I Watched a Founder Burn Money on €0.08 Clicks
Last week, I was scrolling through an online forum and saw a post that made my stomach drop.
A SaaS founder was showing off their Reddit ad campaign. The numbers looked like a dream.
Clicks: 769
Amount Spent: €63
Cost Per Click: €0.08
Eight cents. I’ve paid more for a single stick of gum. He thought he’d cracked the code. He was asking the internet if he should scale up to claim a €500 ad credit.
I had to stop reading. Because I knew the other number. The one that actually matters.
40 signups.
This isn't a success story. This is a tragedy in three acts.
The Dirty Secret About "Cheap" Traffic
Here’s what the growth hacking gurus don't want to admit: a cheap click that goes nowhere is the most expensive click you can buy.
You see that €0.08 CPC and you get a hit of dopamine. You feel smart. You feel like you've discovered a secret gold mine while everyone else is paying a fortune on Google.
But you haven't. You've just found a faster way to light your money on fire.
The founder’s real Cost Per Signup wasn't €0.08. It was €1.58. And if only a handful of those actually become paying customers? The real cost to acquire a customer is probably closer to €30 or €40.
Suddenly that eight-cent click feels pretty damn expensive.
That’s not a growth hack. That’s a vanity metric death spiral.
What Actually Works (Based on a Lot of Wasted Ad Spend)
I’ve been that founder. I’ve chased cheap clicks and wondered why my user count wasn’t exploding. I decided to stop blaming the platform and start looking at the real problem: the leaks in my own system.
Here’s what I learned.
1. Your Ad Has One Job (And It's Probably Failing)
A 0.291% click-through rate isn't just low. It's a fire alarm. It's screaming that your message is completely disconnected from your audience.
The founder was targeting communities for other SaaS founders and indie hackers. Big mistake.
Here’s a hard truth: You can't sell fishing rods to other fishermen. Those communities are full of your peers, not your customers. They’re there to talk shop, not to buy your tool.
Two fixes that actually work:
Find the watering hole. Where do your actual customers hang out? If you sell software for accountants, go to accounting subreddits. If your tool helps writers, find writer communities. Go where the pain is, not where the other founders are.
Write ads that don't look like ads. Redditors have the most advanced B.S. detectors on the planet. I once saw an ad for a project management tool that said, "My boss thinks I'm a genius. I just use this." It worked because it was about the user's victory, not the company's features. It felt like a confession, not a commercial.
The test? If your ad copy could be on a corporate billboard, it will fail on Reddit.
2. Your Landing Page Is a Leaky Bucket
This is the big one. The founder got 769 people to his site, and 729 of them took one look and hit the back button.
He paid for every single one of those bounces.
This isn't a Reddit problem. It’s a landing page problem. Moving to Google will just mean you pay €3 per click to watch the same people leave.
You need to become a plumber.
Match the message. If your ad promises to "end spreadsheet hell," your landing page headline better say something similar. The visitor needs to feel like they walked through the right door.
Show, don't tell. Get a GIF of your product solving the exact problem you talked about in the ad. Let them see the "aha!" moment. It’s 10x more powerful than a stock photo of smiling people in an office.
Install a heatmap tool. This is non-negotiable. Use one of the free ones. It lets you watch recordings of people rage-clicking on something that isn't a button or scrolling right past your signup form. It's like having a crystal ball that shows you exactly why you're losing money.
3. Stop Counting Ghosts
Can we talk about the "40 new users" number? What does that even mean?
A user who signs up and never comes back is a ghost. They haunt your user list, making you feel good while providing zero value. An activated user—someone who has completed a key action and felt the value of your product—is real.
The founder wasn't tracking signups. He was tracking ghosts.
Your goal isn't signups. It's activation.
Figure out the one thing a user has to do to "get it." For a file-sharing tool, it's seeing a file sync. For a communication app, it's sending a message. Your entire ad campaign, landing page, and onboarding flow should be a high-speed train to that single moment.
Use a product analytics tool to track "Users Activated," not "Users Signed Up." It’s the difference between knowing your vanity metrics and knowing your business.
My Current Sanity Check (Before I Spend a Dime)
For my last campaign—promoting a new reporting feature—here’s the funnel I built before launch:
Ad: Targeted a niche community with a headline about the specific reporting pain they feel. (CTR: 2.1%)
Landing Page: A dedicated page with a GIF of the new feature in action and a single CTA. (Conversion Rate: 14%)
Onboarding: A guided tour that forced users to create their first report. (Activation Rate: 65%)
Result: A predictable cost to acquire a happy, activated user. No guesswork. No burning money.
The 1-Week Test That Will Save You Hundreds
Here’s your homework:
Find your biggest leak. Is it your CTR, your landing page conversion rate, or your activation rate?
Form ONE hypothesis. ("I believe changing my headline to be more direct will increase landing page conversions.")
Run ONE tiny, €50 test to prove or disprove it.
Analyze the results. Did you fix the leak? If not, form a new hypothesis and test again.
Stop spending money until you can prove you’ve fixed the biggest leak.
The Truth About Finding Customers
The best ad strategy isn't about finding the platform with the cheapest clicks. It’s about building a machine that reliably turns attention into action.
Your funnel should feel like a well-oiled machine, not a slot machine you keep feeding quarters into, hoping for a jackpot.
The real question isn't "Which ad platform is best?"
It's "Is my business ready to turn a stranger into a happy customer, even if that click costs me €2?"
Start there. Your bank account will thank you.