BRIJMOHAN RAY
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FinTech

Acquiring 500,000 Active Users for a Neo-Banking App

Meta + Google App Campaigns at ₹15 CPI with high retention.

Acquiring 500,000 Active Users for a Neo-Banking App
App Installs500,000+
Cost Per Install₹15
User Retention42% D30

The Challenge

A fast-growing FinTech application was burning their series-A funding on CPI campaigns that didn't deliver real users. While their dashboard showed thousands of downloads, their daily active users (DAU) remained flat.

Our audit found:

  • Empty Installs: Ad networks were optimizing for users who clicked 'Install' but closed the app immediately upon download due to slow initial setup screens.
  • Pixel Attribution Blindness: Browser/client-side tracking was dropping attribution data for users who completed registration hours or days after downloading.
  • Generic Ad Creatives: Standard banners showing static phones that failed to demonstrate the actual utility of the neo-banking system.
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The Approach

We restructured the entire mobile growth strategy to prioritize high-intent users rather than vanity download metrics:

1. In-App Conversion Optimization

Instead of telling Google and Meta to optimize for raw installs, we configured the ad platforms to optimize for In-App Registration Completed events. The ad networks quickly adjusted to finding users who actually wanted to use the bank services.

2. Server-Side Post-Install Tracking

We deployed server-side GTM tracking connected directly to the user registration database. This allowed us to feedback successful registrations to the ad network pixels with 100% accuracy, bypassing client-side tracking restrictions.

3. Benefit-Driven Direct Response Hooks

We created dynamic video scripts highlighting micro-problems solved by the app: sending money instantly, splitting dinner bills with 1-click, and tracking expenses on autopilot.

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The Results

  • Scale Achieved: Pushed the app past 500,000 total verified installs.
  • Low Acquisition Cost: Held acquisition costs to an average of ₹15 CPI.
  • Premium Retention: Day-30 user retention rate settled at a highly stable 42%, nearly double the industry average for Neo-Banking apps.
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(Note: Bar represents our optimized campaign, Line represents the industry benchmark)

The Lesson

Cheap installs are worthless if they churn — we optimized retention from day one. If you optimize for the cheapest click, the network will buy the cheapest, lowest-intent users on the planet. By optimizing for key in-app milestones and feeding clean data back to the algorithms, we bought buyers, not numbers.