The Engagement Formula: 3 Stages a User Must Go Through Before FTD
In 2025, campaign performance is no longer measured by clicks alone — affiliates who know how to manage the stages of the FTD acquisition funnel achieve higher CR and more stable ROI. Today, our Big Traff Partners team breaks down how to build this effective acquisition formula.
Stage 1. Capturing Attention: The Trigger and First Contact
The first click is a reaction to a trigger that sparks interest. It could be a response to a banner, a bot message, a short video, or a visual in Stories. At this stage, it's not enough to simply catch the user — you need to create an expectation worth following further down the funnel.
Successful triggers in 2025 share three defining characteristics:
- Contextuality. Your message aligns with what the user is already searching for or experiencing (a sport, a local event, a hyped match).
- A strong value proposition. Your target audience needs a clear, immediate explanation of what they'll get right now if they engage with your offer.
- Mobile optimization. 95% of clicks in Tier-2/3 countries happen on smartphones.
For example, if your ad banner promises "200% for fans of Tournament X on the first deposit" — that's simultaneously a trigger (the tournament) and a promise (the bonus).
The key KPI at this stage is CTR (Click-Through Rate). But keep in mind that a high CTR without subsequent activation is a waste of budget. That's why we move on to the next stage of the funnel.
Stage 2. Persuasion: Visualizing Value in the Funnel
Once the user has clicked, they land on a landing page, a quiz, or go straight into a chatbot. This is the moment when they're still unsure whether to continue. If you fail to persuade them at this point, CR will drop.
What works at this stage:
- Gamification: progress bars, timers, mini-games that create a sense of participation and progress, while also boosting engagement.
- Quizzes: an interactive format that personalizes the experience and pulls the user in even further.
- Multi-step flows: breaking the process into small steps with a sense of progress and achievement (e.g., "1/3: choose your bonus" — "2/3: enter your name" — "3/3: claim your personal bonus").
Successfully implementing these elements delivers the following advantages:
- CR growth from click to landing page (sometimes up to +20–25%).
- Improved time-on-funnel metrics. The longer a user engages with you, the higher the chance of registration and deposit.
Based on the experience of our Big Traff Partners team, using progress bars and gamification increased the average CR from click to registration from 12% to 18–19%.
Stage 3. Activation: Driving Action (Registration + FTD)
The final step is the transition from intent to action. This is precisely where ROI often takes a hit due to a lack of work on friction points.
What you need to do to get the user to make a deposit:
- A clear post-registration message: the bonus, its validity/activation window, and a call to action.
- Use push notifications/SMS/chat prompts for motivation. If the FTD doesn't happen within the first 30 minutes, the chances of it happening drop sharply.
- Add urgency and scarcity to your offer. Limited-time offers ("today only," "until end of day") grab attention, while artificial scarcity motivates the user to take the target action.
When executed correctly, this stage can close the campaign's primary goal: converting a registration into an FTD.
The Stages Don't Work in Isolation
Keep in mind that each of these stages is not a standalone action, but part of a cohesive structure. If one of them underperforms (for example, a weak bot following a strong landing page), the entire CR collapses. That's why you need to:
- Continuously track the full funnel (implement analytics at every stage),
- A/B test not just banners, but also the steps after the click.
- Optimize bot scenarios and landing pages based on retention data.
Conclusion
The acquisition formula isn't magic — it's consistent work with attention, persuasion, and action. When a user moves through all three stages logically, sequentially, and without unnecessary friction, FTD conversion grows naturally, without additional spend on traffic. At Big Traff Partners, we know that building funnels like these is the key to effective media buying in 2025.
