Case Study
From 129 to 2,483 new monthly subscriptions
How Four15 helped Sunflower Sober scale acquisition beyond app installs.
Sunflower Sober’s reported new monthly subscriptions grew from 129 in January 2025 to a peak of 2,483 in November, a 19.2× increase. Four15 Digital joined on February 10 and worked with Sunflower’s team on campaign optimization, creative testing and the path from install to free trial to paid subscription.
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Growth milestone
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Result
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January → November 2025
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19.2× new monthly subscriptions
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May → July 2025
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174% more new subscriptions
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May → July 2025
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50% lower cost per subscription
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January is the last full month before kickoff. Subscription counts and costs are reported in the year-end QBR; they are not revenue, retained subscribers or a controlled measure of paid-media lift.
At kickoff, the starting metric was cost per install. But a low-cost download did not necessarily produce a completed onboarding, free trial or paying subscriber. Android measurement also needed work, and campaign expansion depended on getting useful inapp events into the ad platforms.
Four15’s approach evolved with the product: improve the creative, test additional acquisition routes, then move optimization toward meaningful in-app actions. The clearest efficiency gain came before the later trial-length experiments: between May and July, new subscriptions increased from 760 to 2,082 while total media spend rose from $42,924 to $58,262.
We worked with Sunflower’s team on GA4/Firebase and Meta event tracking, then launched campaigns focused on completed onboarding and free-trial starts. Trial-start campaigns gave the algorithms a more useful signal than installs alone.
In the June 2 review, the iOS trial-focused campaign reported $11.80 per free trial versus $23.14 for the install-focused campaigns. Its cost per install was higher, but the action closer to subscription was cheaper. That distinction supported moving more budget toward trial optimization.
We tested street interviews, creator-led videos, animations and static ads, then reviewed them by the recovery topic and conversion event they supported. The sobriety counter and “sober day” concepts remained productive for Alcohol campaigns. Street-interview videos became the strongest video format in the Q4 review, with the lowest reported cost per free trial.
Creative testing helped distinguish ads that attracted attention from ads that moved users into the product. Early reviews already showed that high engagement could coexist with weak install performance. Later reviews emphasized free trials and paid subscriptions as those signals became available.
The team tested customized app-store pages and a web acquisition funnel, while monitoring Sunflower’s onboarding, paywall, pricing and trial changes. Google and Apple supported acquisition earlier in the year; Meta became the main scaling channel and represented 87% of reported annual media spend.
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Reported monthly results
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May 2025
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July 2025
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New subscriptions
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760
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2,082
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Total media spend
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$42,924
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$58,262
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Average cost per subscription
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$56.48
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$27.98
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New free trials
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2,494
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6,733
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Subscription volume rose 174% on 36% more spend, while reported cost per subscription fell 50%. This is the strongest straightforward efficiency comparison in the supplied full-year reporting.
Growth was not a straight line. The 30-day trial test delayed paid starts, producing a September subscription dip followed by higher October-November counts. Shorter trials and pricing/paywall tests changed conversion timing again. December closed at 1,832 new subscriptions, 26% below the November peak, but 14.2× January.
Sunflower’s product changes and delayed trial conversions contributed to these results alongside paid media. The sources support subscription acquisition growth and improved acquisition efficiency; they do not establish revenue growth, profitability or clinical outcomes.