Wednesday - #acquisition - let's check out some of the very best SaaS campaigns ever done 👀 Well at least, some of my personal favorite ones.

ps - I spent a good hour trying to get annoying chatgpt to help me do this thread and ultimately, didn't use any of it 😅
#AIsucks

theintrovertedattorney x @ScribeHow

Funniest partnership with an Instagram creator that does funny animated illustration. If you haven't... must see absolute in how to tap into light snack format social media

6.5M views, 623K likes on IG
https://www.instagram.com/p/CtwM2fos5Nm/

Choose a Better Way to Work by @SlackHQ

Beautiful campaign to shows how Slack turns chaos into clarity–simply by organizing shapes. They used geometrical shapes flowing gracefully to showcase how communicating should flow freely - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi1cI9nY_p4

Spiraling Up: The Journey to Become a Unicorn - @HubSpot + @LinkedIn

Simply amazing ... a 3-season documentary into the journeys of startup founders at every stage –from seed to unicorn. "I go to bed exhausted every night but I wouldn't do anything else"
https://youtu.be/XtTXPsba-3E

Long Live the XLA by @AcoraLtd

IT services are boring right? so to make it fun, Acora turned it into a Game of Thrones-esque battlefield. And they communicate their vision crazily well throughout the ad 👏 super well executed - long live the XLA
https://youtu.be/5H0Crw5j5k0

Upskill From Within - @360Learning

Funniest of all, 360 did a series of video where we follow a group of colleagues trying to embark everyone on that ‘big new idea’ supposed to turn the world around. Tons of jokes to make you smile every second.

https://youtu.be/ls_Sr2MhGn4

Hard to do this one without talking about @clickup

Honestly they have so many I love that it's hard to give one. Maybe the academy of epic kick ups managed in Click Up. Or maybe the Jira got fired by Click Up... not sure, here's the full playlist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ7hpE2Oa-M&list=PLxRzBtka0l4ygCToDMb0ejJ4yChkeSY0X

Those are my fav, what are yours??

Bonus, some am keeping an eye on...
@claap_io with Ken Bleacher turning product tours fun - https://youtu.be/TejtoX7oGX4
@hootsuite's mascotte live Tiktok shows - https://www.tiktok.com/@hootsuite/video/7090572169691876613
and @Gong_io hacking the SuperBowl by buying just local rights

Top SaaS Ads Campaigns

Fridaaaaay is Fun Day = #adoption and deep dive into ... adding video game inspired techniques in onboarding.

At 12 I used to wake up earlier to play Tales of Symphonia before school, that was clearly my first huge video game crush 🤍 .

so what can you copy from the best games?

[  ] Provide a Positive Context For Learning
Zelda Breath of the Wild x @mondaydotcom
In both, new mechanics are introduced in a 'safe' context for users to play around - a sandbox to test and learn - the shrines in Zelda / the showcase database in Monday.


[  ] Use Non Obtrusive Tips
Northgard x @Webflow
Both only give tips in context avoiding to cramp users with tons of product tours that pop up non stop everywhere. Typically, Northgard only triggers tips when players enter enemy area to incite them to create a training camp.

[  ] Teach the Game by Playing the Game
Super Mario Bros x @NotionHQ
The World 1-1 (best onboarding video game levels of all time) - “within that one section…the player would understand the concept [...] and what the game was about.” Just like Notion first boxes to check ✅

[  ] Create Physical Habits
Hard to do this thread without @Superhuman x CounterStrike
CS mastered the keyboard, and players spend hours training to gain speed / buy specific keyboards with colors. That was def in mind when Superhuman built their shortcuts to make work faster ⚡️.

[  ] Progression and Unlockable Content
FF XIV x @asana
As players progress through FF XIV story, and demonstrate their skills, they unlock advanced powers, inciting them to master the full game. Same in Asana, as you test features, they intro more advanced ones to master 👀.

Other classics include
[  ] WoW x @duolingo with badges and leaderboards
[  ] Blank Slate x @Productboard with fill-in-the-blanks user profile completion
[  ] The Sims (and TONS) x @teamuserpilot with personalisation of theme from the beginning

[  ] One I'd love to see is having a well known voice walk you through features like in the Evil Dead games - movements are taught to players with the witty voice of Bruce Campbell.

