How to promote your SaaS and get your first customers
25 October 2026 · SaaS Vendor Market
You built a SaaS product that works. Now comes the hard part: getting people to find it, try it and pay for it. This guide gives you a practical plan for the first months, aimed at independent makers and small software companies with a small budget.
1. Know exactly who it is for
"Small businesses" is not a target audience. "Restaurants with 10 to 40 tables that still use a paper reservation book" is. The narrower your description, the easier it becomes to write a page that convinces, to choose the right category on marketplaces and to pick the words people actually type into Google. Write one sentence that says what your software does and for whom, and use it everywhere: on your site, in your listing and in your social profiles.
2. Get listed where buyers already look
People looking for software often start at a directory or marketplace, because they want to compare options side by side. A listing gives you a page that can rank in search engines, appears next to related tools and brings visitors who are already in buying mode. On SaaS Vendor Market listing is free: you only pay with points when you want visitors to click through to your site or when you want extra visibility.
3. Write a listing that converts
- Tagline: what it does and for whom, in one sentence of 40 to 140 characters.
- Description: at least 150 words, preferably 300 or more. Describe the problem, who has it, how your product solves it and what a typical day looks like with it.
- Features: five to ten concrete features, one per line. "Invoices with a pay-now button" beats "powerful invoicing".
- Screenshots: at least two, showing the screens people will use most.
- Price: show your starting price. Hiding it costs you more visitors than it gains.
Every listing on SaaS Vendor Market shows an SEO score with tips, so you see immediately what to improve.
4. Make trying it effortless
A free trial without a credit card, or a free plan for small users, removes the biggest barrier. Link straight to your sign-up page instead of your homepage, so a curious visitor is one step away from using your product.
5. Collect reviews early
Ask your first happy users for an honest review. Reviews from real users build trust with the next visitor and help your page stand out in search results. Never write them yourself or pay for them: buyers notice, and marketplaces remove them.
6. Spend a small budget where it counts
Instead of buying broad ads, put your budget where people are already comparing software. Pay per visitor while you test what works, switch to a fixed monthly price once traffic is steady, and use promotions such as a top spot in your category for launches. Read more in pay per click or a fixed monthly price.
7. Measure and repeat
Watch how many people view your page, how many click through and how many sign up. If many visitors view but few click, improve your tagline and screenshots. If many click but few sign up, look at your own sign-up page. Small improvements every week add up.