
• Why free trials quietly poison your Meta optimization, and how a $1-$5 paid trial fixes the signal
• The unit-economics benchmarks that matter: roughly 40-60% day-zero ROAS and a 6-month payback
• Why most "amazing-looking" funnels still fail at the paywall and checkout
• How to structure a paywall: outcome-based value, visualization, FOMO, price, then social proof
• The real difference between refunds, disputes, and chargebacks, and why only chargebacks threaten your account
• How dispute-rate and VAMP (Visa's acquirer monitoring) thresholds can get your PSP to freeze recurring revenue
• Why chargeback-alert services and external billing (payment orchestration) are close to mandatory at scale
• How an easy refund path plus a 50% save offer lowers chargebacks and protects net revenue
• How post-purchase upsells add roughly 20% LTV without triggering disputes
Key Takeaways:
A web funnel is the cheapest validation you have. Test demand, pricing, even a niche for a few hundred dollars a day before committing engineering. Some teams launch with no product at all, then build the app for the niche that converts.
Web's edge is deterministic measurement. With no ATT loss, every purchase ties to an exact creative, so you iterate on message and audience by real numbers instead of inferring from installs.
The full funnel converts about 2x on web. You skip the app store install decision, a friction point where lukewarm users drop before they ever see the offer. Most teams miss it because they optimize to installs.
Paid trials protect your ad signal. A $1-$5 charge proves the card works and sends Meta a real purchase event, so it optimizes toward payers instead of trial-tourists who never convert.
The paywall is where funnels die. After ~100 funnel reviews, it's the most under-built step. "Unlock all features" is not value. Lead with a specific outcome and date, and build it like a landing page.
Chargebacks can freeze everything. Refunds are harmless, but cross a provider's dispute or VAMP threshold and it can lock all stored recurring revenue. Make refunds easy and offer a 50% save to keep subscribers.
Links & Resources
FunnelFox: https://funnelfox.com
State of Web-to-App Subscriptions report: https://funnelfox.com/state-of-web2app-2026
Andrey Shakhtin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrey-shakhtin/
Timestamps
00:00 Andrey's path: 16 years in mobile, from code to growth to FunnelFox
04:30 The minimum viable web-to-app experiment
08:00 What scale you need first, and validating a niche with no product
10:00 Why web should complement, not replace, your other channels
13:30 How web monetization differs from in-app
16:00 The report: web LTV and conversion roughly 2x in-app
16:40 Why web LTV is higher: older buyers and full retention control
19:00 Why the app store install step kills conversion
21:00 Organic vs. paid traffic funnels
22:30 Free trials vs. paid trials, and the Meta signal
25:30 Why web-to-app projects fail
28:30 Unit economics: day-zero ROAS and the 6-month payback
29:30 Diagnosing a broken funnel against benchmarks
36:00 How to structure a paywall that converts
41:30 Intro offers and the telecom playbook
44:30 Refunds, disputes, chargebacks, and VAMP explained
51:00 Defending your payment account: alerts and external billing
55:30 The refund hack: offer 50% instead of losing the subscriber
57:30 Upsells and lifting LTV ~20%
59:30 Biggest pricing win: GLP-1 and $800 order values
01:00:30 What FunnelFox does
What you'll learn:
• Why full-funnel conversion (impression to purchase) runs roughly 2x higher on web than in-app, and how the app store install step explains the gap
• Why web LTV is about 2x in-app on annual plans and at least 50% higher on monthly
• The two structural reasons web LTV is higher: quiz funnels skew toward older, higher-willingness-to-pay buyers, and you control retention end to end
• How owning the payment stack lets you run custom cancellation flows and dunning (failed-payment recovery) that Apple and Google never expose
• Why deterministic post-ATT attribution makes web the fastest creative-testing loop you have
• Why a web funnel is the cheapest way to validate a product, sometimes before the app exists
• Why free trials quietly poison your Meta optimization, and how a $1-$5 paid trial fixes the signal
• The unit-economics benchmarks that matter: roughly 40-60% day-zero ROAS and a 6-month payback
• Why most "amazing-looking" funnels still fail at the paywall and checkout
• How to structure a paywall: outcome-based value, visualization, FOMO, price, then social proof
• The real difference between refunds, disputes, and chargebacks, and why only chargebacks threaten your account
• How dispute-rate and VAMP (Visa's acquirer monitoring) thresholds can get your PSP to freeze recurring revenue
• Why chargeback-alert services and external billing (payment orchestration) are close to mandatory at scale
• How an easy refund path plus a 50% save offer lowers chargebacks and protects net revenue
• How post-purchase upsells add roughly 20% LTV without triggering disputes
Key Takeaways:
A web funnel is the cheapest validation you have. Test demand, pricing, even a niche for a few hundred dollars a day before committing engineering. Some teams launch with no product at all, then build the app for the niche that converts.
Web's edge is deterministic measurement. With no ATT loss, every purchase ties to an exact creative, so you iterate on message and audience by real numbers instead of inferring from installs.
The full funnel converts about 2x on web. You skip the app store install decision, a friction point where lukewarm users drop before they ever see the offer. Most teams miss it because they optimize to installs.
Paid trials protect your ad signal. A $1-$5 charge proves the card works and sends Meta a real purchase event, so it optimizes toward payers instead of trial-tourists who never convert.
The paywall is where funnels die. After ~100 funnel reviews, it's the most under-built step. "Unlock all features" is not value. Lead with a specific outcome and date, and build it like a landing page.
Chargebacks can freeze everything. Refunds are harmless, but cross a provider's dispute or VAMP threshold and it can lock all stored recurring revenue. Make refunds easy and offer a 50% save to keep subscribers.
Links & Resources
FunnelFox: https://funnelfox.com
State of Web-to-App Subscriptions report: https://funnelfox.com/state-of-web2app-2026
Andrey Shakhtin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrey-shakhtin/
Timestamps
00:00 Andrey's path: 16 years in mobile, from code to growth to FunnelFox
04:30 The minimum viable web-to-app experiment
08:00 What scale you need first, and validating a niche with no product
10:00 Why web should complement, not replace, your other channels
13:30 How web monetization differs from in-app
16:00 The report: web LTV and conversion roughly 2x in-app
16:40 Why web LTV is higher: older buyers and full retention control
19:00 Why the app store install step kills conversion
21:00 Organic vs. paid traffic funnels
22:30 Free trials vs. paid trials, and the Meta signal
25:30 Why web-to-app projects fail
28:30 Unit economics: day-zero ROAS and the 6-month payback
29:30 Diagnosing a broken funnel against benchmarks
36:00 How to structure a paywall that converts
41:30 Intro offers and the telecom playbook
44:30 Refunds, disputes, chargebacks, and VAMP explained
51:00 Defending your payment account: alerts and external billing
55:30 The refund hack: offer 50% instead of losing the subscriber
57:30 Upsells and lifting LTV ~20%
59:30 Biggest pricing win: GLP-1 and $800 order values
01:00:30 What FunnelFox does