Exeter: User Acquisition Agency Vetting (2024 Guide)

Right, let's get straight to it. The term "growth hacking agency" gets thrown around alot in places like Exeter, often by firms who think a few clever tricks can substitute for a proper user acquisition strategy. It sounds exciting, but more often than not, it's a bit of a red flag. Real, sustainable growth, especially for ambitious businesses in the South West, doesn't come from 'hacks'. It comes from a deep understanding of your customer, a compelling offer, and relentless, intelligent testing of paid advertising channels.

I've seen too many promising Exeter-based startups, some with brilliant ideas coming out of the University or based at the Science Park, burn through cash chasing vanity metrics peddled by agencies that talk a big game. They'll tell you about viral loops and disruptive tactics, but when you ask for their plan to acquire a customer profitably, the conversation gets vague. Sustainable user acquisition is a science, not magic. It's about maths, psychology, and process. So let's talk about what actually works.

Is Your "Ideal Customer" Just a Useless Demographic?

Before you even think about hiring an agency or choosing an ad platform, you need to answer this. Most people get it wrong. They'll say their customer is "a B2B company in the professional services sector in the South West with 20-50 employees." That tells you absolutely nothing useful. It's a sterile description that leads to generic ads that speak to no one.

To stop wasting money, you have to define your customer by their pain. You need to become an obsessive expert in their specific, urgent, and expensive problem. What is the career-threatening nightmare that keeps them awake at night? That's your target.

For example, if you sell compliance software to legal firms around Southernhay, the nightmare isn't 'needing better document management'. The real nightmare is 'a junior partner missing a critical filing deadline, exposing the entire firm to a malpractice suit and reputational ruin.' You don't sell software; you sell career insurance. You sell the relief of knowing that can't happen.

If you're a SaaS founder at the Exeter Science Park targeting engineering leads, your customer isn't just a job title. She's a leader terrified that her best developers are about to quit out of sheer frustration with a clunky, broken workflow. You aren't selling a 'workflow tool'; you're selling talent retention. You're selling the ability to hit deadlines without burning out her most valuable people.

Once you've identified that specific nightmare, your whole approach changes. You can write ad copy that feels like you're reading their mind. You can target them based on the niche podcasts they listen to on their commute down the M5, the industry newsletters they actually read, or the software tools they already use. This isn't just data; it's the entire blueprint for your targeting strategy. You have no business spending a single pound on ads until you've done this work.

How Much Can You Actually Afford To Pay For A User?

This is the next question that trips everyone up. Founders get obsessed with getting the lowest possible Cost Per Lead (CPL) or Cost Per User. But the real question isn't "How low can my cost go?" It should be "How high a cost can I afford to pay to acquire a fantastic, long-term customer?" The answer is your Lifetime Value (LTV).

Most businesses in Exeter I speak to either don't know their LTV or they calculate it incorrectly. Let's make it simple. You need three numbers:

• -> Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What's a typical customer worth to you each month?
• -> Gross Margin %: What's your actual profit on that revenue after costs of service?
• -> Monthly Churn Rate %: What percentage of your customers do you lose each month?

The calculation is straightforward: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

Let's say you run a SaaS business. Your average subscription is £300/month, your gross margin is 80%, and you lose 5% of your customers each month. Your LTV would be (£300 * 0.80) / 0.05 = £4,800. Each customer is worth £4,800 in gross margin over their lifetime.

Suddenly, the numbers look different. A healthy business model aims for at least a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means for a customer worth £4,800, you can afford to spend up to £1,600 to acquire them. If your sales process converts 1 in every 10 qualified trials into a paying customer, you can afford to pay £160 for a single qualified trial sign-up.

That £50 lead from LinkedIn that seemed expensive? It now looks like a bargain. This is the maths that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth. Use the calculator below to find your own numbers.

So, Where Do You Actually Find These Users?

Once you know who you're targeting and what you can afford to pay, choosing the platform becomes much easier. The best ad platform is simply where your ideal customer can be reached most effectively. Getting this wrong means you're shouting into the void.

For many Exeter businesses, especially in B2B or high-ticket services, the journey starts with intent. Are people actively searching for a solution to their problem?

• Google Search Ads: This is your bread and butter if people are problem-aware. For a local service business, think keywords like "commercial electrician Exeter" or "accountant for startups Devon". For a software company, it might be "best CRM for small law firms" or "project management tool for agencies". You're capturing demand that already exists. It's often the most direct path to qualified leads, but it can be competitive.


• LinkedIn Ads: If you need to reach specific decision-makers in certain industries, this is your best bet. The targeting is incredibly powerful. You can target by job title, company size, industry, and even specific company names. I worked on a campaign for a B2B software firm where we needed to reach CTOs and Heads of Sales in companies with 50-200 employees. LinkedIn was the only way to do that reliably, and we got them leads for $22, which was hugely profitable for them given their LTV. It's more expensive, but the quality of the lead can be much higher.


• Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Ads: Don't dismiss Meta for B2B. While the targeting isn't as precise as LinkedIn, it can be very effective, especially for reaching small business owners ("business page admins" is a good target) or for broader software products. We ran a campaign for a B2B software tool and got 4,622 registrations at just $2.38 each by using Meta's powerful algorithm and broad targeting after feeding it enough data. The key is a compelling offer and creative that stops the scroll and speaks directly to their pain point. It's also fantastic for retargeting people who've visited your website from other channels.

