02Acquisition leak playbook

Make one working channel visible and repeatable.

A practical acquisition repair for products with evidence of value but no reliable source of qualified new users.

USE THIS WHEN

Use this when users who arrive can succeed, but traffic comes from launches, founder bursts, or unattributed referrals. The first repair is source visibility, not five new channels.

01 / BASELINE

Measure before touching the product.

  1. 01Qualified visits by source for the last complete period.
  2. 02Signup or install rate for each source.
  3. 03First-value rate for each source.
  4. 04Time and direct cost required to produce each source.

02 / THE 90-MINUTE AUDIT

00:00

List every current source.

Proof: A source table with visits, signups, and owner effort.

00:20

Mark unattributed arrivals.

Proof: Unknown traffic is visible instead of blended into direct.

00:40

Join source to first value.

Proof: One funnel from arrival through the activation event.

01:00

Find the strongest small channel.

Proof: The source with the best value-event yield, not the most visits.

01:20

Define one repeatable cycle.

Proof: A channel action, cadence, owner, cost, and expected evidence.

03 / REPAIR OPTIONS

Choose one. Instrument it. Ship it.

01

Source-to-value attribution

Use when
Traffic exists but quality is invisible.
Change
Carry a source label from first visit through the value event.
Measure
Activated users and paid users by source.
02

Storefront promise repair

Use when
A marketplace or directory supplies impressions but few installs.
Change
Align title, proof, screenshots, and first-run promise around one job.
Measure
Listing view to install and install to first value.
03

Dormant audience reactivation

Use when
An old list or user base exists but new acquisition is weak.
Change
Send one relevant product change to a consented, reachable audience.
Measure
Return, activation, and paid conversion from the cohort.

04 / MEASUREMENT CONTRACT

A result needs a denominator and a guardrail.

Primary
First-value users by acquisition source
Leading signal
Qualified visit to signup or install rate
Guardrail
Support, spam complaints, or low-fit cancellations by source
Review window
One complete channel cycle, then a second repeat

05 / STOP CONDITIONS

  • The channel produces attention but no first-value events.
  • The owner effort makes customer acquisition uneconomic.
  • The channel depends on prohibited scraping, spam, or platform abuse.

DO NOT DO THIS

  • Do not open a new channel before the current sources are measurable.
  • Do not optimize clicks while activation remains unknown.
  • Do not treat a launch spike as repeatable distribution.

NEXT MOVE

Need the repair shipped?

Revenue Rescue turns one diagnosed leak into one scoped, instrumented repair in five focused days. No outcome guarantee and no charge to apply.

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