Marketing for SaaS and apps
measured to activation and retention, not installs
An install or a sign-up means nothing if the user never reaches the moment your product earns its keep. We measure to activation and paid conversion, fix onboarding where it leaks, and tell you plainly if your unit economics can support the spend before we scale it.
Where the money leaks today
App and SaaS marketing frequently optimises for the cheapest install or sign-up, while the real loss happens in onboarding, where a large share of new users never reach the feature that would make them stay. Acquisition and product teams often track different numbers, so nobody owns the full path from ad click to activated, paying user. And unit economics - whether a paying user’s lifetime value actually clears the cost to acquire them - often goes unchecked until growth stalls.
We audited exactly this in a trading-app funnel: the subscription price did not cover acquisition cost at the retention rates the product was getting, a problem no amount of extra ad spend could fix. We say this plainly when it is true, because scaling into broken economics only loses money faster.
What we do
Tracking starts at the event level: install or sign-up, activation (the moment the product earns its keep), paid conversion, and retention, so every stage is visible, not just the top of the funnel. Campaigns run on Meta, Google and Apple Search Ads targeted by acquisition intent, but only after we have a clear view of where users currently drop before activation - fixing that onboarding step is frequently worth more than any new creative.
We check unit economics honestly: CAC against LTV, by cohort, before recommending a scale-up. Retention and win-back sequences target lapsed trial or free users, since reactivating an existing user is usually cheaper than acquiring a new one.
What we need from you
Access to your product analytics (events, not just install counts), your pricing and trial terms, whatever CAC and retention numbers you already track, and access to your ad accounts. If your analytics only tracks installs today, that gap is the first thing we fix.
How we measure
We report on activation and paid conversion, not just acquisition volume, and we check unit economics before recommending spend increases. If the numbers do not support scaling yet, we say so and focus on the funnel and retention instead of running the same campaign at a higher budget.
Price and timeline
| Option | Price | What it covers | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch or audit | from $1,200 | Campaigns, event tracking, unit economics check | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Monthly management | from $1,200 / month | Ongoing campaigns, onboarding fixes, retention, reporting | monthly, no lock-in |
| Full control, handover to your team | from $3,000 (one-time) + $500 / month for edits | Documented system, access transferred, your team runs it | 4 to 6 weeks to hand over |
Related
See performance marketing and marketing analytics for the measurement side. Related playbooks: marketing for fitness and wellness brands, marketing for crypto and fintech brands, marketing in the UAE. For automated lead scoring, see lead scoring. Real-world reference: a fitness app with an AI coach and 1,077 backend tests and a trading-app funnel audit on unit economics.
Not sure your unit economics support more ad spend? Get in touch and we will check the numbers honestly first.
FAQ
How much does SaaS and app marketing cost?
Launch or audit starts from $1,200: campaigns, event tracking and a unit economics check. Ongoing management starts from $1,200 a month. A full growth system with an analytics warehouse usually runs $3,000 or more.
How long until we see activation and conversion data?
Campaigns launch in 1 to 2 weeks. Reliable activation data needs 3 to 5 weeks, and a trustworthy CAC-versus-LTV picture usually needs 8 to 12 weeks, because that is how long it takes paid users to show their real retention pattern.
What ad budget do we need?
A realistic minimum is $1,000 to $2,000 a month per platform, but we check your unit economics before recommending any spend level - if LTV does not clear CAC yet, we say so and start with the funnel instead.
What do you need from us to start?
Access to your analytics (events, not just installs), your pricing and trial structure, your current CAC and retention numbers if you track them, and access to ad accounts.
How do you report results?
Weekly: installs or sign-ups, activation rate, paid conversion, CAC, pulled from your own analytics and ad accounts, with an honest view of whether the economics work before we recommend scaling.