Top 10 SaaS Marketing Strategies to Increase ROI
Starting an SaaS business? These 10 SaaS marketing strategies will help you build customers, increase ROI and drive success from the start.
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It’s no secret that Software as a Service (SaaS) marketing plays an important role in increasing your return on investment (ROI). Customer acquisition and retention are possible if you implement proven marketing strategies. You can introduce free trials, webinars, email marketing, etc to decrease churn rates and improve customer engagement rates of your SaaS product.
In this article, we will explain the top 10 SaaS marketing strategies to attract and retain customers which ultimately increase your ROI.
So, let’s get into it!
1. Embrace SaaS Content Marketing
SaaS content marketing is essential for increasing ROI because it helps attract, educate, and convert potential customers. By creating valuable content, such as blog posts, e-books, and webinars, SaaS companies can establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry and demonstrate their expertise. This can lead to increased brand awareness, credibility, and trust, which can ultimately result in more leads and sales.
A proven content strategy with a great social media scheduler helps businesses to improve their brand visibility and brand awareness. It lays the foundation of an overall solid product marketing strategy. For example, if you’ve created a detailed content plan for your blog, you can repurpose that blog into email sequences, social media posts, case studies, infographics, etc.
It’s important to get the brand story right for a better value proposition. Below are some of the interesting statistics about SaaS content marketing:
- Almost 65% of SaaS companies focus on designing marketing strategies, and content marketing
- 92% believe they have been successful in achieving their business goals with content marketing
- 75% of SaaS businesses expect to increase their investment in content marketing
2. Offer Free SaaS Trials
Offering free trials allows potential customers to try out the product before committing to a purchase. This period allows the customers to experience the product without worrying about any costs involved. Thus, it provides zero barriers to converting your leads.
The three aspects of a thoughtful SaaS trial ensure great ROI via a balanced;
- Acquisition
- Retention
- Expansion
It’s important to provide a seamless user experience while they signup for the trial period. It would define whether or not they choose to use your product and sign up for a premium version. Providing limited-time trial periods creates a sense of urgency among new customers. It improves the likelihood of becoming paying customers. There is no rule of thumb around how long your offer should be. It depends upon the complexity of your product.
Below is a general statistics about how long SaaS products should provide a free trial offer.
Best practices for free SaaS trials
Here’s how you can make your SaaS trials easy and user-friendly.
- Make it easy to sign up
- Add a clear call to action
- Make sure potential customers understand the value of your product
- Communicate the end date of the trial
- Provide a guided tour or onboarding process to help users with the trial
- Provide support and resources during the trial period
- Send reminder trail-ending emails and encourage users to upgrade
- Track the usage of the product to identify active users
- Make it easy for customers to convert to a paid plan
3. Implement a SaaS SEO Strategy
SaaS SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy is a set of tactics used to improve the visibility and ranking of a SaaS company’s website on search engines like Google. A successful SaaS SEO strategy can drive more traffic to a website, increase brand awareness, and ultimately lead to more conversions and better ROI while reducing the cost per acquisition of each customer.
Great content marketing with a proven SEO strategy can create compounded effects for your SaaS product. SEO is better for several reasons because you are targeting customers that are already in the sales funnel. Using highly searched low competitive keywords, you can target people who are already searching for a SaaS product like yours or are interested in buying from you.
Tactics used in SaaS SEO strategy include;
- Optimizing website content for targeted keywords
- Building backlinks from other websites
- Creating valuable and informative content
- Optimizing website speed
- Using schema markup
As for the website speed, you can also consider investing in proper web hosting. Even if you run an eCommerce company, the platform you use for your business comes with solutions, including eCommerce hosting. So, you don’t have to pay for anything else separately.
4. SaaS PPC Campaigns
When coupled with SEO and content marketing, SaaS PPC campaigns can create great results. The paid campaigns for SaaS can improve the result, but they do not create magic as such.
SaaS PPC (Pay-per-click) campaigns are a form of online advertising where businesses pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. These campaigns are typically used to drive website traffic and generate leads for SaaS companies.
Most businesses struggle to move straight to sales after their first interaction with a customer, but depending on your keyword, you may want to take a completely different approach. Also, by using other channels to promote your SaaS campaigns, such as email marketing and social media retargeting, you can build trust with potential customers and create a relationship that lasts.
Depending on your business, the best way to structure your marketing is different for B2B and B2C-focused SaaS. Here’s what you should keep in mind for a SaaS PPC,
- Make sure your ads are aligned with your target market
- Incorporate targeting and retargeting
- Study your competitors very well
- Pay attention to the searcher’s intent
- Closely monitor negative keywords and audience exclusion
- Write ad copies that directly speak to your audience
5. Leverage SaaS Review Sites
Leveraging SaaS review sites means utilizing customer reviews and ratings from websites such as G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius to improve SaaS products and increase sales.
Consumers are willing to spend 30% more on SaaS companies that have positive reviews.
