How to get customers online for free

Your product, store or service is ready, and the few customers you have are people you know. Here is how to get customers online for free: make it easy to pay, then reach far more of the right people, one at a time, every day, for 4 weeks. Most founders post a few times, send 10 messages, hear nothing and decide it does not work, when too few people ever heard of them.

Do these three things

About 5 hours a day, every day, for 4 weeks. Nothing here costs money except a payment fee when someone pays you. Judge it after 2,800 messages.

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1. 1Today: write one offer with a price and a link where a stranger can pay or book. Pay or book once yourself to check it works. Then send your first 100 personal messages to people you know.
2. 2Every day: send 100 personal messages, to people you know first, then to new people who fit your buyer. Answer 20 questions across 5 communities where your buyers ask for helpsoon, and post 2 times on the one channel they use. AI drafts; you add one true line.
3. 3Every Sunday: count new customers by where each one came from, and give next week's hours to the place that brought the most. Judge it after 2,800 messages, not after one quiet week.

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ChatGPT or Claude reads this guide and works through it with you.

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1. Make one offer people can buy or book online today#

Write one offer: who it is for, what they get, the price, and one link where a stranger can pay or book right now. Every message, answer and post in this guide sends people to that link, so if it is missing or broken, the rest of the work is wasted.

Fill in this line, using your buyers' own words for the problem. It is your value proposition in one sentence.

[What it is] for [who], so they [the result they get], for [price]. [One line that makes saying yes easy: a trial, delivery time, a small first job.][Link:] Pay now / Book a call / Start free trial

Then make the link. If you do not have a checkout, a Stripe Payment Link works without a website or code. Stripe charges no monthly fee, only 2.9% + 30¢ per US card payment. For a call, Calendly's free plan gives you one booking page. Put the offer and the link at the top of your homepage, as your headlinesoon, and in every social profile.

If you run a SaaS: the offer is your free trialsoon or first month, at the price you want to test. Sign up with a new email address and go all the way to paying, to check nothing blocks a stranger.

If you run a B2B company: buyers rarely pay from a link. The offer is a 20-minute call, plus a small first order or paid sample with a price range written down. The call is a discovery callsoon.

If you run a D2C store: the offer is your product page. Place a test order and switch the store to public first. The steps are in getting your first sales on Shopify. Put the total price with shipping and the delivery time on the first screen.

If you run an agency: offer one small, fixed-price first job, such as one month of one service, from your packagessoon. Give it a price, a Calendly link for a 20-minute call, and a Stripe Payment Link for the first month.

• Tool: a Google Doc, Stripe Payment Links or Calendly (both free to set up), or your store's checkout.
• Time: about 1 hour 30 minutes.
• You will have: one offer, live on your site and profiles, with a link that works.
• It worked if: your own test payment or booking went through, and 4 of 5 people who do not know you can say what it is, who it is for and the price after 10 seconds on the page.
• Common mistake: sending people to a page with no price and only a "Contact us" form. A stranger will not write to ask. The other is giving the offer a big launch discount. It hides whether your price works.

2. Message everyone you know and ask them to buy or introduce you#

Send one personal message to every person you know, one at a time. Ask them to buy if it fits them, or to name one person it does fit. People who know you are the only ones likely to buy before you have reviewssoon, and each one who does can introduce you to the next.

Make one list in a Google Sheet: phone contacts, email threads, LinkedIn connections, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook friends, old colleagues and old clients. If you ever had users of an earlier product, or people who signed up and never bought, put them first. In July 2026 one team rebuilt a product they had shut down, and its first paying customer came from the old user list. Most people can list 200 to 400 names.

This is warm outreach, and it is part of your 100 messages a day until every name has had one. Give ChatGPT or Claudesoon your list in groups (old colleagues, family, friends from a club), with the template below, and ask for one draft per person. Add one true line about each person, then send it from your own phone or account. That is about a minute a message. A post or a group message is easy to ignore; a message with their name in it gets read.

Hi [name], [one true line about them or the last time you spoke].I've just started [your business]: [the offer in one line].Would it suit you? If yes, here's the link: [link]. If not, do you know one person it would suit? I'd love an introduction.No pressure either way.

Every person who buys is your best source of the next customer. A week after they get what they paid for, ask how it went, then ask for one introduction. This is the start of a referral programsoon, without the rewards for now.

Hi [name], thank you again for [what they bought]. How is it going so far?If it's been useful, is there one person you know who has the same problem? I'd be glad if you could put us in touch, or just forward this: [link].

