Nicolas Tissier, co-founder and CPO of Purchasely, has spent years optimizing subscription app journeys. He says that the real onboarding window starts at the ad click and doesn’t end until the product becomes a habit. In this episode, Nicolas breaks onboarding down into three stages - intent, value, and habit. He explains why the first session matters so much, how emotional and social values can outperform feature-led messaging, and why more screens can sometimes improve conversion when they create positive rather than negative friction. He also unpacks the growing Web2App challenge, including how to preserve purchase context after a web subscription, avoid forcing paid users through redundant onboarding or paywalls, and build a cleaner handoff that supports conversion and retention.
What are the three stages of app onboarding, and which teams should own each one?
Where do apps lose the most users during the onboarding journey?
How much time do app publishers have to prove it’s providing the desired job-to-be-done?
Why can adding more onboarding screens sometimes improve conversion?
How has Apple’s ATT framework contributed to the growth of Web2App acquisition?
Where do subscription apps lose users when moving them from a web funnel into the app?
How can marketers create a smoother handoff for users who have already subscribed on the web?
Which apps have onboarding experiences worth studying?
Timestamps
01:09 — Introducing Nicolas Tissier and Purchasely
02:02 — Why Purchasely built no-code tools for faster experimentation
03:38 — The three stages of onboarding: intent, value, and habit
05:41 — Where apps lose users and why the first session matters
07:32 — Communicating progress over product features
08:49 — Push-pull anxiety, and inertia in the onboarding journey
10:18 — Positive vs. negative friction in onboarding flows
11:47 — Why Web2App acquisition grew after Apple ATT
13:45 — Converting users on the web before they download the app
14:44 — The critical Web2App subscription handoff
15:43 — Avoiding redundant onboarding and preserving purchase context
16:38 — Apps with onboarding experiences worth studying
17:45 — Where to connect with Nicolas and Purchasely
Quotes
(3:39) “From my perspective, onboarding is everything that happens between the ad click and the moment where the product actually becomes a habit.”
(5:57) “The average app loses roughly 80% of its users within the first three days. So it's rather at the beginning of the funnel. And if you look at this study, it's almost 90% of the acquired traffic that is gone.”
(6:30) “When it comes to monetization, the clock runs even faster. From our data, more than 80% of free trials start on the very day of the install. Half of the paid conversions happen the same day, and it's the same for cancellations. When you have three-day free trials, more than half immediately cancel their subscription just out of security. So, you really need to be very good from the beginning.”
Appleが提供するプライバシーフレームワークで、iOSデバイスに割り当てられるデバイス固有の識別子であるIDFA（Identifier for Advertiser）にアクセスする前に、ユーザーからトラッキングの諾否を得るプロセスを管理する仕組み。2021年4月にリリースされたiOS14.5より導入された。ユーザーの許諾が得られない限り、広告主は、IDのトラッキングができず、パーソナライズ化された広告配信などができなくなる。
