Hi cool people,
Happy Sunday from Bellport.
Building challenges you in all ways.
It will make you question your intuition because you want a certain outcome, allocate resources to big bets, and course correct when you fumble. Without trust, you can’t build.
Mistakes are guaranteed. When you make a mistake, it's critical to be honest about it, or how else can you iterate and move forward?
Diagnosing is an art.
It takes putting your ego aside, admitting where you went wrong, and being open to solutions you may have never seen before.
That’s where true growth lives. And it’s the foundation of winning products and companies.
Sunday morning cozies before locking in to write this newsletter for you. Me + lil girl Hudson are in early fall heaven.
Tyler Denk, CEO of beehiiv, and I have become friends over the last year and have similar energy, so it was only a matter of time before we started building together.
He approached me wanting to build one thing, I had a vision to build something else, so naturally we’re doing it all (lol).
As Tyler writes a lot in his newsletter, beehiiv is at a critical point of going from $20M ARR to $100M ARR.
Btw, if you didn’t see this article by The Information from last month, the title says it all: “Is Beehiiv the Next Billion-Dollar Newsletter Startup?”
We want to crack a few things:
Meta
UGC content
Creator content
Today, I’m going to lean into Meta.
I’ve spent a lot of time working on Meta as a marketer. When you crack Meta, you access billions of people who can be acquired in super cost-effective ways.
This only happens if you play the “Meta game” correctly.
Now, I’m going to teach you the critical steps you need to follow to make Meta work. Special shoutout to my favorite performance marketer, Jake Biondi, who is an absolute legend at all things Meta.
Meta Set-Up Checklist
Is your campaign set up and optimized to deliver the type of conversion you want?
Conversion: The exact customer action you want Meta to optimize for; signup, trial start, purchase, or subscription.
Why it matters: This is critical because whatever conversion happens in your product will send the signal back to meta that this is what you’re optimizing for and to search for these customers
What it should look like: If you want mid-funnel and upper-funnel conversions (opt-ins, registrations, webinars, lead magnets) or lower-funnel conversions aka true customer outcomes, set it up in Meta correctly so it’s not mismatched
What is your attribution set-up?
Attribution window = how many days your product sends signals post-conversion back to meta
Why it matters: The attribution window is how long Meta tracks conversions after a click. Too short = missed sales. Too long = slower learning and harder to scale.
What it should look like: Are you setting up a 7+ day attribution window? This lengthens the time of Meta’s learning cycle and makes it easier to tie ad exposure to customer conversions
What does your creative look like?
Creative = the media you are running money behind to show to people on Facebook or Instagram
Why it matters: I personally think video creative always does better; set up a strong content engine to pump out video to Meta.
I love when products have a video creation component so this happens naturally. If you don’t have this, set up a UGC program to test different messaging.
What should it look like: Your creative is your targeting. Back in the day, media buyers used to want to set all different targeting parameters. Now, social media paid algorithms have gotten so good that your creative is the main targeting lever you need.
Bucketing all creatives in one ad set was a huge unlock for me and Jake at Citizen. We had 10+ creatives at any given time and rotated in new ones every 7-10 days.
Test it whatever messaging you want in creatives. Meta allows you to flight unlimited creative and see what sticks. You might as well cover all the bases and see what converts well with your offer + attribution window.
Product Checklist Optimized for Meta Traffic
Now that you’ve checked off all the components in Meta on this list, let’s move over to the product + funnel side.
What does this look like: Once your users click on an ad in Meta, where does it take them? How long does it take from the user to go from ad -> purchase?
How much friction are you presenting for your users to go through?
Friction = Number of steps from clicking on an add through purchasing
Why it matters: People just want to buy the thing. Make it easy for them. As Jake always tells me, each friction point kills volume, which could ultimately leave Meta with too few conversions to optimize against (and know who to serve the ad to).
What should it look like: You want friction to be low enough so that you can get enough conversion events so that Meta can optimize who to serve the ad too.
Remember: Meta's ad delivery system needs appx. 50 optimization events per ad set within a 7-day period to effectively exit the Learning Phase and optimize performance. That’s 50 conversions!!
This ^ is Meta’s way of checking if you have your shit together on the product side.
What does your trial window look like?
Trial window = Are you offering a free trial to users for your software product?
Why it matters: The length of the free trial will extend the time the purchase signal is given back to Meta. This delay in monetization signals will hurt Meta because it basically isn’t giving Meta enough signal to optimize the campaign and serve the ad to the right people.
What should it look like:
If you want a trial: Try testing a 7-day trial for paid Meta traffic → faster feedback loop, clearer payback math
If you don’t need a trial: Test a flow with no trials → Must purchase to enter; This allows for more Purchase signals
What type of verification are you making users go through up front?
Verification = usually looks like sending a code via SMS or email to users to verify their identify
Why it matters: I’ve heard both sides of the argument; some like this up front because it filters out less qualified users, others think it adds friction and blocks signal from getting to Meta.
What it should look like:
Ultimately, a low signal user isn’t going to put down their credit card anyway in most cases
Run a test where you move these after trial start (after they put their CC down)
What is an ideal flow for Meta?
Flow = The step-by-step path a user takes from clicking your ad to completing the conversion.
Why this matters: Meta needs clean, frequent conversion signals to optimize. The smoother the flow, the more signals you send, and the faster Meta learns who your best customers are.
You need to trust that you can try out many different options (trial window v. no trial, pricing tests, less verification v. more) to get there.
What it should look like: Keep it simple. Fewer distractions, shorter copy, and friction only where it’s essential. Add upfront value (templates, toolkits, discounts) to push users through faster.
Meta is the backbone of so many billion-dollar companies because it rewards builders who keep testing, diagnosing, and iterating. That’s the “Meta game”: trust the process, move fast on the learnings, and keep compounding.
Your job: align your funnel with your true goal, keep friction low, and make sure Meta gets clean signals to optimize against.
Well, How’d I Do?
Meta is only one piece of the growth machine, but when you get it right, it unlocks scale most founders never reach.
Founders rarely just have one marketing problem.
One week it’s a leaky funnel, the next it’s retention dipping, or a brand that isn’t landing with the right audience. It’s critical to diagnose fast, test harder, and know where your leverage lives.
This is the best part, right?!
Jumping into the mess with top founders, breaking it down peer-to-peer, and finding the winning path forward.
Collabing with Tyler, Dan, and the beehiiv team shows it all: if you tackle the right problems with the right intensity, you can scale and dominate an entire category.
Reply with the biggest marketing fire you’re fighting…I’ll tell you where I’d start.
I hope you have an incredible Sunday.
Julia
