Solved: Best Ad Options for Web App Prototype Launch?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on getting traffic for your web app prototype. It's a common question, but the answer isn't just about picking an ad platform and throwing money at it. The fact you're asking about text-based ads to start with is actually a good sign – it shows you're focused on testing the core idea rather than getting bogged down in fancy creatives, which is exactly where you should be.

Before we even get to what ads to run, we need to sort out the foundations. A lot of people think advertising is like a tap you can turn on to get customers, but it's more like a massive amplifier. If you amplify a weak message or a confusing offer, you just get a louder, more expensive failure. If you amplify a sharp, compelling message to the right people, that's when it works.

So, I'll walk you through how I'd approach this, from nailing the offer and message right through to the nuts and bolts of which platforms to use and what to expect cost-wise.

We'll need to look at your offer first...

This is the bit everyone wants to skip, but it’s the number one reason campaigns fail. You said you want to "buy some traffic to see how it performs." The performance isn't just about the traffic; it's about what the traffic does when it gets to your site. If the offer isn't right, you'll get clicks but no signups, and you'll incorrectly conclude that "the ads didn't work."

The real problem is usually a lack of demand for what's being offered. I've seen so many founders build what they think is a brilliant product, only to find that nobody is desperate enough to pay for it. So, before you spend a single pound, you need to get brutally honest about the problem you solve.

Forget demographics for a minute. "Men aged 25-40 interested in tech" is useless. It tells you nothing. You need to define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) not by who they are, but by the nightmare they're living in. What is the specific, urgent, expensive, maybe even career-threatening problem that your app solves? Your ICP isn't a person; it's a problem state.

For example:

• Don't sell: "A project management tool with AI features."
• Instead, solve the nightmare: "For agency owners who are constantly chasing their team for updates and are terrified of missing a client deadline, costing them a major account."

• Don't sell: "A privacy-focused accounting system." (We've seen this one before, and it's not a strong enough hook).
• Instead, solve the nightmare: "For freelance creatives who dread tax season, spend days wrestling with spreadsheets, and are scared of an audit because their books are a mess."

When you define the problem this clearly, two things happen. First, it becomes obvious who you need to target. They aren't just "agency owners"; they're the ones posting in forums about workflow issues, following project management gurus on Twitter, and using competitor tools. Second, it writes your ads for you. You stop talking about your app and start talking about their pain. This is a fundemental shift that most people miss.

I'd say you need to nail your messaging...

Once you've identified the nightmare, you can craft a message they can't ignore. Your text ads and landing page copy need to speak directly to this pain. Forget listing features. Nobody cares about your 'synergistic workflow integration'. They care about getting a good night's sleep.

A powerful framework for this, especially in B2B, is the Before-After-Bridge.

1. Before: Describe their current world. Acknowledge their frustration, their pain, their nightmare. Show them you understand.
2. After: Paint a picture of the new world your app makes possible. What does it feel like when their problem is solved? Relief? Confidence? Growth?
3. Bridge: Position your app as the simple, obvious bridge to get them from 'Before' to 'After'.

Here's how that might look for the agency owner example:

"Another Friday afternoon spent chasing your team for project updates. Your biggest client is asking for a status report, and you're piecing it together from Slack messages and emails, hoping you haven't missed anything. It’s stressful and unprofessional. Imagine instead, opening a single dashboard on Friday and seeing every project is on track, in the green. You confidently send the report to your client in two clicks and log off for the weekend an hour early. Our app is the bridge that gets you there. Get real-time project visibility and stop the frantic chasing. Start your free trial today."

See the difference? We haven't mentioned a single feature. We've sold a feeling: control, confidence, and relief. This is what converts. You need to build your entire landing page around this one, clear message.

You probably should rethink your Call to Action...

This follows directly from the last point. The most common, and laziest, Call to Action (CTA) in B2B is "Request a Demo". This is an awful CTA, especially for a new prototype.

