Practitioner pattern · Marcus Burke (Sells Meta ads consulting to subscription apps and plans a paid Meta ads email course)
Optimize Meta ads for trial starts and rank trials highest in SKAN
Apps with a trial in onboarding weathered SKAN better than games
Workedpaid-socialanalytics-attribution
What they did
Pick the conversion event closest to business value; for a subscription app that is the trial start. Put the trial in onboarding so it fires within the SKAN window, and make it the highest-value event in the SKAN conversion schema. Delayed-monetization products (e.g. strategy games) struggle because big purchases fall outside the window.
What happened
Subscription apps with trials in onboarding send an early value signal inside the postback window and were hit less by ATT than games.
- Stage
- growth
Related topics
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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
- 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
- Turn ads on and off, check survey and opt-in data, then set cost-per-trial goalsScrappy model most small and mid-size teams use; no numbers
- 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