A pet-care app: my first real marketing job
A pet-care app in Delhi NCR. June 2026 to now. Meta ads, Google ads and SEO.
Three months ahead of target, then a harder stretch. What worked, what didn't, and what I did about it.
- enquiries from pet owners since June (to 12 Nov)
- 980
- enquiries from pet owners since June (to 12 Nov)
- per enquiry in August (about $0.63), against a target of ₹80–85 ($0.85–0.90)
- ₹59
- per enquiry in August (about $0.63), against a target of ₹80–85 ($0.85–0.90)
- cheaper enquiries from image ads than from video ads
- 3×
- cheaper enquiries from image ads than from video ads
Situation
The app connects pet owners in Delhi NCR with dog walkers, trainers and groomers, and sells pet food and supplies. I joined in June 2026. It's my first real job outside college. I run the Meta ads that bring in enquiries (a pet owner fills a short form and the team calls them back), the Google ads that get the app installed, and a report for the founders every week.
Problem
June to August went well: an enquiry cost ₹71, ₹76 and then ₹59, all under the ₹80–85 target. From September it got harder. An enquiry cost ₹140 in September and ₹180 after we relaunched in late October, roughly double the target (about $1.90 against $0.90). Across everything since June, the average is ₹89 (about $0.95) an enquiry, just over target. That's a real problem, and it's the part I'm still fixing.
The call I made
Don't guess, and don't spend more until I know what changed. I went through every step from seeing the ad to filling the form. People who clicked were still filling the form as often as before. What had gone up was the price Meta charged to show the ads in our areas. So new ads alone wouldn't fix it; I needed to change where and how we advertise.
What I did
- Relaunched in October with the ads split by service (grooming, pet supplies, fresh meals and training) and a fixed daily budget for each, so every service got a fair test.
- Tested image ads against video ads. Image ads brought 80 enquiries at about ₹143 each; video ads brought 11 at about ₹461. I've proposed using only image ads in the next round.
- Noticed that the Google ads were paying for people who opened the app once and then deleted it: 421 of 541. I proposed paying only for people who actually sign in.
- Paused spending, and proposed a two-week test before spending more: the small areas we'd been targeting against the whole city, with the same ads, to see which works.
- Audited the app's website for SEO and shared it with the tech team.
- Shot and edited a video explaining every service in the app, which we used as an ad.
What I'd change
I'd agree with the team on day one how we track which enquiries turn into paying customers. Right now I can say what an enquiry costs, but not what a customer costs, and that's the number a founder actually cares about. I'd also change one thing at a time and write down why, so it's always clear what worked.