6 Proven Playbooks to Get Customers for Your SaaS

The Weightless Strategy: Building Demand Before Launch

Imagine having a line of customers waiting to buy your SaaS before you even launch. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not. The weightless strategy is a proven playbook that involves building demand before launch, creating a sense of scarcity, and then launching to a limited number of users. This approach has been used by successful SaaS companies like Cleo, which hit $61,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) in just 53 days. The key to this strategy is to create “edgy sales” content that subtly teases your product without being too pushy.

A great example of this is Cleo’s content strategy, which involves creating posts that lead with value and then subtly selling their product. For instance, one of their posts might talk about the importance of creating viral content on LinkedIn and then mention Cleo as a tool that can help with that. This approach helps build trust with the audience and makes them more likely to sign up for the waitlist. Once you have a sizable waitlist, you can launch your product to a limited number of users, creating a sense of scarcity and urgency. This approach can help you validate your product and build a loyal customer base.

The Wave Surfer Strategy: Riding the Wave of a Trending Topic

Have you ever seen a tweet go viral and thought, “I could build a product around this idea”? That’s exactly what Mark Lou did with TrustMR, a SaaS that verifies startup revenues. By piggybacking on a trending topic, Mark was able to create a product that solves a real problem and has gained significant traction. The wave surfer strategy involves quickly shipping a product that rides the wave of a trending topic, building virality into the product itself, and monetizing it through advertising revenue. This approach requires a deep understanding of what’s currently trending and the ability to ship a product fast.

A key part of this strategy is to build virality into the product itself. For example, TrustMR allows users to share verified revenue screenshots on social media, making it easy for others to discover and share the product. By building virality into the product, you can create a self-reinforcing cycle of growth. Additionally, monetizing through advertising revenue can be a lucrative way to generate income, especially if you have a high-value audience. By leveraging the wave surfer strategy, you can create a successful SaaS that resonates with your target audience.

The Language Arbitrage Strategy: Taking a Proven Concept to a New Language or Geography

Did you know that taking a proven SaaS concept and translating it to a new language or geography can be a highly effective way to acquire customers? That’s what TeachEasy did, taking a proven concept like Teachable or Thinkific and translating it to French. By leveraging language arbitrage, you can create a SaaS that resonates with a new audience and gain a competitive advantage. This approach requires a deep understanding of the local market and the ability to adapt your product to meet the needs of your new audience.

A key part of this strategy is to do SEO in the target language, which can be relatively easy compared to English. By creating high-quality content and optimizing it for search engines, you can attract a large audience and drive traffic to your website. Additionally, leveraging nationalistic impulses can be a powerful way to market your product, especially if you’re targeting a specific geography. By emphasizing the fact that your product is made in a particular country or language, you can create a sense of pride and ownership among your target audience.

The AI Search Strategy: Leveraging AI-Powered Search to Acquire Customers

AI-powered search is becoming increasingly important, and leveraging it to acquire customers can be a highly effective strategy. Tally, a no-code form builder, has used AI search to great effect, creating comprehensive pages that rank highly in search results. By investing in the 20% of SEO that drives 80% of the results, you can create a powerful strategy for acquiring customers. This approach requires a deep understanding of how AI-powered search works and the ability to create high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.

A key part of this strategy is to focus on bottom-of-funnel pages, such as alternatives and versus pages. By creating comprehensive pages that compare your product to others, you can attract high-intent traffic and drive conversions. Additionally, leveraging AI-powered search can help you build trust with your audience, as people are more likely to trust recommendations from AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT. By using AI search to your advantage, you can create a powerful strategy for acquiring customers and driving growth.

The Signal Search Strategy: Testing the Market with a Single Feature

Testing the market with a single feature can be a highly effective way to acquire customers and validate your product. Local Rank, an all-in-one local SEO tool, has used this approach to great effect, shipping a single feature and then testing the response. By choosing one feature to test the market with, you can create a sense of focus and urgency, and then add distribution to test the response. This approach requires a deep understanding of your target audience and the ability to create a feature that resonates with them.

A key part of this strategy is to cap early and raise prices, creating a sense of scarcity and urgency. By testing enterprise packages, you can also create a higher-ticket offer that drives more revenue. Additionally, leveraging YouTube can be a powerful way to drive traffic and conversions, especially if you’re targeting a niche audience. By creating high-quality content and optimizing it for YouTube, you can build trust with your audience and drive growth.

The High-Ticket Ad Strategy: Using Ads to Acquire High-Ticket Customers

Using ads to acquire high-ticket customers can be a highly effective strategy, especially if you have a SaaS with a high-ticket offer. Mailcale, a SaaS that helps B2B firms scale their email outreach, has used this approach to great effect, creating a video sales letter (VSL) that pre-sells and then using image and video ads to drive traffic. By requiring a high-ticket offer, you can create a sense of scarcity and urgency, and then use ads to drive traffic and conversions. This approach requires a deep understanding of your target audience and the ability to create high-quality content that resonates with them.

A key part of this strategy is to create a VSL that pre-sells, using a copywriting framework like ADA (attention, interest, desire, and action). By creating high-quality image and video ads, you can drive traffic and conversions, especially if you’re targeting a high-value audience. Additionally, leveraging a revenue ladder can be a powerful way to upsell and cross-sell, creating a higher-ticket offer that drives more revenue. By using the high-ticket ad strategy, you can create a powerful approach to acquiring customers and driving growth.