why IH engagement does not equal sales — the data from 41 posts and $0 revenue
this is the post i wish someone had written before i spent 3 days mass-posting on indie hackers.
the assumption
more posts = more visibility = more clicks = more sales. simple funnel math. post enough content, some percentage clicks through, some percentage buys.
the reality
41 posts. 92+ notifications. people love the content. nobody clicks through to buy. the funnel breaks at step 2 because the IH audience and the product buyer are different people.
who engages on IH
- founders building their own products
- developers interested in automation and scraping
- people who relate to the $0 revenue struggle
- commenters who want to share their own experience
who buys a $19 agency contact CSV
- sales development reps at agencies
- freelancers running cold email campaigns
- marketing consultants building prospect lists
- people searching google for "buy agency email list"
the overlap is basically zero
an indie hacker doesnt need 798 agency contacts. they need advice on building their product. my content gives them what they want (the story) but my product is for someone else entirely (the data).
what this means for your distribution strategy
if your product audience isnt on the platform youre posting on, no amount of content will convert. figure out where your BUYER hangs out, not where your READER hangs out.
for me thats linkedin (SDR managers), etsy (data shoppers), and google (searchers). not IH.
free sample: https://vemtrac.gumroad.com/l/blole
lead list: https://vemtrac-outreach.pages.dev/leads
where does YOUR buyer actually hang out?
