Extern
Turning fragmented SaaS acquisition into a scalable purchase engine
Extern is a SaaS platform offering externships to college students. Their primary objective was clear: acquire customers at a sustainable customer acquisition cost.
The challenge? College students are one of the most fiscally constrained audiences to sell to. Disposable income is limited. Decision-making cycles are longer. Skepticism toward paid programs is high. Conversion friction is real.
When we stepped in, the account had multiple campaigns running across different objectives. Budget was fragmented. Signals were diluted. The structure wasn't built to consistently drive purchases.
Extern didn't need more traffic. They needed efficient customer acquisition. We consolidated the account into a unified evergreen purchase-focused framework designed to strengthen signals, stabilize delivery, and lower CAC.
How we built it.
Account Restructure & CAC Reduction
After consolidating the campaign structure, we focused on driving down customer acquisition cost through signal clarity and strategic testing. Within weeks, CAC dropped substantially as delivery stabilized and budget was concentrated into high-performing segments.
Creator Sourcing & Organic Content
We sourced creators who could speak authentically to the college-student audience — relatable voices with real credibility in the career-development space. Their organic posts generated profitable engagement on their own, while also feeding the paid funnel with proven creative.
Audience Expansion
We moved beyond the original targeting pools and systematically identified new audience segments showing stronger purchase intent. This included layered interest testing, algorithmic expansion, and refinement based on engagement behavior. As new pockets of efficiency emerged, we scaled into them deliberately.
Value Proposition & Creative Testing
Rather than relying on a single core message, we tested multiple value angles tailored to a fiscally constrained student audience. Career leverage, ROI framing, credibility positioning, urgency hooks, and social proof were all explored across different content formats — identifying which narratives converted at lower costs.
Full-Funnel Development
We strengthened top-of-funnel with new hooks and content types designed to stop the scroll and reframe the offer. At the bottom, we built a dedicated retargeting strategy — increasing frequency strategically, segmenting based on engagement depth, and serving tailored messaging to users who had demonstrated interest. Purchase rates improved and CAC efficiency compounded.
The impact.
Extern moved from fragmented experimentation to a controlled, scalable trial engine designed to convert interest into long-term revenue.
Lower CAC. Massive increase in trials. A growth system built to compound.
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