Just need to find whose voice is iconic in SaaS 👀 ...  that's next level after the Superbowl.

And last for this thread, a must watch video where legendary Shigeru Miyamoto (designer of Mario + World 1-1) explains his design process 👏 and how he taps into gamers' emotions 🪄

https://youtu.be/zRGRJRUWafY

The end 🎬
Loads of articles + years of gaming went into this thread 🫠

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/patbsci/gu8sRHs

Adding Video Game Techniques to Onboarding

Thursday, we're back on #acquisition. Slightly different today, we dive into #affiliatemarketing for SaaS and tips to implement it.

What is affiliate marketing? strategy where affiliates receive $$ for each visit, signup or sale they generate of your product (via a tracked link)

Some SaaS examples
- cos they have the most in-love users 🤍 @webflow
- works even for huge tools - https://www.adobe.com/uk/affiliates.html
- can be very specific (canva changed their focus to visual content creators only)
- started in e-com so ofc @Shopify has one - https://www.shopify.com/affiliates


1. When to use it? You'll need your product to be quite visual (easier to create content on social media), already have a bit of community (enough people talk about it). And you need good conversion rate to be picked by the best affiliates. (They'll check your metrics before 🫠)

2. What to expect $$ wise? `
Hard to say ... affiliate mkt generated $17 billion in 2023 (total).

Cost wise, you define it - but be wary it can be high (10-30%) and recurring 🙈 so do your maths
HubSpot = Earn $200 for every new sale, $10 for new trial, $0.01 for new sign-up

3. How to do it?
1. is it for you? cf [1]
2. Define your target (min # followers / type of content/niche...)
3. Set up your program including payment (https://impact.com/ or see 👇) including data tracking
4. Set up your affiliate program page
5. Get people excited about it


I'd love to know more about affiliate marketing in SaaS so if anyone has implement it and wanna chat about it, let me know! Preparing a cool article to deep dive. Same, if you're interested in joining a program, DM me I'll share what I've learned 🤓

Hack for those blue birds looking for cool programs - @lmsqueezy has very recently opened an affiliate platform. Find the best programs and manage your deals incl. payment + data 👀 great for brands and affiliates 🤍 probably gonna become the best tool

https://affiliates.lemonsqueezy.com/


Affiliate marketing for SaaS

Meeting one of my mentor, bestie, and investor. +75yo, ex boss of the US marketing frenzy (👀 @MadMen_AMC), ex Navy Seal, ex pro swim, grew up as a gay kid in ⛪️ MidWest and escaped to NYC to build a crazy life. His main reco to win? #1 "Cultivate what makes you exceptional" 👇

#1 "Cultivate what makes you exceptional" - It's easy to wanna fit in, to blur your lines so you don't stand out too much. By doing so you'll gradually forget who you are, and then it becomes a nightmare to find what drives you on a daily basis, and motivation drops big time 🙅‍♀️

#1 Part II - To me that's saying out loud silly jokes my crazy mind processes without filter, pursuing ideas without looking for validation from people, and spending plenty of time on my own, reading mangas, playing video games to process my thoughts and create imaginary worlds

#2 "Sell the dream, not the reality" - Daily life can be fun, and daily tasks are okay, but to get that fire burning remind yourself and people about what you're aiming to reach. The journey matters but it's the goal that drives you. Talk about the big vision, not daily fluff 🤩

#2 Part II - To me, that means challenging Kairn to make sure we look at the bigger picture. It's not really about creating yet another project management app, it's about giving people the feeling of progress every day, with the constraints of collaboration across dozens of tools

#3 "Be yourself, be 300% honest" - It's so easy to become a shiny person in the startup world, to lose your ground, to only talk about the sparkles, when truth is, daily life is pretty much a daily crash... Staying honest helps you stay grounded and more accepting of others 🤙

#3 Part II - To me, that's being honest with entrepreneur friends and fellows, sharing the hard parts as well as the good, and listening back. It's harder with the team coz you have a duty to drive the ship, so you can't be vulnerable it's a balance of transparency and honesty ⚖️

#4 "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and little minds discuss people" (Eleanor Roosevelt?) Not his but he loves it. If someone can text and talk with you at the same time it means you're failing here 😩 great discussions need 100% attention

#4 Part II - To me, it's how we imagine the way of life of people passing by, we build concepts about their potential story, and that drives our creativity. It's never the silly gossip that brings bad karma 😅. Talking Sh*t about people will never do you good. 

