Industry overview
What is shaping software
Software and SaaS companies live and die by product-market fit, pricing and retention. Users' real workflows matter more than feature lists.
- Product-led growth relies on fast time to value
- Pricing and packaging strongly affect conversion
- Churn often starts with onboarding
Client background
A developer tools company, working in Global, with focus on the USA, Germany & Japan. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A developer tools company
- Sector
- Software
- Team engaged
- Digital Marketing
- Services
- SEO services, Content marketing, Video marketing
Client challenge
The company relied on paid ads for sign-ups, and developers rarely found it through search. Paid acquisition costs were rising, and the company needed a more sustainable source of new users. Paid acquisition costs had risen sharply, and the company needed a more sustainable source of sign-ups.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: growing organic sign-ups for a developer tool.
- Set measurable targets and a tracking baseline before launch.
- Improve results through structured testing, reported in plain language.
Target audience
Scope: Website and documentation.
Audiences we typically reach in software
Trial and paying usersAdmins and buyersChurned customersProspectsPartners and integrators
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Global, with focus on the USA, Germany & Japan. Markets: United States, Germany and Japan.
- United States
- Germany
- Japan
Research methodology
A test-and-learn programme: a clear baseline, focused campaigns and weekly optimisation against agreed targets.
- 1Brief
- 2Technical tutorials
- 3Comparison pages
- 4Localised content
- 5Insight
We built tutorials and comparison pages around problems developers searched for, improved documentation structure, and localised top content into German and Japanese. Content was planned around search data and questions from developer forums, and every tutorial included working code. We also fixed technical issues such as slow documentation pages and duplicate content. Each article was reviewed by the company’s engineers for accuracy and included working code examples.
SEO servicesContent marketingVideo marketing
Sampling strategy
- Audiences were defined from the client's customer data and platform targeting, with test and control groups where possible.
Data collection
- Campaign, website and CRM data were tracked daily through analytics and ad platforms.
Data quality & validation
- Conversion tracking tested end to end
- Consistent UTM tagging on every link
- Numbers reconciled between ad platforms and analytics
- Two-person check before anything goes live
Data analysis
- Funnel analysis from impression to lead or sale
- A/B test results on creatives, keywords and pages
- Channel and campaign attribution
Key findings
- Organic sign-ups grew steadily, reducing dependence on paid advertising.
Developers trusted practical tutorials more than marketing pages.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: developers trusted practical tutorials more than marketing pages.
- Keep testing creatives, keywords and landing pages against the new baseline.
Business impact
- Several tutorials became top results for important searches, and developers began linking to them from their own blogs and forums.
Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Campaign assets and landing pages
- Monthly performance report
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: where does the UX get in the way?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.