4 ms·

Ask HN: Why do SaaS companies not put up screenshots?

8 points by gunapologist99 5y ago

Why do SaaS companies have such bad marketing?

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awscoder11 5y ago
Even AWS almost never has a screenshot of a particular product in use, even on its main product page.
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  Yeah that's weird. And the pricing is always very separated from the actual product descriptions. Try figuring out how much an instance with the right amount of RAM and CPU you need actually costs! Maybe that's intentional, though.
gunapologist99 5y ago
Maybe it's a concern about screenshots not matching current versions of the product, but that shouldn't be a concern on the main product page or home page.
verdverm 5y ago
Are screenshots required for good marketing? Are you the market they are selling to?
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  A screenshot can explain the product and how it works at a glance. One screenshot is worth 1,000 white papers. ;) For example, Userify (https://userify.com https://userify.com, cross-cloud ssh key management for teams, with a nifty color-coded dashboard so you can actually see who has what access) doesn't seem to have any screenshots anywhere. Your question about whether I am the target market is an interesting point, but how does a screenshot (or lack) help in resolving that, and how does someone know if the target demo wants to see a screenshot?
  - verdverm 5y ago
    That comment was less about screenshots and more about your general comment that all SaaS marketing is bad
    - gunapologist99 5y ago
      Oh, I see. No, sorry, I didn't mean to make a statement like that at all. I meant that it's frustrating when (good) SaaS companies don't even take the basic first step of putting up a screenshot so we can see what it is. Sometimes, of course, it's not applicable or even easy to screenshot, but I can't think of too many SaaS's that can't provide at least a mockup of what it does for you (even the server-focused SaaS's). For example, I mentioned Userify; how about another (much better) example of Ansible Tower/AWX? It's great to just see a screenshot of the dashboard: https://www.ansible.com/products/tower https://www.ansible.com/products/tower This is an example of another great product that's much better marketed than Userify, IMO.
  - paulcole 5y ago
    > how does someone know if the target demo wants to see a screenshot? How do I know they don’t want to see a purple cow? A significant portion of working as a marketer is understanding the needs and behavior of the target audience, making a decision based on that understanding, and then validating that decision. And hopefully iterating on that over time. If results are better when there are no screenshots vs. when there are screenshots, why would I include screenshots? Because a couple opinionated randos on HN who will never pay for my product claim to like screenshots?
    - gunapologist99 5y ago
      I agree with your sentiment, even though it is burdened with a heavy assumption that SaaS companies have great marketing teams who are doing A/B tests. However, your argument would be more persuasive without that last sentence (especially because you don't know me; for all you know, I'm a dog![0]) 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...
pedalpete 5y ago
Some do, some don't. It really depends. I'd suggest it isn't bad marketing, but it can often be difficult to make a screenshot look appealing to the buyer. It might look appealing to the user, but that is often a different person. If it is so consistent in the industry, I doubt it's by accident.
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  > If it is so consistent in the industry, I doubt it's by accident. Couldn't it also be because many SaaS companies are better at tech than marketing?
  - pedalpete 5y ago
    Not the successful ones ;)
speedgoose 5y ago
They want you to sign-up.
rozenmd 5y ago
Sometimes the SaaS is so old that a screenshot would stop users signing up. Doesn't mean they're not the best at solving the problem though.
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  Oh, that's a great point, and probably true (if a bit funny). However, my guess is that a good screenshot (or mockup of a screenshot) would still help.
rakmoomkar 5y ago
This is a new trend. Notion, figma, airtable do this. These are all modern day SaaS winners with great design teams. Most SaaS companies don't take design seriously. Cause they don't need to have great design to get customers.
- Angie_orely 5y ago
  spikenow.com tries to illustrate product quite nicely.

Why do SaaS companies have such bad marketing?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

awscoder11 5y ago

Even AWS almost never has a screenshot of a particular product in use, even on its main product page.

gunapologist99 5y ago
Yeah that's weird. And the pricing is always very separated from the actual product descriptions. Try figuring out how much an instance with the right amount of RAM and CPU you need actually costs! Maybe that's intentional, though.

gunapologist99 5y ago

Maybe it's a concern about screenshots not matching current versions of the product, but that shouldn't be a concern on the main product page or home page.

verdverm 5y ago

Are screenshots required for good marketing? Are you the market they are selling to?

gunapologist99 5y ago
A screenshot can explain the product and how it works at a glance. One screenshot is worth 1,000 white papers. ;) For example, Userify (https://userify.com https://userify.com, cross-cloud ssh key management for teams, with a nifty color-coded dashboard so you can actually see who has what access) doesn't seem to have any screenshots anywhere. Your question about whether I am the target market is an interesting point, but how does a screenshot (or lack) help in resolving that, and how does someone know if the target demo wants to see a screenshot?
- verdverm 5y ago
  That comment was less about screenshots and more about your general comment that all SaaS marketing is bad
  - gunapologist99 5y ago
    Oh, I see. No, sorry, I didn't mean to make a statement like that at all. I meant that it's frustrating when (good) SaaS companies don't even take the basic first step of putting up a screenshot so we can see what it is. Sometimes, of course, it's not applicable or even easy to screenshot, but I can't think of too many SaaS's that can't provide at least a mockup of what it does for you (even the server-focused SaaS's). For example, I mentioned Userify; how about another (much better) example of Ansible Tower/AWX? It's great to just see a screenshot of the dashboard: https://www.ansible.com/products/tower https://www.ansible.com/products/tower This is an example of another great product that's much better marketed than Userify, IMO.
- paulcole 5y ago
  > how does someone know if the target demo wants to see a screenshot? How do I know they don’t want to see a purple cow? A significant portion of working as a marketer is understanding the needs and behavior of the target audience, making a decision based on that understanding, and then validating that decision. And hopefully iterating on that over time. If results are better when there are no screenshots vs. when there are screenshots, why would I include screenshots? Because a couple opinionated randos on HN who will never pay for my product claim to like screenshots?
  - gunapologist99 5y ago
    I agree with your sentiment, even though it is burdened with a heavy assumption that SaaS companies have great marketing teams who are doing A/B tests. However, your argument would be more persuasive without that last sentence (especially because you don't know me; for all you know, I'm a dog![0]) 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...

pedalpete 5y ago

Some do, some don't. It really depends. I'd suggest it isn't bad marketing, but it can often be difficult to make a screenshot look appealing to the buyer. It might look appealing to the user, but that is often a different person. If it is so consistent in the industry, I doubt it's by accident.

gunapologist99 5y ago
> If it is so consistent in the industry, I doubt it's by accident. Couldn't it also be because many SaaS companies are better at tech than marketing?
- pedalpete 5y ago
  Not the successful ones ;)

speedgoose 5y ago

They want you to sign-up.

rozenmd 5y ago

Sometimes the SaaS is so old that a screenshot would stop users signing up. Doesn't mean they're not the best at solving the problem though.

gunapologist99 5y ago
Oh, that's a great point, and probably true (if a bit funny). However, my guess is that a good screenshot (or mockup of a screenshot) would still help.

rakmoomkar 5y ago

This is a new trend. Notion, figma, airtable do this. These are all modern day SaaS winners with great design teams. Most SaaS companies don't take design seriously. Cause they don't need to have great design to get customers.

Angie_orely 5y ago
spikenow.com tries to illustrate product quite nicely.