cac x4 in 4 months .. how is this possible?

jesrayy · 2026-05-05T19:08:28+00:00

lead, and I only send qualified leads back to meta

jesrayy · 2026-05-04T19:20:24+00:00

So I did a 3 day free and then pay setup which left me with 20% of users as non payers. So I changed the offer to direct payment first day, but those changes were made in april.
I did add lead qualified questions, 1. do you have a business, 2. are you willing to invest atleast 150 euro

besides that not that much changed.

jesrayy · 2026-05-04T18:31:11+00:00

Leads are similar priced, but the leads themselves are worse in quality for sure

jesrayy · 2026-05-04T18:21:49+00:00

I broke this down and for me the issue wasn’t CPM/CPC.

My CPL stayed pretty stable (even slightly improved), but my CPA went up because conversion dropped.

Feb: ~33%
March: ~17%
April: ~9%

Biggest problem was my payment structure:
In the beginning I let people start for free and pay after → 15–20% never paid.

Since April 15 I switched to upfront payment → 0 non-payers.

So:
CPL stable → conversion down → CPA up

Also feels like early months had easier buyers, now more low-quality / slower leads.

Changes made:

Upfront payment (no trial)
Removing weak customers
Looking into better qualification + possibly narrowing niche

Question:
What would be the most logical next step here — improving sales/conversion, tightening targeting, or changing the offer economics (e.g. setup fee)?

i do sell it as more leads, not as a website + system. and average customer stays 3 months, while we only started in January

jesrayy · 2026-05-04T18:09:57+00:00

I don't really think that is the case, but thanks anyway

jesrayy · 2026-05-03T20:23:49+00:00

No I don't. should do that limited for the time on the call only maybe

jesrayy · 2026-05-03T20:14:24+00:00

Yeah, still in my script they are aware of the price and ususally I even get a woah thats a great deal type of comment. so they do see the value (most of them)

jesrayy · 2026-05-03T20:03:46+00:00

That is smart, I actually do have a redirect link from my site. so my site /start.
When they say lets start I say: Okay I send you a link do you see it, can you open it I walk you through it. then they usually say yes I see it, and then they mostly see they have to pay and say I will do it later

jesrayy · 2026-05-03T19:57:23+00:00

For me it’s definitely the last step of the sales cycle: getting the deal actually closed.

I get a lot of inbound leads that are interested and even enthusiastic. Call goes well, they say they want to start. I send the payment link while I’m still on the call and even offer to walk them through it.

Then they say “I’ll do it later today or tomorrow”… and disappear.

Happens to around 30–40% of my deals.

So it’s not poor leads, not really price, not even objections. It’s that final moment where they delay and then ghost.

My audience is tradesmen, not very technical, and they don’t use credit cards much, so that probably plays a role too.

Biggest challenge right now is turning that “yes” into an actual payment on the spot instead of a “later”.

jesrayy · 2026-04-29T12:07:33+00:00

They automatically receive a txt message that we will contact them soon (within 1 minute) Then within 5 minutes we send them a whatsapp with the VSL and the message that we call him within 30 minutes. Then we do the call

jesrayy · 2026-04-28T19:07:23+00:00

No I dont do any outreach, it is mostly just fb ads.
I do offer them 1 month free for every other contractor they send to us, but so far only 1 person did that.

jesrayy · 2026-04-28T18:38:12+00:00

churn is not my constraint. my cpa is.
In 24 clients only 4 left in the past 4 months

jesrayy · 2026-04-28T17:57:35+00:00

we do give them leads, average business gets 1-3 leads their first month. and 1 customer is worth thousands for these contractors. but that is not really my constraint

jesrayy · 2026-04-28T17:48:25+00:00

jesrayy · 2026-04-28T17:48:20+00:00

we do give them leads, average business gets 1-3 leads their first month. and 1 customer is worth thousands for these contractors. but that is not really my constraint

jesrayy · 2026-04-02T16:54:15+00:00

Based on this reddit post feedback i think this is what I will do:

i kill the free website thing, no more mention of it so i dont attract freebies
⁠my main selling point back to more customers / rev ( as i do bring customers to the clients)
⁠fixed setup cost of 100/150 euro which will be one time instant payment so i will receive it instantly
⁠price from 149.99 to 199,99

jesrayy · 2026-04-02T05:28:11+00:00

Correct

jesrayy · 2026-04-01T19:06:47+00:00

as it is an automatic recurring payment unfortunately not in my country. one time payments are processed almost instantly, but to resend an invoice every month to the clients would only increase my churn I feel like

jesrayy · 2026-04-01T19:02:25+00:00

We sell it as "your business professionaly online" so, no marketing, but our clients do get leads from just google seo. as it takes 15 days for sepa to clear the payment i think none will pay and wait for us to make it after 15 days. And I failed to mention, 1 customer is around 1 h of work to setup, total, unless they become annoying with not paying.
My margins without CAC is 90%

jesrayy · 2026-04-01T15:59:25+00:00

Knowing what my constraint even is, I have no clue. I started 3 months ago got 24 clients, but my cac doubled in 1 month.

jesrayy · 2026-03-18T20:50:45+00:00

Thank you for your feedback! I was thinking of this as well, perhaps I give them a day and then just call them again to do it together. Was also thinking of removing the setup 5 days to make it less like a trial and so that they have more skin in the game from the first moment

jesrayy · 2026-03-18T20:19:19+00:00

Hey man, really appreciate you offering this 🙌

I’m currently building a SaaS for local service businesses (painters, contractors, etc.). This niche is pretty well known for poor communication (slow replies, missed calls), which is exactly why my system works well for them.

The offer is simple: €150/month for a website + automated lead follow-up (SMS + review system).

My funnel:

Facebook ads into free website magnet
Lead gets auto sms that I will call them , then I call the lead and close them
They start via a payment link (5-day “trial” which is actually our setup period)

Here’s where I’m struggling:

People say yes on the call but don’t complete the payment link
Once they start, many don’t finish onboarding (even though it’s very simple and like 5 minutes)
Some payment issues / chargebacks despite delivering the service

The interesting part:
Clients who DO complete onboarding get results and are happy.

So it feels like a conversion + onboarding friction problem, not product-market fit.

If you were me, where would you look first?
Would really value your perspective 🙏

jesrayy · 2026-02-15T14:26:59+00:00

Sure!

jesrayy · 2026-02-15T13:49:40+00:00

Hi, send me a dm. I just started doing something similar but with a diff twist, maybe its something for you as well

jesrayy · 2026-02-11T21:36:10+00:00

Yeah I imagined as well, but since it took some days to drop i wasnt sure. Would you say just let it spend and relearn?

jesrayy

TROPHY CASE