Why? Because it's high-friction and low-value for the user. It asks them to commit time to a sales call for a product they don't yet know or trust. It presumes they have nothing better to do than be sold to. It instantly puts you in the bucket of every other bland software company out there. Your prototype's only job is to get people using it and giving you feedback. A demo is a barrier to that.

You need to replace it with an offer that delivers instant, undeniable value. For a web app, you have a few great options:

• Free Trial (No Credit Card): This is the gold standard. Let them use the actual product. Let them experience the "After" state for themselves. If the app is good, it will sell itself. This approach creates Product Qualified Leads (PQLs), who are already convinced, rather than Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) who need chasing.
• Freemium Plan: Similar to a trial, but it offers a basic version of the tool for free, forever. It's a great way to build a user base and let the value of your premium features become obvious over time.
• Waitlist with an Incentive: If the prototype isn't quite ready for public use, a waitlist is a good option. But dont just say "Join the waitlist." Make it a compelling offer. "Join our beta waitlist and get your first 3 months free when we launch." This makes them feel like insiders and gives them a reason to hand over their email. You can then nurture this list with updates and build anticipation.

Whatever you choose, the goal is the same: make it as easy and frictionless as possible for someone to try your app. Your ads should drive to a simple landing page focused entirely on this one offer.

You'll need to pick the right ad platform...

Okay, now we can talk about where to actually buy the traffic. Your preference for text-based ads is a really useful constraint because it immediately points to the best platform to start with.

Google Search Ads
This should be your first port of call. Why? Because you are targeting people based on intent. They are actively typing into a search bar, looking for a solution to the nightmare you solve. You dont have to convince them they have a problem; they already know they do. This makes them much more qualified than traffic from social media.

You'd do some keyword research around the problems your ICP is facing. For example:

• "how to track team projects"
• "best software for agency client reports"
• "alternative to [competitor name]"

Your text ads appear directly in the search results, and you only pay when someone clicks. It’s the most direct way to get your prototype in front of people with an urgent need. We find it's almost always the best place to start for B2B SaaS. One client in the medical job matching space saw their cost per user acquisition drop from £100 down to just £7 when we implemented a solid Google and Meta ads strategy.

LinkedIn Ads
If your app is specifically for a B2B audience, LinkedIn is another strong contender. It also supports simple text ads. Its power lies in its targeting. You can target people by job title, company size, industry, seniority etc. This is incredibly powerful if you know your ICP is, for example, a "Head of Marketing" at a "SaaS company with 50-200 employees."

The downside is that it's expensive. Clicks and leads cost significantly more than on other platforms. For one B2B software client, we were happy to achieve a $22 cost per lead (CPL), which is considered quite good on LinkedIn. So, you need a solid business case and a high customer lifetime value to make it work. But for testing a prototype with a highly specific B2B audience, it can be worth the investment.

Meta (Facebook/Instagram) & Others
Meta is less suited for pure text ads. The platform is visual, so ads without an image or video tend to perform poorly. However, you shouldn't rule it out completely. We've had huge success with Meta for software clients, like generating 4,622 registrations for a B2B software at just $2.38 each. The key is that you're targeting based on interests and behaviours, not active search intent. It's better for finding people who don't yet know a solution like yours exists.

For a prototype launch, I'd stick with Google Search first. It's the cleanest, most direct test of your core value proposition.

We'll need to look at your campaign objective...

This is a quick but absolutely crutial point. When you set up a campaign on any platform, it will ask you for your 'objective'. Your options will be things like 'Reach', 'Brand Awareness', 'Traffic', 'Engagement', or 'Conversions' (sometimes called 'Leads' or 'Sales').

Here is the uncomfortable truth: if you choose 'Reach' or 'Brand Awareness', you are actively paying the platform to find the worst possible audience for your product.

