Solved: Views But No Conversions for My App, Need Help!

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your situation. It's a common problem, getting loads of eyeballs but not seeing it turn into actual users for your app. The good news is it's usually a fixable issue. Most people jump to thinking they need a complicated "funnel", but honestly, that's often the last thing you need right now. The real problem is almost always a disconnect between the people watching your videos and what you're actually asking them to do. Let's walk through it.

We'll need to look at your audience and their 'nightmare'...

Right, first things first. Let's be brutally honest about those "hundreds of thousands of views". In the world of performance marketing, that's what we call a vanity metric. It feels great, it looks impressive, but it doesn't pay the bills. The fundamental mistake is assuming the person passively scrolling and watching your entertaining video is the same person who has the problem your app solves. They are almost always two completly different people.

Think about it. People on platforms like TikTok or Instagram Reels are in entertainment mode. They're looking for a quick laugh, something interesting, or just a way to kill five minutes. They are not in problem-solving mode. They didn't open the app thinking, "I need to find a solution for X today". They're a lean-back audience. A customer, on the other hand, is a lean-forward audience. They are actively trying to fix something in their life or business. Your viral content is attracting the former, but your app is built for the latter.

This is the core of your problem. You're trying to sell a tool to an audience that's just here for the show. That’s why they don’t click. There’s no motivation for them to break out of their scrolling stupor and visit your site. It's like trying to sell power drills at a cinema. Wrong place, wrong mindset.

So, what's the fix? You have to stop thinking about demographics ("my audience is 18-25 year old men") and start thinking about psychographics, or what I call the customer's "nightmare". Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a person in a specific, painful situation. A problem state. A problem that is urgent, expensive, or career-threatening.

-> What specific, frustrating 'nightmare' does your app solve?
-> Who is experiencing this nightmare so badly they would actively search for (and pay for) a solution?
-> Where do *those* people hang out online? What podcasts do they listen to? What newsletters do they read? Who do they follow on social media?

Your job isn't to make more viral videos to attract millions of passive viewers. Your job is to create content and ads that speak directly to the person experiencing that nightmare. You need to find the much smaller group of people who are already problem-aware and looking for a solution. This is a massive shift in mindset, from chasing volume to chasing relevance.

I'd say you need to fix your offer...

Even if you get the right person to your website, they won't do anything if your offer is rubbish. This is probably the number one reason advertising campaigns fail, way before targeting or ad copy. The offer is weak.

For a software app, your offer is the gateway to the product. The most arrogant and ineffective CTA in the world is "Request a Demo". It asks a busy person to schedule a meeting to be sold to. It's high friction and low immediate value. You have a massive advantage as a software business: you can let the product do the selling for you.

Your offer MUST be one of these two things:

1. A completely free trial (no credit card required). This is the gold standard. Let them get in, use the app, and experience the "aha!" moment where they see how it solves their nightmare. Once they've solved a piece of their problem with your tool, the decision to pay becomes a formality.
2. A freemium plan. Give them a core version of the app for free, forever. This removes all barriers to entry. You're not asking for money; you're offering a solution. You can then focus on upselling engaged free users to paid plans for more advanced features.

Notice the theme? You give value first. You solve a small part of their problem for free to earn the right to ask them to pay to solve the whole thing. Your current call-to-action, whatever it is, is probably not as compelling as "Get Started for Free".

Once you have a compelling offer, your marketing message needs to be laser-focused on it. A great framework for this is the Before-After-Bridge. It's simple and it works.

-> Before: Describe their current "nightmare" state. Use the language they use. Show them you understand their pain.
-> After: Paint a picture of the ideal state. What does life look like after their problem is solved by your app? Focus on the emotional relief and the tangible benefits.
-> Bridge: Position your app as the simple, obvious bridge to get from the 'Before' to the 'After'.

Let's imagine your app helps small ecommerce stores manage their inventory. Your messaging wouldn't be "The best inventory management SaaS". It would be:

(Before) You just got a huge spike in orders, but now you've realised you've oversold your most popular product. Cue frantic emails to angry customers and hours wasted updating spreadsheets. That sinking feeling in your stomach? That's the cost of guessing.

(After) Imagine knowing your exact stock levels in real-time, across all your sales channels. Imagine getting automatic alerts when you're running low, so you can reorder with confidence long before you sell out. Imagine spending your time growing your business, not putting out inventory fires.

(Bridge) Our app is the bridge. Connect your store in two clicks and get a clear, accurate view of your inventory in minutes. Start your free 14-day trial today and see for yourself.