If you run a D2C store: also ask each buyer for an honest reviewsoon 7 days after delivery, and ask friends to say in the review that they know you. The FTC expects that.

• Tool: your phone, email and messaging apps, a Google Sheet, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft.
• Time: about 3 hours today, then part of your 100 a day until every name has had one message.
• You will have: every person you know messaged once, your first orders or calls, and a list of names they passed you.
• It worked if: you get at least 2 orders, bookings or introductions for every 100 messages. If you get fewer, ask 5 of the people who said no what stopped themsoon, and fix the offer from step 1 before you send more.
• Common mistake: posting one "we launched!" update and counting it as telling everyone. Most of your contacts never see it. Message each person.

3. Send 100 personal messages a day to people who fit#

Once your own contacts are running out, send all 100 of your daily messages to new people who fit your buyer, one at a time. Ask a small question about their problem, not for a sale. This is where your first customers from strangers are most likely to come from.

Build the list: 100 new names a day. Write down one sentence on who buys, then search for people who match it and have shown the problem in public: a post, a review, a job ad, a question. Note one true thing about each. 100 a day is 2,800 names in 4 weeks, so building the listsoon is part of every day.

If you run a SaaS: look for people who complain about the tool you replace, in its reviews, forums and on X. Their words tell you which alternatives pagessoon to write later. Ask for a 15-minute chat; the full routine is in getting your first 100 SaaS users.

If you run a B2B company: pick companies that fit, then find the person who buys and their email addresssoon. One named buyer per company. The full routine is in getting your first B2B clients.

If you run a D2C store: you do not message shoppers one by one. Message small creatorssoon with 1,000 to 20,000 followers who post about products like yours, and small shops or professionals who could recommend it to their own customers. Offer a free product, with no need to post.

If you run an agency: pick one kind of clientsoon, and message businesses of that kind with a gap you can see: no posts in 3 months, a slow site, no reviews. Point out one thing, with one fix, for free. It works even without case studiessoon. More is in getting your first agency client.

Write with AI, send by hand. Paste 10 people at a time into ChatGPT or Claude, each with the one true thing you found, and the template below. Ask for one message each, under 80 words. Check the first line is true and about them, then send. About a minute a message.

Spread the 100 over channels, inside each one's limits.

• LinkedIn: if you send too many connection invitations, LinkedIn can stop you sending more for about a week. It does not publish the number; most reports put it near 100 a week. Send about 15 invitations a day, and message people you are already connected tosoon.
• Instagram: it publishes no daily limit for messages to people who do not follow you, and new accounts get warnings early. Send about 20 a day there, and stop for the day at the first warning.
• Email: send the rest as cold emailssoon, one at a time, not with a bulk tool. Gmail requires every sender to set up SPF or DKIM, two settings that prove an email comes from your domain, and to keep spam reports under 0.3%. If you email more than about 50 strangers a day, use a second domain and warm it upsoon first, so your main email stays safe.
• The law: in the US, the CAN-SPAM Act covers business email too. Every email needs your postal address and a way to say no, and you must honour a no within 10 business days. The UK and EU have stricter rules, so check them before you write to people there.

Follow upsoon with everyone who has not replied, twice, 3 days apart, with one new line each time. Follow-ups count toward your 100. Stop the moment someone says no.

Subject: [their problem, in 3–5 words]Hi [first name],[One true line about them: something they posted, made or said.]I make [what it is] for [who] who [problem]. [One line: what it changes for them.]Could I [send you one to try / ask you 3 questions on a 15-minute call / send you one free fix]? No need to buy anything.[Your name], [business]
[Postal address]
Not for you? Reply "no" and I won't write again.

• Tool: Gmail or your work email, LinkedIn, Instagram, a Google Sheet to log who you messaged and when to follow up, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft. A CRMsoon can wait.
• Time: about 45 minutes a day to find 100 names and about 2 hours to send 100 messages and follow-ups.
• You will have: 700 messages sent and logged each week, and 2,800 after 4 weeks.
• It worked if: at least 3 people reply for every 100 messages. That is close to the 2025 average for cold email. If fewer than 2 reply, rewrite the first linesoon so it is more about them, then send the next 100.
• Common mistake: sending the same text to everyone. People can tell, and platforms block it. The other mistake is stopping after 50 messages because nobody has replied yet.

