“I hired an influencer for $1,500. Professional video, beautiful footage on a real golf course, edited perfectly. My $0 screen recording from my basement — literally just me talking over a screen capture — doubled its install rate. I would never have known without testing both.”

The basement screen-recording ad outperformed the $1,500 influencer video — iterate on raw content first

Duffett's experience echoes a pattern across consumer subscription apps: raw, authentic content — especially in acquisition contexts — outperforms polished production. The influencer video looked like an ad; the screen recording felt like advice from a fellow golfer. In a high-trust niche like golf, the latter framing converts better because it matches the context (someone sharing a tool they use) rather than advertising.