Solved: Advertising advice for a SaaS website needed

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I had a look over the situation you described. It's a classic problem and one a lot of founders, especially solo developers, run into. You're not alone in feeling a bit lost with it all, paid advertising can be a proper minefield if you're new to it. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience. What you're seeing isn't wierd at all, and it points to a fundamental difference between the types of advertising you've been running.

The Real Reason Google Worked and Socials Didn't...

Okay, let's get straight to the heart of it. The reason you got registrations from Google Ads and none from Meta, TikTok, or Reddit is actually quite simple, but it’s the most misunderstood concept in all of advertising. It's about intent versus interruption.

Google Search is an intent-based platform. People go there with a problem they are actively trying to solve. They type in things like "project management software for small teams" or "how to track my study habits". They are raising their hand and saying, "I have this pain, please sell me a solution." You just had to show up with a relevant ad, and because they were already looking for what you offer, a certain percentage of them signed up. You were capturing existing demand. It's the lowest hanging fruit there is.

Meta (Facebook/Instagram), TikTok, and Reddit are interruption-based platforms. Nobody is logging onto Facebook to look for a new SaaS tool. They're there to see photos of their nephew, look at memes, or argue about politics. Your ad *interrupts* their experience. You have to grab their attention, convince them they have a problem they might not have been thinking about, and then persuade them your software is the solution, all in the space of a few seconds. You are trying to create demand, not just capture it. This is a much, much harder sell and it requires a completly different strategy.

The fact that you got clicks but no registrations is a massive clue. It means your ad was perhaps interesting enough to make someone pause their scrolling and tap, but when they landed on your site, there was a total disconnect. They weren't 'pre-qualified' like your Google traffic was. They were just curious, not committed. Without a powerful message and an irresistible offer, that curiosity vanishes the second they have to do any real work, like filling out a registration form. This isn't a failure of the platforms; it's a failure of the strategy.

We'll need to look at your real customer... and it's not a demographic

Before you even think about which platform to use or what ad to run, you need to throw out any vague ideas you have about your customer. "Solo developers" or "students" isn't an audience. It's a label. To make interruption marketing work, you have to get uncomfortably specific about their problems. Forget the sterile, demographic-based profile you might have in your head. It tells you nothing of value and leads to generic ads that speak to no one.

You need to become an expert in their specific, urgent, expensive nightmare. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a *problem state*. What is the thing that keeps them up at night? What's the frustration that makes them want to throw their laptop out the window?

Let's imagine your software is for, say, managing code snippets. -> The nightmare isn't 'needing to organise code'. -> The nightmare is being on a tight deadline at 2 AM, knowing you've solved this exact problem before, but you can't find the snippet and you're wasting an hour searching through old projects while the pressure mounts. It's the fear of looking incompetent in a code review because your work is disorganised.

Or if your software is for flashcards, like your username suggests: -> The nightmare isn't 'needing to study'. -> The nightmare is the rising panic a week before a final exam, staring at a mountain of textbooks, with no clear plan, feeling overwhelemed and certain you're going to fail. It's the frustration of spending hours 'studying' but not remembering anything the next day.

Once you've isolated that specific, emotional nightmare, *then* you can find them. Where do these people hang out online when they're procrastinating from that nightmare? -> What niche subreddits do they scroll? (r/csMajors, r/learnprogramming, r/getstudying) -> What YouTube channels do they watch? (Fireship, The Coding Train, Ali Abdaal) -> What specific software do they already use and pay for? (VS Code, Notion, Anki) -> Who do they follow on Twitter/X?

This intelligence isn't just data; it's the blueprint for your entire targeting strategy on platforms like Meta. You don't target 'people interested in software'. You target people who follow specific influencers, use specific complementary tools, or are members of specific groups. Do this work first, or you have no business spending a single pound more on ads.

I'd say you need a message they can't ignore...

Once you know their nightmare, you can craft a message that acts like a dog whistle. It should immediately signal to them, "This is for you," while being ignored by everyone else. Your current ads probably talk about your software's features. Nobody cares. You need to talk about their problem and the transformation you offer.

The best formula for this is Before-After-Bridge.

Before: You describe their current nightmare in vivid detail. You show them you understand their pain. After: You paint a picture of life after their problem is solved. The promised land. Bridge: You introduce your software as the simple bridge to get them from the 'Before' state to the 'After' state.

Let's try it for that hypothetical flashcard app:

BAD AD (Feature-based): "LightningFlashcards is a new SaaS for creating digital flashcards. It uses a spaced repetition algorithm and has a clean UI. Sign up now!" (This is likely what you're running. It's boring and gets zero registrations).

GOOD AD (Before-After-Bridge): "Staring at a mountain of textbooks a week before your exam? That feeling of dread when you realise you've forgotten everything you crammed yesterday? (Before) Imagine walking into that exam hall feeling calm and confident, knowing the key facts are locked in your memory. Imagine getting your results back and seeing the grade you worked for. (After) LightningFlashcards is the bridge. Our smart algorithm tells you exactly what to study and when, so you learn more in less time. Stop cramming, start learning. Try it free. (Bridge)"

See the difference? The second ad doesn't sell software; it sells relief from anxiety and the promise of a better grade. That's what makes someone on Instagram stop scrolling and actually consider signing up. You need to rewrite your ads, your website headline, everything, to reflect this structure. Your message must be about their transformation, not your technology.