4. Answer 20 questions a day where your buyers ask for help#

Pick 5 online places where your buyers ask for help, and answer 20 questions a day across them. Answer the question fully first. Mention what you sell only if someone asks or the place allows it, and always say it is yours.

A place can be a subreddit, a Facebook groupsoon, a Slack or Discord group, or a forum. Find themsoon by searching your buyers' problem plus "reddit", "forum" or "group", and keep places with questions from the last 30 days. Read each place's rules page before you post. Reddit's own rules ask you to post in communities you really care about and not to spam, and many subreddits allow links only in one weekly thread. 20 answers spread over 5 places is about 4 in each, which stays inside most rules. 20 in one place in a day looks like spam.

Let AI find the questions and list the points to cover. Write the answer yourself, from what you know. Communities remove replies that read as pasted from AI, and accounts that only promote get bannedsoon. In April 2026 one founder wrote that the only thing that brought a user in their first days was "a genuine answer in a niche subreddit" with the tool mentioned at the end.

[Answer their exact question in the first line.][2–3 steps or tips that fix it, which work without buying anything.][Only if it truly helps, and the rules allow it:] Disclosure: I make [what it is] for this. Happy to share it if useful, but the steps above fix most of it.

When someone thanks you or asks a follow-up, reply in the thread first. If they ask about what you make, send a personal message, and count it in your 100.

• Tool: the search box on each site.
• Time: about 1 hour a day, 3 minutes an answer.
• You will have: 560 useful answers after 4 weeks, under your own name.
• It worked if: by week 4, at least 1 new customer says they found you in one of these places.
• Common mistake: posting "I just launched" or putting your link in every answer. Moderators remove it, and the account loses the trust it needs for the next answer.

5. Post 2 times a day on the one channel your buyers use#

Pick one social channel where your buyers already spend time, and post there 2 times a day. Each post answers one question a buyer asked you this week, and your profile carries the offer link from step 1.

Choose by who buys:

• If you run a SaaS: LinkedIn if your buyers are managers at work; X if they are developers. Building in public on Xsoon is how many developer tools start.
• If you run a B2B company or an agency: LinkedIn, from your own profile, not a company page. Growing on LinkedIn as a foundersoon has the profile setup.
• If you run a D2C store: Instagram and TikTok, with short portrait videossoon of your product in use. Post the same 2 videos on each app. On Instagram, turn on the "Trial" toggle before you share a Reel, so it is shown to people who do not follow you first. More is in promoting your business on Instagramsoon.

Write the week's posts in one go on Sunday. Give ChatGPT or Claude the questions and answers from your messages and communities this week, and ask for 14 short posts, one per question. That is AI doing the draftingsoon. Then edit each one so it sounds like you and adds one real detail: a number, a photo, a customer's words (with their OK). One piece can serve more than one appsoon.

[The question, in the buyer's words.][Your answer in 3–5 short lines, with one real detail.][Last line:] If this is you, [the offer in one line]. Link in my profile.

• Tool: the app itself, and ChatGPT or Claude for first drafts.
• Time: about 2 hours on Sunday to write or film the week's posts, then about 20 minutes a day to post and reply to comments.
• You will have: 56 posts after 4 weeks on your channel (56 on each app for D2C).
• It worked if: by week 4, at least 1 message, booking or order a week mentions a post. Count those, not likes.
• Common mistake: posting a little on five channels. None of them gets enough posts to work. The other is posting about yourself ("Excited to announce…") instead of answering what buyers asked.

6. List your business for free where buyers look for sellers#

Put your business on the one or two free listings where your kind of buyer goes to find a seller. It takes an afternoon, once, and it keeps working while you do the daily steps.

Use this rule:

• You meet customers at a place, or travel to them: set up a free Google Business Profilesoon. Google allows it only for businesses with a place customers can visit, or that travel to customers. An online-only business or a virtual office is not eligible, so skip it.
• You sell products online: connect your store to Google Merchant Center. Its free listingssoon are on by default in most cases, and can show your products at no cost in Google Search, the Shopping tab, Images, YouTube and Gemini. On Shopify, selling in ChatGPT is on by default for eligible stores that sell to US customers and have their three policies filled in, with no extra fee. Check it under Sales channels › Agentic › ChatGPT. More on getting your products recommended by ChatGPTsoon.
• You sell software: claim a free G2 profile. G2 checks new products in 3 to 5 business days. Then ask your first users for G2 reviewssoon.
• You sell a service to businesses (an agency, consulting, IT): create a free Clutch profile at clutch.co/get-listed. It takes about 10 minutes, and you need no reviews to appear. Then ask 2 clients to review yousoon.

