Guide

How to find customers on Reddit

Updated 3 October 2026

Redwatcher is a Reddit monitoring tool. Tracks keywords, brand mentions and competitors across the subreddits you choose, scores every match for relevance, and alerts by email, Slack, Telegram or webhook around the clock. From $29/month per project. A subreddit is one of Reddit's communities, such as r/smallbusiness, each with its own posts and comments. A thread is a post together with the comments under it. A keyword is a word or phrase you want found on Reddit, such as a problem, a product category or a competitor's name. A match is a new post or comment in one of your subreddits that contains one of your keywords. Its relevance score is a number from 0 to 100 for how closely the thread fits what you described. A scoring rule is a sentence in plain language, such as Ignore job posts, that every match is scored against. A project is one set of keywords, subreddits, scoring rules and alert channels, and each project is priced separately.

What does a customer thread on Reddit look like?

A customer thread asks a question you can answer with what you sell. It reads like "What are people using for this?", "Any alternative to X that does Y?" or "We are choosing between A and B, which one?".

Step 1: Write down the phrases buyers use for the problem

Start with the words a person types when they have the problem you solve and do not yet know your name. A thread like "Anything cheaper that still does automations" is a buying question with no brand in it, and only a problem phrase finds it.

On Redwatcher these phrases are keywords, typed one per line. Setup, the page in the app that holds your keywords, subreddits and rules, reads your website and suggests phrases, so you edit a list instead of writing one. Your own brand and its spellings go in too, and they do not count against the plan's keywords.

Category words such as project tracker or email tool match far more threads than a narrow phrase does, and much of what they catch is people talking about something close to what you sell, but not about it. Keep them, and let the score sort them in Step 4.

Step 2: Add your competitors and the alternatives people ask for

Add the competitors your buyers consider. Each competitor counts as one keyword, and the spellings people use for it sit under its name without counting again.

Add the competitor you lose deals to, the one people are leaving, and the one most people try first. Phrases such as alternative to with a competitor's name, or moving from and switching off, find people in the middle of a change.

Step 3: Choose the subreddits where your buyers ask

Watch the communities about your buyers' trade, your product category and the problem you solve. The same phrase means a buying question in one subreddit and a passing remark in another, so the subreddits you choose change which threads you get. Read the comments as well as the posts, because a competitor is often named in a reply, not in the post itself, and Redwatcher checks both.

Setup proposes subreddits from your website, and each one is checked against Reddit as you accept it, so the list holds communities that exist and are still active. Add the ones you already read and remove the ones that do not fit.

Step 4: Write scoring rules so threads where someone is asking score high

Rules are sentences, written in plain language, that every match is scored against. Write rules about what a keyword cannot tell you, which is what the person is doing in the thread:

• Score threads where someone asks which tool to use for this, and states a budget or a deadline, high.
• Score threads comparing two named products high.
• Ignore job posts.
• Ignore threads where the author is promoting their own product.

A rule that only repeats a keyword, such as prioritise threads about project tracking when project tracking is already a keyword, changes nothing, because the keyword already found every one of those threads. Setup also suggests rules drawn from your site.

Every match is scored with the reasons written under it. Only the threads that reach the score you set are sent to you. Start at 70.

Below the keyword box is a list of words to ignore. Anything containing one of them is dropped before it is scored. The panel's own examples are hiring, salary and coupon. Keep that list short, because one common word on it removes every thread that contains it.

Step 5: Send the high-scoring threads where you will answer them

Pick the channel you read during the day. Telegram, Slack and a webhook get one message per thread, and email gets one message per check, carrying the threads from that check. A check is one pass in which Redwatcher reads your subreddits for new posts and comments, and it runs them around the clock, multiple times every hour. A webhook is a message sent to a web address you give, for your own system. All four channels are on every plan, and each has a test button that sends a real message.

Every alert carries the score, the reasons and a View on Reddit button. The setup of each channel is on How to get Reddit notifications for keywords.

Step 6: Open the thread and reply from your own account

Open the thread from the alert, read what was asked, and if you have something useful to say, write the reply yourself and post it from your own account. Redwatcher never posts, writes no reply drafts, sends no direct messages and never asks for your Reddit login.

What Reddit's rules say about taking part in a community where you have an interest, quoted and dated, is on Reddit monitoring without posting. Read it before your first reply. Each subreddit also has rules of its own.

What should you do in the first week?

Read the inbox, the app's list of every match with its score and reasons, once a day and correct every wrong score. Day one is often quiet. Redwatcher reads new threads from the moment setup finishes, so the first ones come from threads posted after that.

