Haines is the former Head of Growth at Baremetrics and a marketing advisor to SavvyCal, Evercast, and RiversideFM
… and also a SaaS marketing wizard.
Here are 5 hot takes on SaaS marketing by Corey Haines:
A - Acquisition
A - Activation
R - Retention
R - Referral
R - Revenue
Now most marketers would try to skyrocket Acquisition first.
But Corey Haines went the other way around.
He started by focusing on moving the revenue needle for Baremetrics…
And worked his way up from there.
Thus, he flipped AARRR into RRRAA - an upside-down Pirate Framework.
Corey believes you should fix the rest of the funnel before you turn your attention to acquisition.
That way, when you do get new leads, you’re not filling a leaky bucket.
2. SaaS LTV Can't Be Trusted.
Using the 3:1 LTV to CAC ratio is a risk most SaaS companies take without knowing.
SaaS companies calculate their LTV by dividing their ARPU by average churn.
But because churn is not constant, LTV for SaaS can't be trusted.
To calculate profitable CAC, use the Payback Period instead as it doesn't depend on anything you can't control.
The Payback Period (PP) is the time a customer takes to pay back his acquisition cost.
Quick benchmark:
3 to 6-month PP is good.
6 to 12-month PP is okay.
3. First-touch vs. Last-touch
Most of the marketing SaaS companies end up doing is top-of-the-funnel marketing. It’s all about “How did our current customers learn about us in the first place?”
This is called first-touch attribution.
But most analytic tools don’t show you this.
They only show you the last-touch attribution.
Last-touch doesn’t tell you where your marketing dollars should go.
Meanwhile, first-touch attribution helps you know:
- Where your customers are
- Where you should target them.
COREY’S PRO-TIP
:
Ask your customers, “Where did you hear about us?” in their onboarding journey.
Don't make it a multiple-choice survey.
Let them answer in a free-form text field.
4. SEO Still Rocks
SEO may not give you a newcomer advantage like TikTok or other social platforms.
But it gives you one thing that marketers crave: existing demand to capture.
And according to Corey Haines:
“Capturing demand is still easier than outbound selling.”
5. The Truth About Marketing Channels.
Corey revealed what he thinks is the best strategy to get the most out of your marketing channels.
The first step is to know which channel is working best for first-touch attribution.
Once you've figured that out, here's what you need to do next:
Nail down that ONE winning marketing channel.
Double down on it.
Keep doubling down.
Slowly layer on the next best channel.
Repeat steps 2 - 4.
This way, you’ll put the most effort into your best marketing channels!
PS I study one SaaS veteran per week and publish the learnings in a free newsletter.
To subscribe just to go EarlyNode.com
… and also a SaaS marketing wizard.
Here are 5 hot takes on SaaS marketing by Corey Haines:
- Revenue-First Approach:
A - Acquisition
A - Activation
R - Retention
R - Referral
R - Revenue
Now most marketers would try to skyrocket Acquisition first.
But Corey Haines went the other way around.
He started by focusing on moving the revenue needle for Baremetrics…
And worked his way up from there.
Thus, he flipped AARRR into RRRAA - an upside-down Pirate Framework.
Corey believes you should fix the rest of the funnel before you turn your attention to acquisition.
That way, when you do get new leads, you’re not filling a leaky bucket.
2. SaaS LTV Can't Be Trusted.
Using the 3:1 LTV to CAC ratio is a risk most SaaS companies take without knowing.
SaaS companies calculate their LTV by dividing their ARPU by average churn.
But because churn is not constant, LTV for SaaS can't be trusted.
To calculate profitable CAC, use the Payback Period instead as it doesn't depend on anything you can't control.
The Payback Period (PP) is the time a customer takes to pay back his acquisition cost.
Quick benchmark:
3 to 6-month PP is good. 6 to 12-month PP is okay.3. First-touch vs. Last-touch
Most of the marketing SaaS companies end up doing is top-of-the-funnel marketing. It’s all about “How did our current customers learn about us in the first place?”
This is called first-touch attribution.
But most analytic tools don’t show you this.
They only show you the last-touch attribution.
Last-touch doesn’t tell you where your marketing dollars should go.
Meanwhile, first-touch attribution helps you know:
- Where your customers are
- Where you should target them.
COREY’S PRO-TIP
:Ask your customers, “Where did you hear about us?” in their onboarding journey.
Don't make it a multiple-choice survey.
Let them answer in a free-form text field.
4. SEO Still Rocks
SEO may not give you a newcomer advantage like TikTok or other social platforms.
But it gives you one thing that marketers crave: existing demand to capture.
And according to Corey Haines:
“Capturing demand is still easier than outbound selling.”
5. The Truth About Marketing Channels.
Corey revealed what he thinks is the best strategy to get the most out of your marketing channels.
The first step is to know which channel is working best for first-touch attribution.
Once you've figured that out, here's what you need to do next:
Nail down that ONE winning marketing channel.
Double down on it.
Keep doubling down.
Slowly layer on the next best channel.
Repeat steps 2 - 4.
This way, you’ll put the most effort into your best marketing channels!
PS I study one SaaS veteran per week and publish the learnings in a free newsletter.
To subscribe just to go EarlyNode.com