$10K Spent, 205 Signups... But Trials Aren't Converting (The Fix)

In the last 30 days, I’ve spent $10k on LinkedIn, Meta, and YouTube re-targeting ads. We've driven 205 signups, but we have a problem. Trials aren't converting to paid users (yet). Here’s what went wrong, what’s working, and how we’re fixing it:

First, a channel breakdown:

META (LAST 30 DAYS)

- 176 trial signups
- $20-68 per signup
- Broad campaigns: $21 per signup
- Minimal script installs

LINKEDIN (LAST 30 DAYS)

- $3,041 spent
- 22 conversions at $138 each
- 7.18% CTR

PERSONA BREAKDOWN

- Sales Persona: $819 spent, 0 conversions
- Founder Persona: $822 spent, 12 conversions at $68.56
- Marketing Persona: $600 spent, 3 conversions at $200.30
- Outbound Agency Persona: $797 spent, 7 conversions at $113.98

GOOGLE/YOUTUBE (LAST 30 DAYS)

- $2.8k spent
- 143,599 video views
- 7 conversions
- Pure retargeting play

WHAT’S WORKING

- Broad Meta campaign at $21/sign up
- LinkedIn Founders at $68 conversions
- LinkedIn CTR at 7.18% (industry avg is 0.5%)

WHAT'S NOT WORKING

- Meta’s finding signup collectors, not users. We’re optimizing for trial starts when we need script installs.

- LinkedIn Founders are converting at $68 but Sales Persona spent $819 with zero conversions.

THE FIX:

We're using Understory to run our ads. I love working with Ali Yildirim🌲 and Alex Fine🌲. The issue, they argue, isn't the ads themselves, but the conversion event they are optimizing for. Right now, Meta is finding people who simply start a trial, not those who become paid customers.

I think this is a HUGE PROBLEM many SaaS companies face.

They run ads, they get signups, but they don't convert to revenue.

That's why I asked the Understory team to join us on Unf*ck My Startup LIVE tomorrow (10/14 @ 3pm ET) and share their entire solution and reveal the exact next steps they are taking to fix this in real-time.

This is can't miss for any founder or marketer running paid campaigns who needs to turn high-volume sign-ups into predictable, recurring revenue.

Join us here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0ngothOlTTyHnwFvdENCRw#/registration