It sounds mad, but think about it from the algorithm's perspective. You've given it one command: "Find me the largest number of people for the lowest possible price." The algorithm does exactly that. It seeks out the users in your target audience who are cheapest to show ads to. And who are those users? They are the ones who never click, never engage, and certainly never buy anything. Their attention is cheap because they are not in demand from other advertisers.

You MUST always choose an objective that is as close to your actual business goal as possible. For your prototype, that would be Conversions, with the specific conversion event being a 'Signup' or 'Trial Start'. By doing this, you're telling the algorithm: "I don't care about cheap impressions. Go and find me the specific people within my target audience who are most likely to actually sign up for my app."

The algorithm is incredibly good at this. It will analyse the behaviour of the first few people who sign up and then go find more people just like them. Choosing the wrong objective is like telling a taxi driver to just drive around aimlessly instead of giving them a specific destination. It's the fastest way to burn your budget with nothing to show for it.

You'll need to manage your expectations on cost...

So, what should you expect to pay? The honest answer is: it varies massively. It depends on your industry, your target audience, the country you're targeting, and the quality of your ads and landing page.

However, I can give you some ballpark figures based on our experience. For simple conversions like a signup or an email subscription, in developed countries (UK, US, etc.), you can expect a Cost Per Click (CPC) between £0.50 and £1.50. A decent landing page should convert visitors at a rate of 10-30%.

Let's do the maths:

• Best case: £0.50 CPC / 30% conversion rate = £1.67 per signup.
• Worst case: £1.50 CPC / 10% conversion rate = £15.00 per signup.

Your actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) will likely fall somewhere in that range. We've run campaigns that brought in over 45,000 signups for an app at under £2 per signup, and others where a $7 cost per trial for a software product was a fantastic result. It all depends on the context.

But here's the thing: the cost per signup isn't the most important metric. The real question isn't "how low can my CPA go?" but "how high a CPA can I afford?" The answer to that lies in your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

LTV is the total profit you expect to make from a single customer over the entire time they use your app. If you know this number, you can make much smarter decisions about your ad spend. Here's a simple way to calculate it:

1. Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What do you charge per customer, per month? (e.g., £50)
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue? (e.g., 80%)
3. Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of customers do you lose each month? (e.g., 5%)

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

So, in our example: LTV = (£50 * 0.80) / 0.05 = £40 / 0.05 = £800.

Each customer is worth £800 in profit. A healthy business model aims for an LTV:CPA ratio of at least 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to £266 to acquire a single paying customer. Suddenly, a £15 CPA for a trial signup doesn't look so bad, if you know that 1 in 10 of those trials converts to a paying customer (giving you a final CPA of £150).

This is the maths that unlocks growth. It frees you from chasing cheap, low-quality leads and allows you to confidently invest in acquiring the right customers.

I'd say you need a solid testing structure...

So, to bring this all together, advertising your prototype isn't a one-off task. It's a process of systematic testing. You're not just buying traffic; you're buying data to learn what works. You'll test different keywords, different ad copy, maybe even different landing page headlines. Each test gives you more insight into your customer and helps you refine your product and your message.

Don't be discouraged if the first few ads don't bring in a flood of users. That's perfectly normal. The goal here is to learn. Are people clicking but not signing up? Your landing page message is probably off. Are you not getting any clicks at all? Your ad copy isn't hitting the right pain point, or your keywords are wrong. This is all valuable feedback.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot to take in, and it's certainly more involved than just 'buying some traffic'. But this strategic approach is what separates the campaigns that succeed from the ones that just burn cash. It requires a bit more upfront work, but it saves a huge amount of time, money, and frustration down the line.

Getting this right involves a mix of strategic thinking, technical setup, and creative copywriting – a skill set that takes years to develop. While you can certainly go it alone, working with an expert can significantly shorten the learning curve and help you avoid common, costly mistakes.

If you'd like to chat through your specific app and get a more tailored plan, we offer a completely free, no-obligation strategy session where we can dive into your project in more detail. It might be helpful to have a second pair of eyes on it before you launch.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh