[marketing] Comprehensive user acquisition & onboarding playbook for Mark8ly

[mahesh-sangawar]

This is the single source of truth for how Mark8ly acquires and onboards users. It covers positioning, every traffic channel, the onboarding flow, and email sequences — with checkboxes so progress can be tracked.

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🎯 Positioning & Messaging

Before any channel work, get this locked. Everything flows from it.

Who we're for: Independent makers, artisans, and small merchants who want a beautiful storefront without Shopify's fees, plugin sprawl, or the need for a developer.

The one-liner: "A storefront worth opening — quiet commerce for people who actually make things."

The three decisive differentiators to lead with in every channel:

1. 90-day free trial, no card required (competitors offer 3–15 days)
2. 2. Zero platform fee on every sale (Shopify takes 2% unless you use their payments)
3. 3. Designer-quality storefront out of the box — no theme shopping, no consultant
      Tone: Confident, calm, direct. No hype, no exclamation marks, no "game-changing." Match the product.

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📋 Phase 1 — Foundation (Week 1–2)

Get the basics right before spending time on distribution.

Website & SEO Foundation

• Fix all Search Console errors (see issues [seo] Fix 3 pages returning 404 errors in Google Search Console #147, [seo] Fix broken sitemap — app/sitemap.ts returning "Couldn't fetch" in Search Console #148, [seo] Audit 2 pages excluded by noindex tag — confirm intentional or fix #149, [seo] Investigate 1 page returning server error (5xx) when crawled by Google #150)
• Confirm sitemap.xml includes all public-facing pages
• Write and publish /shopify-alternative landing page (see issue [seo] Investigate 1 page returning server error (5xx) when crawled by Google #150)
• Write and publish /ecommerce-for-makers landing page (see issue [seo] Investigate 1 page returning server error (5xx) when crawled by Google #150)
• Write and publish /sell-online-india landing page (see issue [seo] Investigate 1 page returning server error (5xx) when crawled by Google #150)
• Write and publish /etsy-alternative landing page (see issue [seo] Investigate 1 page returning server error (5xx) when crawled by Google #150)
• Add unique <title> and <meta description> to every page
• Add "Built on Mark8ly" footer link to storefronts (see issue fix(otto): widget 0.5.2 (Enter-to-send, close→Closed) + inbox no-store #134)
• Publish first 2 Guides: "How to add your first product" and "How to connect your domain"
• Add an email capture field to the Journal "coming soon" page ("Notify me when the first piece goes up")

Accounts to Create

• Instagram account — @mark8ly
• LinkedIn page — Mark8ly company page
• Twitter/X account — @mark8ly
• Pinterest business account
• Indie Hackers product page at indiehackers.com/product/mark8ly
• Crunchbase listing
• Product Hunt upcoming page (to collect followers before launch)

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📣 Phase 2 — Launch Spike (Week 3–4)

One big coordinated push to get initial traffic, backlinks, and early users.

Product Hunt Launch

• Prepare a 45-second GIF/video showing the full flow: signup → add product → live storefront
• Write the maker post: who you are, why you built it, what you believe (500 words, honest tone)
• Reach out to 30 people personally (friends, early users, indie maker communities) the night before launch — ask them to upvote and leave a genuine comment on launch day
• Schedule launch for a Tuesday or Wednesday (highest PH traffic days)
• Respond to every comment on launch day within 1 hour
• After launch: add the "Featured on Product Hunt" badge to the mark8ly.com homepage

Hacker News Show HN

• Write a "Show HN" post: "Show HN: Mark8ly – a commerce platform for indie makers, no transaction fees, quiet by design"
• Post on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning at ~9am UTC
• Author must post from their personal HN account (not a new one)
• Respond to every comment promptly and honestly
• Even a modest Show HN gives a permanent high-authority backlink

Directory Submissions (do all in one sitting)

• Product Hunt (main launch)
• Indie Hackers product page
• SaaS Hub — saashub.com
• There's An App For That — theresanaiforthat.com equivalent for SaaS
• Crunchbase
• G2 — create a free listing and ask first users to leave a review
• Capterra — free listing
• Slant.co — add Mark8ly to ecommerce platform comparisons
• AlternativeTo — list Mark8ly as an alternative to Shopify, Etsy, Squarespace

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🔍 Phase 3 — SEO Content Engine (Month 2–3, ongoing)

Compounding traffic. Every piece published today earns traffic for years.

Comparison / Alternative Pages (highest intent, do first)

• /shopify-alternative — target: "Shopify alternative no transaction fees"
• /ecommerce-for-makers — target: "ecommerce platform for handmade sellers"
• /sell-online-india — target: "sell online India UPI payments ecommerce"
• /etsy-alternative — target: "sell on your own website instead of Etsy"
• /bigcommerce-alternative — target: "BigCommerce alternative small business"
• /wix-ecommerce-alternative — target: "Wix ecommerce alternative"
  Each page: 800–1200 words, honest comparison, link to /onboarding, include the pricing table.

