Fintech's Guide to Vetting Meta Ads Experts (UK)

Finding a genuine Meta ads specialist for a UK fintech company is a proper challenge, and it's not surprising you're struggling. Most agencies will say they do 'B2B', slap your logo on their website, and apply the same tired old playbook they use for a SaaS that sells HR software. Tbh, that's a recipe for burning cash, and fast.

Fintech isn't just another industry. It's a high-stakes game of trust, compliance, and incredibly long customer life-cycles. You're not just selling a tool; you're often asking people or businesses to trust you with their financial data or their entire financial future. The messaging, the targeting, and the entire strategy has to be on a different level. Generic B2B tactics just won't cut it.

So, why is this so bloody difficult?

The problem is that the barrier to entry for calling yourself a 'paid ads expert' is practically zero. Anyone can watch a few YouTube videos and start an agency. But very few have actually been in the trenches, managing significant ad spend for a UK-based fintech, navigating the ever-watchful eye of the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), and figuring out how to build trust with an audience that's naturally skeptical.

Most agencies you'll talk to from their offices in Shoreditch or Manchester will get a few things fundamentally wrong:

• They don't understand the 'Nightmare'. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't "CFOs in SMEs with 50-200 employees". That's useless. Your ICP is a specific, urgent, and expensive problem. For a B2B expense management platform, the nightmare is the CFO staring at a spreadsheet at 10 PM, terrified of a major compliance breach from an un-submitted receipt. For a retail investment app, the nightmare is a millennial's fear of missing out (FOMO) on the next big market shift and being left behind financially. If an agency can't articulate your customer's deep-seated fear, they can't write ad copy that works.


• They don't respect the compliance. Advertising financial products on Meta is a minefield of policies. One wrong word, one over-enthusiastic claim, and your ad account gets shut down. We've seen it happen. An expert knows the nuances of what you can and can't say, how to frame benefits without making promises, and how to get ads approved consistently. A generalist will learn these lessons with your money, and your ad account as the guinea pig.


• They're obsessed with cheap leads. They'll come to you excited about a £50 Cost Per Lead (CPL). But in fintech, a cheap lead is often a worthless lead. The real question isn't how low your CPL is, but how high a Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) you can afford while remaining profitable. This requires a deep understanding of your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), which most generalist agencies have no idea how to properly calculate or use to inform their bidding strategy.

This all goes to say that you're not just looking for a button-pusher. You need a strategic partner who gets the unique landscape of UK fintech. And the first step is knowing how to seperate the wheat from the chaff.

What should I actually be looking for then?

First off, forget the idea that you need an agency based in London. It's a total myth. We work with clients all over the world. What you need is niche expertise, not someone you can have a coffee with in Canary Wharf. The best talent often works remotely. Your #1 priority should be finding someone who can prove they have solved your exact problem for a similar company before.

Here’s what to look for:

• Relevant Case Studies: This is non-negotiable. Don't just look for logos. Read the actual case studies. Are they for fintech companies, or just vaguely related "B2B SaaS"? Do they talk about the specific challenges of the fintech space? Crucially, do they talk about the metrics that matter to you – things like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), trial sign-up rate, and ultimately, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)? If their case studies are full of fluff metrics like 'impressions' or 'reach', walk away. For instance, we've worked with B2B software clients where we've driven CPLs down to $22 for senior decision makers on LinkedIn, or reduced a £100 CPA to just £7 for a niche SaaS platform. Those are the kinds of specific, meaningful results you want to see.


• A Clear Process: When you get on a call, they should be able to articulate a clear, logical process for how they'd approach your account. It shouldn't be a vague promise of "we'll test things and see what works". They should be asking you smart questions about your business model, your customer LTV, your sales cycle, and your current conversion rates. They should be talking about audience prioritisation, creative testing frameworks, and how they'd structure campaigns to align with your funnel.


• Honesty and Realism: Tbh, in paid advertising, you can't promise specific results. There are too many variables. If an agency guarantees you a "4x ROAS in 90 days", they are either lying or naive. A real expert will be cautiously optimistic. They'll talk about benchmarks from similar clients, like how we achieved a 1000% ROAS for a subscription box client, but they'll also be clear that your results may vary. They should set realistic expectations about the time it takes to gather data and optimise campaigns. This is where vetting potential paid ad agencies becomes absolutely vital to avoid costly mistakes.

How do I tell the pros from the pretenders on a discovery call?

The initial call is where you can really seperate the experts from the salespeople. The salesperson will talk about their agency. The expert will talk about your business. Here are a few questions you should definately ask to cut through the noise:

1. "Talk me through your process for calculating a target Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for a fintech like us."
This is a killer question. A bad answer is, "Well, what's your budget?". A good answer involves them asking you about your average revenue per user, your gross margin, and your customer churn rate so they can start to calculate your LTV. They should then explain the LTV:CAC ratio (usually aiming for at least 3:1) and work backwards to a target CAC. This shows they think like a business partner, not just a media buyer.

2. "What are the biggest mistakes you see fintech companies make with their Meta ads?"
This tests their specific niche experience. A generic answer would be "bad ad copy" or "poor targeting". A great answer would be something like, "Many UK fintechs go too broad too soon with their targeting, or they use 'Request a Demo' as their only call to action, which has huge friction. They also often fail to build a proper retargeting engine to nurture high-value prospects who aren't ready to convert on the first touch."

