How to optimise a SaaS website startup for user acquisition?

1. Start with who you are trying to acquire

If you skip this part, everything else is guesswork.

Most weak SaaS sites try to talk to everyone. You land on the homepage and see things like “All-in-one platform for modern teams” and you still have no idea who it is for or what it does.

You want the opposite.

At minimum, write down:

• 2–3 primary personas
• Their job titles
• The main problem your product solves for each one
• The outcome they care about in plain language

Examples:

• “Startup founder who wants to cut time spent on manual reporting.”
• “Head of Customer Success who wants better onboarding and lower churn.”

This should drive:

• The headline on your homepage
• The examples you use
• The case studies you show
• The navigation labels and CTAs

If your site feels vague, it is usually because the persona work is weak or missing.

2. Turn your homepage into a simple acquisition funnel

Think of the homepage as the start of your funnel, not a dumping ground for every feature.

Make a single clear promise in the hero

Your hero needs to answer three questions in one quick hit:

1. Who is this for?
2. What problem does it solve?
3. What outcome do I get if it works?

Something like:

“Product analytics for SaaS teams who want faster activation and lower churn.”

Short, direct, and tied to a real outcome.

Avoid stuffing the hero with buzzwords or clever phrases that sound smart but do nothing to move someone to click.

Show the “aha moment” above the fold

Do not just say “powerful dashboard”. Show it.

Use:

• A clean screenshot of the actual product
• A short caption that explains what they are looking at
• Optional: a short looped video or GIF walking through the core action

Your goal: a new visitor should be able to say “Ah, I get what this thing does” in 5 seconds without scrolling.

Remove friction from the main CTA

Your primary CTA should be obvious and specific, for example:

• “Start free trial”
• “Book a live demo”
• “Try it with sample data”

Pick one main action and repeat it. If you sell to different segments (self-serve and sales-led), you can add a secondary CTA, but do not give people six choices in the hero. Choice kills action.

Reduce friction:

• Do not ask for 10 fields just to start a trial
• Ask only for what you actually need to give them a working account
• If you need a demo, say why: “Book a 20-minute demo to see how this fits your stack”

3. Build a product-led structure across the site

User acquisition is not just about getting signups. It is about getting signups who reach value.

Your website should reflect how people will actually use the product.

Show real workflows, not just feature lists

Instead of a bland “Features” page with bullet points like “Automation, dashboards, alerts”, organise things around:

• Jobs to be done: “Onboard new users”, “Run experiments”, “Track feature adoption”
• Use cases: “For product managers”, “For CS teams”, “For founders”

For each one:

• Explain the problem
• Show how the product fits into their day
• Back it up with a screenshot or short clip

Make your free trial and demo paths obvious

If you offer a free trial:

• Have a dedicated “Pricing” or “Plans” section explaining what is included
• Make it clear what happens when the trial ends
• Tell people how long it takes to set up and see value

If you sell through demos:

• Have a “Book a demo” page that explains what will actually happen on the call
• Add a simple three-step outline: “1. We learn about your setup. 2. We show you a tailored walkthrough. 3. We agree next steps if it fits.”

Preview the onboarding experience

People are more likely to sign up if they can see that the onboarding will not be a nightmare.

You can:

• Add a short section: “What happens after you sign up”
• List 3–4 steps with plain language, for example:
  • “Connect your data source”
  • “Pick a starter template or dashboard”
  • “Invite your team”
  • “Track your first activation metric in under 15 minutes”

This links the marketing site to product reality, which is exactly what drives better user acquisition.

4. Use content and search to bring in the right visitors

Your website cannot acquire users if nobody finds it.

You do not need a huge content machine on day one, but you do need some smart choices.

Target high-intent topics first

Prioritise pages and articles that attract people who are already close to buying. For example:

• “Best [category] tools for [persona]”
• “[Competitor] alternatives for SaaS teams”
• “How to reduce churn in [type of product]”

These can feed:

• Comparison pages
• “Versus” pages
• Deep guides that naturally lead into your product

Build content around actual problems

A solid content plan for a SaaS startup might include:

• How-to guides that relate directly to your product
• Onboarding and activation guides
• Case studies with real numbers
• “Playbooks” based on how your best customers work

The key is to make every piece of content point back to:

• A free trial
• A demo
• A next step they can take with your product

No fluff.

5. Build trust with social proof and signals of reliability

If your site has traffic but does not convert, trust is usually the missing piece.

Use specific, focused case studies

Do not write vague “Client A doubled their growth” stories. People skim those and move on.

For each case study, show:

• Who the customer is and what they do
• The problem they had before using your product
• What changed after implementation
• Numbers, even if small: “Cut time to insight from 3 weeks to 2 days”, “Increased trial-to-paid by 18%”

Keep it honest and concrete.

Place testimonials where the decision happens

You do not need a “wall of logos” buried at the bottom of the page. Instead:

• Put 1–2 strong quotes near your main CTA
• Add niche-relevant quotes on pages for specific use cases
• Put logos near pricing and high-commitment sections

Context matters more than volume.