Journal / Blog Posts (attract makers before they're shopping)

Publish 1 post per week. Topics:

• "How to price handmade products (without underselling yourself)"
• "How to take product photos with your phone"
• "How to write a product description that actually sells"
• "Do I need a GST number to sell online in India?"
• "How to get your first 10 customers without paid ads"
• "The real cost of selling on Etsy vs your own store"
• "What to put on your About page (with examples)"
• "How to drive traffic to a brand new online store"

Guides (help docs that rank)

• "How to add your first product on Mark8ly"
• "How to connect a custom domain"
• "How to set up payments (cards, UPI, wallets)"
• "How to run a discount campaign"
• "How to export your store data"

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📱 Phase 4 — Social & Community (Ongoing, 30 min/day)

Reddit (highest ROI for early-stage SaaS)

Post 3–5 times per week. Never spam. Always add value first.

Subreddits to engage:

• r/ecommerce — answer questions about platform choice, fees, setup
• r/shopify — engage with people complaining about fees or complexity
• r/smallbusiness — help with general "how do I sell online" questions
• r/Etsy — engage with people wanting to move off Etsy
• r/IndianStartups — share the Mark8ly story and UPI angle
• r/india — "how to sell online in India" questions
• r/Entrepreneur — share learnings from building Mark8ly
• r/indiehackers — product updates, milestones, behind-the-scenes
  Rules: Only mention Mark8ly when it is genuinely the right answer. Lead with the helpful answer, mention the product at the end naturally.

Instagram

Post 4x per week:

• Storefront screenshots — "This is what a Mark8ly store looks like"
• Before/after — "Most ecommerce stores look like this. Mark8ly stores look like this."
• Carousels — "5 signs your ecommerce platform is costing you too much"
• Short Reels — screen record of a store being set up in under 60 seconds
• Founder content — behind the scenes, team, what you're building and why

Pinterest

• Create boards: "Online store design inspiration", "Ecommerce tips for makers", "How to sell handmade online"
• Pin storefront screenshots, blog posts, and guides
• Pinterest has very long content shelf life — a pin from today can drive traffic for 2 years

LinkedIn

• Post weekly founder updates — what you shipped, what you learned, what surprised you
• Share blog posts and guides
• Engage with indie business / maker / ecommerce communities

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🤝 Phase 5 — Creator & Micro-Influencer Outreach (Month 2+)

Target profile: Independent makers with 2k–20k followers — ceramicists, jewellers, textile designers, illustrators, small-batch food brands, clothing labels. NOT generic "ecommerce" influencers.

Outreach approach:

• Find 20 makers whose aesthetic matches Mark8ly's brand
• Follow and genuinely engage with their content for 1–2 weeks before reaching out
• Send a personal DM or email — no templates, no "partnership opportunity" language
• Offer a free account + genuine experience, not payment
• Sample message: "Hey [name] — I noticed your ceramics and thought of Mark8ly. We built a commerce platform for makers like you: no Shopify fees, designer-quality storefront, 90 days free. Would you be open to trying it and sharing your honest experience? No strings."
• Follow up once if no response, then move on
• Do not require any specific post format — authentic content outperforms paid content here

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📧 Phase 6 — Email Onboarding Sequence

This is the most important lever for converting free trial users to paid customers.

Trigger: User signs up

Email 1 — Day 0 (immediate)

• Subject: Your Mark8ly store is ready
• • Content: Welcome. Here's your store link. Here's the one thing to do first (add your first product). Link to the 45-second product tour.
• • • CTA: "Add your first product →"
      Email 2 — Day 3
• Subject: Have you added a product yet?
• • Trigger: Send only if user has NOT added a product yet
• • • Content: Short, warm nudge. "It takes about 10 minutes. Here's how." Direct link to the product upload screen.
• • • • CTA: "Add a product now →"
        Email 3 — Day 7
• Subject: Your store link is shareable right now
• • Content: Remind them their store is already live at their mark8ly subdomain. Show them how to share it. Mention custom domain.
• • • CTA: "Share your store →"
      Email 4 — Day 14
• Subject: [Merchant name] launched on Mark8ly in one afternoon
• • Content: A short merchant story (1–2 paragraphs, real person, real product). Social proof.
• • • CTA: "See how they did it →" (links to a guide or their store)
      Email 5 — Day 30
• Subject: 60 days left — here's how to get your first sale
• • Content: Practical tips: share your link, post on Instagram, tell your existing customers. Simple, actionable.
• • • CTA: "Read the guide →"
      Email 6 — Day 60
• Subject: Your store is getting there — a few things that help
• • Content: Tips for merchants who have products but no sales yet. Photography, pricing, descriptions.
• • • CTA: "Improve your store →"
      Email 7 — Day 75
• Subject: Your free trial ends in 15 days
• • Content: Clear, honest. Here's what happens next. Here are the three plans. No pressure language.
• • • CTA: "Choose a plan →"
      Email 8 — Day 88
• Subject: 3 days left on your trial
• • Content: One final nudge. If they've made a sale: "You've already made it work — keep going." If they haven't: offer to help personally (reply to this email).
• • • CTA: "Keep your store →"

