“A lot of product teams are going to be like wow our product is amazing, we have increased our renewals by whatever 20% — but if they were to slice it: what is the cohort that bought natively in-app versus the cohort that bought through web, maybe the renewal rates are flat.”

Web checkout's higher renewal rates can be a mix-shift illusion, not a product win

Web-purchased subscriptions renew at significantly higher rates than in-app purchases in many apps — not because of product improvements, but because web attracts a different, higher-intent user. When aggregate renewal metrics improve after enabling web checkout, product teams need to segment by acquisition channel before claiming credit for a retention win.