13 ways I Validated my SaaS Product - Idea to Beta

Hey everyone!

I've recently launched the beta for Checklisty to help SaaS increase trial conversion, get faster onboarding and cut down time-to-value.

Checklisty is a Gamified User Onboarding Software for PLG SaaS to engage your users with incentives, see where they dropped off and get them back.

I wanted to share my validation process

My personal Network - I reached out to my personal network and friends, trying to understand whether user onboarding was a real problem for SaaS products and how big of an issue it was.

Landing Page - I created a functional landing page showcasing features, gifs and images and everything about what I would build in my product. My goal was to drive traffic here and guide them to sign up. This would validate a need for my product.

Weaving customer language to build my website copy -

Driving traffic to my landing page -

Cold Emails - I wrote to founders from PLG SaaS startups speaking about my product, asking them to sign up and maybe even get on a call where I could share my details about my prototype.

In fact, here is how I got my first 100 signups for Checklisty using cold emails -
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/cold-email-template-that-sells-how-i-got-100-signups-for-my-beta-saas-dd72fb75a3

Interviews - Using the generated leads, I booked calls and demos with prospects, to help me validate my product, gauge the market need and build my feature roadmap.

Blogs - Writing about the problem and solutions can be really powerful. People searching for this problem really face it and can be a relevant customer base. Sharing valuable solutions can build trust and convince users to sign up.

https://blog.checklisty.xyz/blog/guide-to-user-onboarding-for-product-led-growth-teams

https://blog.checklisty.xyz/dashboard/post/how-to-gamify-saas-user-onboarding

PH Community - The product hunt community is quite responsive and encouraging. While it is not too well used, Product Hunt community is always a great way to get ideas and validate your idea.

You can check it out here - https://www.producthunt.com/discussions

Twitter - Leveraging a twitter network can be extremely powerful. Be it yours or someone who can share about you.

Reddit - Brands who view Reddit as a niche and risky channel miss out on the fact that right now Reddit has over 430 million active users. Use Reddit For Product & Customer Feedback

Some groups I found were
r/alphaandbetausers
r/CheckMySaaS
r/cofounder
r/CustomerSuccess
r/Onboarding

Slack - There are too many Slack Communities for Marketers, CS and Product guys out there. You have a massive space to ask questions and interact with the relevant market.
Some groups I found were
MindTheProduct
DemandCurve
GrowthMarketingPros
Founderopedia
Go Global Go Big

FB - FB groups, just like slack are a lot and you can easily find relevant ones for your niche.

Some groups I found were
SaaS Growth Hacks
SaaS Products and Services
SaaS Pirates
SaaS Founders

Discord (That's right!) - Discord has some niche groups where you can interact with and get some genuine reviews. While Reddit and Facebook are well known, you might be surprised to find how powerful Discord can be.

Some groups I found were
Lunadio
Solo Founders
HustleCraft
Triba

Launch a Beta Publicly- We've just launched a beta app for everyone to test and see how trial conversions can be boosted firsthand.
We'd highly appreciate any beta testers, honest thoughts and comments: https://Checklisty.xyz

P.S It's LIFETIME FREE!!