Solved: Positive ROI on Paid Ads for Self-Funded SaaS?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I saw your post and thought I'd give you some of my initial thoughts on the situation with Zerocrat and why your paid ads likely aren't delivering the ROI you're looking for. I'm happy to give you a bit of guidance based on my experience.

I'll be brutally honest here, as I've found that's the most helpful way to be when it comes to paid advertising. There's no point sugarcoating things when your own capital is on the line.

We'll need to look at your offer first...

Honestly, before we even touch the ads themselves, the biggest issues I see are with your core offer and the fundamental challenge of your market. This is probably 80% of the problem right now.

First off, you're in B2B, selling a complex software product. That's a tough game. Unlike a simple t-shirt or a gadget, B2B sales cycles are almost always longer. Nobody makes a snap decision to switch their entire accounting system. It’s a massive undertaking for any business. It involves migrating data, retraining staff, changing workflows... it’s a huge headache. They will only do this if they are in extreme pain with their current solution or if your product offers something so monumentally better that it justifies the disruption. So, expecting an immediate positive ROI is, for most B2B SaaS companies, a bit of a fantasy. The payback period is almost always measured in months, not days or weeks. Your question about waiting "a couple years to break even" is a bit extreme, but you definately need to be thinking in terms of Lifetime Value (LTV) versus Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), not just initial sale revenue vs ad spend.

The second, and probably most critical point, is that you're not offering a free trial. I had a good look around your site, and I can see you offer a demo. That's not the same. Think about it from the customer's perspective. They're being asked to commit time to a scheduled call, and then potentially pay for a system they've never even used, to replace a system that, while maybe not perfect, they already know how to use. The friction is immense.

Your main competitors, the big names in the space, all offer generous free trials. Some offer 30 days, 60 days, even discounts on the first year. They do this because they know it's the most effective way to lower the barrier to entry. A free trial does a few things:

-> It gets people in the door with minimal commitment. They can sign up at 10pm on a Tuesday without having to talk to anyone.
-> It lets them actually use the product and see the value for themselves. This is far more powerful than any sales demo.
-> It gives you a lead that you can then nurture. You can onboard them with email sequences, show them key features, and guide them towards becoming a paying customer. Without a trial, you have no real way to do this.

I've run a lot of campaigns for B2B SaaS, and the ones that perform best almost universally have a frictionless free trial offer. I remember one campaign where we helped a B2B SaaS client get over 1500 trials purely through Meta ads, something that would have been impossible without a 'try before you buy' model.

Lastly, let's talk about your value proporsition: "Where business meets privacy." Look, I get it. The zero-knowledge architecture is technically impressive. But is privacy the number one thing a small business owner is looking for in accounting software? I'd argue it's not. They care about accuracy, reliability, compliance with tax laws, saving time, ease of use, and good integrations. Privacy is a feature, a very good one, but it's probably not their primary buying driver. It's more of a 'nice to have' or a tie-breaker. Most of your big competitors already have strong security and privacy measures, so it's not as unique a selling point as you might think. You're selling the "how" (zero-knowledge) instead of the "what" (what tangible business outcome does this achieve for me?).

So, to be blunt, your current offer is a very hard sell. You're asking for a high-commitment decision for a product they can't try, based on a value proposition that might not be their top priority. Fixing this is the first and most important step. Without a compelling, low-friction offer, you can pour all the money in the world into ads and you'll just be lighting it on fire, just as you described.

I'd say you need a more persausive landing page...

Okay, so let's assume you've tweaked the offer. Maybe you now have a 30-day free trial. The next problem is where you send the ad traffic. Right now, you're sending them to your homepage. A homepage has to serve many masters: existing customers, potential investors, job seekers, and new visitors. It’s often cluttered with navigation links, blog posts, about us pages, and so on. These are all distractions.

For paid traffic, you need a dedicated landing page. A page with one goal, and one goal only: to get the visitor to take a single action (in this case, sign up for the free trial). This means no main navigation, no footer links to your blog, no social media icons. Just a headline, persuasive copy, and a call-to-action button. That's it.

The copy on the page needs a complete rethink. As I mentioned, "Where business meets privacy" isn't a benefit-driven headline. You need copy that speaks directly to the pains of your ideal customer. A professional copywriter with SaaS experience would be a huge asset here. We use one for our clients for this very reason. They can translate your complex features into tangible benefits.

For instance, instead of focusing on the tech, you could test headlines like:

-> "Finally, Accounting Software That's Actually Simple. Get Your Books Done in Half the Time."
-> "Stop Wrestling With Spreadsheets. The Secure Accounting Hub for Self-Funded Founders."
-> "The #1 Xero/QuickBooks Alternative for Businesses That Value Their Privacy. Try It Free."

These speak to outcomes (saving time, simplicity) or a specific identity (founders, privacy-conscious businesses) while still including the core message. The copy needs to walk them through the pain they feel now, agitate that pain a little, and then present Zerocrat as the perfect solution. It should be a sales pitch in written form.

Your landing page also needs to build trust, especially as a new player asking people to hand over their most sensitive financial data. Right now, your site feels a bit sparse. To build that trust, you need social proof. Things like:

-> Testamonials: Even if you only have a few early users, get quotes from them. Photos and names make them more believable. Video testimonials are even better.
-> Case Studies: A short story of how a business used Zerocrat to solve a problem.
-> Trust Badges: Logos of any publications you've been featured in, security certifications, or even just 'Made in the UK' or similar can help.
-> Clear Pricing: Your pricing page is okay, but make it crystal clear on the landing page what happens after the trial ends.

Your current website looks clean, but it doesn't sell. It informs. For paid ads to work, your landing page needs to be a high-performance sales machine. It needs to convince a skeptical visitor to give your product a shot in about 15 seconds. It's a big ask, and it requires a dedicated, optimised page to have any chance of success.

