You launched your SaaS, what's next? Acquiring your first 100 customers is a significant milestone that can make or break your business. With a 90% failure rate during the initial years, it's essential to have a solid strategy in place to overcome this hurdle. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore effective ways to acquire your first 100 SaaS customers, leveraging insights from industry experts and real-world examples.

Start with Your Network

Your network is a treasure trove of potential customers. Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and sharing it with your network for trials can provide valuable feedback and help you refine your product. For instance, if you're building a product for the healthcare industry, you can reach out to professionals in that field and ask for their input. This approach can help you acquire your first set of customers from your network itself.

As Rahul Nair, co-founder of Trackbox.co, notes, "It helps reach out to the right people quickly." (Source: Inner Trends)

Leverage Social Media

Social media has become a crucial factor in establishing a company's credibility. Creating social media pages on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter can help you acquire fans and establish your brand identity. Joining relevant groups on LinkedIn, such as those focused on your target industry, can provide valuable insights into your prospects' pain points and challenges.

For example, if you're targeting the finance industry, you can join groups like "Financial Planning" or "Investment Strategies" to understand the challenges faced by professionals in that field.

Gather Customer Data

Gathering customer data is another effective way to acquire customers. Using tools like SurveyMonkey, you can create simple surveys to gather important data like company names and email addresses. Before sending out the survey, it's essential to create an ideal customer profile to ensure you're targeting the right audience.

For instance, if you're targeting small businesses in the Midwest, you can create a profile that includes characteristics like company size, industry, and location.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is another strategy that can help you acquire customers. Partnering with influencers or other marketers in your niche can provide instant access to a vast audience. For example, if you're in the e-commerce space, you can partner with popular bloggers or influencers in that niche to promote your product to their followers.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a powerful inbound marketing strategy that can help you acquire customers. Creating high-quality content on topics relevant to your niche can attract potential customers and establish your brand as a thought leader. Guest posting on other websites can also help you leverage their audience and build backlinks to your website.

For instance, if you're in the marketing space, you can guest post on popular marketing blogs like HubSpot or Moz.

Generate Organic and Paid Traffic

Generating organic and paid traffic is essential to acquiring customers. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help your content rank higher in search engine results, increasing your visibility and driving organic traffic to your website. Targeting the right keywords and creating high-quality content can help you rank higher in search engine results. Paid promotions, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads, can also help you target your audience directly and drive traffic to your website.

Experiment with Different Strategies

Experimenting with different strategies to make sales and drive business is also important. Try fast vs. considered signup, monthly vs. yearly pricing, free trial, freemium, and other approaches to see what works best for your business. Wade Foster, Co-founder and CEO at Zapier, shares a great story about how Zapier landed their first customer, saying, "If you're running an early stage startup, the most important thing you can do is get the idea out in front of as many potential users as possible and find out if they would use what you are building, and if they would pay for it." (Source: Inner Trends)

Offer a Free Trial

Offering a free trial is also a great way to get your first customers. Email them and ask for feedback, or ask for a phone number and call them. Calling new trials soon after they sign up can help build a genuine relationship. Trey Gibson used this strategy to get his first 10 customers for his SaaS startup, saying, "Call your new trials as soon as they sign up. We used Zapier to send me a text anytime a new trial signed up and I would call them within a few minutes." (Source: Inner Trends)

Referral Programs

Referral programs are another common approach. Consider offering incentives for people to sign up and share your product. However, be careful not to focus too much on the referral program, as customer acquisition should remain your top priority. Ashli Norton, co-founder of Autosend.io, advises, "Once you get your first 3-5 customers, see how quickly you can get a referral program up to encourage those customers to invite 3-5 more just like them." (Source: Inner Trends)

Set the Right Price

Setting the right price for your product is another important consideration. Many entrepreneurs struggle with this, often asking for less than the customer would be willing to pay. One strategy is to add new editions of your product without increasing the price for current editions. Create a new bundle with new features and charge more for it for new customers. Jason Lemikn of SaaStr advises, "In my experience at least, the best technical way to raise prices for existing customers without too much friction is to add new editions." (Source: Inner Trends)

Communicate Price Changes

Communicating price changes to your customers is also essential. Be straightforward and transparent, and let them know what's coming. Close.io provides a great example of how to announce a price increase on their blog.

The Role of Salespeople

The role of salespeople in SaaS companies is changing. With the rise of subscription-based models and customers who don't want to be sold to, salespeople may no longer be needed in the early stages of a startup. Hampus Jakobsson, CEO and founder of Brisk.io, notes, "Three things have dramatically changed in the last 10 years: People don't want to be sold -not as consumers or companies- but are happy to buy and be served... Software is no longer sold as a 'transaction' (sign-and-goodbye) but as a subscription (deliver value or see churn)." (Source: Inner Trends)

However, most fast-growth SaaS companies still employ a VP of sales once they reach $1M ARR. Tomasz Tunguz's data reveals that the typical SaaS company will hire a VPS in the third year after they were founded.

Conclusion

Acquiring your first 100 SaaS customers requires a combination of strategies, including starting with your network, leveraging social media, gathering customer data, affiliate marketing, content marketing, and generating organic and paid traffic. By focusing on these strategies and prioritizing customer retention, you can overcome the challenges of acquiring your first customers and set your business up for success.

As you embark on this journey, remember to stay personal, engage with your customers, and continuously iterate and improve your product based on their feedback. With persistence and dedication, you can build a loyal customer base and drive growth for your SaaS business.

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Final Thoughts

Acquiring your first 100 SaaS customers is just the beginning of your journey. By implementing the strategies outlined in this guide, you can set your business up for success and drive growth. Remember to stay focused on customer acquisition and retention, and continuously iterate and improve your product based on customer feedback. With persistence and dedication, you can build a loyal customer base and achieve your business goals.