#4 "Have fun along the way or you'll be 💩" - That might depend a lot on personality and mine needs constant stimulation to stay engaged. Here some people will need structure more than fun. Discover what drives you with personality tests to understand how you work 

#4 Part II - I'm an ENTP-A on MBTI // Influencer on DISC // and pretty extreme on the Big Five. I def reco taking those to understand how to manage your energy according to your inner drivers. The high Inuitive + Assertive parts mean I need constant new challenges

My current favourite personality test is the Big Five which doesn't put you in a category (I HATE being put in a box as you can guess from my score) so being placed on a scale on 5 traits and making my own interpretation on what it means fits me best 🍭

If you post your personality type/score I'll gladly share specific productivity tips for you ♥️ inspired by my fantastic mentor and our conversations re-imagining the world (+ tons of reading about productivity x personality 🤭 including from the amazing @anthilemoon)

Top tips to win at life by my +75yo ex Navy, Mad Man, Adventurer mentor ♥️

🏄 What gets our 1700 new users on @KairnApp super excited? "Your macOS task capture is c-r-a-z-y powerful". That's because it's developed in #SwiftLang to stay light and high performance. Let's dig in our Swift master @JulienLacr0ix 3 points to know before jumping in macOS dev👇

When we met @JulienLacr0ix he was a full on iOS developer with +10Y of experience building super cool interactive apps. The challenge on Kairn was to build not just an iOS app but also a macOS app, same #SwiftLang but totally new environment for him.

There are very few macOS developers and most apps you have on your mac are coded in Electron, a very cool framework created by @github to build cross platform desktop app with @JavaScript (the language we use on our web app). But we wanted a native app for peak performance...

So 1 year in, learning all the tricks of coding for #macOS, what are @JulienLacr0ix top 3 tips to start building?

#1 - Testing on macOS environment is not easy because unlike on iPhone, a lot of users do not updated their macOS version so you need to test tons of versions and there's no simulator to do so.

#1...When you release a new update you need to check how it runs on each version. There are huge "breaking" changes between macOS 10 and 11 in the UI, components margins and also the Apple API. Fortunately, between Big Sur (11.X) and Monterey (12.X) changes are less structural 🙏

#1...On Kairn, we support versions from 10.14 onwards (that's back from 2018 with Mojave!!) and we still have people who can't use it coz they're on previous macOS versions... Question for macOS apps here, what versions do you support?

#1... So how do you test? Thankfully there's @MacinCloud on which you can handle versions 10.14+ to do your testing. The hard part is that you can't test permission handling so for us, on onboardings we still have do a lot of manual testing with feature flags for the team.

#1... Last, a CI/CD pipeline for macOS is very pricey. The @github action cost of a macOS minute is 10x more expensive than on Linux (that we use for our webapp testing) so when you build your app it gets $$$ to run your tests

#2 - You need to make sure your users update your app - maintaining multiple versions is a n-i-g-h-t-m-a-r-e 👻. Unfortunately inciting users to update ain't easy, but in the early days we sometimes have to push breaking changes or fix the app, so we really need everyone updated!

#2... You can force an update on users when they open the app but it's a bit rough, you can push a notification and hope they'll update but then it's a mess, and you can time your notification well + force it at the right moment and that's what we chose!

#2... We use Sparkle, a framework that simplifies updating macOS apps for the end user. After 2 months of using it, we got many users that were not updating their app “I got an update during my deep-work session - I skipped it”. Not ideal when you’re a doing productivity app 😅

#2... So we added 3 layers - (1) initial push like in the gif above - we call it "soft release", (2) the day after you get a notification if not done, (3) 2 days after the release a mandatory update is done to make so everyone is on the right version ✅ It's now muuuuch smoother.

#3 There's not a lot of macOS developers so it’s hard to find resources in the community and especially if you want to solve a complex problem. Our solution is to follow great macOS developers and people who find creative ways on the macOS platform!

#3... @JulienLacr0ix's must follow list includes @_inside,  @sindresorhus, @alyssaxuu, @neilsardesai, @harshil, @jordibruin. They're a HUGE inspiration for us and help along the journey of creating our macOS app with their tweets and products.

