Solved: Building a Repeatable Paid Acquisition Funnel for Transit App

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your paid advertising.

We'll need to look at your target audience...

First off, it sounds like you're in a tricky spot trying to nail down a repeatable acquisition funnel for your public transit app. Starting with Facebook ads is fairly common, but as you've found, the cost per install (CPI) can quickly get out of hand. It's all about figuring out where your ideal users are spending their time online, and what resonates with them.

Now, you mentioned you're in the public transit space, and given you're in early stage growth, its important to understand where your potential users are and what messaging resonates with them. Facebook ads can be a good start, but a lot of the time it can be more efficient to find a better and more optimised platform for your target audience. Think about who the people are that use your app - and what their behaviours are. Where do they spend their time, where can they be reached and what is the best way to persuade them?

A few things to consider:

Location, location, location: Is your app focused on a specific city or region? If so, broad Facebook targeting is probably wasting a lot of impressions on people who will never use your app. Consider really honing in on your geography.

Think like a commuter: Where do people using public transit spend their time online? Are they reading local news? Are they using specific transport apps? Maybe there are opportunities to advertise on those platforms directly, or even partner with them.

I'd say you need to optimise your tracking...

The other big piece of the puzzle is tracking. Are you sure you are accurately measuring where your installs are coming from? Facebook's attribution can be… well, generous. You might be giving it credit for installs that would have happened organically anyway. This is where a third-party attribution tool comes in.

Make sure you're using a proper mobile attribution platform (MAP). Branch or Adjust are two popular options. These tools give you a much clearer picture of which channels and campaigns are *actually* driving installs and in-app engagement. Without that data, you're just guessing.

One of the most important aspects of your acquisition funnel has to be tracking and optimising, as if this goes wrong it will greatly affect the success of the campaign. Without tracking you won't know how or where to optimise your campaigns, and you won't know which platforms will be the most effective. It sounds as though you have the product in place, so it's important that your acquisition funnel is in the correct order. As such, you should start by prioritising tracking so that you can continue to expand effectively.

You probably should look at Google Ads...

Don't discount Google Ads either. People searching for "bus routes near me" or "train times [city]" are highly motivated and likely to download your app if it solves their problem. Google Ads can be especially good if your app has unique functionality or serves a niche area.

You could test Google App campaigns to see if it can drive installs at an acceptable CPI. Just be sure to monitor the quality of users you are acquiring.

I remember one campaign we ran for a software company where we managed to acquire 3,543 users at a cost of £0.96 per user using Google Ads. Therefore, it could be a good option to implement, as it's clear that it can be effective.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Ultimately, it's about testing, iterating, and constantly refining your approach based on the data you're seeing. There's no magic bullet, but with a bit of experimentation and a solid understanding of your target audience, you can definitely build a repeatable and scalable acquisition funnel.

Figuring out the best ways to acquire users at the right cost can be a challenge, especially when you're early stage. Sometimes having an extra pair of eyes and some external expertise can make all the difference. We've helped quite a few software companies, events, sports, and elearning companies to significantly grow through implementing Meta Ads, Tiktok Ads, Apple Ads and Google Ads. For example, we helped one software, events, sports, and eLearning company achieve over 45,000 signups at under £2 cost per signup across Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Apple Ads, and Google Ads.

We offer a free consultation where we review your current strategy and ad account. It might be useful to book one in - feel free to reach out if that is something you would like to explore.

Regards, Team @ Lukas Holschuh