A cash-on-delivery mobile accessories offer run into Saudi Arabia via native ads over three weeks — a mid-flight rewrite of the confirmation call script pushed COD confirmation to 71%, holding realized CPA well under the payout ceiling.
The task
By the start, the advertiser had confirmed demand but no controllable volume. The offer paid on confirmed COD delivery, not on the initial order — with typical Gulf-region confirmation rates around 45–50%, the real cost per confirmed sale could easily blow past the $9.20 target even with a cheap initial CPA.
We worked the "E-commerce" vertical in the Saudi Arabia market. Payment model — CPA per confirmed COD order, main sources — Native ads, WhatsApp click-to-chat.
How we did it
We built the buy around four decisions.
- Native placements across three networks targeting Arabic-language mobile users aged 22–45, landing on a single-product page with a WhatsApp click-to-chat button instead of a standard checkout form.
- A short two-step script was written for the confirmation call center: confirm the address in the local dialect first, then repeat the order total before hanging up — cutting down on silent no-shows.
- Budget was held flat at $80/day per source until confirmation data came back from the call center, then reallocated toward the top 6 sources by confirmed rate, not by raw order count.
What went wrong
Not everything went according to plan. The first week's confirmation rate came in at 52% — within regional norms, but not enough to hit the CPA target at the current media cost.
The confirmation script was rewritten (adding the total-repeat step), and two sources whose orders looked cheap but confirmed under 30% were cut — that spend was reallocated to sources already converting above 65%.
The result
Once stabilized, the campaign held the following numbers. Over the three weeks: confirmed orders — 1 380, realized cpa — $9.20, cod confirmation rate — 71%.
Over three weeks: 1,940 initial orders, 1,380 confirmed via COD (71% confirmation), $9.20 realized CPA against an $11 ceiling.
What we took away
- On COD offers, optimizing toward raw order volume instead of confirmed rate is the single easiest way to blow a CPA target.
- A better confirmation call script can move the needle as much as media-buying optimization does.
These numbers belong to one specific setup, geo, and buying period. Economics will differ on another offer or in another season — we always recalculate them before launch.