A Website Growth Stack: Andy Carvell’s Mobile Growth Stack Adapted for Web

By Barri Coen, Lead Growth Marketing Consultant at Rise

For years, I’ve turned to Andy Carvell’s Mobile Growth Stack as one of the most reliable, flexible frameworks for scaling mobile apps. It’s comprehensive, intuitive, and—crucially—designed with growth loops, lifecycle stages, and cross-functional collaboration in mind.

But the further I leaned into web-first businesses, from SaaS to service providers to ecommerce platforms, the more I found myself translating and adapting it.

At some point, I thought: Why not just build the damn web version?

So that’s exactly what I’ve done—and in this article, I’ll walk you through it.

Why Adapt the Mobile Growth Stack for Web?

Before we jump into the framework, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the fundamental differences between mobile apps and web businesses:

• Web experiences are often frictionless - no app store, no install, no permissions. The barrier to entry is lower, but so is the retention.

• Acquisition leans heavily on SEO, content, and performance marketing, rather than App Store Optimization (ASO) or SDK-led virality.

• Onboarding flows differ dramatically. On web, you're guiding someone through a browser-based experience, not an app install.

• Analytics tools, infrastructure, and user journeys are different, often more custom and less SDK-bound.

That’s why we need a framework built for the web - not just a shoehorned version of a mobile one.

Introducing: The Website Growth Stack

The Website Growth Stack mirrors the structure of the Mobile Growth Stack, but reengineers each layer to reflect the reality of web-based growth. It’s divided into five main layers:

1. Acquisition

2. Engagement & Retention

3. Monetisation

4. Insight & Analytics

5. Platform & Infrastructure (Support Tech)

Each layer contains multiple strategic elements, and across them run key cross-cutting themes: brand, localisation, accessibility, team alignment, and channels.

Let’s unpack each one.

🧱 Acquisition

This is where most businesses focus first—and rightly so. But acquisition isn’t just about paid traffic; it’s about building repeatable, scalable traffic engines.

Key tactics include:

• SEO – Still king for compounding organic traffic.

• Content Marketing – Blogs, guides, webinars, case studies.

• Performance Marketing – Paid search, paid social, retargeting.

• Affiliate / Partner Marketing – A low-CAC channel when built properly.

• Social Media Marketing – For distribution, not just branding.

• Communities & Forums – Think Product Hunt, Reddit, Indie Hackers.

• Influencer Outreach & PR – For social proof and reach.

• Referral Programmes / Virality – Too often overlooked by web businesses.

💡 Barri’s Tip: You don’t need to do everything - pick 2–3 channels that complement your business model and double down.

🔁 Engagement & Retention

Once they’re in, how do you keep them around? Retention is the difference between growth and a leaky bucket.

This layer includes:

• Onboarding UX – First impressions matter; use guided tours, tooltips, and welcome emails.

• Email Marketing – Not just newsletters. Drip campaigns. Re-engagement flows.

• Web Push Notifications – Still underused in SaaS and service sites.

• Personalisation Engines – Show the right content to the right user.

• In-App Messaging – Subtle prompts to nudge behaviour.

• User Profiles & Accounts – A place to call home.

• Self-Service Help Centres – FAQs, documentation, and chatbots.

💡 Barri’s Tip: Engagement is about user intent matching - align your UX and comms to what users actually want to do.

💰 Monetisation

No traffic without revenue. This layer addresses how you turn visitors into revenue—whether that’s subscriptions, one-off payments, or something more creative.

Consider:

• Subscription Models – The bread and butter of SaaS.

• Freemium to Premium – But watch your conversion rates.

• One-Time Purchases – Think digital products, ecommerce.

• Checkout Optimisation – Reduce friction. Increase conversion.

• Upsell / Cross-sell – Add-ons, bundles, priority support.

• Affiliate Monetisation – Smart for creators or info businesses.

• Pricing Strategy – Dynamic, usage-based, per-seat? Test everything.

💡 Barri’s Tip: Monetisation should evolve with your product. Don’t set it and forget it.

🔬 Insight & Analytics

If you’re not measuring it, you can’t grow it. But most businesses either track too little - or drown in data that’s not actionable.

Tools and tactics here:

• Web Analytics (GA4, Plausible, Mixpanel, Amplitude)

• Funnel & Cohort Analysis

• Heatmaps & Session Recording (Hotjar, Fullstory)

• A/B Testing (Optimizely, VWO, etc.)

• Attribution Tracking

• SEO Tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Search Console)

• User Feedback Tools (NPS, surveys, interviews)

💡 Barri’s Tip: Build a single source of truth. And use it to answer specific growth questions, not just vanity dashboards.

⚙️ Platform & Infrastructure (Support Tech)

The backbone of growth. Without good tech, execution suffers.

Typical stack components:

• CMS / Web Frameworks – WordPress, Webflow, Next.js.

• CRM / CDP – HubSpot, Segment, Customer.io.

• Email Platforms – ConvertKit, Klaviyo, Mailchimp.

• Automation Tools – Zapier, Make, AI workflows.

• Data Layer / Warehouse – BigQuery, Snowflake, PostHog.

• Authentication – Auth0, Clerk, Magic.

• Performance Monitoring – Sentry, Datadog, Core Web Vitals.

💡 Barri’s Tip: Growth isn’t just a marketing problem—it’s an infrastructure opportunity.

🎯 Cross-Cutting Themes

Some things don’t fit neatly into layers but are crucial to overall performance:

• Brand Strategy & Positioning

• Internationalisation & Localisation

• Accessibility & Usability

• Speed & Core Web Vitals

• Retargeting (Meta, LinkedIn, Display)

• Team Alignment, Roadmapping, KPIs

These are the difference between a good growth operation and a great one.

Closing Thoughts

This stack isn’t just a theoretical model - it’s the playbook we use at Rise with our web-first clients.

From early-stage SaaS founders to established ecommerce brands, having a shared mental model like this helps align teams, clarify priorities, and track progress.

As someone who has relied on Andy Carvell’s original Mobile Growth Stack for years, this feels like a natural evolution - a growth framework for the browser era.

And if you’re running a web-based business, I hope this helps you zoom out, spot your blind spots, and scale with more clarity.

👉 Want to implement this stack in your business? Let’s chat. Get in touch with Rise.