SaaS founders instinctively try to make their website messaging appeal to everyone.
The reasoning seems sound. Cast a wide net and get more sign-ups. More sign-ups mean more growth.
So… language gets softened, messaging broadened, stripped of anything too specific. The resulting copy might be safe, but it’s also neutral and generic, and aaalllllll too familiar.
It blends right into the market like a good little Lemming (remember that video game?), marches alongside all the other beige messaging, straight over the nobody-cares cliff, and plummets into obscurity.
Because when you try to speak to everyone, you say nothing unique. Your copy is vague. Your value proposition is blunted. Visitors can’t see if the product is really meant for them, because you’re trying to please everyone, and you end up pleasing no one.
Your SaaS messaging should target 20–35% of your visitors, not 100%.
This article will show you why.
Why is 20-35% of Website Visitors the Sweet Spot?
Joana Wiebe from Copyhackers, the conversion copywriting academy we follow, speaks about the 20-35% rule. It corrects a flawed assumption in SaaS marketing: every visitor is a potential customer.
This definitely isn’t true. There’s no way it could be true.
Visitors to your website are a diverse bunch of people. They have very different intentions, awareness levels and motivations.
- Some stumbled upon you by accident.
- Others are customers looking for support.
- Some are return visitors checking you out again.
Treating all of them as prospects weakens your message. Even among true prospects, not all are good fits.
- Some will struggle to use your product.
- Some will never see meaningful value from it.
- Some will churn quickly or consume disproportionate support resources.
Writing SaaS copy that tries to accommodate all of these groups results in broad, watered-down language that fails to resonate deeply with anyone.
Instead, write for the visitors who are most likely to:
- Want your solution: Your product aligns with a real pain or desire they already feel.
- Be happy using it: Your product fits their context, workflow and expectations.
- Pay for it: They see the value without excessive friction or price resistance.
- Recommend it to others: It delivers on the promise your messaging made.
This group may be smaller than you expect, but it’s far more valuable. Speak directly to this segment, and your messaging becomes sharper and more specific.
Prospects see themselves reflected in the language. They feel understood. That recognition and connection are what drive conversions.
If you’re thinking, companies like Slack and Asana have broad messaging, you’re right. They do. But unless you’re on that level, you can’t afford to have broad, neutralised messaging.
They’re big enough to play the numbers game and only need a small percentage of their massive audiences to convert. Asana gets about 4 million website visitors per month. Even if their conversion rate is only 1%, that’s a heap of conversions. But that looks different when you’re getting 2,000 website visitors per month.
Target the right 20–35% of visitors, and you trade breadth for relevance and specificity. And that lifts conversion rates.
Why Does Writing for Everyone Kill SaaS Conversions?
In SaaS, you’re looking for hundreds or thousands of buyers. So appealing to everyone seems like the way to go. Use a neutral message to attract the most people possible.
But applying neutralising logic to your messaging results in bland, indistinguishable copy that fails to connect with anyone on a meaningful level.
- Safe messaging may avoid excluding anyone, but it also avoids impact.
- It fails to reflect pains, desires and motivations back to potential customers.
- It fails to differentiate you from similar SaaS products and show why users should care.
There are a few reasons SaaS founders default to generic copy.
1. Fear of excluding potential buyers
Founders worry that if the messaging is too specific, it will turn people away. In practice, the opposite happens. Specificity attracts the right people and repels the wrong ones, saving time, support effort and churn later on.
2. Pressure from investors or internal stakeholders
Broad positioning can feel safer in boardrooms and pitch decks. But safety does not convert. The language that feels “big” internally often feels empty to actual customers.
3. Unclear of ideal customer
Many teams don’t have a clear understanding of their ideal customer. Messaging not backed by research becomes a compromise between assumptions, opinions and internal politics. You get language that sounds professional but says very little.
Generic copy fails because it doesn’t reflect:
- Real pain
- Real motivation
- Real identity
It doesn’t mirror who the customer is now, who they want to become or why your product matters to them. Visitors don’t feel seen or understood, so they won’t be compelled to act, and your conversion rates suffer.
Who Actually Makes Up the “Right” 20–35%?
Not all visitors arrive with the same intent.
Your traffic is a mixed audience, and only a portion of it is actually ready to become customers. Understanding who makes up the “right” 20–35% is essential if you want your messaging to convert.
Typical SaaS visitor types include:
Existing customers
These visitors are logging in or looking for documentation. They already know your product and don’t need persuasive messaging. Writing copy for them in your hero section usually dilutes your message for new prospects.
Support seekers
Some visitors are frustrated users trying to fix a problem. Their mindset is transactional and immediate. They aren’t evaluating whether to buy and shouldn’t be the primary audience for acquisition messaging.
Blog readers
Many visitors arrive via content with low or medium awareness. They are researching, learning or exploring ideas. They may become prospects later, but they aren’t always ready to convert immediately.
