Why Your Existing Clients Are More Valuable Than New Leads

Most teams chase new leads: more traffic, more clicks, more sign-ups. And we’re happy about it — we’re a traffic agency, after all 🥺

But we don’t just push traffic — we care that every click actually pays off. That’s why we want to get this across:

Before pouring money into new leads, ask yourself: do you really know how to work with your existing clients?

Because it’s a simple truth: your current clients are worth more than any new lead.

When you don’t manage your existing audience, you don’t know:

🟣who brings real profit
🟣who is silently leaving
🟣where churn is growing
🟣which clients drain resources

That’s why it’s important to work systematically with your client base — and at least track the basic metrics:

1️⃣ LTV (Lifetime Value) — don’t know it, don’t know your ad budget

2️⃣ ARPU (Average Revenue per User) — who moves your business forward, who doesn’t

3️⃣ Churn — high churn sometimes eats growth faster than ads can deliver

4️⃣ Client Segmentation — SMBs, enterprises, startups: same product, completely different behavior

5️⃣ Acquisition Channels — ads, referrals, content: clients usually perform differently depending on the source

When you master your existing base, know LTV, and know how to increase it, new leads become much easier to monetize.

You can invest more confidently, buy traffic at higher prices, and still multiply ROI over time.

💬 How do you work with your client base? What approaches help you get more value from your existing users?

Why Cheap Clicks Can Kill Your Telegram Funnel

🐾 Hi, this is Ann from the SMIT team.

Today I want to talk not so much about ad metrics, but about the importance of the right mindset.

When launching ad campaigns, many people think in a linear way:

Cheap click → cheap lead → high profit.

This approach doesn’t work that often. And quite frequently, it works the exact opposite way.

Let me give you an example.

Let me give you an example. Imagine you decide to aggressively lower the cost of the first action. To do that, you:

🟣 simplified your creatives
🟣 added loud, catchy promises
🟣 simplified the first step of the funnel
🟣 promised prize giveaways

The click price dropped by 2x. You’re already rubbing your hands, expecting big money.

But a month later, problems start to surface:

❌ more random people are entering the funnel
❌ the new ads scared away some of your most advanced clients
❌ the workload on your managers increased
❌ average customer LTV went down
❌ refunds and negative feedback increased
❌ revenue didn’t grow

The initial click price looks great. The money doesn’t.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to lower this metric. You should — and it’s important.
The key is to do it intelligently.

Turn off linear thinking and look at the funnel through the lens of final business metrics. Optimizing campaigns only for CPA, CPC, or CTR is shortsighted. These metrics have value only when tied to final profitability.

It’s better to pay more — and get a higher-quality customer. And to make decisions based on final metrics, you need to put in the effort and set up proper end-to-end analytics.

💬 Let’s discuss in the comments: what other thinking mistakes have you managed to overcome in your life?

No matter what, we love our clients and the work we do 💜

3 non-obvious Telegram channel metrics you should start tracking

Most projects track only the basic Telegram channel metrics: subscribers and reach. Some also keep an eye on ER and ERR — which is already a great start. But what if we told you there are other important metrics that almost nobody tracks?

1️⃣ Retention

It’s important for a channel to measure not just how many subscribers joined, but how many of them are still active readers after 7, 30, or 90 days.

This is one of the key indicators of content quality and traffic quality.

🟣 How to track:

Only through end-to-end analytics tools like Prizma.tools (or similar), segmenting audiences via invite links. It’s important to separate new subscribers from different traffic sources from the channel’s core audience.

🟣 How to use it:

✅ Track retention separately by traffic source. This way you’ll understand not only what subscription price each source delivers, but also how engaged those subscribers are. You’ll be able to focus not on the cheapest, but on the highest-quality readers.

✅ Track how content quality affects retention. You’ll see whether your “warming up” sequence in the channel is working.

2️⃣ Average reach per subscriber

This metric reflects how frequently and intensely subscribers consume your content.

🟣 How to track:

Average reach per subscriber = total reach for the period / active base

In other words: take all posts for the month, add up the reach, divide by your subscriber base — and you get the metric.

🟣 How to use it:

Improving this metric can often increase revenue more than simply boosting ER and ERR. On a deeper level, your income depends more on total attention than on likes and comments. Track how content and traffic sources impact this metric, and implement changes to raise it.

3️⃣ RPM

RPM is the average revenue you earn per 1,000 channel views. Revenue is the key indicator of how strong your channel “warm-up” and monetization are.

🟣 How to track:

RPM = (Revenue for the period × 1000) / Total reach for the period

🟣 How to use it:

Measure it regularly and use it to guide changes in your content.

