7 Ways to Attract More SaaS Subscribers in 2021 [Quick Guide]
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
Traditionally, ‘tis the season for holiday parties and strangers swapping spit under mistletoe (though, that isn’t the case this year). Entrepreneurs conventionally think of this as the time for extra customer service tickets, financial analysis, Q4 reports, and setting business goals for the new year. After the havoc that the pandemic has recently wreaked on the world, fresh goals are more important than ever.
If part of your New Year’s resolution is to convert more of your free trial users into paid subscribers, you’ve come to the right place.
Here’s what’s in store:
Keep reading to learn more.
Quick B2B SaaS Industry Overview
Just as some connoisseur baristas will always prefer french pressed to dripped coffee, there will always be a place for software in personal hard drives. Yet, it’s crystal clear that cloud-hosted apps are here to stay. Interest in apps has steadily increased since the early 2000s.
The latest SaaS statistics show that B2B companies say, since the onset of the novel coronavirus, digital interactions are two to three times more important to their custormers. Nearly 90% of sales moved to a teleconferencing model, which seems to be as effective or more effective than conventional approaches. And, the demand for cloud-hosted SaaS is predicted to continue to grow.
We’ve seen unprecedented growth in technology in several areas including telemedicine, distance learning, remote work, and ecommerce. In all of these areas, people find that they can be just as productive, if not more, than with their in-person, respective counterparts. Without the right tech, these processes would not be successful. Business consumers will likely become even more accustomed to using software in everyday operations.
So, as long as you stay on track with your company, the future of SaaS will be so bright you’ll need shades.
What is a Good SaaS Subscriber Conversion Rate?
The general consensus is that a low conversion rate for SaaS is below 3%. A good conversion rate might fall between 3-5%. An 8% conversion rate is considered excellent.
So, as a rule, use these numbers to determine how much new site traffic you’ll need to generate if you want to hit your new suber goals for the year.
Tip: If you’re already in the green zone, quit looking at the rest of the industry and start setting goals to outdo yourself instead.
7 Tips to Get More B2B SaaS Subscribers
From the trends and tips above, you can research and guage your operations. But, let’s take a look at some actionable tips you can implement to attract more subscribers to your B2B SaaS offer.
1. Make Sure Your Buyer Personas are On-Point
A customer-centric business is a successful business. And, at the heart of your marketing strategy should be buyer personas. So, why are you still putting-off buyer personas?
In his research, Stephen Zoeller found that companies that exceed their lead generation and financial goals are 2X more likely to use buyer personas than those who miss the mark.
As your company grows and scales, you will naturally collect more data about the demographics and typical behavior of your target audience. Use this information to refresh your buyer personas annually.
At minimum, collect the following answers from your internal reports:
- Who are your most financially-lucrative users?
- What do these users have in common?
- And, how are they different?
- Do you see any recurring behavioral trends?
Of course, there are some questions that Google Analytics can’t answer. So, take the time to interview your prospects and users. For this task, enlist your support team. It makes users more likely to communicate with you if your company’s head of customer support reaches out for a one-on-one conversation.
Hearing from the support department rather than the marketing team will make your user feel as if the conversation is about them and not about your profits.
| Bonus: If you manage to get top-users engaged, try to use this opportunity to create a case study in addition to buyer persona research. |
2. Double-Down on Competitor Research
Once you have what you need to know about your ideal buyers, peek in at your competitors. In most cases, you can find mentions and reviews your competitors on Reddit and Trustpilot. Read community platforms to find out what your competitions’ customers really think.
One of my favorite hacks is to read users’ three-star reviews first.
When you look at average reviews, you learn what people who like but don’t love a platform think of it. This can give you the most room for growth.
Another research tactic I like is to subscribe to competitors’ offers. Sign up for email lists, use their software. Stay up-to-date about everything that’s going on. Where email lists are concerned, use several addresses to stay at multiple stages in the funnel so you can see the content they share with new leads, free users, and paid subscribers.
Finally, use an SEO tool to follow along with your competitors’ keyword rankings. This will show you where their traffic is coming from. When you do this, you can discover valuable opportunities to generate new traffic to your website.
3. Invest in a Branding Analysis
Even if your platform promises to solve a ton of problems for users, an outdated brand image can make your leads feel like you give them the short end of the stick. Frankly, poor aesthetics can bring about poor conversions.
According to Gu Yi Chen, brand image has a direct impact on shoppers’ purchase decisions and their subsequent perception of your company. So, find a branding expert and enlist their help with an analysis. Then, implement their advice.
