UK Payment App Ads: The Complete Growth Guide

Trying to advertise a payment app in the UK is a completely different ball game than flogging t-shirts or meal delivery kits. Your biggest competitor isn’t just Monzo or Revolut; it’s the deep-seated scepticism people have about trusting a new app with their hard-earned cash. If you just throw a budget at Facebook and hope for the best, you’re going to burn through your funding faster than you can say "negative ROAS".

The problem is that most marketing advice assumes a low-trust product. But when you're asking for access to someone's bank account, you're playing in the premier league of customer trust. Your advertising platform choice and messaging can’t be an afterthought; it has to be your entire strategy. I've seen countless fintech startups with brilliant products fail because they approached their advertising with a B2C ecommerce mindset. It just doesn't work.

So, let's cut through the generic advice. This is a no-nonsense guide to which platforms actually work for payment apps in the unique, highly regulated, and competitive UK market. We're going to build your strategy from the ground up, starting with the platforms that build trust and capture intent, before even thinking about scaling wide.

So, why is marketing a payment app so different?

Before we even talk about platforms, we need to get one thing straight. You're not selling a convenience; you're selling security. You are asking someone to do something that their parents told them never to do: give their financial details to a company they've only just heard of from an ad on their phone. The friction you need to overcome is immense.

This is what I call the 'Trust Deficit'. Unlike a new fashion brand, where a user might take a punt for £20, the perceived risk with a payment app is huge. They're not just risking a tenner; they're risking their rent money, their privacy, their financial security. Because of this, the typical advertising funnel is inverted. For most products, awareness leads to consideration, which leads to trust (a purchase). For fintech, you need to establish trust before you can even earn their consideration. This is why understanding the trust hierarchy of ad platforms is the first and most important step.

Your potential customer is asking questions like: Is this company legitimate? Is it regulated? Is my money safe? What happens if it goes bust? Your ads, your landing page, and your platform choice all need to answer these questions, implicitly and explicitly. Every single touchpoint is either building or eroding that fragile trust. A gimmicky TikTok ad might get views, but it can also scream "fly-by-night operation" to a cautious user.

And let's not forget the big elephant in the room: regulation. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) heavily regulates financial promotions. You can't just make bold claims or promise guaranteed returns. Your ad copy has to be meticulously compliant, clear, fair, and not misleading. We've seen companies get their ad accounts suspended indefinitely for breaking these rules. It’s not a slap on the wrist; it can be a death sentence for your growth. If you are serious about this you'll need to read up on the complex world of fintech ad approvals, it's a minefield.

Where should you spend your first £10,000?

The biggest mistake I see payment app founders make is spreading their initial budget too thin across too many platforms. They put a bit on Google, a bit on Facebook, maybe try some TikTok. This 'spray and pray' approach doesn't work. You need a phased, deliberate strategy. For any fintech, especially a payment app, you absolutely must start at the bottom of the funnel and work your way up.

Tier 1: The Foundation of Intent (Google Ads & Apple Search Ads)

This is non-negotiable. Your first ad pound should be spent on search. Why? Because you are meeting users at their precise moment of need. They are literally typing their problem into a search bar. They are problem-aware and solution-seeking. The trust barrier is already lower because they initiated the search. You aren't interrupting their social feed; you are providing an answer to a question they just asked.

Think about the search terms:

• -> "best app to send money to Nigeria"
• -> "cheapest way to pay us invoice from uk"
• -> "peer to peer payment app uk"
• -> "revolut alternative"

These are not casual browsers. These are people with a specific, urgent financial job to be done. Capturing this intent is the most capital-efficient marketing you will ever do. Your job here isn't to create demand; it's to capture the vast demand that already exists. For a new app, this is your lifeblood. We often find that a well-structured search campaign is the key to driving initial, sustainable user growth before you do anything else.

Apple Search Ads (ASA) is the other powerhouse here. It's the same principle but in an even more high-intent environment: the App Store itself. Someone searching for "payment app" on the App Store is seconds away from downloading. Winning that top spot is incredibly powerful. The conversion rates from ASA are often leagues ahead of any other platform because the journey from ad to install is virtually frictionless.

The costs on these platforms can seem high on a per-click basis, but the quality of the user is unmatched. A user from a high-intent search term is far more likely to activate, transact, and become a long-term valuable customer than someone who clicked your ad while scrolling through Instagram.

Can you actually build a brand on social media?

Here’s the contrarian take that most agencies won't tell you: for a new payment app, platforms like Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and TikTok are terrible for starting out. You do not have a brand to build awareness for yet. Nobody trusts you. Shouting about your features to a cold audience who isn't looking for a solution is one of the fastest ways to burn your cash.

When you run a "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" campaign, you are literally telling Meta's algorithm to find the cheapest possible eyeballs. These are, by definition, the users least likely to engage, click, or convert. They are the passive scrollers. You are paying to be ignored. It's a vanity metric that feels good in a board meeting ("we reached 2 million people!") but does absolutely nothing for your user growth.

So, when do you use social platforms?

