The Challenge
Ugly Cash came to us with bleeding acquisition costs - their cost per KYC was stuck at $15+ and cost per first funding at $913 despite spending $45K monthly across Meta, Google, and TikTok. They were burning through budget faster than they could acquire quality users.
What Everyone Else Was Doing Wrong
Like most fintech startups, they were running the standard playbook - broad Advantage+ campaigns, video-heavy creative (following TikTok trends), and generic '11% APY' messaging that every competitor was using.
The 'gurus' told them to 'let Meta's algorithm figure it out' and 'video is king,' but that was completely wrong for their Latin American market dynamics.
The Methodology: Strategic Thinking Over Tactics
Instead of throwing more money at broad targeting, we focused on the fundamentals:
Platform ↔️ Performance Fit analysis - Google Ads was vastly outperforming Meta for deeper funnel events
Creative ↔️ Conversion Rate optimization - discovering static images were crushing video performance
Message ↔️ Market segmentation- different value props for different funnel stages and countries
Here's what surprised everyone: static images outperformed video by 30% on cost efficiency while Google Ads Android campaigns delivered 80x better performance than iOS.
While everyone was pumping budget into Meta video content and iOS targeting, we discovered that Google Android with static creative and 8% APY messaging (not 11%) drove the highest conversion rates.
OuiGrowth’s Approach
Our process was methodical:
Week 1-2: Deep funnel analysis revealing 75% drop-off between KYC and funding on Android
Week 3-4: Platform reallocation testing - shifting 60% budget from Meta to Google based on first funding data
Week 5-8: Creative format revolution - testing static vs video, discovering 30% cost improvement
Week 9-12: Geographic optimization - Central America emerged as the efficiency leader at $4.52 per KYC
The Results
The results spoke for themselves:
Cost per KYC: Dropped from $15+ to $2.46 on best campaigns (83% improvement)
Cost per First Funding: Crashed from $913 to $57.39 on multi-country campaigns (94% improvement)
Platform Performance: Google Android delivered 138,184 conversions vs iOS's 1,712 (80x difference)
Creative Efficiency: Static ads averaged 99.31 installs per ad vs video's 27.76 (3.6x improvement)
Geographic Scaling: Unlocked profitable expansion across 6 LATAM markets
Timeline: Achieved in 12 weeks with systematic testing approach
The Lesson: Principles Over Tactics
This case proves that systematic testing beats industry best practices every time. It's never about following what successful fintech companies do - it's about finding what works specifically for your product, market, and user journey. The data always tells a different story than the 'experts.
These Could Be Your Numbers Too.
Curious how systematic performance analysis might transform your acquisition costs?
Every fintech thinks they know their best channels and creative - but the data usually reveals surprising opportunities. Happy to explore what's hidden in your numbers in a 30-minute conversation.