A few years back, when I worked on a campaign for an online logo creator, I learned that some brands update their logo and branding package as often as every 18 months. So, if you’re afraid that your prospects won’t recognize you if you adjust your image, don’t be.
4. Offer Freemium Use or a Free Trial
Have you implemented a free trial or freemium offer yet? If not, it’s time. Here’s why.
Even if you do the internal math and find that a free trial offer doesn’t increase your paid subscription conversion rate, you can’t take the numbers at face value. This month alone, I’ve signed up for six free trials to write in-depth reviews for my writing clients.
When reviews like this go live, the platforms written about have free, viral-ready press on various channels amongst audiences who are already interested.
Not to mention that even when I don’t need the software for long-term use, I am likely to come across someone who does. And, If I love your SaaS, I will make a recommendation (Plus, there are thousands of writers like me who are likely to do the same).
If you are going to implement a free-trial or freemium offer for the first time after this, I have one more piece of advice. Tom Tunguz says that usage and time-based trials have 2X higher conversion rates than others. So, consider letting users “send 100 messages for free” or “try free for 14 days” for an optimal paid subscription rate.
5. Be Helpful, Authentic, & Relevant
With the right clickbait, you can get almost anyone to give you their email address in exchange for a free offer. But, you can’t make them stay on your subscriber list or continue to use your platform. And, if a great lead goes dark, you will never nurture them to convert.
Alleviate this pain point by giving your users and new website traffic hyper-valuable content. If a prospect loves a free resource you’ve provided, they’re more likely to stay on your subscriber list waiting for more like it.
You don’t want to deliver content that has already saturated the market. Instead, if you want your users to trust you, create unique and extraordinarily helpful content with them in mind. Share your internal findings when they provide value.
Salesforce, for example, publishes a library of helpful research, reports, guides, and multimedia content for the public and its users. Most of their content is created based on internal research and data collected from real platform users.
This strategy of well-informed, original, and helpful content creation positions the brand as a thought leader on multiple topics while generating new platform leads.
So, don’t be the brand that has a blog just because everyone else is doing it and you thisnk content is the most cost-effective marketing channel — be Salesforce.
6. Keep Voice Search in Mind
In full disclosure, I am a Google girl. I worked with an SEO agency for a couple of years and learned a ton about how to keep search tactics up-to-date with Google’s 50+ monthly algorithm changes. But, I didn’t learn all much about how Alexa and Siri answer questions.
However, I do know that 72% of consumers have used voice search through a digital assistant. By the end of 2020, 75% of households will contain at least one smart speaker. And, over 50% of consumers expect that their digital assistants will help them make purchase decisions (Bing). Furthermore, I’m gradually becoming dependent on Alexa.
As you implement new tactics, don’t just think about how Google, Bing, and Yahoo will rank your content. Instead, keep voice search in mind. The results you get from Siri and Alexa queries are completely different than the results Google delivers.
7. Stop Telling & Start Showing
I continue to say this until my face turns blue, but many SaaS brands still use their blogs to talk about their brands way too much. So, if you’re doing this, stop… now.
Yes, investors and researchers want to know all about you, but your users want to know how you and your platform can help them. When you create attraction-stage content, you need to appeal to new prospects and leads, not board members and potential investors.
For example, it’s natural to want to share your latest API updates and news about new integrations. Current users will find this information helpful, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t put it in front of them — just don’t be too technical.
And, when you publish blog posts to generate leads, you want to share solutions to your users’ greatest pain points.
To see what I mean, here’s an example: The SaaS sales platform, Close.io, has a blog that speaks to users at all stages of the subscription funnel. They post company news periodically, but focus primarily on sales advice.
When you create a content calendar, SEO is one factor. But, here is a great place to pull out those buyer personas and competitor research to remind yourself what your ideal audience wants. Ask yourself the following questions.
- Who are my ideal subscribers?
- What are their most pressing problems?
- How can I create content that provides solutions?
Think of search marketing as a secondary factor. Valuable solutions should always take the first chair.
Final Thoughts
If you want to scale your SaaS growth strategy, use this guide to make informed decisions. AI and voice search are on the rise. You need to focus on your users if you want to reach your growth objectives. And, your online content should be well-thought-out for optimal impact. Now, if content is on your 2021 agenda, read How SEO Copywriting Services Can 13X Google Search Traffic [Case Study].
- 7 Ways to Attract More SaaS Subscribers in 2021 [Quick Guide] - January 1, 2021
- How SEO Copywriting Services Can 13X Google Search Traffic [Case Study] - October 26, 2020
- Do “Catchy” Words Really Trigger More Headline Clicks? The Power Word Debate Solved - October 11, 2020
