SaaS case study

2.6× more trial signups, at a lower cost each.

Scispot's trial signups had been flat for two quarters when we plugged in. We rebuilt the acquisition mix around search, content and paid, and got signups growing again without growing the budget.

Why it mattersDoubling signups normally means doubling spend. This was 2.6× while the cost of each signup fell 22%.

Scispot · SaaS · Search, content, and paid
The whole story is on this page
The short version

The demand was there. The channels weren't.

Scispot's trial signups had been flat for two quarters when we plugged in. Paid ran inconsistently, content went out without a plan behind it, and nobody could say which channel was actually earning its budget, so every spend conversation was an argument nobody could win. The goal: rebuild the mix around what the numbers could prove, and get signups growing again without growing the budget.

What they had going for them

  • Buyers already searching for exactly what Scispot does
  • A real base to build on, about 1,400 trial signups a quarter
  • A trial-to-paid rate of 11%, so every extra signup counted
  • All three legs, search, content and paid, already in play

What was quietly costing them

  • Trial signups flat for two quarters
  • Paid running inconsistently, with spend going to audiences that never converted
  • Content going out without a plan behind it
  • No way to say which channel earned its budget, so every spend conversation was an argument
Try it yourself

When a buyer went looking for lab software, who showed up?

The audit showed buyers searching for exactly what Scispot does, but the channels weren't built to catch them. Tap a search a lab software buyer actually types.

A real search their customers ran, recreated here with competitor names withheld.

The searches the rebuild went after:

lab information management software electronic lab notebook for biotech lab data management platform LIMS for biotech startups
Trial signups per quarter, and what each one cost
Signups, before
1,400
Signups, after
3,650
Cost per signup, before
baseline
Cost per signup, after
down 22%
What we did about it

Search was rebuilt to capture the intent, content was aimed at the terms buyers actually type, and paid was held to a weekly payback standard. All three legs at once, with tracking so each channel had to earn its budget.

The check-up

Then and now.

Every engagement starts with the same audit we'd run on your business. Here's how Scispot's marketing graded when we plugged in, and how it grades today.

What we checkedWhere it stood when we plugged inThen → now
Search presence
Buyers were searching for exactly what Scispot does; the channels weren't built to catch it
FA

The 30-Day Plug-In audit showed the demand was already there. Search was rebuilt to capture that intent as part of the full mix, and two quarters later trial signups had grown 2.6× without the budget growing with them.

Content
Went out without a plan behind it
DA

Content was focused on the terms buyers were actually searching. It went from afterthought to a third of new trials.

Paid
Ran inconsistently, with spend going to audiences that never converted
DB+

Paid was held to a weekly payback standard. Two audiences that never produced a signup that converted were cut in month two, and the budget moved behind the channels with receipts. Cost per signup ended 22% lower.

Knowing what works
Nobody could say which channel was earning its budget
FA

Tracking now ties every signup to its source, so each channel has to earn its budget. In the founder's words, that ended a lot of arguments about budget.

Trial growth
Signups flat for two quarters, about 1,400 a quarter
CA

Two quarters later, signups were at 3,650 a quarter, with trial-to-paid holding at 11% and pipeline coverage up 38%.

Tap any line for the detail →

Grades are how we score a marketing check-up. Every engagement is different; results shown are not a guarantee. How we present results

What we ran

All three legs, rebuilt at once.

The 30-Day Plug-In audit showed the demand was already there, with buyers searching for exactly what Scispot does, but the channels weren't built to catch it. The plan rebuilt all three legs at once: search to capture intent, content aimed at the terms buyers actually type, and paid held to a weekly payback standard. It is the kind of work we run for SaaS companies.

Days 1 to 30

The 30-Day Plug-In

  • Audit, access, and the baseline
  • Set up tracking so each channel had to earn its budget
  • New mix live by day 30: search, content, paid
Every week since

The Operator Cadence

  • A working session every week, a Friday update every week
  • Paid held to a weekly payback standard
  • Content focused on the terms buyers were actually searching
Day 90 and on

The 90-Day Rebuild

  • Dead audiences cut for good
  • Budget moved behind the channels with receipts
  • Content grown from afterthought to a third of new trials
What we killed

Two paid audiences that never produced a signup that converted, cut in month two.

The numbers

What the mix did.

Two quarters, before and after. Every number below comes from the tracking that tied each signup to its source.

1,400 to 3,650trial signups a quarter, two quarters apart
Down 22%cost per signup over the same stretch
A thirdof new trials now come from content, up from an afterthought
What grew, and what held
Pipeline coverage, before
baseline
Pipeline coverage, after
+38%
Trial to paid, before
11%
Trial to paid, after
11%
Two quarters, same budget
Flattrial signups for the two quarters before we plugged in
Same budgetrebuilt around search, content and paid
2.6×signups two quarters later, each one 22% cheaper
11%
trial-to-paid held steady while signups grew, so the extra trials converted like the old ones.
+38%
pipeline coverage, with content going from afterthought to a third of new trials.

Every engagement is different; results shown are not a guarantee.

The turn

The budget didn't grow. The signups did.

Rebuild the mix around what the numbers can prove, and make every channel earn its budget.

2.6×

More trial signups over two quarters, 1,400 to 3,650 a quarter, without growing the budget.

22%

Less spent per signup. Doubling signups normally means doubling spend; this went the other way.

11%

Trial-to-paid held steady while signups grew 2.6×, so the growth was made of real buyers.

+38%

Pipeline coverage, as content went from afterthought to a third of new trials.

From the founder

“For the first time I could say which channel earned a signup. That ended a lot of arguments about budget.”

Founder, Scispot

Every engagement is different; results shown are not a guarantee. How we present results

More of the work: Cypher AI and RevEng.AI

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