Once Chat App Case Study: Scaling With Web2App Funnels

Once is a chat app built around meaningful, low-pressure connection, pairing people with a daily chat partner based on their vibe, and helping them build social confidence and genuine conversation within a supportive community.

As the team scaled paid acquisition, they wanted to test web funnels as a new way to onboard users before sending them into the product. The goal was to move beyond a standard app-store-first journey and create web experiences that could better explain the value proposition, qualify users, and guide them into the app.

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The challenge

Social and chat apps are a highly competitive category, where small differences in messaging, onboarding, and user intent can have a major impact on funnel performance.

Once needed a way to test different acquisition angles and funnel concepts quickly, without rebuilding the whole setup from scratch each time.

The team also needed the web journey to connect smoothly with the product experience, so users could move from a quiz or landing flow into the main Once app with less friction.

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The solution

web2wave supported Once with a research-driven Web2App funnel approach.

The work started with growth research and funnel strategy: identifying which user journeys, messaging angles, and onboarding flows were worth testing for its audience.

From there, Once launched multiple web funnels with web2wave, each designed around different acquisition hypotheses and user paths.

Instead of relying on one static funnel, Once could test multiple concepts and compare how different web journeys performed across acquisition campaigns.

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From launch to iteration

After the initial funnels were live, Once moved into structured testing: running A/B tests across quiz flows, trial and non-trial paywalls, pricing structures, and offer positioning.

That iteration added up. Over the testing period, conversion to subscription more than doubled, and monthly funnel revenue grew several times over from the first month of testing to its peak, while daily new subscriptions climbed from just a handful to a steady, much larger flow. Rather than a single lucky launch, this was a steady, step-by-step ramp built on continuous iteration.

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The outcome

Once built a more flexible Web2App acquisition system with web2wave.

Started from scratch, the funnel grew step by step into a genuine, repeatable acquisition channel, with subscription volume and revenue climbing steadily as the team refined messaging, qualification, and offers.

The biggest shift, though, was operational: Once moved from isolated funnel launches to a repeatable testing process across landing pages, quizzes, redirects, and product handoff flows.

Today, web2wave helps Once test and scale Web2App funnels as part of its acquisition strategy.

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Want to build the same? Launch your Web2App funnel with web2wave.