💬 Interested in this topic? If yes — drop a heart 💜 and we’ll share a few more underrated but extremely useful metrics.

3 mind-blowing Telegram features

1️⃣ If you type @pic + an image description in any chat — Telegram will instantly return an image matching your request.

2️⃣ If you type @gif + a description — it will return an animation.

3️⃣ If you type @youtube + a video title — Telegram will give you a link to that video.

We’ve attached a video showing how it works step by step. 👍

✅Share this post with friends who aren’t aware of this yet

What Are “Threads of Meaning” and Why Are They So Important in Telegram? 🔄🔽👍

Telegram channels have one major problem — poor onboarding. When a new reader lands in a channel, they usually only see a couple of the latest posts.

Often, they can’t understand what the channel is about, scroll through a few posts, and leave forever.

That’s why it’s critical to build your channel in a way that encourages readers to dive into the content from the very first minutes.

There are two main tools to achieve this:

1️⃣ A high-quality pinned post with a curated selection of the channel’s best content, organized by topic. Make sure the titles are catchy and engaging.

2️⃣ Hyperlinks to previous posts. Wherever relevant, link back to older posts on the same topic. These links guide readers up the feed — and once they start exploring, there’s a higher chance they’ll stick around.

It sounds simple, but in our experience, these basic practices significantly increase subscription conversion.

💬 What hacks do you use to grab readers’ attention?

3 AI Features We Expect in Telegram in 2026

Not long ago, we wrote about the launch of Cocoon — a unique AI system that relies not on remote servers but on the distributed digital power of Telegram users.

This year, we already have the first AI feature based on it: Telegram can now generate concise summaries of long articles and posts.

What other useful AI features might appear this year? The industry is full of rumors:

1️⃣ Quick summaries of everything

AI summaries are expected to expand to group chats and direct messages. Users will be able to quickly understand the conclusions from a long thread. They’ll also be able to get a short recap of incoming messages without digging through the conversation.

2️⃣ Enhanced mini-apps with AI

Telegram already hosts many bots powered by neural networks. Cocoon’s integration could give them long-term memory, allowing them to learn user preferences and deliver context-aware results.

3️⃣ Live call translation

Insiders report that Telegram is working on a system capable of real-time translation of calls with live text transcription.

Other popular rumors:

🟣 Launch of AI agents to assist with channel management and group moderation (expected next year).

🟣 A personalized AI post recommendation system for the messenger (rumors circulate actively, but there are doubts that Telegram will implement this — Pavel Durov is known as a consistent critic of algorithmic content curation).

🟣 A personal assistant with deep system access — an AI secretary with full access to Telegram, capable of voice interaction. Sounds amazing, but insiders don’t expect this to launch within the next year.

Of course, all this information is unofficial, so it’s worth taking rumors with a grain of salt. But dreaming is fun, isn’t it?

💬 What AI features do you expect to see in Telegram? Share your ideas in the comments!

3 more underrated Telegram channel metrics you should start tracking

You left enough hearts on Part 1 — so here’s the continuation.

So, what else is worth tracking?

1️⃣ Subscriber LTV (Lifetime Value)

A key metric for commercial channels. It shows how much money one subscriber brings in over their entire lifetime in your channel.

🟣 How to track:

LTV = Total channel revenue (all time) / Total number of unique subscribers

Ideally, track LTV by cohorts, depending on the traffic source.

🟣 How to use it:

✅ Confident scaling. If you know your subscriber LTV is ₽1,000, you can buy traffic “for the long game” without worrying about payback.

✅ Better audience quality. Money is your #1 metric. That means you can afford to acquire subscribers from more expensive segments—if you know their long-term LTV will be 5–10x higher.

2️⃣ Time to First Purchase

One of the main metrics that reflects how well your channel warms up new subscribers. Usually measured in days until the first purchase.

🟣 How to track:

Match the subscription date to the purchase date (via invite links, UTMs, bot launches, and your CRM).

🟣 How to use it:

✅ Speed up your warm-up sequence.
✅ Forecast cash flow. You’ll know: “If I buy traffic today, payments will start coming in about a week.”

3️⃣ Core Audience Ratio

This metric shows the share of your core audience — people who actively follow your content and are ready to respond to your offers.

🟣How to track:

Core Ratio = (Unique reactions over the period / Average reach) × 100%

🟣How to use it:

This is a measure of your influence. If reach is growing but your “core” is shrinking, your channel is turning into a newspaper: people scroll, then forget.

For expert blogs, a solid benchmark is 5–10% core. If it’s dropping — add more interactive posts, adjust your delivery, and refresh your content pillars.

