Internal playbook
Paid acquisition playbook
How we buy more eyes for FBM Sniper profitably. The single number that governs everything is cost per Discord join (CPDJ), because the validated funnel is the free Community Edition plus Discord, then the upsell to Pro.
1. Validation summary
- MRR about $279.90, ARR about $3,358.80 (MRR times 12).
- Trailing 3 months net revenue about $1,406.99, gross about $1,689.96 (net is about 83 percent of gross after fees, processing and refunds).
- About 297 new users in 3 months to about 25 paid active, which is about 8 percent free-to-paid on a large free base.
- Payments health: about 84 percent paid, 11 percent failed, 3 percent refunded, 1.5 percent past due. The 11 percent failed is a recoverable leak worth a recovery email flow.
- Price points: free Community Edition ($0), Pro Monthly $50, a newer Pro Monthly License $49.99. The $399.99 Lifetime tier is being retired, so we plan recurring-only.
- Geography skews US first, then UK, then Western Europe (DE, ES, FR, IT), then Canada and Australia. Use this for ad geo-targeting.
- Extra signal: $300 in custom done-for-you site add-ons sold to two customers with little effort (about $150 each). There is appetite for a premium done-for-you upsell.
2. The funnel
paid ad to landing to Discord join to free activation (install and first run) to paid conversion (about 8 percent) to retention and LTV
Primary KPI: cost per Discord join (CPDJ). Secondary KPIs: cost per paid customer and blended payback period. CPDJ is read weekly per channel.
3. CAC math
Inputs: entry recurring price $50 (some pay $49.99 on the older monthly license), net margin 0.83 (validated), average paid retention 3 months (flex the band 2 to 4 months), free-to-paid 8 percent. The formulas are shown so every assumption stays adjustable.
Net LTV (conservative) = 50 x 3 x 0.83 = about $125
Sensitivity: 2 months = about $83; 4 months = about $166
Break-even cost per paid (LTV to CAC of 1 to 1) = about $125
Healthy target (LTV to CAC of 3 to 1) = about $42
Recommended working target = about $50 (payback about 1.2 months at about $41.50 net per month)
Joins required per paid customer at 8 percent = 12.5
Target CPDJ = 50 / 12.5 = about $4.00
Break-even CPDJ ceiling = 125 / 12.5 = about $10.00
Stretch goal = under $2.50
Headline targets
- Aim for CPDJ about $3.30 (band $2.50 to $4.20).
- Hard-kill any channel sustaining CPDJ above $8.
- Absolute break-even ceiling about $10.
- If only 60 percent of joins activate, joins per paid rise to about 21, so target CPDJ tightens to about $2.40 and the kill line drops to about $6.00. Treat $3.30 as the working target and tighten toward $2.50 as activation data lands.
4. Per-channel CPDJ
Estimates from current 2025 to 2026 ranges. Validate at setup.
| Channel | Planning CPC | Landing to join | Est. CPDJ | Phase 1 test | Expected joins | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reddit Ads | $0.75 (range $0.40 to $1.50) | ~30% | ~$2.50 | $700 | ~280 | Audience lives in reselling and flipping subreddits. Creative must read native, not like an ad. |
| Google Search Ads | $1.50 (range $0.80 to $2.50) | ~40% | ~$3.75 | $700 | ~187 | High intent, so free-to-paid likely runs higher (about 10 to 12 percent). Thin long-tail volume, needs negatives. |
| TikTok paid (small test) | $1.00 (range $0.50 to $1.50) | ~20% | ~$5.00 | $300 | ~60 | Colder and broader, the highest CPDJ of the paid channels. Daily minimums make micro-tests harder. Lean on organic. |
| TikTok & Instagram organic | Operator time only | n/a | ~$0 cash | Postiz + IG automation | Compounding | The primary low-cash distribution lever, run through existing automation. Not an ad line. |
| Whop affiliate boost | Pay on conversion only | n/a | ~$0 upfront | $300 seed | Variable | 30 percent recurring (or 40 percent first month then 20 percent). Effective cost per paid about $37.50. |
Out of scope by operator rule: no paid creators and no hired social manager. The plan does not depend on either.
5. 90-day budget split
Total $6,500 ($5,000 loan plus $1,500 cash). Reddit plus Google are the $5,000 core. Test, then optimize, then scale.
| Phase | Window | Total | TikTok | Whop | Reserve | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Test | Days 1 to 30 | $2,000 | $700 | $700 | $300 | $300 | - |
| Phase 2: Optimize | Days 31 to 60 | $2,000 | $800 | $800 | $200 | $200 | - |
| Phase 3: Scale | Days 61 to 90 | $2,500 | $1,000 | $1,000 | $200 | $200 | $100 |
| Totals | 90 days | $6,500 | $2,500 | $2,500 | $700 | $700 | $100 |
First two weeks (about $1,000)
Reddit $350, Google $350, TikTok $150, Whop seed $150. Expected about 330 joins at a blended $3 CPDJ. Success bar: a blended CPDJ under about $3 with at least one channel under $2.50. Kill anything above the $8 CPDJ line, double down under $2.50.
6. Attribution and tracking
- Use a distinct Discord invite link per channel per campaign. Discord reports a use-count per invite, which gives raw join attribution. Naming like inv-reddit-flip-w1.
- UTM tags on every destination URL: utm_source (one of reddit, google, tiktok, whop, ig), utm_medium (one of cpc, paidsocial, affiliate, organic), utm_campaign (channel_theme_phase), utm_content (creative id), utm_term (keyword, for Google).
- The landing page reads a per-channel invite from the query param dc or invite, persists the utm_* params, then points the Discord call to action at the resolved invite, with a clean fallback to the default invite when no param is present.
- Conversion events: landing view, Discord call-to-action click, Discord join (invite count), free activation (install and first run, from aggregate app telemetry), paid conversion (from Whop).
- Dashboard is a simple sheet with columns: Date, Channel, Campaign, Spend, Clicks, LP Views, CTA Clicks, Discord Joins, CPDJ, Activations, Paid, Cost per Paid, Notes. CPDJ = Spend divided by Discord Joins, read weekly per channel.
7. Creative angles
Each angle pre-empts a stated churn reason. Confident voice, no hedging.
Too expensive
One flip pays for the month. Start on the free version at zero cost.
Technical issues
Installs in minutes and runs in the background. Try the free version first, no risk.
No time
It watches the marketplace so you do not have to. The deals come to you.
Missing features
It scores every deal across the marketplaces you actually sell on.
Switching or not for me
Aggregate social proof plus a free tier that removes the commitment.
Reddit: Native and low-hype. Example: I stopped refreshing Marketplace at 2am, this does it for me.
Google: Intent-match headlines: Facebook Marketplace deal finder, snipe underpriced listings automatically, free reseller sourcing tool.
TikTok & IG: Fast demo: a real alert pinging, then the flip math on screen.
Whop: Affiliate earnings: earn 30 percent recurring promoting the deal sniper resellers actually use.
8. Google starter keywords
Keywords (phrase or exact)
Negative keywords
Top of funnel starts in the Discord.
Every channel points at a per-channel invite. This is the destination they all resolve to.