Handwrytten · robot-written handwritten notes
Run Google search ads when most customers are worth very little
$5 per click vs ~$0.20 margin from a typical small sender
Failedpaid-search
What they did
Ran Google search ads; clicks cost ~$5, but many clickers are low-volume users (e.g. a realtor sending a few notes) worth ~$0.20 contribution margin, while value is concentrated in a few clients sending 20-50K notes/month. Stopped relying on SEM.
What happened
$5 click vs ~$0.20 contribution margin for a typical small sender
In their words
Top Founders with Nathan Latka · Handwrytten Sends 6 Million Fake Handwritten Notes a Year and Makes $10M“it also makes it really hard for us to get advertising that's working because if we do like a Google ad and then God forbid a realtor clicks it”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Handwrytten: Hire one in-house writer to blog on searches like 'good luck messages'~40K search clicks a month, but few become paid accounts
- Handwrytten: Start paid social ads after lots of organic posting
- Handwrytten: Let customers trigger notes from their CRM, Shopify or ClaudeMost volume comes through automations; apps send only ~30-40 notes/day
- Handwrytten: Lease your robots to shipping partners for ~$1,000-1,250 a month each~30 robots leased; good margin but small revenue so far
- Handwrytten: Let customers add gift cards or cookies to each note
- Handwrytten: Stay bootstrapped and US-only instead of raising money to expandProfitable (~$350K in 2025) but growth hampered; revenue dipped
- Handwrytten: Buy weaker competitors and move their clients onto your platform