Unqualified search traffic
Search brings visitors with different levels of awareness and intents. They might be looking for definitions, comparisons or free solutions. Messaging written for this group tends to become explanatory and generic.
Curious browsers
These visitors have heard about you but are not actively looking to solve a problem. They are window-shopping. Messaging that caters to them often sacrifices urgency and clarity.
True prospects
This is the group that matters, the “right” 20–35%. They recognise a problem, believe a solution exists and are open to choosing one. They’re motivated and aware, actively evaluating whether your product fits their needs.
Your messaging should prioritise these visitors, the most conversion-ready segment, not casual visitors. Don’t try to accommodate everyone and water down your message for true prospects, the people most likely to buy.
This group is usually smaller than you expect because it represents a specific combination of:
- Pain
- Awareness
- Timing
- Fit
But when you write directly to them, your messaging becomes sharper and more persuasive. You prioritise relevance over appeal. You mirror their situation so they can see themselves in the message. You connect and sell them a better version of themselves.
Narrow Targeting Increases Conversion Rates (Not the Opposite)
A persistent myth in SaaS marketing is that broader messaging leads to more conversions. But when you try to convert everyone, you usually end up converting almost no one.
Conversion rates rise sharply if you focus on a smaller group of better-fit visitors.
Think about it like this:
- Your homepage gets 2,000 monthly visitors.
- The page is generic and converts at 1%, 20 customers.
- Say only 25% of your overall visitors are an ideal fit for your product.
- That leaves you with 500 highly qualified prospects to target each month.
- You change your messaging to speak directly to these 500 ideal customers.
- Your page now converts at 10% for this segment, 50 ideal customers.
The traffic is the same, but the outcome is completely different.
Narrow targeting works because you aren’t trying to convince people who were never a good fit in the first place. You’re helping the right people recognise that your product is for them.
This focus also creates powerful secondary benefits that compound over time.
- Better onboarding
- Lower churn
- Stronger referrals
- Higher lifetime value
Narrow targeting clarifies who you serve best and drives stronger results at every stage of the funnel.
What Targeted SaaS Messaging Looks Like in Practice
Targeted SaaS messaging isn’t subtle. When done well, it’s immediately clear who the product is for and why it exists.
Prospects should be able to see themselves reflected on the page. If they can’t recognise their situation or problem within seconds, the messaging is too broad.
Here is how targeted messaging shows up across key SaaS pages.
Homepage hero section
This is where focus matters most. A targeted hero speaks directly to a specific segment and problem, naming the pain or desired outcome in language the customer actually uses.
Vague heroes try to appeal to everyone. Targeted heroes make a clear promise to a particular audience.
Vague:
“Powerful software for modern teams.”
Targeted:
“Project management for busy marketing teams tired of missing deadlines.”
Subheadlines
Subheadlines expand on the promise by clarifying context. They explain how the product helps this specific group achieve a specific outcome. This is where you reinforce motivation and remove early confusion.
Vague:
“Work smarter with our platform.”
Targeted:
“Plan, track and ship work without daily stand-ups or spreadsheet chaos.”
“Ideal for” statements
Explicitly state who the product is for. This helps qualified prospects self-select and unqualified visitors move on without friction.
Example:
“Ideal for marketing teams managing 10 to 100 active projects at a time.”
This kind of clarity doesn’t reduce conversions. It increases them by setting expectations and creating immediate relevance.
Use-case-driven sections
Targeted messaging often includes sections built around real-world scenarios. These mirror how customers describe their problems and goals. Instead of listing features, you show how the product fits into their day.
Example:
“Replace weekly status meetings with real-time progress updates your whole team trusts.”
Common Founder Objections to Narrow Messaging (and Why They’re Wrong)
Resistance is common when SaaS founders hear that they should write for only 20-35% of their visitors. The objections are understandable, but let’s address each one directly.
What if we alienate potential customers?
This fear assumes that targeted messaging prevents others from converting. It doesn’t.
Narrow messaging simply prioritises clarity for the people most likely to convert. Others can still sign up if they see value in your product.
What targeted messaging prevents is confusion. Visitors immediately understand who the product is for, so qualified prospects can move forward without hesitating or bouncing.
We’re early-stage and need everyone
Early-stage companies feel this pressure most acutely, but focus matters here. Startups can’t afford neutral messaging.
Unlike large enterprises, you can’t rely on massive traffic volumes to compensate for low conversion rates. Writing for a specific segment helps you learn faster, convert better and build momentum with customers who genuinely benefit from the product.
Our product works for lots of people
This is often true. But there’s a crucial distinction between who can use your product and who should be your primary focus. A product may technically work for many audiences, but messaging must start with the segment that gains the most value, gets results quickly and becomes an advocate.
The underlying logic for targeted messaging is simple.
- You aren’t blocking others from buying by being specific.
- You’re prioritising clarity over neutrality, making your message easier to understand and act on.