You probably should rethink your ad channels...

Now we get to the ads themselves. You mentioned you've tried "paid search and other channels" without success. The channel you pick is entirely dependent on your customer and their mindset.

A) Google Search Ads

This is likley your best starting point. Why? Because you're targeting people with intent. They are actively typing "accounting software for small business" or "encrypted bookkeeping app" into Google. They have a problem and they are searching for a solution right now. This is the lowest-hanging fruit.

However, this traffic is also the most expensive. You're bidding against giants like Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage who have massive budgets. If you send this expensive, high-intent traffic to a homepage that doesn't convert, you'll burn through your cash incredibly fast. This is probably what's happening to you now. Your lack of ROI on search is almost certainly a landing page and offer problem, not a traffic problem.

Your keywords should be very specific. Broad terms like "accounting software" will be ruinously expensive. You need to find your niche. Think about keywords like:

-> "end-to-end encrypted accounting software"
-> "zero knowledge bookkeeping"
-> "privacy focused quickbooks alternative"
-> "secure accounting for startups"

These have lower search volume, but the people searching them are your exact target audience. The click will be expensive, but it'll be highly qualified.

B) LinkedIn Ads

This is the premium B2B playground. Its targeting is second to none. You can target users based on:

-> Job Title (e.g., 'Chief Financial Officer', 'Finance Manager', 'Accountant')
-> Company Size (e.g., 1-10 employees, 11-50 employees)
-> Industry (e.g., 'Information Technology', 'Marketing and Advertising')
-> Member Skills (e.g., 'Bookkeeping', 'Financial Reporting')

You could create a campaign that only shows ads to Founders of tech companies with fewer than 50 employees in the UK. The specificity is incredible. However, it's also very expensive. You're paying a premium for that data. I recall a B2B software client for whom we were getting leads (decision makers) for around $22 per lead using LinkedIn Ads, which was great for them, but it shows you the kind of costs involved. It's not cheap.

For LinkedIn, you'd want to test different ad formats. A Sponsored Content ad (an image or video in the main feed) pointing to your new, shiny landing page is a good start. You could also test LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. These pop up a form pre-filled with the user's LinkedIn data when they click the ad. It dramatically increases the conversion rate (more leads), but the lead quality is often lower because it's so easy to sign up. It's a trade-off you need to test.

C) Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram)

This is much harder for your specific B2B niche, but not impossible. The targeting is much broader. You can target interests like 'Small Business Owners' or 'Business Page Admins', but it's a bit of a crapshoot. You'll reach a lot of irrelevant people.

However, we have had some surprising success with B2B SaaS on Meta. As an example, we drove 4,622 registrations for a B2B software client at just $2.38 each using Meta Ads. For another, we reduced their cost per user aquisition from £100 down to just £7 using a combination of Meta and Google Ads. This was achieved through relentless testing of creatives (UGC-style videos often work well) and finding pockets of audiences that converted. It can work, but I would not make it your primary focus. I'd get Google Search working first, then maybe test LinkedIn, and only then consider Meta if you have the budget and appetite for extensive testing.

The key takeaway here is to match the channel to the user's intent. Start with high-intent channels like Google Search, and only expand once you have a funnel that actually converts that expensive traffic profitably.

You'll need a proper campaign structure and testing mindset...

This brings me to your core question: "Is that an actual reality for some of you folks?" (throwing money at campaigns and sitting back). The answer is an emphatic no. It might look like that from the outside for established companies, but what you're not seeing are the years of testing, optimisation, and data analysis that went into building that 'money machine'.

Profitable paid advertising isn't about finding one magic bullet. It's a systematic process of improvement. This is what you should be doing:

1. Establish Your Metrics: You need to know your numbers. What is the average lifetime value (LTV) of a customer? If a customer pays you £50/month and stays for an average of 18 months, their LTV is £900. This means you can afford to spend, say, up to £300 to acquire them and still be very profitable. This shifts your focus from "am I making money on day one?" to "is my Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) less than one-third of my LTV?". This is the fundamental mindset shift you need to make.

2. Structure for Testing: You don't just run one campaign. You need a structured approach. For example, on Google Search, you'd have different campaigns for different themes of keywords (e.g., one for 'privacy' keywords, one for 'small business' keywords). Within each campaign, you'd have ad groups testing different ad copy. You are constantly testing to find winning combinations and turn off the losers.

3. Performance Benchmarks: You asked for rough metrics. It varies wildly, but here's a rough, illustrative calculation for B2B SaaS leads in a developed country like the UK, based on the models we use.

As you can see, the range is enormous. The difference between success and failure lies in optimising each step. Getting your CPC down with better ads, and more importantly, getting your landing page conversion rate up with a better offer and copy. If your CAC is £60 and your LTV is £900, you have an incredible business. If your CAC is £4000, you're dead in the water. Your job is to systematically move every metric from the right-hand column towards the left-hand column.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot to take in. To make it more actionable, I've summarised my main recommendations for you below. This is the roadmap I would follow if I were in your shoes.

Executing all of this correctly is a full-time job in itself, and it requires a specific skillset that's different from building a great product. It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. It's about understanding the deep interplay between audience, offer, copy, and data.

That's where a professional consultancy can often make a huge difference. You're an expert in building privacy-focused software. We're experts in building profitable advertising funnels. Instead of spending the next six months and thousands of pounds of your own capital learning this from scratch through trial and error, we can help implement this entire process for you, drawing on our experience from running dozens of successful SaaS campaigns.

If you'd like to chat through this roadmap in more detail and have us take a proper look at your situation, we offer a free initial consultation. It might be helpful to get another set of eyes on everything before you spend another penny on ads.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh