Opal · B2C · screen time app
Pay a creator to run their existing video about your cause as an ad
Took over all campaigns; mission-led ads keep working
Workedpaid-socialugc-creatorsinfluencer
What they did
Found a creator's organic video about the screen time problem that was not about Opal. Reached out because it matched Opal's mission; the creator turned out to use Opal. Made a deal to use it as an ad and tweaked it slightly. The ad talks about the mission and does not show the product. Second time doing this; now doing more mission-focused ads.
What happened
The ad took over the entire campaign set a few weeks before recording; mission-focused ads generally perform well.
“we did release an ad actually a few weeks ago that took over our entire campaigns, and basically, this ad, it's much more of a organic-type video that talks about our mission in general more than the, it doesn't even show the product.”
“What happened is someone made this video before we ever reached out to them, and it wasn't about Opal. It was just about the space.”
“We're like, "Well, can we use this video as an ad?" And they said, "Yeah, sure. You should just take it." And we made a deal with them. We tweaked it slightly.”
Related topics
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- Hire a user who posted about you to run her own educational channel for you0 to ~700K followers and millions of views in a few months
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More from this episode
- Opal: Judge everything by 8-day ad return; raise spend weekly while above 100%Near zero to $5M ARR in about a year, no separate marketing budget
- Opal: Ask new users where they heard about you, and split results by answerFounder calls it the most reliable attribution, beating paid tools
- Opal: Ship a new app version every Monday, without exceptionSet the rhythm behind 121 A/B tests
- Opal: Charge about $100 a year from the start, after launching at $69Credited with reaching 100% 8-day ad return quickly
- Opal: Hire one person to make ads with creators who already love the appWorks better than the agencies tried before; no numbers
- Opal: Hide or shrink the close button on the onboarding paywallA winning test when optimizing for 8-day ad return
- Opal: Make the first paywall easier to skip so more people use the free appMore people activated; ARPU fell but stayed manageable, net positive
- Opal: Show the paywall right after a report on the years lost to phonesDownload-to-trial rose from 7% to 17% across iterations
- Opal: Show a trial timeline on the paywall: reminder on day 6, charge on day 7Dozens of challenger paywalls never beat it
- Opal: Set up a 9-to-5 weekday app block automatically during onboardingA huge win in tests; no numbers given
- Opal: Let new users choose how they want to block apps during setupFailed every time; one simple default won
- Opal: Try to bring people back after their first dayMost tests failed, except the offer to trial cancellers
- Opal: Give a free year for 5 invites and lifetime access for 2080% more users sent at least one invite
- Opal: Ask people's age and show a different setup or paywall by age
- Opal: When someone cancels their trial, send a 50% off offer by pushWorks quite well; the one re-engagement test that won
- Opal: Let users see their friends' screen time, with phone number sign-inSlight uplift in tests; some users invite friends
- Opal: Build for iPhone only and hold off on Android and MacReached $5M ARR without an Android app
- Opal: Split users with Firebase and compare groups in AmplitudeAnswers in about 8 days; ran 121 tests with a team of 7