How Curve Achieved Profitable Growth Through Data-Driven Optimization
Curve is an innovative financial technology company that consolidates multiple debit and credit cards into a single smart card and app. Operating in a highly competitive global fintech market, Curve ‘s success hinges on continually optimizing its funnel to secure high-value users cost-effectively.
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Working with us, in their own words, across strategy, execution, and growth.
We work with yellowHEAD as a true team, not just as a vendor. That enabled agile decision-making and aligned incentives. Every budget shift, channel choice, or creative test was grounded in real-time data. Once the pilot proved the unit economics, scaling was smooth, minimizing waste and avoiding sudden quality drops.
The Challenge
As a leading digital wallet app, Curve was on a mission to scale its presence across Europe but faced serious hurdles in doing so:
- High acquisition costs threatened campaign scalability
- Low App Store visibility limited organic reach and discoverability
- Scaling to new markets lacked a structured, localized strategy
- UA and Organic efforts were operating in silos, slowing optimization
To compete in a saturated fintech space, Curve needed a 360° growth plan where performance marketing and organic strategy worked hand-in-hand to drive efficiency and results.
The Approach
Curve partnered with yellowHEAD to align Paid UA and ASO under a unified framework, optimizing across the full funnel, from ad creative to App Store presence.
Paid User Acquisition Strategy
- Google Ads Optimization
– Shifted from sign-up optimization to First Transaction (D7) conversion
– Improved targeting for high-intent users and boosted LTV
– Rolled out across EEA markets with localized creatives - Apple Search Ads Enhancements
– Paused underperformers and reallocated to top-performing segments
– Leveraged Search Match to capture untapped query demand
– Implemented brand protection in key regions (UK, DE, FR, IT, AT, NL) - Account & Creative Restructuring
– Combined creative themes into unified campaigns (e.g., Combined & EEA) for faster learning
– Localized visuals, tone, and messaging tailored to each market
Organic Growth via ASO
- Custom Product Page (CPP) in UK
– Created Branded CPP to improve performance on high-intent branded keywords
– Increased CVR by +3.8%, delivering +953 incremental installs/year - Global Visual Testing
– A/B and A/B/C tested screenshots on iOS and Google Play
– Implemented winning variations across 5 markets
– Delivered +7,500 organic downloads/year - Keyword Metadata Optimization
– Researched and targeted strategic fintech keywords
– Rankings jumped significantly on both stores:
Google Wallet: #5 → #2
Apple Pay: #16 → #2 (Play), #16 → #5 (iOS)
Wallet App: #16 → #7 (iOS)
AI Search Optimization (GEO): Strengthening Curve’s Visibility in the Next Search Frontier
As part of yellowHEAD’s unified growth framework, we expanded our work with Curve beyond Paid UA and ASO into the emerging area of AI Search Optimization (GEO) — ensuring Curve maintains visibility in a world where consumers increasingly discover financial products through AI assistants like ChatGPT.
Over 90 days, we optimized Curve’s digital presence for AI visibility in the UK market.
The impact was immediate:
- Brand Visibility in AI Answers: +35.7%
(15.27% → 20.72%)
- Brand Mention Share: +57.7%
(1.68% → 2.65%)
- Curve appeared in nearly 4,000 AI-generated answers out of 23,000+ tracked queries earning significantly more share of conversation vs. key competitors.
How we did it:
We mapped real-world prompts users ask when exploring digital wallets, payments, and personal finance in ChatGPT, then created optimized content designed to answer these queries with Curve positioned as the most relevant solution.
This approach ensured Curve was surfaced more often for high-intent, AI-driven searches.
Why it matters:
AI search is rapidly reshaping consumer discovery.
Brands investing in visibility now build an early and lasting competitive advantage.
The Results:
| KPI | Before | After | Result |
| Install CVR | 6.38% | 10.96% | ↑ 72% |
| CP FT D7 | £162 | £63 | ↓ 61% |
| ASA CP FT D7 | £158 | £30 | ↓ 5x |
| Branded CPP CVR (UK) | 69.85% | 73.66% | ↑ 3.8 pts |
| Geo Coverage | UK only | +5 EU markets |
Future Outlook:
Following this success, Curve and yellowHEAD are:
- Rolling out CPP and screenshot optimizations across additional global markets
- Continuing to test unified creative assets across UA and ASO
- Launching ongoing ASO/UA integration sprints to accelerate experimentation and learning
- Expanding geo footprint with high-performance playbooks
Takeaways:
- Paid UA and Organic ASO are stronger together — not separate strategies
- A shared performance KPI (like Cost per FT D7) aligns goals across channels
- Localization and creative alignment accelerate success across geos
- Real-time data, agile testing, and unified execution drive sustainable g
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