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This one is odd, and it has held across every industry and every offer we have run. Whatever monthly revenue the ad names, the people who submit average about half of it.
| The ad says | Submissions average | Who you were after |
|---|---|---|
| $30K a month | About $15K | Not the merchant you wanted |
| $50K a month | About $25K | Borderline |
| $60K a month | About $30K | The floor most funders want |
| $100K a month | About $50K | Larger files, thinner volume |
Nobody has a proof of why. The most likely reading is that a revenue figure in an ad is read as a ceiling rather than a floor — a merchant doing $28K sees “$50K a month” and reasonably decides they are in range — and that self-reported revenue on a form rounds up at the small end and down at the large end. Whatever the mechanism, it is stable enough to plan on.
We found it the expensive way. Our first creatives said $30K a month, because $30K was the criteria, and a large share of what came back was unqualified and sitting right around $15K. We moved the ad to $50K. It now says $100K, some creatives say more, and without fail the submissions come in at about half of whatever the ad says. That is why the rule sits second on the creative checklist, as “at least two times your baseline”.
What to do with it
- Put at least double the revenue you want in the creative. If you want $30K merchants, the ad says $60K; if you want $50K merchants, it says $100K.
- Repeat the figure on the landing page, so the ad and the page make one offer, and keep the revenue band on the form at the real floor. The ad shapes who arrives; the form decides who counts.
- Use it on revenue-tier ads deliberately: “over $500K a month” is how you fish for the large file, and it will produce merchants at half that.
- Do not read the gap as the ad failing. It is the ad working the way the audience reads it.
It also means a creative that names the small merchant on purpose — “doing $20K a month?” — is not a targeting choice. It is a decision to fill the funnel with $10K merchants, most of whom nobody can fund.
Questions brokers ask
What revenue figure should an MCA ad state?
At least double the revenue you actually want to see on the application. Submissions average roughly half the number in the creative, so an ad aimed at $30K-a-month merchants should say $60K, and ours now say $100K or more.
Why do submissions come in at half the advertised revenue?
Nobody has proved it. The likeliest reading is that a stated revenue is read as a ceiling rather than a floor, and that self-reported revenue rounds up at the small end. The pattern has held across every industry and offer we have run.
Does the halving rule apply to the requested amount too?
We have measured it on revenue, which is the figure that decides whether a file can be placed. Treat other stated numbers with the same suspicion until your own data says otherwise.
Should I lower the revenue band on my form to match?
No. The band on the form is the floor a funder will accept, and it stays there. The rule is about what to put in the ad so that enough of the people who arrive clear it.
Will a $60K ad scare off real $30K merchants?
Not in practice. A merchant doing $30K reads “$60K” as being in range, which is precisely the behaviour the rule describes. The ones scared off are the $8K merchants, and that is the point.
Alex Makowski
Founder, Infinite Bookings
Runs the lead generation operation behind Infinite Bookings — paid traffic, the funding application, and the delivery pipeline that puts records into brokers’ CRMs.
Reachable directly at alex@infinitebookings.com or 732-609-7182.