These listings also matter for AI answers. In G2's March 2026 survey, 51% of software buyers said they now start their research in an AI chatbot, up from 29% a year before, and those answers draw on pages like these. More on getting your brand named by ChatGPTsoon.

Search pages, blog posts and getting your site onto Google bring visits, but slowly. Start them from getting traffic to a new website for free, and judge them at month 3, not in these 4 weeks.

• Tool: Google Business Profile, Google Merchant Center, G2 or Clutch. All free.
• Time: about 2 hours, once.
• You will have: one or two free listings, live, with your offer and a link to it.
• It worked if: each listing shows as live or approved, and by week 4 at least one visit, enquiry or order came from one of them.
• Common mistake: listing on 20 directories in one day and counting it as marketing. One or two that your buyers use are enough; the daily steps bring the customers.

7. Count new customers by source every Sunday and move your hours#

Every Sunday, write down how many new customers you got and where each one came from. After 2,800 messages, stop what brought no customers and give its hours to what brought the most.

Ask every new customer one question: "How did you first hear about us?" Put it on your checkout, signup or booking form, or ask it in your thank-you message. This is self-reported attribution, and at this size it is the most reliable source you have. Also tag every link you share with UTM parameterssoon, so your visits show their source too.

Week | Messages sent | Replies | Answers | Posts | New customers: people you knew | New customers: strangers
Where strangers came from: messages | communities | posts | listings | introductions | other

After 2,800 messages (4 weeks at 100 a day), decide:

• A place that brought 0 customers and almost no replies: stop it, and move its hours to the place that brought the most customers.
• Replies but no customers: the offer is the problem, not the reach. Work out why no one is buying before you send more people.
• Listings and search pages: keep them. Judge them at month 3.

Leave paid adssoon until at least 10 strangers have paid you and you know which message brought them. Before that, ads pay to send people to an offer you have not tested.

• Tool: Google Sheets.
• Time: 20 minutes each Sunday.
• You will have: one row a week, and a source for every customer.
• It worked if: you can say where every new customer came from.
• Common mistake: judging after one quiet week, or counting followers and likes instead of customers.

When one place clearly brings customers, give it more hours before you add anything new. If you are short of hours, fit marketing into your week before product work. Once a month, step back for a marketing reviewsoon.

Where Scout7 helps#

Scout7 speeds up three of the seven steps: 1, 4 and 5. Steps 2, 3, 6 and 7 are yours.

Step 1. Scout7's audience research reads public social conversations in your category and builds audience segments with pain points and quotes in buyers' own words. That gives you the words for your offer. It does not replace talking to buyers.

Step 4. Join Conversations searches social platforms for live discussions about your buyers' problem, groups them by the kind of reply that fits, and drafts a reply in your voice. You read each thread and approve or rewrite the reply. Nothing is posted without your approval.

Step 5. Scout7 makes image posts with captions in your brand's voice, and portrait (9:16) videos from a script, with captions. You approve each one. It schedules approved posts to LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Reddit; for TikTok, you download the video and post it yourself.

Your free customer checklist for the next 4 weeks

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Work through this list with an AI assistant

It drafts the work and keeps track of what is done.

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Step 1 · Make one offer people can buy or book online

• Write one offer with who it is for, what they get and the price, and put it on your homepage and profiles.
• Make a pay, book or signup link, and test it yourself.

Step 2 · Message everyone you know

• List everyone you know in one sheet, earlier users first.
• Every daySend 100 personal messages to people you know, asking them to buy or name one person it suits.
• Every dayAsk each customer from a week ago for one introduction.

Step 3 · Send 100 personal messages a day to people who fit

• Every dayAdd 100 new people who fit your buyer to your list.
• Every daySend 100 personal messages and follow-ups to people who fit.

Step 4 · Answer 20 questions a day

• Pick 5 places where your buyers ask for help, and read each one's rules.
• Every dayAnswer 20 questions across your 5 places without selling.

Step 5 · Post 2 times a day on one channel

• Every SundayWrite next week's 14 posts from the questions buyers asked this week.
• Every dayPost 2 times on the one channel your buyers use.

Step 6 · List your business for free

• Set up the one or two free listings that fit your business.

Step 7 · Count new customers by source every Sunday

• Ask every new customer how they first heard about you.
• Every SundayFill in one row of the Sunday sheet.
• After 2,800 messagesStop what brought 0 customers and move its hours to what brought the most.

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