See the difference? It's not about features; it's about transformation. This is the kind of message that gets the *right* people to click.

You probably should overhaul your landing page...

So, you've defined your ICP's nightmare, you've crafted an irresistible offer, and you've written a compelling message. The next link in the chain is your website, or more specifically, your landing page. This is where most self-built funnels fall apart. Your website's only job is to get a visitor to take one specific action—in your case, to start a free trial.

Most app websites I see are cluttered, confusing, and try to do too much. They talk about the team, the company mission, the technology... nobody cares. The visitor cares about one thing: "Can this thing solve my problem?"

Your landing page needs to be a digital salesperson, guiding the visitor to the free trial button. Here's what it needs, and nothing more:

1. A Killer Headline: This is 80% of the battle. It must state the main benefit and speak directly to the visitor's pain. It should reflect your Before-After-Bridge message. Something like: "Stop Overselling and Start Growing. Real-Time Inventory Management for Shopify Stores."

2. A Clear Sub-headline: Briefly explain what the app is and for whom. E.g., "Our simple app syncs your stock levels automatically, so you can finally stop updating spreadsheets and start making smarter decisions."

3. A Single, Obvious Call-to-Action (CTA): A big, bold button that says something like "Start My Free 14-Day Trial". This button should appear multiple times on the page, especially 'above the fold' (what you see without scrolling).

4. Social Proof: This builds trust. Even if you're new, you can get testimonials from beta testers. Use their real names and photos. If you've been featured on any blogs or have any positive reviews, show them off. No proof? No trust.

5. Benefit-driven Features: Don't just list what your app does (feature). Explain how it makes the user's life better (benefit). Instead of "Multi-channel sync", write "Sell on Shopify, Etsy, and Amazon without ever worrying about overselling again".

6. Visuals: Show, don't just tell. Use clean screenshots, a short GIF, or a simple video showing the app in action and how easy it is to use.

7. Zero Distractions: Remove any links to other pages that don't lead to the sale. No "About Us", "Blog", or social media links in the main view. The only goal is to get them to click that trial button.

You'll need a proper paid advertising strategy...

Okay, once your offer and landing page are sorted, you can start thinking about paid ads. This is where you can be proactive and go find your customers, rather than waiting for them to find you. But you have to do it right, or you'll burn through cash with nothing to show for it.

The single biggest mistake beginners make is running "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" campaigns on platforms like Meta (Facebook/Instagram). It sounds logical, right? "I need people to be aware of my app". Wrong. This is a trap. When you tell the algorithm to optimise for "Reach", you are giving it one command: "Find me the cheapest possible eyeballs".

And what does the algorithm do? It goes and finds all the people in your audience who are least likely to click, least likely to engage, and definitely least likely to ever buy anything. Their attention is cheap for a reason. You are literally paying Facebook to find you non-customers. I remember one client was spending thousands on these campaigns with zero results before they came to us. We switched their objective, and things turned around almost immediately.

From day one, every single penny you spend on ads should be in a campaign with a conversion objective. That means you're telling the algorithm: "Don't just show my ad to people. Show my ad to people who are likely to actually sign up for a free trial". The platform's AI is incredibly powerful; you need to give it the right job to do.

So, which platform should you use?

-> Google Search Ads / Apple Search Ads: This is for capturing high-intent users. These are people who are already problem-aware and are actively typing things like "inventory management app for shopify" into a search bar. They are the hottest leads you can get. The traffic is more expensive, but it converts well.

-> Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram): This is for generating demand. You're not catching people who are searching, you're interrupting them while they're scrolling. This is where your deep understanding of your ICP's nightmare comes in. You can target people based on their interests (e.g., people who are admins of a Facebook Business Page AND are interested in Shopify), behaviours, and create lookalike audiences of your best existing users. It's cheaper to reach people here, but you have to be very good with your messaging to grab their attention.

For a new app, I'd often suggest starting with Meta because you can reach a lot of people and test your messaging quickly. One campaign we worked on for an app client generated over 45,000 signups at under £2 per signup using a mix of platforms, but Meta was a huge part of that initial growth. The costs can vary wildly, though. A B2C app signup can be a few quid, but a serious B2B software trial can be much, much more. Here's a calculator to give you a rough idea of what to expect.

You'll need to get your targeting right...

Running conversion campaigns is only half the story. You have to point them at the right people. This is where most people get lost in the weeds, testing dozens of random interests with no real structure. A structured approach to testing audiences is non-negotiable.

I usually structure accounts based on the marketing funnel: Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu). In simple terms, this is Cold, Warm, and Hot audiences.

