The Web Funnel: A Powerful Tool Most Brands Are Using Incorrectly

"The digital economy is shifting faster than most teams can adapt. The Epic vs. Apple ruling, which loosened the App Store's control over payment flows, simply accelerated a transition that was already underway. In practical terms, Epic challenged Apple's right to force developers into using its in-app payment system, opening the door for brands to steer users toward alternatives with different economics. When attribution visibility narrowed under Apple's app tracking transparency (ATT), customer acquisition cost (CAC) climbed."

"The result is hiding in plain sight: The most important economic lever in digital growth today is the web funnel. Not a landing page. Not a marketing surface. A full decision system that sits between the click and the install, and determines everything that happens after. The brands that understand this have already rebuilt their growth engines on the web. The brands that do not are losing margin every single day."

"I first heard the term "Web to App" during the Mobile Growth Summit, where several teams were discussing early wins from routing paid traffic through structured web decision flows instead of relying on app-store-centric onboarding. What stood out was how consistent the pattern was across industries. The strongest teams were already treating the web as the evaluation layer, long before the broader ecosystem recognized its economic impact."

Rapid shifts in the digital economy have altered payment flows, attribution visibility, customer acquisition costs, and margins. The Epic vs. Apple ruling loosened App Store control over payments and enabled brands to steer users to alternative economics. Apple's app tracking transparency narrowed attribution and raised CAC. Platform fees absorbing up to 30% of transactions compressed margins, while declining paid social performance changed growth fundamentals. The web funnel functions as a full decision system between the click and the install, determining downstream outcomes. Brands routing paid traffic through structured web decision flows rebuild growth engines and preserve margin by treating the web as the evaluation layer.

Read at Forbes