Firstcard

Overview

Firstcard is a fast-growing fintech startup helping students, immigrants, and underserved communities build credit responsibly through its no-fee Credit Builder Card, high-yield savings, and cashback rewards. Despite having a strong product, the company faced high customer acquisition costs from paid ads in the competitive credit card industry, at which point they engaged Rocketship HQ.. 

Within just 60 days of the engagement, Rocketship HQ was able to reduce CAC by 50% across all paid channels, unlocking scalable growth for Firstcard.

Rocketship HQ’s Process

1. Creative Engine: Continuous Testing & Optimization

Rocketship HQ built a creative testing engine designed to rapidly identify winning ad angles to unlock performance. 

By continuously iterating on formats (Faceless videos, display ads and UGC-style ads), we kept engagement high and consistently discovered new creative winners that drove down CPA.

2. Smarter Bidding & Scaling Strategy

On the performance side, we re-engineered campaign structures to maximize efficiency:

• Bid Adjustments: Tuned bids across Meta, Google, and ASA to favor high-intent audiences with stronger conversion signals.
• Budget Allocation: Reallocated spend away from underperforming segments while scaling top-performing campaigns aggressively.
• Channel Mix Optimization: Leveraged data insights to prioritize channels with the lowest effective CAC.

This disciplined approach ensured we weren’t just spending more, we were spending smarter, making every dollar work harder.

3. Attribution & Tracking Fixes

To unlock scale with confidence, we tackled attribution head-on:

• Identified and resolved tracking discrepancies.
• Implemented cleaner attribution setups for iOS and web campaigns.
• Streamlined reporting for faster, more reliable optimization decisions.

By strengthening data accuracy, we gave the team a solid foundation to scale without flying blind.

Results

The impact was immediate and transformative:

• CAC dropped by 50% – the lowest of the year across all paid channels
• CPI dropped 33%
• 34% stronger install to conversion rate   

Conclusion

In just two months, Rocketship HQ helped Firstcard achieve its most efficient acquisition performance to date. By combining relentless creative testing, smarter bidding strategies, and data-driven optimization, we proved that fintech startups don’t need to choose between growth and efficiency.