32 commits later, the biggest improvement wasn't technical
One thing I've learned building a desktop SaaS:
People won't pay before they experience the value.
Initially, Observer(https://getobserver.app) required users to:
• Download the app
• Sign in
• Grant permissions
• Choose a paid plan
It seemed reasonable to me because that's how I'd built it.
But after talking to potential users, I realized I was asking for too much trust.
So I changed the onboarding completely and introduced a 30-minute free trial without requiring a credit card.
It sounds obvious now, but as founders we sometimes optimize the product instead of optimizing the first experience.
Curious how others approach this.
If you're building a desktop product (or any paid SaaS), what has improved your trial-to-paid conversion the most?
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The interesting part is that the biggest improvement came before the product was even used.
For paid desktop tools, the first hurdle is often not convincing users to buy — it's convincing them that trying is worth the effort.