Practitioner pattern · Marcus Burke (Sells Meta ads consulting to subscription apps and plans a paid Meta ads email course)
Turn ads on and off, check survey and opt-in data, then set cost-per-trial goals
Scrappy model most small and mid-size teams use; no numbers
Unknownanalytics-attribution
What they did
Three inputs: (1) incrementality: switch ads on/off and watch the baseline (e.g. $2K/day on Meta lifts baseline 50%), easiest for small apps with little organic; (2) the ATT opt-in sample matched to channels; (3) the 'Where did you hear about us?' survey. From these, set cost-per-trial targets per channel (e.g. Meta worth 2x TikTok) and by country and age. Then check actual payback against the model (e.g. at $50K/month, is payback really day 8?) and revisit after ~3 months.
- Stage
- growth
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Scaling Your Subscription App with Meta Ads – Marcus Burke, Independent Consultant“And one of them is incrementality, so you want to switch ads on, switch ads off, and see what's happening to your baseline”
“And from there, it's really a bit of setting your cost per trial goals accordingly, so that you know Meta is always 2x as valuable as TikTok, so we need to adjust our cost per trials based on that level.”
“then check your actuals, like don't rely on just the modeling, but make sure that you're actually recouping money in the timeframe that you're predicted it would happen.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- InnoGames: Switch on each new Meta bidding option the day it launchesDoubled budget month after month while beating ROI targets (pre-ATT)
- Start with one Meta campaign and one ad set; split only as spend growsKeeps each campaign above SKAN's 88-installs-a-day threshold so Meta sees trials
- Optimize Meta ads for trial starts and rank trials highest in SKANApps with a trial in onboarding weathered SKAN better than games
- Wait at least a week before judging a new Meta campaignSKAN data arrives 2-3 days late; early reads show spend with zero trials
- Leave people under 25 out of your Meta ads at firstYoung users give cheap trials that rarely convert; age is the biggest lever
- Set up Meta campaigns by hand first; add Advantage+ later with lower bidsGuest's standard setup; no numbers given
- Check which placements each ad wins on, then make ads for those placementsGuest says most accounts miss this; no numbers given
- Put your best Meta ad in your App Store screenshots or videoGuest says matching the ad often lifts conversion; no numbers
- Match your onboarding reviews and prices to the people your ads reachCommon mismatch: young Reels traffic won't pay $80-90 a year
- Ask new users their age, gender and how they found youGives sample data per channel and age where SKAN misses up to ~50% of trials
- Skip paid tracking tools early; use Meta's SDK and your subscription dataMost 10-20 person client teams run without one; no numbers
- Test new ads in a separate campaign, in your cheapest real marketProtects the main campaign from resets; results carry over better
- Follow news pages your audience reads to copy their headline and image style
- Base your Meta setup on SKAN; use AEM only to scale furtherAEM helped high-CPI apps below SKAN thresholds, but it's a black box
- Start with Meta ads early; use Apple Search Ads to test your pricingGuest's default channel order; no numbers given
- Marcus Burke consulting: Post practical Meta ads tips on LinkedIn every dayBuilt a large backlog of consulting clients; no numbers