Add real trust indicators

Depending on what you offer, this might include:

• Security and compliance badges (SOC 2, ISO, GDPR notes, etc.)
• Uptime stats and status page link
• “Trusted by X teams” with a real number
• Review scores from G2, Capterra or similar

For anything regulated or sensitive, make sure you have a dedicated “Security” or “Trust” page you can link to from the footer and header.

6. Design for activation, not just signups

Too many SaaS sites obsess over signups and ignore what happens next. That is how you end up with poor trial-to-paid conversion and high churn.

Your website can help with activation by:

Reducing friction on key forms

Keep your main signup form short:

• Name or first name
• Work email
• Password or “Sign up with Google”

Move the rest of the information (company size, role, budget) into onboarding or later steps.

Routing people into the right experience

Use micro-surveys instead of generic paths.

On signup or right after, ask:

• “What are you here to do first?” with 3–4 sensible options
• “What best describes your role?”

Then send them to:

• Tailored onboarding
• Relevant template
• Correct feature entry point

If your product supports very different audiences, your website should make that split obvious early.

7. Track, test and improve your acquisition funnel

You cannot optimise what you do not measure. And no, “traffic and signups” alone is not enough.

Track the right website metrics

At minimum, you want:

• Signups by channel
• Trial-to-activated users
• Activated-to-paid conversion
• Time to first key action (for example: “created first project”, “invited first teammate”)

Tie this back to pages and flows:

• Which landing pages send users who actually stick around?
• Which CTAs produce better-quality signups?

Use proper analytics and testing tools

You can keep it lean:

• Web analytics for traffic and funnel views
• A product analytics tool for in-app behaviour
• A simple A/B testing setup for headlines, CTAs and layouts

Do not test 20 things at once. Start with:

• Hero headline
• Primary CTA text
• Social proof placement

Small, clear tests beat random redesigns.

8. Low-budget channels that feed your website

Your site is the hub. Your channels feed it.

If you are early stage or tight on budget, pick a few channels and do them well instead of trying everything.

Good starting options:

• Search ads on high-intent keywords driving to strong landing pages
• Retargeting for visitors who reached pricing or trial pages but did not convert
• Plain text founder emails to a warm list with direct “try the product” CTAs
• Partnerships with tools in your stack where you can do a joint webinar or guide

Every channel should bring people into a page that is clearly built for acquisition, not a generic article that never mentions your product again.

9. Common SaaS website mistakes that kill user acquisition

Quick list of red flags that you should avoid:

• Vague homepage that never states who it is for
• Hero that talks about “innovation” instead of a clear outcome
• No screenshots or all fake UI that looks nothing like the product
• Pricing page that confuses more than it explains
• CTAs that are soft and unclear, like “Learn more” everywhere
• No trust signals, no case studies, no numbers
• Slow load times and poor mobile layout
• Blog full of random topics that never tie back to your product

If your current site ticks a few of these boxes, you do not need a full rebrand. Fix the biggest blockers first: message, hero, CTA, proof.

10. Bringing it all together

Optimising a SaaS website for user acquisition is not about clever copy or trendy design.

It is about:

• Knowing exactly who you want to sign up
• Making a clear promise in language they actually use
• Showing the real product and the real “aha moment”
• Giving them a simple way to start
• Backing everything up with proof
• Watching the data and improving the journey over time

If you keep your website focused on those steps, every new channel you add, whether it is SEO, paid ads, social content or partnerships, will perform better because the destination actually does its job.

FAQ

How do I know if my SaaS website is doing a good job for user acquisition?

Watch trial signups, activation and trial-to-paid conversion, not just visits. If you have traffic but very low trials or a lot of signups who never do anything in the product, the site and the onboarding flow need work.

What should I fix first on a weak SaaS site?

Start with the basics: hero message, primary CTA, clear explanation of what the product does, and one or two strong proof points. Once those are in place, move on to pricing clarity and onboarding.

How much content do I need for user acquisition?

You do not need a huge library. A solid starting point: a strong homepage, a clear pricing page, 2–3 use case pages, and 3–5 articles that target real buying questions. Quality beats volume.

Should every SaaS startup offer a free trial?

Not always. If your product is complex, has long sales cycles or needs heavy configuration, a guided demo with a sandbox environment might work better. The website should set the right expectation and explain why you chose that route.

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Ready to turn your website into a real acquisition engine?

Most SaaS sites look good on the surface but fall apart when it comes to converting visitors into users. If you want a site that actually drives signups, activation and long term growth, we can help. NexaFlow builds Webflow sites that load fast, explain your value clearly, and guide your users from first visit to “this is exactly what we need”.

If you are serious about improving user acquisition, get in touch and we will walk you through what your site needs and how we would fix it.

Book a call and see what a high converting SaaS site should look like.