#3... And to finish, over the last months, @JulienLacr0ix has been teaching #SwiftLang to the rest of our tech team (and learning #Nodejs 🤓) for peer-coding and review sessions! They're always digging together for solutions inspired by their respective experience 🧠

That's it on this thread! Can't wait to hear your top tips for building on macOS environment too?

If you'd like to know more feel free to follow our journey on @KairnApp and see how we grow from Product of the Day on @ProductHunt and beyond 🔥 https://meow.ph/kairn

Building a macOS app, key things we've learnt 🤓

One benefit of Kairn users love is how we connect to apps to coordinate what's asked of them cross tools. Let's dig in to why and how we build that! Beyond a feature, it's a huge part of our philosophy = you should use vertical tools with high expertise and we coordinate them

We use more SaaS than ever, super expertise focused and remote work has turned them all collaborative, with @mentions, @comments, notifications, tasks, projects.. we're asked to progress on projects across too many places, making it impossible to see, prioritise, and act.

So we build Kairn to operate as the app where all projects get centralised and updated from. This means building a killer API that connects two way to read and write on any kind of tools. Let's see how we do that (now I leave the 🎤 to Xavier our Lead Tech).

We code in #typescript (web, api) and #SwiftLang (macOS, iOS), so using #GraphQL to communicate btw our clients and API is great: type safety everywhere 🚀 + subscriptions 😎 The real world ain't as stable as the hello world, but we work on it. Excited to try the defer directive

Our @SlackHQ integration was our first (great choice!) The API and SDK are very easy to use, + straightforward + tons of possibilities. We used our API instead of plugging the integration to our core code so the integration is "just" another client for us, easy peasy.

One thing to keep in mind in the @SlackHQ integration - each element of the markdown is treated differently so make sure to include them all (typically when we turn a message => task we need to whitelist all message types - lists / links / images / ...)

One super cool thing about the @SlackHQ API is their block builder that you can share with your product team so they give you the best format > https://app.slack.com/block-kit-builder/

One thing to keep check depending on your persona, if you target big companies, @SlackHQ integration often need to be approved by admin so include an easy copy/paste message to share // if you're targetting your startups, they're often on free plans = max 10 integrations!

Now learnings on building with the @NotionHQ API 🔥 
Being huge fans, we started an integration the day they released their public API. Great doc => building went smoothly 🌴. Our integration finds checkbox elements on Notion where the user is tagged and sync 2-way with Kairn

For now, we have to call the API regularly and check for page updates as there's no webhooks. It can take time and introduces some risks, e.g. rate limiting, and some challenges: crawling several workspaces concurrently, error handling in concurrent crawls, etc.

@sindresorhus’s p-limit (https://github.com/sindresorhus/p-limit), and a bit of #golang inspiration, made that quite easier than expected. Looking forward to a day they will provide webhooks for page, or even block, updates!

On thing to keep in mind, make sure your integration works on all blocks as each is handled separately (Titles // columns // toggles // etc...). And the API is updated quite frequently so run checks on a regular basis 🐱

Last integration we present learnings on today - @zapier. We use it to test ideas before developing our own. Having our GraphQL API ready was a game changer, as it meant that absolutely no change was necessary on our side to get our first version out.

To take it to the next level, we will have to provide OAuth2 authentication, for a better UX, and webhooks, for instant syncs. Get your Zaps certified, super easy, smooth and fast. And then create templates to easily share with users 😎 make it super fast for them to add the zaps

Ok so to end all those, what do we want to build in the future? We'll create the unified item that will enable any tool to add a synchronised collaborative project management in a few lines of code 🔮 talk A-P-I-F-I-R-S-T 🔮 #apifirst but let's master it all by building Kairn

Building 2-way sync with your favorite tools

1️⃣ building product people love - we've been hearing this a lot with the rise of @MiroHQ, @mazedesignHQ, @Dropbox, @SlackHQ, @loom, @CycleProduct. B2B SaaS have a new target = be the app users L-O-V-E and share internally. It's both a product + a go-to-market strategy. Let's dig

PLG stands for Product Led Growth, it means your product is your sell machine. It only works if you have a very strong value proposition to the individual user + a viral loops that enables your initial user to become your growth machine, converting new people to the tool.