Trigger: User makes their first sale

• Send a congratulations email immediately
• • This is a high-emotion moment — acknowledge it warmly
• • • Include: "Share this with someone who'd love to know you made your first sale 🎉"
• • • • This email has very high forward/share rate

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📊 Phase 7 — Metrics to Track

Check these weekly in Search Console, your analytics tool, and your CRM/email platform.

Acquisition

• Weekly signups (target: 10 in month 1 → 50 in month 3 → 200 in month 6)
• Traffic by channel (organic search, direct, social, referral)
• Search Console: impressions and clicks (should grow weekly once content is published)
• Number of indexed pages (target: 20+ by end of month 2)
• External backlinks (target: 10+ by end of month 2)

Activation

• % of signups who add at least 1 product within 7 days (target: >60%)
• % of signups who go live (share their store link) within 14 days (target: >40%)
• % of signups who make their first sale within 30 days (target: >15%)

Retention & Conversion

• % of trial users who convert to paid (target: >20% by month 3)
• Email open rates (target: >40% for Day 0 email, >25% for Day 75 email)
• Churn rate after first paid month (target: <10%)

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🗓️ 90-Day Action Checklist Summary

Week	Priority Actions
Week 1	Fix Search Console errors (#147–#150). Create social accounts. Set up email sequences.
Week 2	Publish 4 SEO landing pages. Publish 2 Guides. Add "Built on Mark8ly" footer link.
Week 3	Product Hunt launch. Submit to all directories. Start Reddit engagement daily.
Week 4	Show HN post. Publish first 2 Journal posts. Start Instagram posting.
Month 2	1 blog post/week. Micro-influencer outreach (20 contacts). Pinterest setup.
Month 3	Review metrics. Double down on what's working. Start LinkedIn founder content.

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📝 Notes

• Do not run paid ads until you have a proven organic conversion rate. Paid traffic to an unoptimised funnel burns money.
• • Do not try every channel at once. Weeks 1–2 are foundations only. Launch spike is week 3–4. Content and community is month 2 onwards.
• • • The 90-day trial is your single strongest marketing asset. Lead with it everywhere.
• • • • Every piece of content should have one clear CTA: Open your store — free for 90 days.

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[mahesh-sangawar]

Checklist repaired, and the SEO foundation is done

The checkboxes were malformed. 72 lines each held two or more tasks concatenated into one, so the whole "Website & SEO Foundation" section rendered as a single unticked line, and several tasks were invisible mid-line:

- [ ] Fix all Search Console errors (see issues #147, #148, #149, #150 - [ ] Confirm `sitemap.xml` includes all public-facing pages

Split into individual items and repaired the parentheses the concatenation had orphaned. The list is now 93 items rather than an apparent 87, because several tasks were hidden inside other lines.

Ticked — all shipped and verified live

Item	Where
Fix all Search Console errors	#147 #148 #149 #150 — all closed
Confirm sitemap.xml covers public pages	19 URLs, all returning 200
/shopify-alternative	Live, ~2,600 words
/ecommerce-for-makers	Live, ~2,560 words
/sell-online-india	Live, ~2,490 words
/etsy-alternative	Live, ~2,550 words
Unique <title> + <meta description> on every page	Verified against production
"Built on Mark8ly" footer link	#152 — opt-out, dofollow, with an admin toggle
First 2 Guides	"How to add your first product", "How to connect your domain"
Journal email capture	Full slice — endpoint, table, form; verified writing to production

Two extra SEO surfaces also landed that predate this list: /help and /integrations went from "coming soon" stubs to real, indexed content (#149), and the guides index now carries five articles.

Why this stays open

83 items remain, and almost none are engineering. Creating Instagram/LinkedIn/X/Pinterest/Indie Hackers/Crunchbase/Product Hunt accounts, recording a 45-second demo video, writing the maker post, reaching out to 30 people personally the night before launch, scheduling a Product Hunt launch, writing a "Show HN" post.

Those are yours — they need your voice, your accounts, and your judgement about timing. I'm deliberately not attempting them: publishing content or creating accounts under the brand isn't something to automate.

Worth considering

This issue is a launch programme, not a task, and it will sit open for months in its current shape. It might serve better as a milestone with the code-shaped items split out as their own issues, leaving this as the narrative. Happy to do that split if useful — say the word.