- You’re attracting the right customers, who convert faster, onboard more smoothly, stay longer and refer others.
How to Identify Your True 20–35% (Without Guessing)
Killer messaging comes from research, not intuition.
Here are 5 ways to research your customers and identify your true 20-35% segment.
Visitor surveys
Short, well-placed surveys reveal who is arriving on your site and why. They help separate casual visitors from motivated prospects. Even a single open-ended question can uncover patterns in intent and awareness.
Copyhackers founder Joanna Wiebe recommends one deceptively simple question that consistently reveals intent and context:
“What’s happening in your life that brought you here today?”
This question cuts through surface answers and exposes real motivations. It tells you whether someone is casually browsing, actively evaluating or urgently looking for a solution.
Customer interviews
One-on-one conversations uncover motivations, anxieties and decision triggers. Interviews allow you to hear the language customers use when describing why they bought and what changed after.
Support inbox analysis
Support emails expose recurring pain points and unmet expectations. They often reveal who struggles with the product and who benefits from it, which helps refine who your messaging should focus on.
Review mining
Reviews, whether from your own product or competitors, contain unfiltered insights into frustrations, desires, objections and outcomes. They’re especially valuable when you don’t yet have a large customer base.
Analytics and traffic source analysis
Looking at how visitors arrive on your site helps identify awareness levels and intent. Branded search, direct traffic and repeat visits often signal higher readiness than broad informational searches.
The Risk of Targeting the Wrong Segment
Targeting the wrong segment doesn’t just weaken your messaging but also undermines the entire business. Who you choose to write for determines who you attract, and who you attract determines everything that follows.
When founders aim their messaging at the wrong audience, a predictable set of problems emerges.
- High churn: Customers who were never a strong fit leave quickly. They signed up based on vague or misaligned expectations, not because the product genuinely solved a core problem for them.
- Low engagement: When the product doesn’t match the user’s real needs, adoption stalls. Features go unused. Onboarding drags on. The product becomes something they tolerate rather than rely on.
- Support-heavy customers: Poor-fit users require disproportionate support. They ask basic questions, struggle to get value and create operational drag. This often gets mistaken for product issues when it is actually a targeting problem.
- Weak referrals: Customers who only see marginal value don’t become advocates. They may not complain loudly, but they also don’t recommend your product to peers. Growth slows because word of mouth never takes off.
Target customers who benefit most from your product. These are the people who achieve meaningful outcomes, feel the transformation you promise and naturally spread the word.
When Narrow Messaging Becomes a Growth Advantage
Narrow messaging is not a dead end but the starting point for sustainable growth. Focus comes before scale.
You earn the right to broaden your messaging only after you have proven that it works for a specific segment.
Once your messaging resonates deeply with one group, several scaling opportunities open up.
You can buy traffic profitably
Paid acquisition becomes more efficient when your message is tightly aligned with a defined audience.
- Ads speak directly to a known pain
- Landing pages match intent
- Conversion rates increase
This reduces wasted spend and allows you to scale channels that would be unprofitable with generic messaging.
You can expand into adjacent segments
After establishing clarity with one segment, patterns emerge. You learn which pains are universal and which are specific to certain segments.
From there, you can intentionally expand into adjacent audiences by adjusting the messaging, not the entire product. Each expansion is deliberate and doesn’t rely on guesswork.
You can create additional pages for other awareness levels
Different visitors arrive with different levels of awareness. Once your core message is proven, you can create targeted pages for problem-aware, solution-aware and product-aware prospects without diluting the core positioning. Focus allows for structured expansion rather than scattered messaging.
Conclusion
Targeting fewer visitors strengthens your positioning. Your messaging becomes clearer, more relevant and far more persuasive.
Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, speak directly to the people most likely to benefit from your product and stay with it.
Clarity beats neutrality every time. Neutral messaging may feel safe, but it rarely converts at a high rate.
Clear, specific messaging helps the right prospects recognise themselves on the page and move forward with confidence.
If you want help identifying your true 20-35% and turning that clarity into high-converting SaaS messaging, the next step is simple. Book a discovery call and let’s talk about messaging that actually converts.
When to Bring in Help
Identifying the right 20-35% of your visitors is one of the hardest parts of SaaS messaging. Without structured research, founders tend to rely on assumptions, internal opinions or the loudest voices in the room. No bueno.
Messaging built on guesswork almost always reflects who the team thinks the customer is, not who actually converts, stays and advocates.
The risk of assumption-led messaging is subtle but serious.
- You attract the wrong users.
- Conversion rates stay flat.
- Churn creeps up.
- Support demands increase.
And because the messaging feels safe, it can take months before anyone realises targeting is the root problem.
Bringing in help is a strategic shortcut.
A structured approach replaces guesswork with clarity:
- Customer research
- Segmentation clarity
- Messaging frameworks
If you want to stop guessing and start targeting the right 20-35% with clarity, contacting us is a good place to start.
