What outreach channels have not worked for your first 100 users? (+Book recommendation of what does)

Question

I have done a lot of mistakes while trying to grow a product. [You will see my list down below]

From knowing nothing about product growth, to too many expensive experiments, I have come a long way and I continue to learn. I am curious about what are some of the methods/channels, that you know through your experiences, that just don't work at all. (This of course totally depends on the kind of products as well)

P.S: You should pick up Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. It's a good starting point to identify right channels.

Ovi · Accepted Answer

@henry_zhang3 @rishigb thank you. indeed you would be surprised how open people are to helping other people if you come across as genuine and not as a sleazy sales person...

Ovi · Answer

@rishigb we target micro businesses so there are a lot of them out there. You can buy lists of leads, scrape online directories, in Canada we use a pretty detailed directory "Scotts directory" to get leads. If you target larger enterprises, where the pool of leads may be more limited you need to do some research (Linkedin is a good source) and strategize each call.

San Kumar · Answer

My number #1 traffic source would be Google (SEO) followed by Youtube (Video marketing). It takes a lot of time (3 months+) but once the traffic starts pouring you can easily get up 50 to 100 leads a day easy.

Of course what works and doesn't in SEO is a discussion in itself (for me Brian dean's ideas have had tremendous results). Bottom line is if you're looking for long term steady supply of leads and traffic, nothing beats Google and Youtube nowadays.

Answer

I can start with my list. Trying to grow a file transfer product for creatives:
1. Offline events - talking to people in person, validating ideas with them. Great to validate ideas, not so much for users.
2. FB & Instagram ads - great for visibility, doesn't translate to users
3. Paid ads on blogs - limited visibility, very tiny conversion (if at all), decent for domain authority.
4. Product Hunt - good visibility, limited to no conversion rate
5. Personal Emails - limited to no responses, sometimes got marked as spam, no conversions

Henry Zhang · Answer

@rishigb @managequick Thank you both for all the advice being posted here! I'll see if I can work as much of it as possible into my strategies going forward.

Ovi · Answer

@rishigb in terms of quality control, first line of defense is recruiting good freelancers,  interviewing and testing them thoroughly. next, we record the conversations (with leads' approvals). we listen to some of the shorter ones to see why they were short and listen to all of the more meaningful ones. if need be we explain to the freelancer if something was not quite right in a conversation so they can correct. we also edit the script as appropriate based on how it comes across in conversations. we also provide a FAQ list, together with the script and make ourselves available live on chat if they have a question during a call or after a call.

Ovi · Answer

@henry_zhang3 @rishigb and we used freelancers too...

Ovi · Answer

@rishigb @henry_zhang3  I am in Toronto and use freelancers from Jamaica for between USD5-10 per hour. I didn't realize until recently there is a  BPO industry in Jamaica. I am sure there are lead gen firms out there but I haven't used any.

Henry Zhang · Answer

@rishigb @managequick I have been doing the cold calling myself, but i've strongly been considering sourcing that to a third party. I do appreciate the heads up to just keep pushing until I get a clear answer though. It just feels so soul crushing at times.

Answer

@henry_zhang3 @managequick I have done it personally and also gotten a lead generation firm to do it for another project. Both have less than 1% conversion rates and cost a huge sum of money. In fact some business I have spoken to have paid as much as $25K USD for 3 months for this and gotten no results out of it at all. It is almost always better to find warm intros and invest in building relationships through mutual networks.

Henry Zhang · Answer

@rishigb What are your thoughts on the efficacy of cold calling? I feel like it depends on your product, but it never seemed to draw very much traction for me.

Answer

@henry_zhang3 This is always difficult Henry. Especially because the person on the other side in most cases is not interested and doesn't care about what we have to offer at all. What has worked is to keep people in loop about what you are doing, keep them warm with updates, thought leadership etc. and then politely nudge to see if they will be ok to speak. We save up a lot of time that way. In my personal experience, warm intros almost always respond.

Answer

@henry_zhang3 @managequick Nice! I am glad things are working out for you. I also like your approach!

Answer

@managequick how to do you make sure the quality of conversations and the feedback you are looking for is not compromised while working with freelancers? Also, you must need to speak to a very very large pool potential leads to get going with this. How are you creating that?

Ovi · Answer

@henry_zhang3 @rishigb obviously it depends on the value proposition and the quality of list of leads. we get about 1% conversion rate as well. we find it easier to get some response when we ask people to "help us" and to "share their expertise". (as in we are doing a survey for a product we are working on and could use your expertize etc), And the second call  to same people who answered the questions , to offer a demo,  is a warm call already which indeed tends to be more successful.

What outreach channels have not worked for your first 100 users? (+Book recommendation of what does)

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