Bidding on the events that pay

Optimise SaaS trials to activated accounts

A software company with a free trial can give an ad platform three events to bid on: the trial sign-up, the first product action that predicts payment, and the first payment. Sign-ups arrive on the day of the click and in large numbers, but some come from people who never use the product again. Payments are what the business keeps, but they come after the trial ends and in small numbers. Meta counts click-through conversions for at most 7 days after a link click, so a payment on day 14 of a trial never reaches its optimisation. Google Ads allows click-through windows of up to 90 days and accepts imported conversions up to 90 days after the click. For most trials the workable bid event is activation: a product action in the first week that your own data links to payment. Report payments next to it on every channel, and check each month that activated accounts from each channel still go on to pay.

Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Search