Launching your SaaS product on Product Hunt can be a game-changer for your startup. It can help you get exposure, feedback, validation, and most importantly, customers.
But launching on Product Hunt is not as easy as it sounds. You need to prepare well, optimize your landing page, engage with the community, and stand out from the crowd.
And one of the best ways to do that is to offer a discount to Product Hunters.
In this post, I’ll explain why offering a discount is a smart move, how to do it right, and what results you can expect from it.
Why Offer a Discount to Product Hunters?
Product Hunt is a platform where makers come to launch their products, and where consumers come to find the latest and greatest in tech. It has over 10 million monthly visitors who are mostly early adopters, influencers, investors, journalists, and enthusiasts.
These are the people you want to reach with your SaaS product. They can help you spread the word, give you feedback, sign up for your service, or even invest in your company.
But they are also very picky and selective. They see hundreds of new products every day. They have high expectations and low attention spans.
So how do you catch their eye and make them click on your product?
One way is to offer them something they can’t resist: a discount.
A discount is a powerful psychological trigger that creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity. It makes people feel like they are getting a great deal that won’t last long. It also makes them feel special and appreciated for being part of the Product Hunt community.
A discount can help you improve your conversion rate by motivating more people to visit your landing page, sign up for your service, or upgrade to a paid plan.
It can also help you generate more buzz around your product by encouraging more upvotes, comments, shares, reviews, testimonials, referrals, etc.
How to Offer a Discount to Product Hunters?
Offering a discount to Product Hunters is not rocket science. But there are some best practices you should follow to make it effective:
- Make it clear. Don’t hide your discount in the fine print or make people jump through hoops to get it. Make it visible on your product page on Product Hunt as well as on your landing page. Use clear language like “Exclusive 50% off for Product Hunters” or “Get 3 months free when you sign up today”.
- Make it generous. Don’t be stingy with your discount. Make it worth their while. Offer something that will make them feel like they are getting amazing value for their money. For example: “Get lifetime access for only $99” or “Save $500 when you pre-order now”.
- Make it time-limited. Don’t let your discount run forever. Create a sense of urgency by setting an expiration date or limiting the number of available spots. For example: “This offer ends in 24 hours” or “Only 100 spots left”. This will push people to act fast before they miss out.
- Make it easy. Don’t complicate the process of redeeming your discount. Make it as simple as possible for people to sign up for your service or buy your product at a discounted price. Use tools like Stripe Checkout, Gumroad, Paddle, etc., that integrate seamlessly with Product Hunt.
- Make it trackable. Don’t forget to measure the impact of your discount on your key metrics like traffic, sign-ups, conversions, revenue, retention, etc. Use tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, etc., that allow you to track where your visitors are coming from, what actions they take, how much they spend, how long they stay, etc . This will help you optimize your funnel, identify bottlenecks, calculate ROI, etc
What Results Can You Expect from Offering a Discount?
Offering a discount can have different results depending on various factors like:
- The quality of your product
- The size of your audience
- The level of competition
- The timing of your launch
But generally speaking, offering a discount can help you achieve some impressive outcomes such as:
Examples of Successful Products Launched with a Discount on Product Hunt
To illustrate how offering a discount can help you launch your SaaS product on Product Hunt and get tons of traction
here are some examples of products that did it right:
- Notion. Notion is a powerful tool that lets you create, organize, and collaborate on documents, notes, databases, wikis, etc. It launched on Product Hunt in 2018 with an exclusive offer: “Get $10 credit when you sign up with Product Hunt”. The offer was simple, generous, and easy to redeem. It helped Notion get over 4K upvotes, 300 comments, and thousands of sign-ups.
- Superhuman. Superhuman is an email client that claims to be “the fastest email experience ever made.” It launched on Product Hunt in 2019 with an exclusive offer: “Get early access when you join the waitlist with Product Hunt.” The offer was clear, exclusive, and time-limited. It helped Superhuman get over 3K upvotes, 400 comments, and tens of thousands of waitlist requests.
- Loom. Loom is a video messaging tool that lets you record and share your screen and webcam with anyone in seconds. It launched on Product Hunt in 2017 with an exclusive offer: “Get unlimited access for free when you sign up with Product Hunt.” The offer was generous, easy, and trackable. It helped Loom get over 2K upvotes, 200 comments, and hundreds of thousands of users.
Launching your SaaS product on Product Hunt can be a great way to get traction and find early adopters for your product.
But it’s not enough to just post your product there and hope for the best. You need to optimize your funnel as much as possible to make the most of your launch. And one of the best ways to do that is to offer a discount to Product Hunters.
A discount can help you improve your conversion rate by creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity among the Product Hunt community. It can also help you generate more buzz around your product by encouraging more engagement from the Product Hunt community.
But offering a discount is not a magic bullet that will guarantee success. You still need to have a great product that solves a real problem for a specific audience.