Using these sites can be beneficial for several reasons,
- They allow potential customers to see unbiased and unfiltered reviews from current users, giving them a more accurate idea of the product’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Users can compare multiple products side-by-side, making it easier to find the best fit for their needs.
- GetApp , a Gartner company, says its reviews help professionals find and compare web-based applications that can help their business grow.
- Provides a high Domain Authority, which can lead to better SEO for the products and vendors listed on the site.
6. Incentivize Referrals
Incentivized referrals can increase the ROI of SaaS Marketing Strategies by leveraging the power of word-of-mouth marketing. When customers are incentivized to refer their friends and colleagues to the service, they are more likely to do so, resulting in new leads and potential customers for the company.
Additionally, customers who refer others are likely to be more engaged and satisfied with the service, leading to increased retention and lifetime value.
Steps to Create a High-Quality SaaS Referral Program:
- Define the goals and target audience of the referral program
- Offer a reward that is valuable to both the referrer and the referred customer
- Consider using a simple process such as a referral link or a referral code to track referrals
- Use analytics to track the success and make adjustments as needed
- Provide excellent customer service with the best customer service tools to both the referral and the referred
7. Make SaaS Sign-Ups Easy
Making SaaS sign-ups easy involves simplifying the process for users to create an account and start using the software. This can be achieved through several methods, such as:
- Only ask for essential information, such as name and email address
- Allow users to sign up with their existing social media accounts
- Implement a “free trial” option, so users can test out the software before committing to a paid subscription
- Provide clear instructions throughout the sign-up process to reduce confusion
For example, Dropbox is a great reference for easy SaaS sign-ups. The sign-up form is minimal, only asking for your name, email, and password.
8. SaaS Social Media Strategies
SaaS (Software as a Service) social media strategies refer to how SaaS companies use social media platforms to promote their products and services, engage with customers and prospects, and build their brands.
Some common tactics used in SaaS social media strategies include:
- Creating and sharing informative content
- Running social media advertising campaigns
- Participating in online communities and industry groups
- Leveraging user-generated content or customer testimonials
The goal of a SaaS social media strategy is to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales. According to a survey by Hootsuite, the most-used social media platforms for SaaS companies are Quora, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Content Marketing Institute report that 83% of B2B companies use social media as their primary marketing tactic.
9. Email Marketing Strategies
Email marketing is the process of using email to promote products or services, build relationships with potential customers, or keep current customers informed about a company’s brand or products.
Email marketing for SaaS is three times more complex than the other businesses due to the complexities of products. It is more technical because it’s based on facts and figures. Make sure you get a little creative as you design your email marketing strategies.
We liked this email from Shopify is a great SaaS email that entices its store owner to buy a premium version.
Effective SaaS Email Marketing Strategies
Some effective email marketing strategies include:
- Segmentation: Segmenting your email list means dividing it into smaller groups based on certain criteria, such as demographics or past purchase history. This allows you to send more targeted and relevant messages to each group, which can lead to higher open and click-through rates. According to the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), marketers have found that segmented campaigns can generate 760% more revenue than a standard campaign.
- Personalization: Personalizing the content of your emails can also help increase engagement. This can include addressing the recipient by name and tailoring the message to their interests or purchase history. According to Richardson’s Annual Selling Challenges Study, personalization is the most effective email tactic.
10. Refine Call to Action
Refining a call to action (CTA) is great SaaS marketing because it helps to communicate the desired action or next step for potential customers. A clear and effective CTA can increase conversions and ultimately drive more sales for the business. It is important to test different versions of the CTA to see which one resonates best with the target audience and to ensure that the CTA is prominently placed and easy to find on the website or marketing materials.
Whether it’s a CTA on your blog, in email copy, newsletters, a landing page, or a lead capture form/form, it’s important to refine your call to action to meet your business goal. Let’s look at this CTA by the famous SaaS business, Netflix!
- Before refining your call to action, it’s important to understand the ultimate goal of your marketing strategy. This will help you determine what type of call to action will be most effective.
- Use language that entices the audience to take quick action.
- Use short CTAs. Avoid using too much text or jargon that can confuse the reader.
- Use contrasting colors to make your call to action stand out from the rest of the content on your website or landing page.
- Make sure your call to action is prominently displayed on your website or landing page. Use a large font size and place it above the fold so that it is easy to see.
- Use social proof, such as customer testimonials, to add credibility to your call to action and make it more appealing to potential customers.
- Regularly test and measure the effectiveness of your call to action by using A/B testing and analyzing data such as click-through rates. Use this information to make adjustments and refine your call to action over time.
Conclusion
SaaS Marketing Strategies can be a tricky thing to get your head around. You have the challenge of not only selling your SaaS to new customers but also retaining the customer base you already have. As SaaS features get updated, new customer retention strategies come about, and your customer base gradually gets used to your product, it’s important to continually concentrate on your marketing strategy.
