I Want to See Install, Trial Start, and First Subscription for Each Creator in One Funnel

Airbridge's Funnel Report shows install → trial start → first subscription for each creator in a single view. You assign each creator a tracking link, and the funnel breaks down by that link, so you see exactly how many of Creator A's installs started a trial and how many went on to subscribe. The Revenue Report, grouped the same way, adds the revenue.

The Funnel Report is included in Airbridge's Core Plan ($40+/mo after a 30-day free trial). Core has 25 standard events, including Install, Start Trial, and Subscribe, so you can build a creator install trial subscription funnel without custom events, which are Growth only.

How to set it up

Step 1: Create a tracking link for each creator

In the Airbridge dashboard, go to Tracking Link > Link Generation > Custom Channels and create a link for every creator you work with. Enter a channel name such as creators and put the creator's name in the Campaign field. Airbridge also creates a short link and a QR code. The campaign value ties downstream events back to that specific creator.

If you are running ten creators this month, you create ten links. When a user taps Creator A's link, Airbridge attributes the install (and the events after it, inside the attribution window) to Creator A's campaign. The window is 30 days after install by default, and you can change it. The Revenue Report works differently: it credits each revenue event to the user's most recent Start Event without applying that window, so later renewals still count. This is what makes the per-creator breakdown possible: one link per creator, one attribution chain per user.

For a walkthrough of setting up creator-specific tracking links for subscription apps, see Track Creator Campaigns for Subscription Apps.

Step 2: Instrument the three funnel events

Airbridge's SDK includes standard events for install, trial start, and subscription. Install is captured automatically when the SDK initializes. For trial start and first subscription, you send the corresponding standard events from your app code when those actions happen.

A typical implementation looks like this:

• Install. Automatic via SDK. No code needed.
• Trial start. Send the Start Trial standard event (airbridge.startTrial) when the user begins a free trial.
• First subscription. Send the Subscribe standard event (airbridge.subscribe) when the first paid charge goes through.

Because these are standard events in Airbridge's taxonomy, the Funnel Report recognizes them without additional mapping.

If you use RevenueCat, Adapty, or Superwall, skip the SDK code for these two events. The integration sends them, and sending them both ways double counts. With these integrations, initial purchases, trial conversions, and renewals all arrive as Subscribe, so there is no separate trial-to-paid event. You read trial-to-paid from the funnel: it is the share of Start Trial users who reach the Subscribe step.

Step 3: Build the funnel in the Funnel Report

Open the Funnel Report in the Airbridge dashboard. Add three steps:

1. Install
2. Start Trial
3. Subscribe

Then group by Campaign. The report renders a per-creator funnel showing how many installs each creator drove, how many of those installs started a trial, and how many of those trials reached Subscribe. Each user counts once per step, so renewals do not inflate it.

You can also set a conversion window of 1 to 180 days. It runs from the first step, so make it longer than your trial. Users who buy without a trial skip the Start Trial step, so run a second funnel of Install → Subscribe to count them.

For a step-by-step guide on building this exact funnel, see Funnel: Install to Subscription.

Example funnel output

Here is a made-up example of a per-creator view for a fitness app running three creators in a single month. The install, trial, and subscription columns come from the Funnel Report. The Revenue column comes from the Revenue Report, grouped by the same campaign.

Creator B drove the most installs, but Creator C generated the most revenue. Creator A sits in the middle on volume but converts at a strong rate. Without the full funnel, you would allocate budget based on install volume and overspend on Creator B while underinvesting in Creator C.

The subscription rate column is the percentage of trial starters who reached Subscribe. Revenue is Subscribe revenue from users who came through that creator's tracking link. It includes any renewals in the date range.

What this tells you that install counts alone do not

When you only track installs per creator, you are measuring reach, not value. A creator with 5,000 installs and a 2% subscription rate generates fewer paying users than a creator with 1,000 installs and a 15% subscription rate.

The funnel view answers questions that install counts cannot:

• Which creators drive users who actually pay? Install volume does not predict subscription revenue. The funnel shows which creators attract users who move through the entire journey.
• Where does each creator's audience drop off? If Creator A has a strong install-to-trial rate but a weak trial-to-subscription rate, the issue might be in onboarding or paywall design for that audience, not the creator's content.
• Is a creator worth renewing? Comparing cost per paid subscriber across creators is only possible when you can see subscriptions attributed to each one. Upload each creator's fee with CSV Cost Data Upload, with the creator in the campaign column, and Actuals shows CPI and other cost metrics per creator. Install-based CPI alone hides this.
• How does creator performance compare to paid ads? When your ad channels (Google Ads, Meta Ads, Apple Ads, TikTok) and creators all feed into the same Funnel Report, you can compare them side by side on the same metrics.

Planfit used this kind of event-level optimization, testing creatives and tracking through to free trial starts, and reduced their customer acquisition cost by 40% (Planfit case study). Wasabi measured its TikTok ads at the creative level to see which videos drove conversion and revenue, and reported that its monthly revenue run rate doubled (Wasabi case study).

Comparison with doing this manually

You can approximate a per-creator funnel without Airbridge, but it takes significantly more work and produces less reliable results.

The manual approach

1. UTM parameters + analytics tool. Tag each creator's link with UTM parameters. Use your analytics tool (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude) to track installs by UTM source.
2. Match installs to trial starts. Export install data and trial-start data, then join them on user ID. This requires your analytics tool to capture both events and maintain a consistent user identity across them.
3. Match trial starts to subscriptions. Pull subscription data from your payment provider (App Store Connect, Google Play Console, or RevenueCat) and join it to your trial-start data. This is the hardest join because payment platforms use their own transaction IDs, not your analytics user IDs.
4. Aggregate by creator. Once you have matched all three events per user, group by the original UTM source to get per-creator numbers.

Where the manual approach breaks down

The manual approach can work for a one-time analysis, but it is not sustainable for ongoing creator program management. Every time you add a new creator or change your event schema, the joins need to be rebuilt.

For more on tracking creator-driven subscribers in a single tool, see Track UGC to Paying Subscribers.

FAQ

Does Airbridge's Core Plan include the Funnel Report?

Yes. The Funnel Report is part of the Core Plan, which starts at $40+/mo after a 30-day free trial. The Core Plan also includes Revenue and Retention reports, Predictive LTV up to day 180, and support for 4 ad channels (Google Ads, Meta Ads, Apple Ads, TikTok).

How many creators can I track?

Each creator gets their own tracking link, and the Funnel Report groups by campaign to compare them.

Do I need custom events for trial start and subscription?

No. Airbridge has 25 standard events, and Start Trial and Subscribe are part of that set. You send them from your app or through a subscription integration. No custom event definitions needed, and custom events are not on Core.

Can I compare creator performance to paid ad performance in the same funnel?

Yes. Because your ad channels and creator tracking links all feed events into the same Airbridge instance, the Funnel Report can include both. You can group by channel type or by individual campaign to compare creators against Google Ads, Meta Ads, Apple Ads, or TikTok campaigns on the same install → trial → subscription metrics.

How long does it take to set up?

A basic SDK install takes about 5 minutes. The events, links, and funnel take longer, depending on your app and creator count.

What if I use RevenueCat for subscription management?

Airbridge integrates with RevenueCat, so subscription events from RevenueCat can flow into Airbridge and appear in the Funnel Report. Skip the SDK code for those events, as covered in Step 2, and use the same user IDs in both tools.