3. "Have you ever had an ad account disabled for a financial services client? If so, what happened and how did you resolve it?"
This might sound negative, but it's a brilliant test. Almost anyone who has worked in this space for a meaningful amount of time has brushed up against Meta's policies. Honesty here is a green flag. Them saying "never" is suspicious. What you're looking for is a calm, methodical explanation of the issue, the steps they took to appeal, and what they learned from it. It shows they have experiance navigating the platform's tricky rules. If you're looking for more guidance, our guide on vetting agencies specifically for fintech dives into more questions you should be asking.

Finally, a good agency will often offer some form of free, upfront value. This could be a quick audit of your existing ad account or a brief strategy session. We do this for all potential clients. It's a chance for us to show our expertise and for you to get a taste of what it's like to work with us, risk-free. If they're hiding their expertise behind a paywall and a long-term contract, be wary.

What kind of strategy should I actually expect?

A winning strategy for a UK fintech on Meta is not about shouting the loudest. It's about precision, value, and building trust. It breaks down into a few core pillars.

Pillar 1: The Offer is Everything (and "Request a Demo" is a Terrible Offer)

This is the most common point of failure. The "Request a Demo" button is an arrogant, high-friction CTA. It asks a busy, high-value prospect to give up 30-60 minutes of their time to be sold to. It's an awful value exchange.

Your offer's only job is to provide a moment of undeniable value. You must solve a small, real problem for them for free to earn the right to solve their bigger problems. For fintech, this could look like:

• For a B2B Payments Platform: A free "International Payments Fee Calculator" that shows them exactly how much they're overpaying with their current bank.
• For a Retail Investment App: A free "Portfolio Risk Analysis" tool where they can input their current holdings and get an instant score and diversification tips.
• For a Corporate Card SaaS: A free "Expense Report Health Check" that analyses a sample file and flags potential compliance issues.

These offers are low-friction, high-value, and position you as an expert, not just another vendor. They generate leads who are already sold on the *problem* you solve, making the subsequent sales conversation much easier. This is a core part of our paid acquisition playbook for founders.

Pillar 2: Know Your Numbers to Unlock Scale

You can't grow aggressively if you're flying blind on your unit economics. The question isn't "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford?". This comes down to calculating your Lifetime Value (LTV). Once you know what a customer is worth, you know what you can spend to acquire them.

Once you know you can afford to spend, say, £3,333 to acquire a customer, suddenly a £250 CPL from a highly-qualified prospect doesn't seem so scary. It looks like a bargain. This is the maths that allows you to outbid less sophisticated competitors and scale aggressively.

Pillar 3: Targeting Based on Pain, Not Demographics

As I mentioned, targeting "CFOs" is lazy. You need to get more specific. Where do these people congregate online? What newsletters do they read (e.g., Stratechery, Fintech Brain Food)? What software do they already use (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot)? What industry leaders do they follow (e.g., Jason Lemkin, Chris Skinner)? On Meta, you can layer these interests to build a highly specific audience profile. For example, you could target people who are 'Business Page Admins', have an interest in 'Venture Capital' AND have an interest in 'Salesforce'. This is far more powerful than just targeting a job title. This strategic approach is central to our complete guide on Meta Ads for fintechs, ensuring you reach the right people with the right message.

What do realistic results and costs look like in the UK?

Alright, let's talk numbers. This is where the rubber meets the road. Costs in the UK are high, especially in a compatitive sector like finance. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you a dream. However, with the right strategy, the returns can be massive.

Your Cost Per Lead (CPL) or Cost Per Trial will depend almost entirely on the friction of your offer.

• Low-Friction Offer (e.g., free tool, calculator, checklist): You could be looking at a CPL in the range of £15 - £60. The quality will be more mixed, but it's a great way to build your email list and top-of-funnel pipeline. I remember a B2B software campaign we ran that got registrations for as low as $2.38, but that was for a very compelling, easy-to-access offer.


• Medium-Friction Offer (e.g., webinar registration, free trial sign-up): Here, costs will likely be in the £70 - £200 range. These leads are more qualified as they've shown a higher level of intent. For one B2B SaaS client, we generated 1,535 trials, which shows it's scalable.


• High-Friction Offer (e.g., "Request a Demo", "Contact Sales"): I'd advise against this, but if you must, expect to pay £200 - £500+ per lead. The volume will be low, but in theory, they should be highly qualified. Tbh, you're better off generating cheaper leads with a better offer and letting your sales team qualify them.

It's also crucial to distinguish between different countries. We always recommend running seperate campaigns for different country tiers. Performance in the UK will be vastly different from, say, the US or mainland Europe. Don't lump them all together. We find that focusing on a core market first, like the UK, allows you to gather clean data and establish a baseline before expanding. Trying to go worldwide from day one often leads to messy data and wasted spend, which is a key reason many businesses struggle to fix their Meta Ads ROAS in the UK.

This is the main advice I have for you:

So, you're ready to hire. You know what to look for, what questions to ask, and what a good strategy looks like. Here's a final checklist to run through before you sign a contract. It summarises the key points and should serve as your guide.

Hiring the right expert is an investment, not a cost. The wrong agency will burn through your budget in months with little to show for it, potentially even getting your ad account banned. The right partner will build a scalable, profitable customer acquisition engine that becomes a core driver of your growth.

It takes time to do this diligence, but it's one of the most important decisions you'll make for your company's growth. The cost of getting it wrong is just too high.

If you're tired of talking to generalists and want to speak with a team that has direct experience and a proven playbook for scaling businesses like yours, we offer a free, no-obligation strategy session. We'll look at your business, your goals, and give you an honest assessment of how paid advertising can help you get there. Feel free to book a consultation with us.