Want Part 3? If yes — drop a 💜

💬 What metrics do you personally track in your channel?

Telegram Is Outgrowing Its “Grey Zone” Reputation

In some countries, Telegram is still perceived as a platform for shady activities. Dark markets, grey schemes, shadow communities — that reputation stuck.

But reality is changing fast.

✔️ According to a Kaspersky Lab study the average lifespan of a shadow Telegram community is just 7 months. Even with bots and automation, running illegal operations on Telegram is becoming unstable and inefficient.

As Kaspersky analysts put it: “If your shop keeps opening and closing, it’s hard to run a business.”

🐋Large shadow groups are already leaving Telegram, moving to decentralized platforms or building their own messengers — openly citing constant blocks and rule enforcement.

What this means for the market:

Telegram is slowly but steadily shifting from a “grey playground” to a regulated distribution platform. For advertisers, media, and businesses — this is not a problem. It’s an opportunity.

💬 What do you think about Telegram’s policies? Do you want the platform to tighten the rules — or would you prefer more anarchy?

Telegram Search Ads: An Underrated Opportunity

Not everyone knows this, but with Telegram Ads you can promote not only in channels, chats, and media placements inside Telegram — you can also advertise in the search bar.

👍Your channel or bot can appear at the top of search results for the keywords you choose.

Why is this a powerful opportunity?

Search ads give you access to people who are actively interested in your topic right now.

These users weren’t just casually scrolling through Telegram channels — they had a specific goal and typed a targeted query into the search bar to solve it.

Who is this relevant for?

🟣 Businesses in highly competitive niches that people actively search for — for example, real estate.

🟣 Owners of city-based or expat communities on Telegram. Your project can rank at the top for queries like “Delhi”, “Philadelphia” helping you quickly attract highly targeted subscribers.

🟣 Entrepreneurs who want to steal audience from competitors. Run ads on competitor-related search queries and capture users who are already interested in similar products or services.

💬 Have you already tried contextual ads in Telegram? What results did you get? Share your stories in the comments!

3 Useful Telegram Mini Apps You’ve Been Missing

We’ve put together a small list of useful Telegram mini apps for you. Maybe you haven’t heard about them yet:

1️⃣ UTasks — @UTasksBot

A simple task manager inside Telegram. It helps you plan your work, set priorities, and attach files to tasks. You can also add the bot to group chats for team collaboration.

2️⃣ Shared Events Calendar — @SharedEventsCalendar_bot

A calendar for creating events that you can easily share in your Telegram channel. You can add the date, description, location, and list of participants, then share events with your team or subscribers.

3️⃣ TonMobile eSIM — @mobile

A great service for travelers that lets you buy eSIMs for different countries in just a few clicks. You can pay by card or with TON cryptocurrency.

💬 Which Telegram mini apps do you use? Share your favorite projects in the comments!

Scientists: Telegram Is the Safest Social Network for Mental Health

We came across an interesting study by researchers from Saudi Arabia. The scientists tested different social networks on hundreds of volunteers and evaluated how active use affects mental health.

❎ TikTok turned out to be the worst platform. On a five-point safety scale, it scored only 2 points. Researchers found that TikTok causes strong addiction and increases anxiety and depression.

🟣 Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube received a “3” for mental health safety.

✔️ The best platforms were WhatsApp and Telegram. They were rated “4” out of 5. Scientists noted that messengers received the fewest complaints related to addiction and increased anxiety.

Researchers recommend spending less time on social media. According to their observations, mental health indicators significantly worsen among people who use social networks for 3–5 hours a day or more.

💬 How do social networks affect your mental health? Which ones do you consider dangerous, and which feel safe? Share your personal experience in the comments!

Telegram Mini Apps: The Hype Is Over, but the Money Is Still There. How Did That Happen?

We recently came across a very interesting and fresh study by the PropellerAds team, who analyzed the advertising market in Telegram Mini Apps. And honestly — some of the numbers are truly impressive.

1️⃣ The popularity of Mini Apps dropped almost 10x

In 2024, they attracted 1.44 billion monthly active users, but by mid-2025 this number fell to just 150–190 million.

Why is this not something to worry about? It’s simple — the first number reflects the peak of the tap-to-earn gaming hype in 2024, which has now passed.

Now people don’t use Mini Apps just for gaming anymore. The most popular categories today are AI, utilities, and various service apps.

2️⃣Despite this decline, targeted advertising in Mini Apps is growing fast, and the Mini Apps market itself is becoming more mature. Ad CTR can reach 20–40%, and CPC in many regions stays below €0.01.

Who is advertising in Mini Apps today?

🟣 iGaming — #1 by impressions (22.37%)
🟣 Finance & Crypto — 19.67%
🟣 E-commerce — 13.20%
🟣 Media — 12.02%

Want to learn more about this tool? Message us here ⏩ @smit_link. We’ll explain everything and show you how to use this opportunity to grow your project.

💬 Have you already tried running ads through Telegram Mini Apps? What results did you get?

How to find high-quality Telegram channels for seeding campaigns or Telegram Ads?

What does ad performance depend on the most? Simple: where you advertise.

Finding solid channels for seeding and targeting is the most important — and often the hardest and most time-consuming — part of launching a campaign.

Here are a few tools that make the process much easier:

1️⃣ Telemetr or TGStat

Pick either one — or use both. These are Telegram channel directories where you can:

🟣search channels by keywords, or browse ready-made curated lists.

🟣Both services also track key channel metrics: ER (engagement rate), citation index, and potential signs of fake growth. These are powerful tools for discovering channels and vetting their quality.

2️⃣ TgMaps: finding similar channels

🟣This is the best option when you already have 1–2 “benchmark” channels and want to find lookalikes.

🟣Use the “Similar channels” feature: paste a link to your reference channel and you’ll get a strong list of channels with a similar audience.

🟣Another powerful TgMaps feature is competitor spying. Go to the “Creatives” section and enter the keywords relevant to your niche. The tool will show ads your competitors have been running on that topic. Check which channels they placed ads in — and add those channels to your own test list.

3️⃣ Manual method

🟣Every Telegram channel has an automatically generated list of similar channels. Often you’ll find strong, “live” channels there that aren’t listed in public directories.

🟣So in addition to browsing catalogs, it’s worth checking what Telegram itself suggests as similar channels.

🟣 The only downside: you can’t review channel metrics inside Telegram, so you’ll still need to copy those links and verify them in external analytics tools.

💬 How do you find channels for running ads? Share your best hacks in the comments!

Why Telegram Never Integrated Grok

In 2025, we expected Telegram to deeply integrate Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok.

The deal looked huge: $300M in cash and shares, lots of amazing AI-features in Telegram.

But it never happened.

We reviewed an investigation by the «Kod Durova» project. It is a major Russian-language website that regularly publishes insider information about Telegram. According to rumors, the project is partially funded by Durov’s team and serves as its semi-official mouthpiece.

What is the investigation about?

According to reports, Telegram was not only talking to xAI. They also explored partnerships with Perplexity and other AI-providers.

All negotiations hit the same wall: How to guarantee absolute user privacy with third-party AI?

The Grok partnership would have involved:

❎ Data processing by external systems

❎ Potential access to private messages

❎ Limited transparency

For Telegram, that was a red line. Durov proposed building a system that would hide users’ personal data from the AI. But Musk was not satisfied with this solution.

Instead of plugging in someone else’s AI, Telegram chose a harder path. They built their own decentralized AI infrastructure. This later became Cocoon — a system where:

✔️ AI runs without exposing private data
✔️ Messages stay inside Telegram’s ecosystem
✔️ No third parties can access user content

In a market where most platforms trade privacy for growth, Telegram chose the opposite. This decision slowed monetization. But it strengthened long-term loyalty.

💬 Do you think Telegram made the right call by rejecting big AI partners to protect privacy?

Telegram Ads Done Right: 4 Proven Lead-Gen Funnels

Here are the 4 main funnel types we use at SMITLINK after after spending $1M+ in ad budgets and running 300+ projects.

1️⃣ Funnel to a Channel

Long-term asset with high LTV

Best for: real estate, coaching, edtech — niches where trust builds slowly (3–6+ months sales cycle).

How it works:

🟣Ads → channel subscription

🟣 Feed: 80% value (insights, cases, tips, polls) + 20% offers

🟣 Nurture over weeks/months → convert via promo posts

Advantages:

✔️ Builds loyal audience
✔️ Repeat sales without repaying for the same people
✔️ High delayed ROMI

❎ Downsides: needs consistent content

2️⃣ Funnel to a Bot

Automation + fast qualified leads. Best for: trading, e-commerce, online courses — short cycles (1–2 weeks).

How it works:

🟣 Ads → bot start
🟣 Greeting + quick segmentation
🟣 Warm-up: mini-course, quiz, calculator, pain breakdown + case
🟣 Personalized offer → CTA
🟣 Push-notifications for drop-offs

Advantages:

✔️ Your bot subscriber base lives forever — relaunch ads anytime for free
✔️ Full automation + real-time qualification

❎ Downsides: high churn rate

3️⃣ Funnel to a Specific Post

Quick tests & low-barrier entry Best for: fast validation, e-commerce drops, promo launches.

How it works:

🟣 Ads → specific post
🟣 Mini text-funnel inside one post: hook (pain/question) → Value (free tip / case / infographic) → Trigger → CTA button

Advantages:
✔️ Minimal setup
✔️ Quick traffic
✔️ Perfect for A/B testing creatives & angles

❎ Downsides: most readers will just click the link and bounce — without ever subscribing.

4️⃣ Funnel to DMs

Personalized high-ticket closes. Best for: consulting, services, coaching — when you need human touch.

How it works:

🟣 Ads → invite link with params
🟣 Personalized auto-greeting + instant value tip
🟣 2–3 qualification questions → proof (cases/testimonials) → urgency offer
🟣 Hand over to manager for closing

Advantages:
✔️ Very cheap and simple
✔️ Shortest cycle
✔️ Highest conversion in some niches

❎ Downsides: No real warm-up here — the manager has to carry the whole sale on their back

💬 Comments time: which of these funnels have you actually run? What results / ROMI did you hit?

Competitor Wars. How to Protect Your Telegram Channel If Someone Wants to Destroy It?

There’s a new sabotage model spreading inside Telegram. So-called abuse farms exploit moderation rules to get channels banned.

The weak spot? Telegram treats your channel and its discussion chat as one system.

Here’s the mechanics:

1️⃣ An attacker leaves a neutral comment
2️⃣ The message stays untouched for days
3️⃣ Later, it’s edited — and prohibited content is attached (pirated files, drugs, porn, extremist symbols, etc.)
4️⃣ A wave of mass reports follows

For Telegram, it looks simple: Your community is spreading forbidden content.

Warning first. Ban next.

🛡 How to reduce the risk:

🟣 Restrict media & links in chat
🟣 Add captcha before users can comment
🟣 Use moderator bots (block edits, filter links)
🟣 Enable join requests only
🟣 Use paid comments (Telegram Stars)
🟣 Turn on aggressive anti-spam filter
🟣 Or disable comments completely

Security is always a trade-off. More protection = less frictionless engagement.

So extreme protection measures should only be implemented if you know that competitors are genuinely targeting your channel for destruction.

💬 Have you ever faced battles with competitors or haters on social media? Share your story in the comments!

All Telegram chatbots can now communicate with users in real time.

Durov noted that this was introduced to improve interaction with AI-powered bots.

💬 Just a small upgrade — or preparation for launching Telegram’s own AI bot based on Cocoon? What do you think?

The Telegram Upgrade iPhone Users Have Been Waiting Years For

Yesterday’s Telegram update made a lot of users happy.

We’ve already written about the new feature that turns Telegram bots into live AI assistants.

✔️ In addition to that, the update introduced chat member tags, interactive dates, a feature that restricts forwarding messages from private chats, and a few other small improvements.

But most people and media outlets missed the most important part:

💜 Background image and media uploads have finally arrived on iOS!

Happy Android users might not even realize this, but for years iPhone users had to keep the Telegram app open while photos and videos were uploading. Sometimes it took a long time — and during that time, using the phone normally wasn’t really possible.

Now this problem is finally solved. Well, almost. If you open too many apps and Telegram gets pushed out of memory, the upload will stop.

But as long as you don’t overload your phone, background uploads will run at full speed. And that’s a huge step forward.

💬 What’s your favorite feature from the latest update?

Breaking Down the Funnel: Why Use Mini Apps as an Intermediate Step?

Advertisers often don’t send traffic from Telegram Ads directly to their channel or website. Instead, they first use an intermediate step in the form of a Mini App.

This approach can sometimes reduce CPL by 30–40% or even more.

Let’s break down how this funnel works:

Funnel structure:

🟣 Ad → mini app → channel → nurturing inside the channel → purchase
🟣 Ad → mini app → landing page → purchase

At first glance, this setup may seem odd. Why add an extra step? Doesn’t that reduce reach and conversion?

No — not if the funnel is built correctly.

✔️ What problem does a Mini App solve?

— provides warming and engagement
— explains the product and demonstrates its value
— involves the user in interacting with your project
— filters out irrelevant traffic

✔️ What can the mini app mechanics look like?

— a quiz for selecting a product or service
— a product price calculator / income or benefit calculator
— a test or diagnostic
— a mini game with prize draws or promo codes

✔️ Which niches is this funnel suitable for?

— finance
— education
— services
— high-ticket products (cars, real estate, tours, etc.)
— complex products whose value requires explanation

💬 Have you tried using mini apps in your funnels? What results did you get? Share your experience in the comments!