Acquiring Customers

Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of any SaaS business. No matter how great your product is, it won’t grow unless people find it, use it, and ultimately pay for it.

Over the years, we’ve experimented with different acquisition strategies—some worked brilliantly, while others failed spectacularly. Through it all, we learned that customer acquisition is not just about getting users through the door—it’s about guiding them to success.

This chapter dives into three key strategies that helped Postly grow:

• ✅ Free trials and freemium models to lower barriers to entry.
• ✅ Effective onboarding to ensure users see value immediately.
• ✅ Growth loops and referrals to turn customers into marketers.

The Power of Free Trials and Freemium

For many SaaS businesses, the biggest hurdle isn’t convincing people to pay—it’s convincing them to try.

This is why free trials and freemium models are so popular. They lower the risk for potential customers and allow them to experience the product before committing financially.

At Postly, we experimented with both:

The Freemium Model: A Double-Edged Sword

Freemium—offering a free version of your product indefinitely—sounds great in theory. More users can try the product, leading to higher adoption.

But here’s the catch: Most free users never convert to paying customers.

We saw this firsthand. Our free plan brought in thousands of users, but many never upgraded. They were simply looking for free tools, not long-term solutions.

What We Learned About Freemium

• ✔ Make the free plan highly limited. It should showcase the product’s value but not replace the need for a paid plan.

• ✔ Target the right users. Freemium works well for products with viral potential (e.g., Slack, Zoom), but for a business tool like Postly, users needed a reason to upgrade.

• ✔ Use freemium as a lead generation tool. Instead of treating free users as lost revenue, we nurtured them with emails, promotions, and feature teases to encourage upgrades.

Free Trials: A Better Alternative

After struggling with freemium, we shifted focus to time-limited free trials.

💡 The difference? Free trials create urgency.

Unlike freemium, where users can stay free forever, trials force users to evaluate the product within a set period. They either find value and subscribe—or leave.

What We Learned About Free Trials

• ✔ Don’t require credit cards upfront. It reduces friction and encourages more sign-ups.

• ✔ Shorter trials work better. We found that 7- to 14-day trials outperformed longer ones. Users either see value quickly or they don’t.

• ✔ Make the upgrade process seamless. Once the trial expires, users should be able to convert with one click.

Ultimately, free trials helped us attract serious users—people genuinely interested in solving their social media marketing challenges.

Effective Onboarding: The First 5 Minutes

Getting users to sign up is just the first step. The real challenge is helping them experience value—fast.

The first 5 minutes determine whether a user stays or leaves.

A poor onboarding experience leads to confusion, frustration, and churn. A great onboarding experience builds momentum and increases conversions.

At Postly, we followed a simple principle:

👉 Users should achieve their first success within minutes.

What We Optimized in Onboarding

• ✅ A Clear, Guided Flow
We didn’t dump users into a dashboard with no direction. Instead, we created an interactive walkthrough that guided them step by step.

• ✅ Eliminating Friction
Many SaaS products overwhelm users with long sign-up forms and complex setup processes. Instead, we kept things simple:

• Sign up in seconds.
• Auto-connect social media accounts.
• Start scheduling posts immediately.

• ✅ Progressive Disclosure
Instead of overwhelming users with all features at once, we introduced them gradually—at the right time. For example:

• New users see basic scheduling tools first.
• Once they master scheduling, we introduce advanced features.
• Over time, they discover automation, analytics, and integrations.

The Result? Higher Activation Rates

By optimizing onboarding, we increased the percentage of users who:

• ✔ Completed setup
• ✔ Scheduled their first post
• ✔ Became active, engaged users

This led to higher conversions from free trials to paid plans.

Growth Loops & Referral Strategies

Most SaaS companies rely heavily on paid ads. While ads work, they get expensive fast.

A smarter approach? Turn your users into your marketing engine.

The Power of Growth Loops

Growth loops are self-reinforcing acquisition mechanisms—where each new user brings in additional users.

At Postly, we designed our platform to encourage viral growth:

• ✔ Users share content created with Postly. Each social media post had a subtle mention of Postly.
• ✔ Collaboration features drive invites. Agencies and teams needed to invite colleagues to manage campaigns together.
• ✔ Built-in network effects. As businesses scaled their social media efforts, they naturally needed more team members and more accounts.

By structuring our product this way, growth became exponential.

Referral Programs: Turning Users Into Advocates

Referral programs are one of the cheapest and most effective acquisition strategies.

💡 People trust recommendations from friends more than ads.

We implemented a simple yet effective referral system:

• ✔ Users earned discounts or credits for referring friends.
• ✔ We made referrals effortless—just a few clicks to share via email or social media.
• ✔ The reward structure was aligned with usage. The more they referred, the more they benefited.

The Result? A Self-Sustaining Growth Engine

By combining free trials, effective onboarding, and growth loops, we created a system where:

🔹 New users signed up effortlessly.
🔹 They quickly experienced value.
🔹 Many invited friends and colleagues, creating a viral effect.

Final Thoughts

Customer acquisition is not just about getting people to sign up. It’s about helping them succeed and turning them into advocates.

🔹 Freemium vs. Free Trials: Free trials work better for premium SaaS products.
🔹 Onboarding Matters: The first 5 minutes determine retention.
🔹 Growth Loops Drive Exponential Growth: Make your product naturally spread.

If you get these elements right, acquisition becomes effortless, and growth becomes unstoppable.