Improving ROAS from -33% to +50% in 90 days

Case Study - Fintech & Consumer Finance Services

Case Study

The Goal

A fintech consumer finance platform, brought me on to overhaul their paid acquisition strategy across products including debt consolidation, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, and high-yield savings. The company had previously struggled with a negative return on ad spend (ROAS), inefficient paid channels, and limited internal bandwidth (only 3 people on payroll, including the CEO). The goal was to quickly make performance marketing profitable and scalable.

The Strategy

  • Full-Funnel Audit & Restructure: Conducted a comprehensive audit of advertising accounts and implemented immediate structural changes to fix wasted spend and clarify conversion pathways.
  • Audience Targeting Overhaul: Used a combination of custom intent audiences, first-party data, and in-platform signals to segment profitable intent groups.
  • Geo Bidding & Device Controls: Applied scripted automation for budget pacing, geo prioritization, and performance thresholds.
  • Creative Direction & Testing: Guided new creative testing frameworks (including AI-generated creative) and messaging themes to align with high-intent segments.
  • Collaborative Consulting: Worked directly with the CEO and Head of Ops on forecasting, KPI redefinition, and expansion pacing.

    • The Results

    Our advanced targeting methodology resulted in driving a 3x increase in the response rate compared to the previous period, and a significant decrease of 65% in the cost per acquisition.

    Skills & Platforms

    • Advertising Platforms: Google Ads (Paid Search SEM, PMAX, Demand Gen, YouTube, GDN Display)
    • Data Analytics & CRM Tools: Google Analytics (GA4), Looker, Funnel.io
    • AI & Automation Tools: ChatGPT, Canva
    • Programming & Analytics: Excel Macros, R Statistical Programming, Google Ads Scripts (JavaScript)
    • Testing: A/B Testing, Creative Testing, Conversion Rate Optimization
    • Management Tools: Notion

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