How do you get started with mobile user acquisition as an indie developer with a limited budget?
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Originally published September 2019, adapted from an answer on the Quantmar community. Some details have changed since: “Facebook” is now Meta, Apple Search Ads is now Apple Ads, manual bidding and install-optimised starts are no longer the default advice, and the Google app campaign costs quoted in the thread are out of date.
The 2019 answer treated $2.5k to $5k a month as a budget for learning: which creative themes work, what your return looks like by day 7 and beyond, and whether the economics could support more spend. The principle remains useful: match the test to what you can observe, then fix weak economics before scaling.
The original answer is on Quantmar; the original page is no longer online, so here is an archived copy.
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Which channel should you start on?
One. The 2019 view was Facebook only until about $50k a month in spend, with Apple Ads (then Apple Search Ads) tested after proving out Facebook at $10k to $15k a month, and Snapchat only when the audience fit. Google was left until later because the cost of running its app campaigns “by the book” was high for a small developer.
What is still true: start on one channel and add others as spend grows. What has changed is the detail, so use the current order in how to pick ad channels by budget and the Google figures from Google’s own documentation, not the numbers quoted in the 2019 thread.
How should you structure Meta campaigns on a small budget?
The 2019 answer ran one to three ad sets, usually with 10 to 12 ads per set, tested creative themes in them, and paused weak ads often while adding new themes less often. It started on install optimisation, on a 1% lookalike of purchasers when purchase data existed, and used manual bids.
Treat this as history. Today budgets are set around conversions, not install counts: our campaign planning guide is ideally 30 conversions a day, with 10 a good level. Two or three a day is the bare minimum only when cost per conversion is extremely high, around $400 to $500. These are planning guidelines, not platform requirements. See how to structure Meta campaigns for creative testing.
What if the economics don’t work?
If the numbers don’t support scaling past $2.5k to $5k a month, creative iteration helps only so far, and the problem is often the product. The answer offered two paths: stop spending and rework the economics, or keep a little spend running so you have traffic to test product changes, accepting you will lose some money while you do.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
How much should an indie developer spend on user acquisition? The 2019 answer worked with $2.5k to $5k a month. The better frame is the budget needed to reach enough conversions a day to read your tests; work back from your cost per conversion.
Should a small developer use manual bids? The 2019 answer did. Check the current options in Meta’s Ads Manager before copying that.
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