BEAM - AI Photo Editor
Scaling & Pivoting an AI-Powered Photo Editor
89%
Organic Download Rate
400k+
Installs in Under a Year
$2 CPI
Through A/B Testing
E2E
Growth Ownership
The Context
Challenge
BEAM started as a creative tool marketed to casual users and families, but acquisition costs were high and retention signaled that the most engaged users weren't who we expected; they were small business owners using AI-powered features to create content for their businesses.
Approach
Took over acquisition channels and campaign planning across Meta Ads, Apple Search Ads, and ASO. Ran five Meta campaigns with continuous A/B testing and managed the US region. Led the repositioning of the app toward prosumers after validating the opportunity through user interviews and ad performance data.
The Impact
Results
Scaled the app from 15K to 400K+ downloads in under a year while driving CPAs down to $2 through systematic testing and iteration. Validated the prosumer pivot with ad performance data before the team committed to the strategic shift.
Case Study
Before the Pivot
When I started on BEAM, it was an early-stage app with around 15K users and no established acquisition playbook. I took over campaign planning and acquisition channels across Meta Ads, Apple Search Ads, and ASO for the US market.
My approach was systematic. I ran Meta ad campaigns with continuous A/B testing: different creatives, different audiences, different hooks, each one building on the learnings of the last. On the ASA and ASO side, I optimized keywords in tandem, refreshed screenshots, and updated App Store copy to improve organic conversion alongside the paid efforts.
App store screenshots for casual users
The campaigns were working. CPA was coming down and downloads were growing. But about halfway through, something more interesting started showing up in the data.
The Pivot That Changed Everything
About halfway through my time on BEAM, we started noticing something in the data. Through in-app surveys and user feedback, we saw that our most engaged users weren't the casual audience we'd been targeting. They were small business owners using BEAM's AI-powered features to create content for their businesses. Removing backgrounds, generating product images, building social posts: they were treating BEAM as a business tool, not a casual app.
We dug deeper through user interviews and confirmed the pattern. For these prosumers, BEAM wasn't a nice-to-have, it was saving them time and money they'd otherwise spend on a designer or an agency.
I tested the hypothesis on the acquisition side by running an A/B test on Meta ads specifically targeted at casual users and prosumers. The results were clear: prosumer-focused creatives outperformed the casual user campaigns on both conversion rate and cost per acquisition. The data gave us the confidence to start shifting the entire go-to-market.
EX. Casual user targeted ad
EX. Content creator targeted ad
EX. Prosumer targeted ad
That meant rethinking everything: adjusting our Meta ad strategy and creative direction, updating Apple Search Ads keyword targeting to capture business-intent searches, and refreshing the App Store listing with new screenshots and copy that spoke to prosumers instead of casual users. It was a full repositioning of how the product showed up in market.
Positioning AI as a Business Asset
The pivot to prosumers also meant rethinking how we talked about BEAM's AI-powered features. For casual users, AI was a fun novelty: "look, it removed my background." For small business owners, it needed to be framed as a tool that saves time and makes money.
I spent time researching how other AI-powered creative tools were approaching their users: what language they used, how they positioned automation, what value propositions resonated. That research informed how we updated our messaging across every touchpoint, from ad copy to the App Store to in-app language.
Deep diving into BEAM's competitors
The shift showed up most clearly in our ads. We updated the creative direction and messaging to speak directly to prosumers and how they were using the product. On the App Store side, the change was more visual than verbal. We swapped out the imagery to resonate with small business owners, while keeping the copy grounded in the simpler terms people were actually searching for.
App store screenshots for prosumers
The Result
The repositioning validated what the data had been telling us. By the end of the year, BEAM had scaled from 15K to 400K+ downloads, with 89% coming from organic channels. CPAs sat at $2 through disciplined A/B testing, and the prosumer-focused messaging was outperforming our original casual positioning across every channel.
More importantly, the pivot gave BEAM a clearer product direction. We weren't just acquiring more users; we were acquiring the right users, ones with a real need who saw BEAM as a tool worth coming back to.
Conclusion
Key Takeaways
Let the data lead the pivot
We didn't guess that prosumers were our best audience. We saw it in engagement data, confirmed it in user interviews, and validated it with ad performance. When your qualitative and quantitative signals agree, that's your green light to move.
CPA is a system, not a number
Getting to $2 CPA wasn't one clever ad. It was five campaigns, dozens of A/B tests, and constant iteration across creative, audience, and placement. Efficient acquisition is built through discipline, not luck.
Repositioning is a full-channel exercise
Pivoting to prosumers wasn't just changing who we targeted in ads. It meant updating ASA keywords, refreshing App Store screenshots, rewriting copy, and reframing AI features as business outcomes. If your positioning shift doesn't touch every channel, it's not a real pivot.