You probably should delete your 'Sign Up' button...

Now we get to the final, critical piece of the puzzle: your offer. This is likely another major reason for the drop-off between Google and socials, and why your Google registrations didn't convert to paying customers. The 'Sign Up' or 'Register' button is a high-friction request. You're asking a cold prospect, who was just looking at cat videos, to commit to something. It’s even worse than the B2B sin of "Request a Demo".

Your offer’s only job is to deliver a moment of undeniable value—an "aha!" moment that makes the prospect sell *themselves* on your solution. You're a SaaS founder. Your unfair advantage is the product itself. The gold standard, and what I'd strongly recomend, is a completely frictionless free trial (no credit card details) or a generous freemium plan.

Let them use the actual product. Let them feel the transformation. Let them create a deck of flashcards and see how easy it is. Let them save a code snippet and experience the relief of finding it instantly later. When the product itself proves its value, the sale becomes a formality. The goal of your advertising shouldn't be to get 'registrations'. The goal is to get Product Qualified Leads (PQLs) – users who have experienced the core value of your app and are now prime candidates to upgrade.

I saw you mentioned you got many registrations from Google but only two paid subscribers. This screams that there's a disconnect between signing up and experiencing that "aha!" moment. A free trial or freemium model forces you to perfect your onboarding process so that new users can find that value on their own, without you holding their hand. Fix the offer, and you'll find that not only will your social media ads start converting, but a much higher percentage of *all* your signups will eventually pay you.

Let's talk about the numbers and what you can realy afford...

Feeling lost often comes from not knowing what's good or bad. You're flying blind. You need a financial north star. The question isn't "How low can my Cost Per Registration go?" but "How high a Cost Per Registration can I *afford* to acquire a truly great customer?" The answer is in calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

Let's make up some numbers for your SaaS.

• -> Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What do you charge per month? Let's say it's £10.
• -> Gross Margin %: As a solo dev SaaS, your main cost is probably servers/APIs. Let's say your margin is very high, 90%.
• -> Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of paying customers do you lose each month? This is critical. Let's say it's 5%.

Now, the simple calculation:

LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

LTV = (£10 * 0.90) / 0.05
LTV = £9 / 0.05 = £180

In this example, each paying customer is worth £180 in gross margin to you over their lifetime. Now you have the truth. A healthy business model often aims for a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means you can afford to spend up to £60 to acquire a single paying customer (£180 / 3).

If your conversion rate from a free trial user to a paying customer is, say, 10% (1 in 10 free users eventually pay), then you can afford to pay up to £6 per free trial signup (£60 / 10). Suddenly, you have a number. If your Meta campaigns are bringing in trial signups for £4, you're winning. If they're £15, you have a problem to fix. This is the maths that unlocks intelligent growth and frees you from the tyranny of just wanting 'cheap clicks'.

You'll need a proper campaign structure (and yes, pixels are non-negotiable)

To answer your question directly: yes, pixels are an absolute requirement. Trying to run conversion-focused ads on Meta without a pixel is like trying to drive a car blindfolded. It's the central nervous system of your advertising.

You mentioned struggling with Google Tag Manager. I get it, it can be a pain. But this is a foundational step you cannot skip. Without a correctly installed pixel (like the Meta Pixel), the platform has no idea who is visiting your site, who is signing up, or who is becoming a paying customer. It cannot optimise for you. You are essentially paying Meta to find you the cheapest clicks, not the users most likely to sign up, because it doesn't know what a 'good' user looks like. I remember one campaign we worked on for a software client that achieved amazing results, like 5082 software trials at $7 each, purely because we had rock-solid tracking and could tell Meta exactly what a 'trial' looked like.

Once the pixel is working and tracking your key events (e.g., 'PageView', 'ViewContent', and especially 'CompleteRegistration' for a free trial), you can set up a proper campaign structure. Stop thinking in terms of one-off campaigns. You need an always-on funnel structure. For eCommerce, we use ToFu/MoFu/BoFu (Top/Middle/Bottom of Funnel), and it works just as well for SaaS.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

This systematic approach is how you turn social media platforms from a money pit into a predictable engine for growth. It requires more upfront strategic work, but it's the only way to get a reliable return. This isn't just theory; it's the process we use for our B2B and SaaS clients to deliver results like reducing a £100 Cost Per User down to just £7. It's about building a proper machine, not just pulling a lever and hoping for the best.

This is a lot to take in, I know. It's a big shift from just 'running some ads' to thinking like a strategic marketer. As a solo developer, your time is definitly better spent on the product. Trying to master the ever-changing landscape of paid advertising on top of that is a recipe for burnout.

If you'd like to go over this in more detail and have us take a look at your website and current setup, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can audit what you've done so far and give you a clear, actionable plan to start getting the right kind of users for your software. It might be helpful to have a second pair of expert eyes on it.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh