Side products can be a powerful tool for SaaS businesses looking to generate leads and attract potential customers. By creating a free, standalone product that offers value to users, you can build trust and establish your brand as an authority in your industry. In this article, we'll explore the benefits of side product marketing, provide examples of successful SaaS side products, and offer tips for building your own.
What is Side Product Marketing?
Side product marketing involves creating a free, standalone product that complements your main SaaS product and offers value to potential customers. This product can take many forms, but assessments and calculators are particularly effective because they provide interactive, playful content that helps users make decisions or understand concepts.
Benefits of Side Product Marketing:
Examples of Successful SaaS Side Products:
Here are a few examples of side products that SaaS companies have used to generate leads and attract new users:
- Hubspot's Website Grader: This free tool helps users evaluate the performance of their website and provides suggestions for improvement. It complements Hubspot's main product, which is a marketing and sales platform for businesses.
- Shopify's Business Name Generator: This free tool helps users generate unique and creative business names. It complements Shopify's main product, which is an e-commerce platform for businesses.
- Moz's Domain Authority Checker: This free tool helps users evaluate the authority of a domain or website. It complements Moz's main product, which is a suite of SEO tools for businesses.
| Industry | Description | Examples of Side Products |
|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | Real estate companies can use side product marketing to provide value to potential buyers or renters, as well as generate leads. | A real estate listing website might offer a mortgage calculator or home value estimator tool. |
| Education | Education companies can use side product marketing to provide students with supplemental resources and promote their courses. | An online learning platform might offer a free quiz or assessment tool to help students evaluate their knowledge on a particular subject. |
| Travel | Travel companies can use side product marketing to provide potential customers with travel planning resources and promote their services. | A travel booking website might offer a destination guide or trip planner tool to help customers plan their travels. |
| SaaS | SaaS companies can use side product marketing to generate leads and build brand awareness. | A project management SaaS company might offer a free time-tracking tool to generate leads for its main product. |
| E-commerce | E-commerce companies can use side product marketing to provide additional value to customers and drive sales. | An online clothing retailer might offer a virtual wardrobe tool that helps customers plan outfits and recommends products based on their preferences. |
| Healthcare | Healthcare companies can use side product marketing to provide patients with educational resources and promote their services. | A healthcare provider might offer an online symptom checker or health risk assessment tool. |
Tips for Building a Successful Side Product:
Offer genuine value
Your side product should offer genuine value to potential customers. It should complement your main SaaS product and provide additional benefits or insights that are relevant and useful to your target audience. Providing value through your side product can build trust and credibility, making potential customers more likely to engage with your main product.
Make it easy to use
Your side product should be easy to use, with a simple and intuitive interface. Users should be able to quickly understand the tool's purpose and how to use it. Clear instructions, user-friendly design, and intuitive navigation are all essential to creating a user-friendly side product.
Focus on design
Design plays a crucial role in the success of your side product. Your tool should have an engaging and visually appealing design that captivates users' attention and encourages them to engage with it. Interactive features, engaging graphics, and animations can all help to make your side product more engaging and memorable.
Promote it effectively
Once you have created your side product, promoting it effectively is critical to generating leads and maximizing its impact. You can promote your side product through various channels, including social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and influencer marketing. Choose the most relevant channels to your target audience and focus on creating engaging and compelling messaging that encourages users to engage with your side product.
Test and refine
Finally, it is essential to test and refine your side product continually. Use analytics tools to track user engagement and behavior and make changes to your side product based on the insights you gather. Continual testing and refinement can help to ensure that your side product remains effective over time and continues to generate leads for your main SaaS product.
Side product marketing can be a powerful tool for SaaS businesses looking to generate leads and attract potential customers.
By creating a free, standalone product that offers value to users, you can build trust and establish your brand as an authority in your industry. With the right approach and the right tools, you can create a successful side product that helps you achieve your business goals.