The first 1,000 is always the hardest as they say. I've seen a million and one articles all giving different advice but since makers have the first hand experience I decided to ask what are your tips?
Here's what worked for Hellonext.co:
1. Posting on Betalist β https://betalist.com or ProductHunt
2. Interacting on Twitter from your product's account (like, comment and such) with relevant accounts.
3. As we get the first few customers from Betalist or PH, asking them what they are expecting from a platform they signed up for. Most importantly, constantly keeping them informed about the updates.
What did not work:
1. Cold emails;
2. Lost customers to competition due to not keeping beta customers in loop.
While there could be many ways, this is what worked for us. All the best man. Keep pushing πͺ
@imkarthikk That's sad that 'Cold emails' didn't work. I always hear people pushing that... Idk, I am horrible at writing emails, so I guess that good news for me.
As far as your #3 goes, how often after onboarding a new customer should you solicit feedback?
@imkarthikk My recent experience with BetaList says that paid $199 submission does not worth that money. Free submission may be yes, but do not know how long to wait to be listed.
PH and LTD (AppSumo or SaasMantra) yes, very recommended
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@imkarthikk Thanks for candidly sharing your experience. Never tried beta list, how did it help you exactly?
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@imkarthikk@medik appsumo take a lot of time to just approve the list. can you suggest me any more platform to list where we can have some traffic for SaaS product some marketplace even
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@imkarthikk@medik can you recommend more platform as per your experience which fits better to market and get initial b2b user .LTD is what?
@nova_n This is the answer if you want to get users really fast. But of course it needs to be scalable in the long run so you're note bleeding money.
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@nova_n@avidnote also if your acquisition method is just paid you're going to have as super hard time raising from VCs
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Finding 1000 true fans is always hard. With the right mindset and authenticity, you can do it. Here are some tips:
1. Build a waitlist when you soft launch - this creates a FOMO effect
2. Build a viral loop - Let people in who shared your product with their friends/community.
3. Build in public - The best way to narrate your story.
4. Onboard influencers - This way, you are building social proof.
5. Create valuable content - People love to consume, and creating value instantly hooks them to what you are doing.
Last one, you know this better :) Launch on Product Hunt with a solid story and why!
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@5harath Great stuff! The wait list advice is really important for new products, it allows you to get users immediately when you launch.
Hi @aaronoleary - at Volograms we have very much enjoyed reading https://www.first1000.co/ They have so many tips for different products, industries, etc., based on real references. I would really recommend checking their past articles for tips from the companies that you think might be most connected with yours!
Here's what worked for Vadootv
1. Engaging on Facebook groups and posting on sub-reddits(0-150)
2. Creating a community-Referral and WOM (150-400)
3. Multiple launches on PH, Hackernews and other beta user platforms(400-1000)
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@singh_ankur what are other beta user platform other than Ph and betalist
@avidnote Yes, launched 2 products and used Lifetime deals to promote them. A good tactic to start, but it may be tricky and takes experience to turn that to MRR later on.
@bharatpasam I genuinely think paid advertising can be seriously impactful of course but it takes quite a bit of experimentation to get it right and see the results you are looking for in my experience of course.
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1) Find relevant communities on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook.
2) Provide high-quality content, to these communities to build report and an audience.
3) Once ready to launch, write compelling content about your service to those RELEVANT communities.
4) rinse, repeat
Yes, paid advertising will obviously be a quicker solution, but it's not really necessary if you can find relevant acquisition channels that don't require money.
1 Tip: Make a YouTube channel. Talk about the solutions a product like yours solves, the issues your industry faces, anything relative to what you do, and actually answer core issues that people search for or research about.
We started YouTube in Jan 2021, with $0 in marketing budget.
We're ending Q3 with almost 6,700 subscribers.
We average 40-50 comments on each video.
We've collaborated with 3 other YouTube creators.
We've driven over 140 active users from our channel.
It seems too simple to act on, but it really works. You'll never get anywhere without trying first!
Hope this helps - let me know if you have any questions π€
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