Abound · B2C · money transfer app for expats
Send ad platforms a custom signup event only for users likely to fit
Guest calls it a big game-changer; no numbers
Workedpaid-socialanalytics-attribution
What they did
Context: on Meta, credit/fintech ads can't use lookalikes, age, gender, ZIP or specific interests. Funnel was install -> sign-up -> KYC -> bank link -> first transfer (revenue event). Sign-up was too loose (people gaming cashback/referral rewards); first transfer was too deep (three high-friction steps). At sign-up, data was routed to the internal database and the first and last name run through a name-origin API; anyone with 70%+ probability of being from South Asia (the Indian expat target) triggered a synthetic 'HQ' event sent back to the ad network. No financial data or PII was sent. The event met the three criteria: enough volume (Facebook 50/7 days, Google 10/campaign/day), recency (within 24-48h) and a good proxy for first transfer. Guest notes such scoring could now be vibe-coded instead of using an API.
What happened
That single step was a big game-changer: early, high-volume event that better predicted first transfers
“we ran the the first and last name through an API that kind of tells you what region of the world this person is likely from. And anyone who had a probability of 70% or more from South Asia, we would then send that back as a synthetic event uh to the ad network”
“that sin single step was like a big, big game-changer”
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