Every match lands in the inbox, including the ones below the score you set, which are kept and never sent. A buying question scored low, or a job post scored high, is a wrong score. Mark it too high or too low, say what was wrong and it becomes a rule. The thread is scored again straight away, and every later match is judged against the new rule.

The example inbox above has a thread scored 94, with the reason "A buying decision in progress, with the requirements and the budget stated". That buyer wanted something under $30 a month. For a seller whose plans start at $100, that is not a customer, and saying so turns it into a rule and re-scores the thread from 94 to 38.

The rules made from corrections are listed on the Setup screen, where you can edit them by hand.

Why are the Reddit threads you get not customers?

Usually because a category word is matching a nearby subject, the rules describe a topic and not a person asking, the score or the phrases are set wrong, or only your brand name is tracked.

Too many threads arrive. A category word is matching conversations about a different, nearby subject. Raise the score, or correct a few of those threads so a rule forms.

The threads are about your field and nobody is asking. The rules describe a topic, and they need to describe a person asking. Add a rule that scores requests for a recommendation high.

Nothing arrives. The score may be set too high, the subreddits may be quiet, or the phrases may be too narrow. Redwatcher's Stats screen shows how many posts and comments were read in each subreddit. A community with few posts a day produces few matches, whatever the phrases are.

Only your own name comes back. A brand name finds only the people who already know you. Add the problem phrases from Step 1.

What does Redwatcher cost, and is there a free way to find customers on Reddit?

Redwatcher costs $29 a month per project for 25 keywords and 25 subreddits, $49 for 50 of each, and $89 for 100 of each, and every project starts with a seven-day trial that takes no card. Reading the subreddits yourself every day is free, but it takes your time. Redwatcher has no free plan. Every plan includes every feature, with no charge per mention and no limit on how many team members you add. Redwatcher is the right choice if you watch more subreddits than you can read each day, or if you need the threads where someone asks for what you sell sent to you while you are doing other work. Reading by hand is enough if you follow a few small subreddits and read every new post and comment in them each day. Prices from redwatcher.com/pricing, read on 3 October 2026.

How this guide was checked

Redwatcher wrote this guide about its own product. On 3 October 2026 we read the prices on redwatcher.com/pricing and Redwatcher's own pages about keywords, scoring and alerts. The screenshots are Redwatcher's own setup and inbox screens with example data, and the scores in them belong to that example. They are not a measurement of how often the scoring is right. We did not read Reddit's own search or help pages for this guide, so it says nothing about Reddit's search, and what Reddit's rules say is quoted only on the page linked in Step 6.

Finding customers on Reddit: questions founders ask

What should I search for to find customers on Reddit?

Search for three groups of words: the phrases people use for the problem you solve, your competitors' names with phrases such as alternative to, and your own brand with its spellings. Problem phrases find buyers before they have heard of you, and competitor names find people who are choosing or leaving. On Redwatcher every competitor counts as one keyword, and setup suggests all three groups from your website.

Which subreddits have customers in them?

Customers ask in the subreddits about their trade, your product category and the problem you solve. Comments matter as much as posts, because a product is often named in a reply, not in the post itself. Redwatcher's setup proposes subreddits from your website and checks each one against Reddit as you accept it. The $29 plan watches 25 subreddits, the $49 plan 50 and the $89 plan 100.

Does Redwatcher reply to threads or send DMs for me?

Redwatcher never posts, writes no reply drafts, sends no direct messages and never asks for your Reddit login. Every alert carries a View on Reddit button, and you write the reply yourself from your own account. Reddit's rules on taking part in a community where you have an interest are quoted on redwatcher.com's page about Reddit monitoring without posting, and each subreddit has rules of its own.

What score should a thread reach before it is sent?

Start at 70. Every match is scored from 0 to 100 with the reasons, and only the threads that reach the score you set are sent. Matches below it stay in the inbox, where you can read them. When a score is wrong, you say what was wrong and it becomes a rule, and every later match is judged against that rule.

Is there a free way to find customers on Reddit?

Reading the subreddits yourself every day is free but takes your time, and Redwatcher has no free plan. Redwatcher costs $29 a month per project for 25 keywords and 25 subreddits, $49 for 50 of each and $89 for 100 of each, with every feature on every plan. Every project starts with a seven-day trial that takes no card. Prices read from redwatcher.com/pricing on 3 October 2026.

How quickly does Redwatcher send a new customer thread?

Redwatcher checks every subreddit you choose around the clock, multiple times every hour, on every plan, and median freshness is about 15 minutes. A thread that reaches the score you set is sent in the same check that scored it. Telegram, Slack and the webhook get one message per thread, and email gets one message per check, carrying the threads from that check.

Reddit is a trademark of Reddit, Inc. Redwatcher is not affiliated with or endorsed by Reddit, Inc.