How to change SaaS pricing and keep your customers with Tom Benattar @MailTracker

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love, brought to you by https://saas.group/, a serial acquirer of B2B SaaS companies.

In episode #13 of season 5 of the saas.unbound podcast, Anna Nadeina sits down with Tom Benattar, CEO of MailTracker by Hunter.io, to explore these very questions. MailTracker is a popular email tracking tool for Gmail and Chrome, boasting over 100,000 users and a rapidly growing paid customer base.

Tom shares his journey from building and selling PixelMe, a link shortener with pixel retargeting, to acquiring and scaling MailTracker. He dives into the challenges and strategies involved in introducing a paid plan, adjusting pricing, managing customer communication, and driving growth through SEO and product optimization. This article recaps the key takeaways from their conversation, offering valuable lessons for SaaS founders and product managers navigating pricing transitions.

From PixelMe to MailTracker: Tom’s SaaS Journey

Before MailTracker, Tom co-founded PixelMe, a smart link shortener that integrated pixel retargeting into URLs. After bootstrapping and raising €1 million, Tom eventually sold PixelMe for over $1 million. This experience gave him firsthand insight into building, scaling, and exiting a SaaS business.

Tom’s connection with François, co-founder of Hunter.io (the creators of MailTracker), led to an opportunity to take over MailTracker. At the time, the product had a sizable user base of 100,000 but lacked paying customers. Tom saw the potential to build on this foundation, becoming CEO of a newly formed company dedicated to MailTracker, with support and shareholding from Hunter.io.

MailTracker is a lightweight email tracking tool that notifies users when their emails have been opened. While simple in concept, Tom emphasizes the tool’s strategic value:

• It supports various use cases—from cold outreach to investor communications.
• Tracking email opens multiple times can indicate prospect engagement, helping tailor follow-up strategies.
• The product appeals to a broad audience, from casual email users to marketers and sales professionals.

For Tom, MailTracker is more than just a convenience—it provides peace of mind and actionable insights that improve communication effectiveness.

Transitioning from Free to Paid: The Pricing Challenge

One of the biggest hurdles for MailTracker was moving from a 100% free product to a sustainable paid model. Tom candidly shares the uncertainty and experimentation involved:

• They initially blocked some advanced features behind a paywall but kept basic tracking free.
• The team introduced a free tier allowing 20 tracked emails per month, with paid plans for higher usage.
• Despite fears, the launch saw a rapid uptake of paying customers, reaching 10,000 MRR within three months.
• Some users uninstalled the extension after the paywall introduction, but most accepted the change without complaint.

Crucially, MailTracker learned the importance of timing and communication—informing users clearly about limitations without overwhelming them with constant reminders helped maintain satisfaction.

Setting the Right Price

Pricing decisions were pragmatic and competitive. The initial paid plan launched at $9/month, positioned between too cheap and too expensive relative to competitors. Later, MailTracker raised prices to $25/month after analyzing customer willingness to pay and feature value. This increase was communicated transparently, offering unhappy customers the option to remain on the old price.

The result? Less than 5% of customers opted out, and revenue jumped significantly with minimal churn impact. This thoughtful approach to price increases shows the power of clear communication and customer respect.

Balancing Free and Paid Features

Determining what to keep free versus what to charge for was a data-driven process. By analyzing user behavior, MailTracker found:

• Most free users sent fewer than 20 tracked emails per month, making the free tier attractive and sustainable.
• Paid users tended to send significantly more emails, justifying the subscription cost.
• The focus was on limiting volume rather than restricting core tracking features to keep free users happy.

MailTracker also prioritizes positive user reviews in the Chrome Store, offering coupons and outreach to dissatisfied users to maintain a strong reputation—essential for growth on this key distribution channel.

Growth Strategies: From Chrome Store to SEO and Content

The Chrome Web Store is MailTracker’s primary growth engine, contributing 100% of traffic initially. To capitalize, Tom and his team:

• Optimized the product page with compelling images, descriptions, and regular updates.
• Encouraged positive and fresh user reviews to boost visibility and credibility.
• Doubled monthly installs to over 10,000 through consistent effort.

Recognizing the risk of relying solely on one channel, MailTracker developed its own website and blog. After a year of creating “great content” with little traction, they shifted strategy to produce “content people need” — practical guides answering common Gmail and Chrome extension questions. This pivot led to significant SEO growth and traffic doubling in six months.

The Power of a Free Trial

Though initially skeptical, MailTracker introduced a free trial requiring a credit card to unlock paid features. This simple change doubled monthly conversions to paying customers. Key factors included:

• A single, straightforward pricing plan without complicated tiers.
• Direct links to Stripe checkout for a seamless experience.
• Willingness to iterate quickly as a small team to test hypotheses.

While churn increased slightly, the overall revenue growth made the trial a clear win.

Looking Ahead: Future Plans and Exit Considerations

MailTracker is currently enjoying steady growth in users, revenue, and SEO rankings. Tom highlights upcoming plans such as adding multi-recipient email tracking—a feature many customers have requested.

Interestingly, Tom is also considering selling MailTracker in the near future, a decision informed by his past experience with PixelMe. He advises founders to sell when the business is performing well and to engage brokers to maximize value. This proactive mindset helps avoid being forced into a sale under less favorable conditions.

Lessons Learned: Wins, Failures, and Founder Hacks

Tom’s biggest personal win remains the successful sale of PixelMe, a milestone that many founders aspire to. On the flip side, raising money for PixelMe introduced complexity and slowed growth, a cautionary tale about managing investor expectations and operational overhead.

For MailTracker, a notable failure was a missed acquisition opportunity a few months ago, demonstrating that even promising deals can fall through.

His key founder hack? Move fast and be willing to experiment. Tom and his co-founder, Stefan, continually try new ideas—from pricing changes to product features—and quickly adjust based on results. This agility is a major driver of MailTracker’s success, especially as a small, bootstrapped team.