How Did You Get Your First Customers Without Spending Much?

2 of my past experience:
I tried posting about my product on Reddit and Twitter. Got 0 customers.

I casually replied to some posts on Reddit about how they can solve their problem. Just mentioned about a free plan of something I implemented for myself. Got 6 paying customers.

Turns out genuinely being helpful and focusing more on content/problem solving across communities helps a lot.

Here is how we did - and here is my table of channels, cost and users aquired:
https://i.imgur.com/ZwFuCS2.png

We launched a free beta version of our product Morningscore (gamified SEO tool) early in 2018. In September that year, we went live and got the first 30 customers from the beta users.

The more interesting question in our case is probably how we managed to get 4,000 beta users in under a year.

Nothing was left to chance. The hype didn't happen on its own. We created a sheet with all the aggressive strategies we could think of to spread the word.

Our ad budget was under 420 USD per month. We were 1.5 people in marketing (I was working part-time, and we had a fresh growth marketer eager to prove their value).

The sheet is lost, but I have this screenshot in the URL above showing that we had 1,218 users in March 2018:

The "Cost" column includes salaries. "Users" are the number of beta users we reached. "CPA" is the cost per beta signup.

The effort to get beta users started in October 2017. We collected emails through a landing page that pitched the upcoming beta of our product.

By this point, we had been working on it for about six months.

The best channels were email outreach (which we later found out was borderline illegal), LinkedIn outreach (where I messaged EVERYONE in my network, a bit spammy but effective), and a sponsored newsletter that only cost us 70 USD, which went out to more than 3,000 Danish marketers—an insanely lucky investment that rarely happens.

Of the 30 customers, at least 20 came from these three activities.

Was it a success overall? Not really.

If you calculate it, the average cost was 8.4 USD per free beta user × 4,000 beta users = 33,600 USD total. Divide that by 30 customers, and it comes out to 1,120 USD per new customer. So, basically, a Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) of 1,120 USD. And please don’t calculate the conversion rate ;)

Today, we’ve reduced it to around 300 USD CAC, which is very healthy. But 1,120 USD is way too high.

What many forget is that brand recognition, social proof, and word-of-mouth are almost non-existent in the beginning. Plus, the product is rarely that good at first. That combination means you should expect that the first 20 customers will be expensive to acquire.

Congrats for your launch. For me, I have been trying to post on subreddits and communities and yes, it really gives me some traction. Really recommend you to do so too.

Also, be aware of the conversion rate as that's what I'm currently working on to utilize the traffic.

I would like to recommand on actively communicate on start-up community like indie hackers itself! Get feedbacks and reviews from the site and look for what other people’s doing!

Hey Ali! Congrats on getting ready to launch your product—exciting times! 🚀

When I launched my first project, I had a tight budget too, so I focused on a few key strategies that helped me attract customers without spending much:

1. Build in Public
   One of the best things I did was to start sharing my journey openly on platforms like IndieHackers and Twitter. I posted updates, challenges, and behind-the-scenes looks at building my product. This naturally created interest and curiosity over time. People love to follow stories and become invested in a product's success when they see its development.

2. Leverage Your Network
   Your existing connections are often overlooked. I reached out to friends, family, and professional contacts, letting them know about my launch. Don’t hesitate to ask for shares, feedback, or testimonials. Word of mouth, especially within communities where people trust you, can go a long way without spending anything!

3. Targeted Outreach
   I spent some time researching potential customers who I thought could really benefit from my product. I reached out to them with personalized emails, focusing on how my solution could solve their pain points. Being genuine and offering value without being too salesy made a big difference.

4. Partner with Other Creators
   Collaboration can be a powerful and inexpensive way to get in front of new audiences. I connected with a few people who were in a similar niche but offering complementary services. By cross-promoting each other's work (e.g., newsletters, blog posts), we tapped into each other's customer base, expanding our reach without spending money.

5. Offer a Freemium or Early Bird Deal
   Offering a limited-time free or heavily discounted version of your product (in exchange for feedback) can help you get early traction. I did this with one of my services and it helped me generate some buzz while keeping costs low. You can also encourage these early users to spread the word.

6. Content Marketing
   While it’s slower, content marketing pays off in the long term. I started by writing blog posts and creating content that was genuinely helpful to my target audience. Posting in niche forums, Reddit, or even creating a YouTube tutorial series based on what my product solved helped attract my first few customers.

7. Be Active in Communities
   Platforms like this, Reddit, and Facebook groups can be goldmines for early adopters. I didn’t go in with a “sell” mentality, but rather contributed genuinely to conversations (like this one!), and over time, people started checking out my profile and product naturally. Building trust first makes all the difference.

I use Cold Emails, Twitter & Reddit - find threads where problems are being discussed, add Twitter Cold DMs, working good so far

Obviously, there are many steps to getting your first customer:

1. Reach out to him: You need to know where he is. At the very least, make sure he comes into contact with your product through free marketplaces, social networks, or communities.
2. Make him interested in your product: Provide a demo (photos, banners, videos, user guides, etc.) and allow him to try your product with a free trial.
3. Offer excellent customer service: Listen to his feedback and work to make him love your product.

I'm currently trying to figure out the same thing for a mobile app I recently built and deployed. The current plan is to leverage my existing social media presence to build one for the app.

For example, I have a big LinkedIn network, so I will post a relevant article on my product's LinkedIn page with some commentary from the perspective of my product/brand. I then repost the article onto my personal LinkedIn with commentary from my personal perspective. I've just started doing this and it seems to work fairly well as far as getting eyeballs on the page.

You should take take help of social media and also try product hunt and reddit etc.

Hi! 👋

Huge congratulations on your upcoming launch! 🎉 I'm so excited for you! I just wanted to share a tip that helped me find my first customers without spending a lot of money on advertising. From the very beginning, you can offer your first users discounts or bonuses for inviting friends. This is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to attract new customers. I wish you all the best of luck!

A big majority was via word of mouth, really. When one uses your product (could be a friend) and another tries it out and likes it and does the same thing and so on. It's the best way to grow organically and has been working for us consistently, Best of luck!

Organic content! That’s the only cheapest and most realistic way! My startup is all about that you should check it out. I noticed you joined Indie Hackers on the same day as my birthday—what a coincidence!

We got our first 10 customers for VideoFeedbackr after launching on Reddit. I learned that you have to talk about your product a lot :)

So far we've gotten some initial traction from Cold Emails and Reddit. Reddit isnt really scalable and that's why we are planning to invest more in Ads and SEO in the coming months.

Hey Ali! A great low-cost option is using SEO AI. It helps optimize your site’s keywords and content to boost your search rankings without spending big on ads. It’s an easy way to get more organic traffic and attract the right people early on. Good luck with the launch!

I just posted on various subreddits. It worked for me tbh. Also posted on twitter.

Sharing what you're doing in groups is good. i.e. groups who contain your ideal users. Speak to their pain points and how you're seeking to address them. Lots of transparency.
Get permission from group admins first - make them your friends :)

for the first few customers, it's better to get some one in your network to try and buy. They are easier to reach out and you can get feedback more frequently