Solved: Seeking User Onboarding Tips and User Insights

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've shared about your experience growing your automation tool and the things you've learned.

That point you made about running paid ads too early really resonates. It's honestly one of the most common mistakes we see, especially with SaaS companies, and particularly in the B2B space which tends to have longer sales cycles and higher acquisition costs. It sounds like you learned that the hard way by spending money before you had the organic traction, which is totally understandable – everyone wants to pour fuel on the fire, but you need a good fire going first!

Why ads often don't work early on...

The core issue with paid ads, especially channels like Meta or LinkedIn where you're pushing your solution onto people rather than them actively searching for it (like on Google), is that they amplify whatever is already happening. If your conversion rate from a website visitor to a sign-up or trial is low, ads will just get you lots of expensive clicks that don't turn into customers. If your onboarding is confusing, you'll acquire users who then churn immediately, meaning your cost per paying customer is sky-high.

Think about it like this: imagine your website and onboarding is a leaky bucket. Pouring more water (paid traffic) into a leaky bucket doesn't fill it up faster; it just wastes water. You need to fix the leaks first.

What you found about talking to users, transparent pricing, and solid onboarding are absolutely critical "leak fixers". Analytics give you *what* is happening, but talking to users gives you *why*. Understanding their pain points deeply helps you refine your messaging, your offer, and your onboarding flow. This is info you need *before* you start paying for traffic at scale.

Getting your foundations right first...

Based on your experience, it sounds like you've already identified some key areas. Before really leaning into paid advertising, here's what I'd say you need to absolutely nail:

• -> Offer Maturity: You mentioned "great features wouldn't sell themselves." This is true. You need a clear, compelling offer. For SaaS, this usually means a genuinely friction-free free trial (not just a demo, though demos are useful later) or a very low-barrier entry point. I remember looking at campaigns for a B2B accounting system client, and one of the biggest hurdles was they didn't offer a free trial, only demos. In a market where competitors offer months-long trials, asking someone to commit or even just book a demo without trying it out is a massive ask. Your competition's offer matters!
• -> Funnel Conversion Rates: Your website needs to be a well-oiled machine for turning visitors into sign-ups/trials. The landing page where you send ad traffic needs persuasive copy that speaks directly to the user's problem and highlights the value proposition of your tool. A clear, obvious call to action (e.g., "Start Free Trial", "Get Started") is essential. Any friction here kills your ad performance.
• -> Onboarding Flow: As you said, confusing setups lead to churn. Ads might bring users in, but if they can't figure out the tool's value quickly because the onboarding is poor, they'll leave. A good onboarding experience needs to get users to that "aha!" moment as quickly and easily as possible. This directly impacts retention and, therefore, customer lifetime value (LTV).
• -> Understanding Customer Value: You need a realistic idea of what a customer is worth to you over their lifetime (LTV). This tells you how much you can afford to spend to acquire a customer (CPA) profitably. If your LTV is low (maybe due to high churn from poor onboarding or low plan prices), your budget for paid acquisition will be very limited. Organic traction helps prove your LTV potential before you start spending heavily.

It sounds like your focus on talking to users helped you figure out these points organically, which is fantastic and the right way to do it early on.

Choosing the right platform & targeting...

Once you have those foundations solid, paid ads become a much more viable option. But then you need to pick the right channels and targeting. This goes back to knowing your ideal customer deeply:

• -> Google Search Ads: If your ideal customers are *actively searching* for a solution like yours (e.g., "automation tool for small business", "replace manual data entry"), Google Search Ads are usually the first place to look. You're catching people at the moment they have intent. Keywords are key here – finding what terms potential customers are actually using.
• -> LinkedIn Ads: For B2B SaaS, especially if you're targeting specific job titles, industries, or company sizes, LinkedIn can be very effective. The targeting options are powerful for B2B. It can be more expensive than other platforms, but if you can get in front of the right decision-makers, it can pay off. We've seen CPLs for B2B decision makers on LinkedIn around the $22 mark in some campaigns.
• -> Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram): This is generally harder for B2B unless you're targeting very broad small business audiences. It works better if there's strong demographic or interest-based targeting available for your niche, or if you have a B2C SaaS. Cost per acquisition can vary wildly, but we've seen things like $7 cost per trial for software using Meta.

Split testing is also massively important once you're running ads – constantly testing different ad creatives, copy, headlines, and even landing page variations to see what resonates best with your audience and drives conversions at the lowest cost.

Scaling challenges & next steps...

Even when ads are working, you'll likely hit a point where scaling becomes harder. Costs per acquisition tend to rise as you reach the most likely converters first. This is normal for SaaS. To keep scaling profitably, you need to continually work on:

• -> Improving website/funnel conversion rates further.
• -> Increasing customer lifetime value (reducing churn, upselling, cross-selling).
• -> Finding new audiences on your existing platforms.
• -> Testing entirely new ad platforms if your budget allows and your audience is there.

We've run a number of SaaS campaigns across various platforms, from getting thousands of users at under £1 each to generating trials for B2B software at costs like $7 or achieving specific CPAs for medical job matching SaaS around £7. The costs and results really depend on the niche, the offer, and how well the underlying product and funnel convert.

It sounds like you've built a really solid understanding of your users and product-market fit through your early organic efforts. This is the absolute best place to be before you consider ramping up paid spend. When you do decide to use ads, that foundation will make them far more effective.

Here's a quick overview of what I'd recommend looking at before you think about scaling paid ads:

Focusing on these areas first will give you a much higher chance of success when you do decide to invest in paid advertising.

Hopefully, these thoughts are helpful for you as you continue to grow your SaaS.

Building and scaling a SaaS, especially with paid acquisition, involves juggling quite a few plates – everything from creative testing and targeting to landing page optimisation and understanding the numbers like LTV and CPA. Sometimes having an external perspective or someone with deep experience across many campaigns and niches can help identify blind spots or accelerate the optimisation process.

If you'd like to discuss your specific situation in more detail and explore how paid advertising might fit into your growth plans *when* the time is right, we'd be happy to book in a free consultation.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh