Affiliate tracking for SaaS (update)

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#1

3 months ago I asked you guys for feedback and ideas to get my first customers for my affiliate tracking tool for SaaS companies. It helped me quite a lot since I had almost no idea how to tackle the SaaS market.

Many things changed since then and I now I have a different set of issues.

As an update from my last post, now I have a decent number of customers, I also have a few happy ones that spread the word on social media which also brings more visitors and most important, I see actual results from people using the tool which is something I was afraid of. I haven’t hit my first 3 months goals though, but I was very close.

If 3 months ago the main issue was getting the first customers, now I have a bit different issues which you guys might help, but ultimately related.

1. Does being a solo-founder hurts your credibility?
In the last few weeks I talked with 3 companies, not my usual small SaaS TBH, but not big either and all of them brought the same thing: how many guys are in your team? How do you guarantee you won’t be out of business in a year since you are only 3 months old?

I couldn’t convert them, maybe it’s also my fault, but I don’t feel guilty for being honest. Even if I’m better and cheaper than most of my competition I feel that I’m not seen as a real business by some companies, especially in the SaaS world. Any idea how to handle this, without having to actual hire someone(which will come eventually) or lying?

2. Demos seem to not be very effective?! What’s your take?
It’s very usual to get demo requests and give them. I’m not a native English speaker and I’m also not very good at giving demos so I’m thinking if they still worth it in my case. Most of my sales were made without demos. Since I’m doing both marketing, sales and development, it feels like they are time wasters at this moment.

Should I give up on them and somehow refuse to give demos or spend more time on them and try to improve my presentation?

3. Just “refreshed” the website. Any feedback or ideas for improvements?

My website: Link

Thanks

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#2

Just my 2ct’s:

With regard to demos: They can serve 2 functions:

  • To convert customers (seems not to work now)
  • To learn about your customers and ask questions. you should do this, this alone may be worth giving demos

On you page you have a FAQ below the pricing. The first question is:

Can you extend the trial period?
No.

I’d remove this question, and instead be happy to ask customers why they would need an extended trial period. Maybe it really should be longer, or maybe another problem surfaces.

#3

Does being a solo-founder hurts your credibility?

Make yourself bigger: real customer testimonials, list of the customers on a website, downloadable white paper (basically an extended FAQ). I do have a partner and an offshore support team but it wasn’t always the case.

Demos seem to not be very effective?! What’s your take?

For us, demos is the only way to onboard customers. Your mileage may vary but it is your best chance to showcase the product. And yes, I’m not a native English speaker either.

Just “refreshed” the website. Any feedback or ideas for improvements?

Site looks professional. I agree with a previous poster: never say No, unless there is a really good reason.

#4

Make yourself bigger

It will help for sure, I have some of that right now, probably if I get some bigger customers to showcase it will be much better…still, for now I have this feeling when working with a little bigger companies.

I know that after a certain CLTV or on some markets, demos are crucial, for me the CLTV is on the lower side and since I see that very few companies give demos for a $50/month product, this is from where my uncertainty comes from, especially since time is an issue.

About trial period… I added that because very few who ask for a trial extension do actually trial the product. They are simply not good leads from what I’ve seen. 95% of those whom I give an extension they still didn’t trialed the product. Some of them think if they get 2 more weeks they can actually test and see if affiliate marketing works for them, even though I tell them it takes 4-6 months minimum to make a reliable decision.

#5

1. Does being a solo-founder hurts your credibility?

I’ve seen this as well. Early on, I couldn’t convert a few companies because we were too small. Some of them asked for our customers and we had none. Now that we have actual, paying customers, it’s a lot easier.

I don’t think being a solo founder hurts your credibility as much as not being able to give them any social proof or cite anything that tells them that you’re going to be around. It’s a reasonable expectation on their behalf. Now that we have customers, I tell people that although we are a small team, we have quite a few companies using us for the last year, the kind of results they have had, etc. That has worked well so far.

This is usually an objection that you can work around… it’s often not a dealbreaker for many companies if the product is strong.

2. Demos seem to not be very effective?! What’s your take?

Another thing I struggle with. :grinning:

I’m also in the same boat. Not a native speaker; not very good at demos. Many of our paying customers never asked for demos. People found us, they signed up, they asked a couple of questions, and they put in their payment details. A couple of our larger customers did get a demo (they are decent sized contracts).

With demos, perhaps the most difficult part for me has been to ask for the sale. I’ve done a bunch of demos where I walked a prospect through the product, they liked it, and I never closed the sale! Steli Efti has some great content for giving demos — well worth reading.

I do think that demos are worth it, at least initially, because they help you learn more about your product (from a prospect’s angle), your market, a prospect’s needs, their language, etc. All of that helps. Ultimately, though, you’ve got to take the decision based on whether your time could be better spent on other things.

3. Just “refreshed” the website. Any feedback or ideas for improvements?

I think it looks great! The product also looks solid. I didn’t quite get how the product works though, so maybe a section on that would be nice.

Also, on the trial question, I’m in a very different market, but we send our trial expiry mail with a section that tells them to reply if they want an extension. So far, almost everyone who has asked for an extension has become a customer. I think it’s a good idea to remove that from your FAQs and handle it on a case by case basis.

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#6

I didn’t have any social proof on the previous website and looked worse, the new website and content should help for sure. The issue with those companies is that they didn’t even tried the product. I’ll contact them again in 2-3 months and see if they found something better.

I replaced the trial FAQ with a very common one “Can I use my own domain”, multiple people told me that faq was not appropriate.

#7

Congratulations! That’s great news.

Probably, but there’s no point in pretending to be what you’re not. You can soften the impact by being professional as possible in the way you run your business. For example:

  • respond quickly to customer emails
  • make sure your site is consistent, free of typos and grammatical errors, and doesn’t have broken links. Consider paying a proof-reader or copy editor. I recommend https://www.wordy.com/
  • your “About” page (which you don’t seem to have), emphasis your experience, have an address listed, and if you have a limited company, state that, along with your company’s tax number.
  • add a favicon to your page. Not having one hurts your professional image
  1. Demos seem to not be very effective?! What’s your take?

The more you do them, the better they’ll get. Any chance to give a demo is a chance to improve on the way you describe what you offer. I’d recommend to keep doing them. Also, like others said, a demo offers a chance to listen to customers.

Having said that, I don’t enjoy doing them!

Consider working towards a video version of your demo, which you can post on YouTube.

  1. Just “refreshed” the website. Any feedback or ideas for improvements?

Looking great, but you need that “About” page to add to your credibility. Consider adding a short explainer video so that people can get a taste for how it works without signing up.

Is “Can I get refund?” really an FAQ? That’s surprising, based on my own (admittedly limited) experience running a SaaS. No one has asked me this yet. If it is really an FAQ, I’d work out why, and deal with the causes. Definitely get rid of this hostile message on the FAQ.

Remember that everything you do in your business has a marketing angle. That includes the content in your FAQ.

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#8

This post reminds me that I have to sign up for a trial.

  1. Since I’m also a solo-founder, I don’t have a problem with this, but I agree that the possibility of you running out of business is a legitimate concern. Just stick with it and this problem will eventually go away.

  2. I also didn’t like to do demos. My solution was to wait until I had enough revenue to outsource it. Initially I asked my customer support contractor to do them. Once we started to get too many demo requests, I hired a contractor to do only demos. Perhaps you can pre record a video and offer that to everyone who requests a demo.

  3. Looks impressive!

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#9

Thanks. I just sent the text for proof reading with some modifications.

I’m thinking on content for the about page, do you have some examples of great about pages of solo founders?

About the FAQ, that question was more related with the pricing, not actually a FAQ… Will remove that anyway since there are some more important questions to be answered…fortunately I didn’t get any refund request for now., but it’s early.