-> ToFu (Cold): People who have never heard of you. Your goal here is to introduce your app as a solution to their nightmare. This is where you test interest-based audiences and lookalikes.
-> MoFu (Warm): People who have shown some interest but haven't signed up yet. Maybe they watched one of your ad videos or visited your website. Your goal is to bring them back and convince them to start a trial.
-> BoFu (Hot): People who got most of the way there but abandoned. They added to cart, or started the signup process. These are your hottest leads, and you need to remind them to finish what they started.

When you're starting out with a small budget, you can combine MoFu and BoFu into a single "Retargeting" campaign. But your main focus and budget will be on ToFu, finding new customers. The key is to be smart about the interests you target. Don't target "business" if you're selling to businesses. It's far too broad. You'll reach more people outside your target audience than in it.

Instead, think about what defines your ICP. For our inventory app example, you wouldn't target "e-commerce". You'd target interests that are much more specific to a store owner: software they use (Shopify, WooCommerce), influencers they follow (like well-known e-commerce experts), publications they read, or even competitor brands. This ensures a much higher concentration of your ideal customers within the audience you're paying to reach.

Here's a prioritised list of audiences to test on Meta, from top to bottom:

1. Detailed Targeting (ToFu): Start here. Group highly-specific, relevant interests, behaviours, and demographics. Test different groups against each other.
2. Lookalike Audiences (ToFu): Once you have at least 100-1000 trial signups, you can ask Meta to build a "lookalike" audience – an audience of millions of new people who share characteristics with your best users. This is incredibly powerful. You should test lookalikes of trial signups, and eventually, paying customers.
3. Website Visitor Retargeting (MoFu/BoFu): Create audiences of people who visited your landing page in the last 30-90 days but didn't sign up. Show them ads with testimonials or a different angle.
4. Video Viewer Retargeting (MoFu): Create an audience of people who watched a significant portion (e.g., 50%) of your video ads. They're clearly interested, so bring them back.

Test these systematically. Create one campaign for ToFu, and another for Retargeting. Inside the ToFu campaign, create different ad sets, one for each audience you want to test (e.g., one ad set for Shopify interests, one for a lookalike audience). Let them run for a few days and see which one brings you trial signups at the lowest cost. Kill the losers, and give more budget to the winners. It's a continuous process of optimisation.

We'll need to look at your numbers...

This all brings us to the most important question in paid advertising, the one that separates amateurs from professionals. The question isn't "How low can I get my cost per signup?". The real question is "How much can I afford to spend to acquire a customer?"

The answer lies in a metric called Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). This tells you how much profit a typical customer will generate for you over their entire time using your app. Once you know your LTV, you know how much you can spend on Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and still be profitable.

A healthy business model for a SaaS app often aims for an LTV to CAC ratio of 3:1 or higher. This means for every £1 you spend on acquiring a customer, you get £3 back in profit over their lifetime. Calculating this number is the key to scaling your app aggressively and intelligently.

Here’s a simplified way to calculate it:

-> Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): How much do you make from an average customer each month?
-> Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue? For software, this is often very high, like 80-90%.
-> Monthly Churn Rate %: What percentage of your customers cancel their subscription each month? This is a critical health metric.

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

If your app costs £50/month, your margin is 80%, and you lose 4% of your customers each month, your LTV is (£50 * 0.80) / 0.04 = £1,000.

With a £1,000 LTV and a target 3:1 ratio, you know you can afford to spend up to £333 to acquire a single paying customer. If your free trial converts to a paid plan at a rate of 10%, that means you can afford to pay up to £33.30 for each free trial signup. Suddenly, that £15 or £20 CPA from your ads doesn't look so expensive, does it? It looks like a bargain. This is the maths that unlocks growth. Without it, you're flying blind.

This is the main advice I have for you:

There's a lot to take in here, I know. It's a big shift from just making videos and hoping for the best. But this is the path from having a hobby project to building a real business. To make it easier, here are the exact steps I would take if I were in your shoes.

Going through these steps is the difference between what you're doing now—basically content marketing with a broken sales process—and performance marketing, which is a system designed to turn ad spend into profitable customers. It requires discipline and a different way of thinking, but it's how apps like yours grow sustainably.

Doing all of this correctly takes expertise and a lot of time spent on testing and optimising. It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. It's about building a robust system for customer acquisition. This is where professional help can make a huge difference, by implementing proven strategies and avoiding the costly mistakes most people make when starting out.

If you'd like to have a chat about how we could apply this framework specifically to your app, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can take a proper look at your website and your goals and give you a more detailed plan of action.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh