Ask HN: How did you get your first 20 SAAS customers?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4382628

by AtTheLast • 14 years ago

9 8 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I created a niche SAAS product, but I'm not sure how to go about getting people to use it. Maybe it's to niche of a product and not a good idea. Or maybe I need to change my sales strategy.

codegeek• 14 years ago

Why don;t you do a "Show HN" post and see if you get anyone from here ? You never know. The first 20 could come from HN.

AtTheLast2• 14 years ago

A show HN a good idea. Even if we don't get any signups, the Hacker News community is really good about giving feedback.

The service we built (couponify.com) is mainly targeted toward merchant affiliates. So not exactly the Hacker News crowd. Nevertheless, I'll give this a shot. Thanks for the advice!

gcmartinelli• 14 years ago

I believe it depends on who your target audience is, but basically you are facing a marketing obstacle. You need to spread the message about your product. That may be done via webmarketing/social media (Show HN?) or IRL in conferences, for example or the old door-to-door sales.

troels• 14 years ago

Briefly looked at your site. First thought:

    Couponify helps merchants build coupon sites that are SEO friendly

I get the first part, but "that are SEO friendly" sounds a bit odd. I would take that for granted - it's a bit like if you were advertising a car - with wheels.

Is this really A) a top priority for your audience and B) a unique offering of your product, compared to alternatives?

true_religion• 14 years ago

His target market is people who don't design or code their own sites, but are just looking to check off features (e.g. Need CMS, Must be SEO Friendly, Need e-shopping cart solution, etc.)

Secondly, unlike a car without wheels, its very easy to get a site which isn't particularly SEO friendly.

What does that even mean?

Is it clean human readable URLS? Amazon doesn't have that but its SEO friendly.

Does it refer to on page optimizations and inner link building? Maybe, but you can have a shopping cart/coupon site without the greedy linking structure that Google currently loves.

1123581321• 14 years ago

I suggest asking for feedback at sitepoint, Warriorforums and other affiliate hangouts. You'll get some attention.

I also suggest experimenting with PPC advertising.

AtTheLast2• 14 years ago

We have PPC setup, but good call on hitting all the affiliate forums.

tbrooks• 14 years ago

Is it working?

PPC seems like an expensive way to predictably acquire customers.

Ask HN: How did you get your first 20 SAAS customers?

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