You use them for Phase 2: Scaling with Conversions. Once you have a steady stream of users coming from search and you've proven your product-market fit, then you can use social media's powerful targeting to find more people *like* your existing best users. This is not about awareness; it’s about driving a specific action: installs or first transactions. You must use the "App Installs" or "Conversions" objective. Always.

Your best audiences on Meta will be:

• -> Lookalike Audiences: Create lookalikes of your most valuable users. Not just anyone who installed the app, but users who have made multiple transactions, or have a high wallet balance. This tells the algorithm to find more people who behave like your best customers.
• -> Interest Targeting (with a twist): Don't just target "Finance". It's too broad. Target interests that signal a specific need. For a remittance app, you could target expats from specific countries living in the UK. For a P2P payment app, you could target people with interests in "shared housing", "Sunday league football", or other activities where splitting bills is common. Get creative.
• -> Retargeting: This is huge. Target people who visited your website from a Google search but didn't install. Target people who installed but haven't made their first transaction. A simple retargeting ad with a small incentive ("Complete your first transfer and get £5 free") can be incredibly effective.

The creative you use here is also critical. Forget slick corporate videos. You need to build trust. User-generated content (UGC) style videos, testimonials from real users (with their permission, of course), and clear, simple graphics explaining your security features will outperform a glossy ad every time. You're not selling a lifestyle; you're solving a problem and calming a fear. I've personally seen campaigns for fintech apps reduce their CPA by over 50% just by switching from corporate-style ads to authentic-looking UGC. One of our app clients saw over 45,000 signups at under £2 each by focusing purely on a mix of Search and conversion-optimised social campaigns. That's how powerful this focused approach can be.

The only way to know if this is working and if you can afford to scale is by knowing your numbers inside and out. Specifically, you need to know your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Without it, you're flying blind, unable to know if a £7 Cost Per Install is a bargain or a disaster. This is probably the single most important part of scaling any app-based business profitably.

What about the other platforms? Can they work?

Once you've nailed your foundation on search and started scaling with conversion-focused social campaigns, you might have the budget and bandwidth to explore other channels. But tread carefuly.

LinkedIn Ads: For most B2C payment apps, this is a waste of money. The CPCs are astronomical and the mindset of users is professional, not personal finance. The big exception is if your app has a B2B component, like multi-user business accounts, invoicing features, or payroll services. In that specific case, LinkedIn's ability to target by job title and company size (e.g., "Finance Directors at SMEs") can be incredibly powerful. We've seen B2B fintechs get CPLs as low as $22 for highly qualified decision-makers, which is a bargain in that space.

Reddit Ads: This one is tricky but can be a hidden gem if you get it right. You can’t just run a generic ad. The power of Reddit is its community context. You can target specific subreddits like /r/UKPersonalFinance, /r/Fintech, or even city-specific subs. Your ad needs to feel like it belongs there. An AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the founder, a post genuinely asking for feedback, or an ad that speaks the language of the subreddit can work wonders. A bland corporate ad will get downvoted into oblivion. It requires more effort and nuance but can deliver a highly engaged, savvy user base.

Affiliate & Influencer Marketing: This is more of a partnerships play than a traditional ad platform, but it's crucial for fintech. Partnering with trusted voices in the personal finance space (bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters) is one of the most effective ways to "borrow" trust. An endorsement from someone like Martin Lewis (the dream ticket!) or other respected financial commentators is worth more than a million ad impressions. Start small with micro-influencers who have a dedicated, engaged audience and offer them a compelling commission structure. Their audience trusts them, and that trust is transferred to your app.

Your Ad Platform Is Useless Without the Right Offer

You can have the most perfectly targeted campaign in the world, but if your offer is weak, it will fail. The "Download Now" call to action isn't enough. You are asking for a significant investment of trust and effort from the user. You need to sweeten the deal and lower the friction.

What does a great offer look like for a payment app?

• -> A Sign-up Bonus: "Sign up today and get £5 in your account." This is a classic for a reason. It gives users an immediate, tangible reward and encourages them to complete the onboarding process.
• -> Fee-Free Firsts: "Your first 3 international transfers are on us." This directly addresses a primary pain point (fees) and allows the user to experience the core value of your app without risk.
• -> Referral Programs: "Invite a friend and you both get £10." This not only lowers your acquisition costs but also leverages social proof. People trust recommendations from friends far more than they trust ads.

Your offer needs to be front and centre in your ad copy and on your landing page. It's the hook that gets a user to overcome their inertia and give your app a try. Without a compelling, low-friction offer, you are making your advertising job ten times harder than it needs to be. For a comprehensive look at how different offers and channels stack up, our guide to the complete paid acquisition playbook for fintechs is a good next step.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Navigating the UK's fintech advertising space is complex. It's a maze of tough competition, strict regulations, and a constant battle to earn user trust. It requires a specific expertise that goes beyond general app marketing. Getting it wrong means burning cash and seeing little return, while getting it right means unlocking a clear path to scalable, profitable growth.

If you're finding it difficult to get traction or you're not sure how to apply these strategies to your specific app, it might be worth getting some expert advice. We specialise in this exact area and offer a free, no-obligation strategy consultation where we can look at what you're doing now and provide some actionable recommendations. It can often be the difference-maker.

Hope this helps!