In the world of startups, investments may seem like a mandatory step on the path to success. However, there are perfectly viable ways to increase the revenue of online projects that do not require significant financial injections, relying instead on the energy, creativity, and time of the founders. Let's dive in!
Product Hunt, Social Media Activity, and Influencer Marketing
These strategies were employed by the founders of the SaaS platform known as Tally. The project creators did not seek investments and opted for independent growth. According to publicly available
Right from the outset, the founders
Communities and Affiliate Programs
The founder of the fintech project Projectionlab
According to him, the most favorable results for his business came from efforts to build a user community. This involved actively engaging with people in financial communities on Reddit, seeking influencers on Twitter within the finance sector, and participating in discussions on Hacker News. Reviews and user-generated links on social media constantly generated traffic and sales. Additionally, the founder actively nurtures a community on Discord.
Furthermore, the founder of Projectionlab initiated an affiliate program, which further bolstered their revenue. This same strategy was also utilized by the creators of Tally, with participants in their partner program receiving a 20% commission on sales they generated for the company.
Cold Outreach for Organic Traffic Growth
Startup Dime A Dozen, with revenue of $58,000, acquired a significant portion of its 40,000 users through cold outreach to owners of thematic newsletters in the AI sector and data aggregators. As the startup founder notes in their
In addition to increasing referral traffic, these efforts significantly improved the startup's search engine rankings. Thanks to backlinks from prominent platforms, Dime A Dozen ranks first for the thematic search query "Validate your business idea AI."
Experimenting with Pricing and Reviews as a Promotion Channel
The AI startup Linguix.com, which I am part of, also employed many of the aforementioned strategies. Our project reached the top spot on Product Hunt three times, and up to a third of our traffic is generated through our partner program. Many product reviews were acquired through cold outreach. However, our team made some unique discoveries.
One of these discoveries was experimenting with pricing strategies. We attempted to introduce lifetime subscriptions and sell them through the AppSumo marketplace. Over the years, Linguix conducted at least four
Another discovery was using in-product reviews as a means of promotion. Here's how it works: we defined a scenario in which a user is considered highly active. When they perform specific actions, we prompt them to rate the product.
If a person is not particularly satisfied or not satisfied at all, we ask how we can improve. If the rating is positive, indicated by a smiley face, we encourage them to write a review in the app store. This simple mechanism enabled us to regularly collect new reviews. Whereas before, we had to run special review campaigns to acquire reviews, they now come in every day.
Final Thoughts
The experiences of these four contemporary startups demonstrate that there are numerous cost-effective or nearly cost-free methods to attract customers for online products. Cold outreach, community building, revenue-sharing incentives in partner programs, competitive pricing offers, and even a straightforward request for reviews—all of these strategies work and generate real sales.
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That concludes our exploration of these strategies. I'm here to answer any questions you may have in the comments. Additionally, I'm pleased to offer guidance to entrepreneurs on marketing and sales in the SaaS industry. Feel free to reach out on