Lawn Buddy
Case Study
From Pivot to 20,000 Sign-Ups in One Year: How Multi-Channel Strategy Turned a Freemium SaaS into a High-Growth Business
300%
MoM Increase in Sign Ups
500%
Increase in MoM Conversion Rate
12%
Increased Conversion Rate from 2% Prior
Summary
Lawn Buddy had just pivoted from a B2C lawn services marketplace to a B2B SaaS platform for lawn care and landscaping companies. New model, new audience, new everything.
When they came to us, the pressure was real: busy season was approaching, their 2% conversion rate wasn't going to cut it, and they needed to prove the new model could scale before they ran out of runway. The 2,000 users from their old model were a starting point, but lawn care business owners are a completely different audience and none of the old playbook applied.
Solution
We treated this like a channel discovery sprint: test fast, kill what doesn't work, scale what does. The freemium model meant we needed both volume (sign-ups) and quality (conversions to paid).
Phase 1: Channel Testing and Audience Discovery (Months 1–2)
On Facebook, we tested 10+ ad variations across three angles: efficiency messaging ("Save 10 hours/week"), growth messaging ("Get more customers"), and pain point messaging ("Tired of spreadsheets?"). We also tested audience types: business pages, interests, and lookalikes. The goal was to find what resonated before spending to scale.
On Google, we targeted three keyword types: brand terms, competitor alternatives, and generic terms like "lawn care software." Search intent meant higher quality leads and a way to capture demand that already existed.
Phase 2: Creative Optimization (Months 2–3)
Static ads were working, but we invested in professional video showing real lawn care owners using the platform, before/after scenarios, and quick product demos. Video outperformed static significantly. We then carried the winning messaging into landing pages, A/B tested CTAs and trust signals, and simplified the sign-up flow.
Phase 3: Email Nurture and Conversion (Months 1–4)
We built a drip sequence designed specifically for freemium conversion: a welcome sequence on day one, a feature tutorial on day three, a success story on day seven, and an upgrade nudge on day fourteen. The goal was to get free users to their "aha moment" fast and convert them before they churned.
Phase 4: Scale What Works (Months 3–12)
Facebook: doubled down on video, expanded to lookalike audiences built from converters, and kept CPC below $1.00. Reached 25,000+ post engagements and 6,000+ clicks.
Google: scaled winning keywords, reached 15,000 people per month, and hit 4,000+ clicks while keeping CPC under $1.00. Became a strong secondary channel alongside Facebook.
Location
Wichita, Kansas
Industry
B2B SaaS
Start-Up Stage
Seed
Marketing Strategy
Meta Paid Advertising
Google Paid Advertising
Email Marketing
[Pier Marketing] has helped us exponentially increase signups on our website, finding the right places to reach our target market with relevant, engaging content that converted. They are great to work with and has made a huge impact on our business.
Steven Werner
Founder & CEO, Lawn Buddy
Results
Sign-ups took off. Campaigns drove a 300% month-over-month increase in sign-ups, and Lawn Buddy signed up more customers in a single month than they had in the entire previous year. By the end of year one, they had 20,000 sign-ups, all at a CPC below $1.00 across channels.
Conversion rate jumped from 2% to 12%, a 500% improvement driven by stronger creative, sharper messaging, and landing page optimization that matched what was working in ads.
Facebook became the primary growth engine, with 25,000+ post engagements and 6,000+ clicks. Video creative drove the majority of conversions. The target audience was there, and the content connected.
Google complemented Facebook well, reaching 15,000 people per month with 4,000+ clicks while holding CPC under $1.00.
Email kept the funnel moving, with a 27% open rate and 4% click rate above industry averages. The drip sequence successfully converted free users to paid subscribers and reduced time to first value.
