Scaling Paid Acquisition for Home Management App Hartley

Client: Hartley

Regions: United Kingdom

Services: Paid Social, Apple Search Ads, Creative Production, Organic Social, ASO

Key Achievements:

Meta installs up 118% on the previous three months
Cost per completed onboarding down 33%
Apple Search Ads cost per install down 48%

Introduction

Hartley is a free home management app for UK households. Users add their insurance policies, bills, warranties and MOT certificates, and Hartley’s AI reads each document, pulls out the key details and keeps track of renewal dates and maintenance, so nothing important slips through.

The app launched in early 2026. Everyone in a household can share the same view of the home, and when something goes wrong Hartley helps users check their cover and find a local professional.

Challenges

Hartley began paid acquisition in February 2026 and came to us in June, ready to grow its active user base as its monthly budget increased. It needed a partner to take over paid media and creative, deliver more consistent results, and bring in people who go on to set up the app properly, not just install it.

Strategic Approach

To address this, we focused on:

Three creative routes:
We built the creative around three routes: new homeowners buried in moving-in paperwork, the mental load of being the one person who remembers every renewal, and a clear explanation of what Hartley actually does. Each route had UGC, statics and organic content behind it.
Test, then graduate:
New creative ran in dedicated test campaigns on Meta, and the winners moved into core campaigns once they had enough spend and in-app events behind them. UGC filmed by our own team became the strongest performer, so we kept writing new scripts and iterations of it.
Optimising for engaged users:
We optimised towards completed onboarding rather than installs alone, and weighted budget towards iOS, where a far higher share of installs went on to finish onboarding, while keeping Android for lower-cost volume.
Search, store and social:
We managed Apple Search Ads across brand, category and competitor campaigns with regular keyword and search-term work, refreshed the App Store copy and screens, and ran organic social on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Performance Highlights

Uplift in Meta Installs

0 %

Lower Cost per Completed Onboarding

0 %

Lower Apple Search Ads Cost per Install

0 %

We took over Hartley’s ad accounts in July 2026. Meta figures compare our first full quarter, July to September 2026, with the previous three months, a period in which the monthly budget also grew.

More installs at a lower cost: Meta delivered 118% more installs than in the previous three months on 56% more spend, with cost per install down 29%.
More users completing onboarding: Completed onboardings from Meta rose 131%, and cost per completed onboarding, the main event we optimised for, fell 33%.
Efficient search: Apple Search Ads cost per install fell 48% between June and September 2026, with branded search consistently the lowest-cost source of installs.
Cheaper accounts across channels: Across Meta and Apple Search Ads, cost per account measured in AppsFlyer fell 14% from July to September, and September brought the highest monthly number of new accounts of our engagement.
Steady creative supply: By October, 25 ad concepts had gone live across statics, team-filmed UGC and creator videos, alongside more than 50 organic posts.

Conclusion

Hartley now has an acquisition programme that grows installs and engaged users together, with creative tested and graduated on evidence and search working alongside paid social. We continue to develop new messaging with the team as the product grows.

This project drew on our paid social, search marketing, video and motion design, organic social and app marketing services. See more of our work.

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