A strong value prop for indiv user means a solo mode + AHA moment. When signing-up, users should the value they'll get in <5min. This will make them start using without needing a push (opposite of top-down). We get it with our Quick Add ♥️ made by @JulienLacr0ix, and you?

A solo mode needs an engaging brand. Our CEO (me 😙) comes from marketing and believes selling transformation is better than features. PLG builds a the link of B2C and B2B so you need to master both like @Nike, @SlackHQ @memdotai. On brand, we worked with alasta.io

You'll need very intuitive design and interactions people are used to. We put a lot of work on our drag&drop making it extra smooth. On that @A__Peltier used the React-Beautiful-DND library and tweak it for our needs! https://github.com/atlassian/react-beautiful-dnd cf prev. tweet https://twitter.com/i/status/1463060641430839300

Now your user loves it, knows it, it's time to activate those viral loops. 3 big types in PLG - 1️⃣ Collaborative virality (=network effect) = the value created to the user increases with the # of users they bring => they'll naturally share. For us it's the delegate task on Slack

2️⃣ Exposure virality - your brand should show when new people get introed to it. Typical @claap_io case where you see the brand when watching a video. For us, it's when people receive interactive Slack tasks, they get a message saying it's powered by Kairn and can sign-in too 📣

3️⃣ Word-of-mouth. Pretty straight forward, it loops to creating HIGH individual value so people really love the tool and have a personal reason to use it. @Superhuman cracks it very well with Twitteable "inbox zero" screens. For now, we share feedback we receive from users ♥️

To rock PLG, you'll need analytics to see and measure what's working vs not. On that of course we reco @JuneDotSo and their report Feature audit + @census to easily send user properties to your email solution to automate emails on user actions - we use @intercom for that!

And last, you'll need a reliable infrastructure... PLG can go crazy if your viral loops start spinning so make sure you build with scalability and observability in mind. Our Lead Tech Xavier makes sure we stay zen 😎 with @kubernetesio and @opentelemetry

That's it for our learnings and tools !! Can't wait to hear your thoughts. And if you wanna know more about Kairn => https://meow.ph/kairn

Building "a product people love", what does that even mean? 😅

Learnings from our PH exploration with @MathildeBeccat, one of the big recos is understanding the PH algorithm 🤖. It's what decides if you make it to product of the day or not (on top of votes of course...). Here's what we found in a thread 🧵

How the algorithm computes the score is not public, but for sure it judges voters severely and can take away upvotes or give minus points if it thinks the voters are “not genuine”.

What are “non-genuine” votes according to the algorithm?
- Upvoters freshly registered on PH (came just for your page like your grandma 👵 )
- Upvoters with less than 5 followers (considered uncool? 😑)
- Upvoters with no product upvoted recently or at all (those PH ghosts 👻)

We've seen people say that voters using direct links to your PH page from social media gives you minus points. This is actually not proven and seems to be a rumour-ish. 🙏 feel free to share your xp here??

What the PH algorithm dislikes 💔
❌ Automated upvoting 🤖
❌ Spikes in upvotes at a specific time (could mean massive emailing campaign)
❌ Upvoting without going to the product website (track if voter clicks on “Get it” before clicking on upvote)

What the PH algorithm likes ❤️
✅ Top Hunters upvotes and hunt (big reco to contact them 2 weeks before)
✅ PH staff who helps you elevate your story (ping them too!)
✅ Comments and active discussions (add all people who worked on the project as makers and ask them to answer!!)

What the PH algorithm ❤️ - bis
✅ Early votes during the day (early for PH means 00:01am PST, they think you can’t rise people from their bed with marketing so it’s natural upvotes 🥱 )
✅ Votes spreading over the whole day
✅ People checking your website (tracking on "get it")

Additional things the PH community loves 🥰
✅ Product descriptions that fit with a specific type of users and not generic ones made for everyone and no one
✅ Making it personal on social networks - “I just launched my first product!”
✅ Personal PH accounts never company ones

Last little tips, when sharing your PH on social media, don't add #hastags, or @mentions because they'll appear in bleu like your URL and people might end up clicking on them instead of the link 😅 . Also don't ask for upvotes, comments only 🤓

Hope our learnings help you too and can't wait to hear yours !! J-secret till our PH 😏