The choice isn't about picking one. A solid paid acquisition strategy often involves a mix. You might use LinkedIn to find new prospects, Google to capture those who start searching after seeing your brand, and Meta to retarget them and stay top of mind. The mix depends entirely on your specific customer and their journey.

What Kind of Results are Realistic for a UK Business?

This is where agencies can get very creative with their promises. The truth is, costs vary hugely. But based on the campaigns I've run, here are some realistic ballpark figures for the UK market. These are for leads, signups, or initial conversions, not complex sales.

Your cost per click (CPC) will likely be between £0.50 and £1.50. A decent landing page should convert between 10% and 30% of that traffic. Do the maths, and you're looking at a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) of anywhere from £1.60 to £15. For one software client, we achieved over 3,500 users at just £0.96 each on Google Ads, which is exceptional. For another, we generated over 5,000 trials on Meta at about £5.50 ($7) each. It all depends on the niche, the offer, and the quality of the campaign.

For eCommerce or high-friction B2B conversions (like a demo request), conversion rates are much lower, maybe 2-5%. So your CPA will naturally be higher. That's why understanding your LTV is so important – a £75 CPA might seem crazy until you know that customer is worth £10,000.

How to Vet an Exeter Agency (and Avoid Getting Burned)

So, you're ready to find some help. How do you seperate the genuine experts from the talkers? It's a process. You can't just rely on a slick website. You need to do your homework.

Step 1: Scrutinise Their Case Studies
This is non-negotiable. Don't just look for pretty logos; look for relevance and detail. Do they have experience in your niche (e.g., B2B SaaS, eCommerce, professional services)? Are the results specific and meaningful? "Increased engagement by 300%" is a meaningless vanity metric. "Reduced Cost Per User Acquisition from £100 to £7 for a medical job matching SaaS" is a concrete business result. That's from a real campaign we ran, and that's the level of detail you should be looking for. Ask yourself: do their case studies prove they can solve your specific user acquisition problem? If not, their probably not the right fit.

Step 2: Get on a Call and Test Their Expertise
The best agencies aren't afraid to give away value upfront. Many, including us, offer a free initial consultation or account review. This isn't just a sales pitch; it's your chance to interview them. You should come away from that call with actionable advice you can implement immediately, whether you hire them or not. Ask them direct questions:

• -> "Based on my business, which platforms would you start with and why?"
• -> "What would your initial testing structure look like?"
• -> "What are the biggest red flags you see in my current approach?"

Listen to their answers. Are they specific and strategic, or vague and full of jargon? Do they sound like they've done this a hundred times before? A true expert will diagnose your problems and outline a clear plan. A salesperson will just promise you the world. When you're looking for help, it's really a case of finding the right paid ads expert for your business.

Step 3: Look for Red Flags
There are a few tell-tale signs you're talking to the wrong agency. The biggest one is a guarantee of results. No one can promise a specific ROAS or number of users in paid advertising. There are too many variables. An expert will promise a rigorous process and a commitment to hitting your goals, not a guaranteed outcome.

Another is a lack of transparency. If they're cagey about their methods, their pricing, or who will be working on your account, walk away. Finally, if they try to lock you into a long 12-month contract from day one, be very wary. A confident agency will be happy to start with a shorter trial period (e.g., 3 months) to prove their value first.

This whole vetting process can feel daunting, but it's crucial. I've mapped out the key steps in the flowchart below to help you stay on track.

The Final Piece: Your Offer Is Probably Broken

I've saved the most common point of failure for last. You can have the best targeting and the best ads in the world, but if your offer is weak, your campaigns will fail. And the most common, lazy, and arrogant offer in B2B is the "Request a Demo" button.

Think about it. You're asking a busy, important person to commit their time to a meeting where they know they're going to be sold to. It's high friction and offers them zero immediate value. It instantly positions you as just another vendor begging for their time.

Your offer's only job is to deliver an "aha!" moment of undeniable value. It must solve a small, real problem for them for free, earning you the right to talk about solving the bigger problem.

• For SaaS founders: The gold standard is a free trial or a freemium plan. No credit card. Let them use the actual product and feel the transformation for themselves. The product becomes the salesperson.


• For Service businesses: You need to bottle your expertise. If you're a marketing agency, offer a free, automated website audit that shows them their top 3 SEO opportunities. If you're a consultancy, offer a free 20-minute strategy session where you solve one specific problem for them, completely free. For our agency, this is exactly what we do: a free, no-obligation review of a potential client's ad account to find immediate wins.

This approach changes the dynamic entirely. You're no longer a seller; you're a valuable resource. You're demonstrating your expertise, not just talking about it. This builds trust and makes the eventual sale a natural next step, not an awkward, high-pressure pitch.

Finding the right partner to handle your user acquisition in Exeter isn't about finding a "growth hacker" with a secret playbook. It's about finding a strategic partner who understands the fundamentals: your customer's pain, your business's numbers, and how to build a disciplined, scalable system to connect the two. It's about focusing on a solid performance marketing strategy that delivers profitable growth, month after month.

This is obviously a lot to take in. Building a truly effective user acquisition engine involves many moving parts, from deep customer research and financial modelling to campaign construction and creative testing. It's a full-time job, and getting it wrong can be an expensive mistake.

If you're an ambitious founder or marketer in Exeter and you'd like an expert second opinion on your current strategy, we offer a completely free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session. We'll take a look at your business, your goals, and what you're doing now, and give you honest, actionable advice on how to get better results. There's no hard sell; just a genuine attempt to help. If you're interested, feel free to get in touch to schedule a call.