Steal These SaaS Lead Gen Tactics
Putting a crappy eBook on your site to generate leads isn’t enough anymore.
Hi, it’s Andreas, and I’m back with Growth—my newsletter featuring weekly growth experiments, proven strategies, and case studies to help grow your business.
Today, I’m taking a look at how different SaaS companies are using modern lead generation approaches.
Spoiler: It’s no longer about putting a PDF on your website and asking for contact details before someone can download it.
Let’s jump in.
Nowadays, the SaaS market is flooded.
Most of the time, typical growth tactics don’t work anymore.
A few years ago, it was enough to throw together a mediocre ebook and gate it by asking for user data to generate leads.
Nowadays, you have to:
Show the product in action
Attract users
Build a community
The following examples have gotten more creative.
They created small, additional tools that users engage with during a part of their customer journey.
This generates a kind of lead generation growth loop:
Customer looks to solve a minor problem (like creating an ad) → finds a simple free tool or generator → converts into a user of the main product.
What does this look like?
Launched by Lovable
Lovable became one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, mostly through word of mouth, since its AI builder turns everyone into a developer. One of its growth tactics is that they also built their own Product Hunt clone. Builders can submit their apps here, while other users can upvote the projects they like. The top five projects each week receive 100 free Lovable credits, encouraging creators to keep building.
Why does this fuel the growth loop?
Generates more users: Users see what others have built, which gives them ideas for their own projects. Since Lovable is just one click away, they can simply type in their prompt and start building.
Gamification boosts retention: Submitting a project gives users a chance to win free credits. This definitely keeps some users engaged and motivated to chase the reward. I’ve even spoken to a few users who have built hundreds of small projects that can easily be submitted.
Builds community and taps into the builder mindset: Builders who upload their projects can receive feedback in the comments, gain exposure, and attract early users. This alone is a strong reason to use Launched for your project—and, in turn, it motivates users to use Lovable.
Presentation Maker by Figma
In addition to its core business, Figma also offers a small but highly intuitive extra tool that allows users to easily create presentations without having to deal with PowerPoint or Google Slides.
Why does this fuel the growth loop?
Creates visibility: The tool ranks quite high on Google when someone searches for how to create presentations. This attracts new users to Figma. Once a user starts using the presentation maker, they need to create an account, and Figma’s core tool is just one click away.
Increases retention: It’s not only useful for new users but also for those already familiar with Figma. The tool appeals to an audience that’s used to working with Figma, helping keep them engaged. After all, why use clunky PowerPoint when you’re already used to intuitive Figma?
Tool Library by Softr
Softr is a no-code builder that allows you to create all kinds of tools. On their website, they feature a full library of very small tools. The crux? Every tool, and the entire page, is built with Softr itself.
Why does this fuel the growth loop?
Demonstrates the tool’s capabilities: These small tools give users a taste of what’s possible with Softr. While they’re not overly complex, seeing that you can build tools like this without coding offers a compelling preview of the platform’s potential.
Generates Traffic: Each of these tools ranks fairly high on Google. This likely drives a significant amount of traffic to Softr’s site. The best part is that these are all tools users need at some point in their customer journey, which means the right audience is landing on the page.
Increases Conversions: On each tool’s page, there’s a detailed description along with a clear call to action. For example, on the NPS calculator page, there’s an explanation of what NPS is and how to use it (primarily for SEO purposes), along with a CTA that encourages users to try the tool, ultimately converting them.
Free Ad Maker by Adobe
While the Adobe Suite consists of fairly complex tools that can be quite pricey, Adobe also offers smaller tools on their site with a lower entry barrier to attract users who can then be upsold.
Why does this fuel the growth loop?
Demonstrates the tool’s capabilities: When you click on "Create now," you land on a library with hundreds of beautifully designed ad visuals that you can edit and adapt to your needs. This showcases the tool’s design capabilities and helps convince users to explore what’s possible with Adobe.
Increases conversions: Once you edit an ad, you need to create an account to download it. This allows Adobe to send you regular emails and nurture you until you’re ready to buy.
Targets the right audience: If you’re looking at the ad maker, you’re likely already interested in design. This gives Adobe direct access to leads that fit their ideal target audience.
Logo Maker by WIX
The good old logo makers—this is a well-known example of this tactic. And even though there are many logo makers out there, I think this example from WIX is still a great one to include in this series.
Why does this fuel the growth loop?
Attracts the right people: Anyone who needs a website also needs a logo. Since the logo maker ranks quite high on Google, the right audience likely ends up on WIX’s website through it.
Conversions: As with similar tools, once you start using the logo maker, you're required to create an account.
Value, value, value: In the past, creating a logo could be expensive. WIX’s logo maker offers logos for free with full commercial rights. This delivers real value to users, making them more willing to provide their data to access it. In turn, this allows WIX to nurture those leads.
Final Words
The days of crappy PDFs and eBooks are over. If you want to follow effective lead generation tactics, offer something your audience truly finds useful, like the examples above.
This is much more likely to generate leads that match your target audience, even if it’s just a small tool that solves one specific problem.
PS: If you enjoyed this experiment, please tap the like button and let me know in the comments below. Thank you! 💛
The really smart thing about these Lead Gen Tactics is that because they are interactive, there will be a likely positive downstream effect throughout the remaining parts of the customer lifecycle once the prospect converts into a customer, e.g. higher activity rates, usage, engagement and improved retention rates.
Totally resonates, I built this tool on lovable this weekend and just published it yesterday. Check it out if you are in growth https://hypothesis,growthfuel.ca
Nice list you compiled, will check them out, thank you !