1. Find the rooms where WooCommerce people meet
Search meetup.com for "WordPress" and "WooCommerce" in your city and the nearest larger city. Check events.wordpress.org for upcoming WordCamps and official WordPress meetups. Also look for local ecommerce, Shopify-vs-WooCommerce or small business groups on Meetup and Eventbrite. List every event in the next 60 days with its date, size and organizer name.
2. Pick events by who attends, not by size
A 15-person WordPress meetup with three freelance developers and two store owners beats a 300-person generic startup mixer. Your best early buyers are WooCommerce store owners doing their own admin, freelance WordPress developers who build client stores, and small agency owners who maintain several stores. Read past event descriptions and attendee lists on Meetup to see who actually shows up.
3. Contact the organizer before you go
Organizers know who struggles with what, and they often need speakers. Send a short message: "Hi, I build a WooCommerce plugin that handles [specific problem]. I'm coming to the next meetup. Happy to do a 10-minute lightning talk on [problem], no pitch, just how to fix it with or without my plugin." A talk gets you in front of the whole room and makes people come to you.
4. Go in with one problem, not a product
Prepare one question about the exact pain your plugin solves, like "How do you handle failed subscription renewals on your clients' stores right now?" Ask it, then listen. When someone describes the pain in detail, say what you built and offer to set it up on their store or a staging copy. Bring a laptop with a working demo store so you can show it in under two minutes.
5. Offer a hands-on setup, not a discount code
Early customers buy when the plugin is running on their own store. Offer to install and configure it with them on a 30-minute call that week. Charge your normal price, or offer a founding customer price in exchange for honest feedback. Free installs with no commitment rarely turn into paid accounts.
6. Follow up within 24 hours
Write down every useful conversation right after the event: name, store or agency, their problem, what you promised. The next morning send: "Good to meet you at the WordPress meetup last night. You mentioned [their problem]. I can set up [plugin] on your staging site this week, takes 30 minutes. Does Thursday or Friday work?" Specific follow-ups get replies. Generic "let's connect" messages do not.
7. Turn freelancers and agencies into repeat channels
One freelance WordPress developer can put your plugin on ten client stores. When you meet one, ask what plugins they install on every new WooCommerce build and why. Offer them a developer or multi-site license and help with their first install. Check in after a month to see if a second client could use it.
8. Keep a simple weekly rhythm
Attend one event a week, send every follow-up the next day, and track each person in a spreadsheet with a column for next action. Review it every Friday and chase anything that went quiet. Hulby, an AI cofounder, can handle this daily for you: finding the events, drafting follow-ups and keeping the pipeline moving.
People asking this right now
Real, public posts from the last few weeks. Each one is somebody you could help today.
- How to get your first customers: the first 5 of one creator's 10 steps. Free planner: https://database.blotato.io/storage/v1/object/public/p (Bluesky)
- Do I actually need a new website? Not always. First, define what it should do for customers, then pick the simplest tool to get there. A foc (Bluesky)
Mistakes to skip
- Pitching the plugin before learning whether the person has the problem it solves.
- Going to big generic startup events instead of small WordPress and WooCommerce meetups.
- Collecting business cards and never following up within a day.
- Giving away free licenses with no setup help, so nobody actually uses the plugin.
Want this done for your WooCommerce plugin, every day?
Hulby finds the people asking for what you built, writes every reply and email, and keeps you on it until they pay. Free to start.
Find my first customersQuestions
What if there is no WordPress meetup in my city?
Check the nearest larger city, then local small business or ecommerce groups. You can also start a monthly WooCommerce meetup yourself through the WordPress community program on events.wordpress.org.
Should I give a talk if I am not a confident speaker?
Yes, keep it short. A 10-minute practical walkthrough of one common WooCommerce problem is enough. People will remember you and approach you afterward.
Are WordCamps worth it for a plugin with no customers?
Usually, yes. Tickets are cheap, and many attendees are developers and store owners. Volunteering is often free and gets you talking to more people.
How many events before I get a paying customer?
It varies. If you have attended several events with real conversations and no one wants a setup call, your problem statement or target audience probably needs to change, not your event list.