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The company
Founded in 2020 by long-time friends Dom Maskell and Ben Parker, Runna has quickly established itself as the world's #1 rated personalized running coaching app.
What started as a collection of PDF running plans has evolved into a comprehensive platform serving runners of all levels across 175 countries.
Since launching, Runna has grown to nearly a million monthly active users, driven by strong organic acquisition, partnerships with major races like the New York Marathon and the Hackney Half, and a passionate community that includes everyone from complete beginners to sub-2:15 marathoners.
People who couldn't run a single kilometer are now doing marathons. It's why we do what we do.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
After their recent Strava acquisition, we look back at their story and their journey with Paddle.
The challenge
As Runna's global user base exploded, the team faced significant limitations with their app-store-only monetization strategy.
Operating across 175+ countries while relying solely on iOS and Android presented multiple challenges that threatened to cap their growth potential.
Growing exclusively in the app store was proving costly for customer acquisition.
Apple’s privacy-first (SKAN) attribution and measurement solution makes cross-channel tracking extremely difficult and the Runna team felt the pain first hand.
In search of a better way forward, they landed on the Web2App approach.
A lot of our marketing is app-focused, but (we realized) by adding web monetization we could reach an entirely new audience.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
This presented novel problems for the team.
Now faced with the new prospect of managing payments on the web, chargebacks, fraud, and global sales tax, the team needed a new partner to help.
I had a call with Stripe and Avalara about tax thresholds, and that was the moment I realized we needed a partner like Paddle to handle it all.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
The solution
After a lengthy search, Runna chose Paddle as their web monetization partner, sold on the Merchant of Record (MoR) model.
We chose Paddle not just for cost savings, but because of the way they handle tax compliance, which was a huge factor.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
A swift implementation followed, with both teams working side by side to ensure success.
We were able to spin up a frontend super quickly and get things tested and up and running in less than a day.”
Meehir Patel, Engineer, Runna
This partnership has continued to evolve well past implementation
It's that kind of hands-on approach and genuine desire to help, not just passing problems off to someone else, that's been really important for us.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
The results
15% higher retention on the web
Thanks to an improved onboarding process and a more sufficient marketing funnel toolset, Runna has seen a major boost in retention and conversion rates.
Customers who subscribe through the web have a 15% higher retention rate compared to those who subscribe in-app.
That's a big deal when we think about LTV and long-term growth.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
This 15% improvement in retention translates directly to increased customer lifetime value, providing more resources for customer acquisition and product development.
Retain, a no-code churn reduction feature within Paddle, allows Runna to implement sophisticated win-back campaigns and intervention strategies to minimize churn, an option not possible within the App Store.
On the web, we now have more control over the cancellation experience.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
Faster testing of pricing, onboarding and checkout
The move to the web unlocked Runna's ability to iterate rapidly on conversion optimization.
Another reason was speed. On the web, we can iterate and test faster without waiting on App Store release cycles.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
This increased efficiency has enabled more frequent A/B testing of pricing strategies, onboarding flows, and checkout experiences, leading to continuous conversion rate improvements.
Operations made simple
On top of these results, Paddle has eliminated the operational burden of global tax compliance that was threatening to constrain Runna's international expansion.
The Merchant of Record model means Runna can focus entirely on product development and customer acquisition while Paddle handles all compliance, invoicing, and tax remittance across their 175+ country footprint.
Unified support
The integration between Paddle and RevenueCat, allowing for a single source of truth for subscription data across iOS, Android, and the web, created a seamless support experience that eliminated typical multi-vendor complications.
Both support teams are not only excited to get involved and help us with any of our problems, but they also talk to each other.
This means that when we have issues involving both RevenueCat and Paddle, it's been super easy for us to fix them, troubleshoot, and have an open conversation about the best way to approach something.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
But support has gone beyond just the technical questions.
The Paddle team is constantly looking for opportunities to help us outside of just the tech. Whether that's linking us with additional partners on a similar journey, or helping us think through different onboarding experiments and improvements to the flow, it means the relationship is much more meaningful.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
Future growth
With a new Web2App motion successfully established and delivering strong results, Runna expects continued rapid expansion across global markets without the operational constraints that previously limited their growth.
Ultimately, our mission is to make running accessible and enjoyable for everyone, and we want to grow as fast and effectively as we can.
Paddle has helped us move faster, far faster than we could have on our own or with a different partner.
We're excited for what's ahead.”
Miranda Paine, Head of Growth, Runna
Want to know more about how Paddle can help your app sell on the web with ease? Create your free account now or speak to our team. Get Started.