Do not index
Do not index
There are more and more companies that try to hide behind people and complexity.
Instead, there’s something to be said about working in public and putting a face to your product. Yes, it’s risky but it can also help build a powerful personal brand.
You probably already know that one of my company’s core principles is transparency. For me, that means that we share our journey as well as app and revenue metrics with everyone.
I do this to inspire other makers to start their journey into SaaS but also to remind people, and specifically my customers, that hard work is required.
Finally, I do it because I want to treat my customers as my real investors: because customers chose to support me by paying for a subscription, I can then dedicate time to the products and make them even better which in turn makes customers get more value for their money.
Now I’d like to add another element to transparency: working in public. By sharing how I work, like I do with this blog, I think I can inspire customers and fellow SaaS owners and maybe earn more of their trust.
#1. The human component in marketing
I think we can remain humans while doing marketing. A human marketer knows there are people on the other end of the screen.
As marketers, all of our decisions should be based on that. Ryan Kulp from HonestMarketer made me realize that we do things on the internet that we would probably never do in real life: we create fake value, fake hype and we employ shady marketing tactics to trick customers into thinking that we are bigger and better.
I think it’s very wrong and now I strive to check all of my numbers and don’t use words to emphasize something. For example: all of Cart‘s numers are directly taken and hyperlinked to our open page, which measures our metrics transparently in real-time.
#2. The human component in product
The human component impacts different parts of our product: first of all we need to follow through on what we promise our customers. That means that if we say we do something, we go do it. We don’t let customers down and we are there for them. No more promised features which we never deliver.
It also means giving awesome customer support. A lot of times customer support is relegated to explaining how our product works, when in fact support means supporting our customers in their journey to reach their goals, even if that means going against our own interests. We should become true honest advisors to them.
I do this so many times: I advise potential customers who are just starting their business to go spend their money on something they really need in that phase and not on my product, which is helpful for more experienced business owners.
That impacts your credibility and starts a virtuous cycle where the potential customer now goes on to start his/her business and will probably come back to your product when he/she is ready. They will also provide great feedback which will help you improve your product. That way your product becomes bigger and better without shady marketing tactics.
#3. The human component in revenue
As I said, the human compoenent is also about transparency. All of my customers can see not only how much I make but also how much I spend on the business. My customers are contributing to my life: they are supporting me and my company, and they become part of my story.
So in a nutshell, the human component is about us supporting customers and customers supporting us.
Thanks for reading,
