Read time: 4 minutes 11 seconds

Came across this strategy accidentally - exactly as Calm intended. 1 of thousands of people that enter their organic video content funnel every day.

Once I hit send I’m off for a 10 minute meditation.

Enjoy.

– Tom

P.S. We’ve been flooded with demand for sponsorship slots recently, and we’re now completely sold out for Q2.

(Proud milestone considering I only quit my job to do this full-time a few months ago!)

If you’re interested in securing a Q3 slot before we adjust our rates, check out our sponsorship info and send a reply to this email.

How Calm gets automatic signups via YouTube

Chess Move

The what: A TLDR explanation of the strategy

Calm is one of the world’s most successful mobile app companies - generating over $7.7 million per month.

With over 150 million downloads (!), it’s safe to say they’ve got repeatable growth playbooks to find new users and get them into the app.

Here’s an interesting one worth knowing about:

Nearly 50% of Calm’s social media traffic comes from YouTube.

At the time of writing, they have just shy of 1 million subscribers, and over 175 million views.

Their most-viewed videos aren’t just good marketing. They are a targeted funnel for new app signups, running on autopilot, 24/7.

Not bad for low-production content posted 6+ years ago.

Here’s how it works:

Breakdown

The how: The strategic playbook boiled down to 3x key takeaways

1.  Provide free upfront utility

With over 50m views, the most popular video on Calm’s channel is:

"Rainstorm Sounds for Relaxing, Focus or Deep Sleep | Nature White Noise | 8 Hour Video”

Importantly, the video isn’t just a trailer for the app.

It’s a useful tool in and of itself.

It’s a full 8-hour piece of content, made available for free.

People can use the video to satisfy their “Job-to-be-Done” (in this case, fall asleep), without needing to download the app.

Their other top videos follow the same pattern, helping viewers solve specific problems for free, such as reduce anxiety, relax, meditate, control their breathing etc.

Importantly, the videos aren’t just “content marketing” - they are tools that provide immediate practical utility.

A central characteristic of Calm’s YouTube discovery journey:

Prospective users get free value from Calm (the brand) before they’ve even used Calm (the app).​​

2. Target relevant high-volume search traffic 

You can’t just post a free video about anything and expect millions of views.

Calm’s top videos are a deliberate exercise in ranking for popular search terms among their target user base.

Calm noticed that their users were most active between 9-11pm. They weren’t looking for motivational stories to start their day - they were looking to relax and sleep.

The keyword “sleep sounds” has over 31,000 monthly searches across Google and YouTube.

“Rain sounds” has over 72,000.

Calm’s top video ranks #1 and #3 respectively for these search terms.

Similarly, their 2nd top video, “Daily Calm | 10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation | Be Present”, ranks #1 and #4 for “10 minute meditation” (6.5k monthly searches) and “meditation” (111k monthly searches).

For the term “mindfulness meditation”, Calm dominates the results page with all 3 of the ranking videos.

Even though these videos are 5+ years old, they still generate hundreds of views every single hour, on autopilot.

3. Create a signup funnel that cares

To maximise conversion of video search traffic into app users, Calm designed its funnel to be as simple and friendly as possible.

Each video features Calm’s logo on the bottom corner. Subtle enough not to be aggressive, but made prominent as the only graphic superimposed on the stock video.

The video descriptions are short and to-the-point.

They each start with a link that directs traffic to “Download Calm”, followed by a short value-add of where users can find similar content within the app.

Unlike most popular videos on YouTube, Calm removed all pre-roll and mid-roll advertising.

Calm’s intention is to generate app signups, not monetise the videos via ads. This also maximises the utility value of each video (uninterrupted meditations / sleep sounds / breathwork) and garners appreciation from their community.

When users hit the landing page, Calm’s only CTA is to “Try Calm for Free”.

Evaluators land directly into a short personalisation survey, which tailors their experience into a solution for the specific problem they are looking to solve.

The flow creates momentum with relevant testimonials based on the user’s responses, as well as a sense of urgency by reminding them that they may be looking for a solution (e.g. to fall asleep) right now.

By the time users are asked to add payment information to confirm their free trial, they are primed to expect:

• a tailored solution…

• that will solve their problem immediately…

• from a brand they already trust (since they were provided with free valuable content upfront)

Rabbit Hole

The where: 3x high-signal resources to learn more