Well…sorry to say, but the competition is getting stiff for all you SaaS companies. The amount of software-as-a-service companies in the world is estimated to be in the tens of thousands now. A friend of mine recently told me how he once met a guy at a party in San Francisco back in the 90s. He was talking about how “cloud” was going to change the world. Turns out that guy was Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.
Globalization and now “SaaSanization” as I would like to call it—is here to stay! So get on board. Below are some quick recommendations I believe will help your SaaS company stay on the surfboard and ride the wave.
The Multiple Challenges Today for SaaS Companies
The challenge for SaaS companies today is understanding user behavior as user experiences change on the internet. The competition amongst SaaS companies in increasing their leads and sales is getting more strategic and difficult than ever before. Understanding the latest tools, techniques, and methodology to give your SaaS company a competitive edge can make it or break it for your company.
Onboarding: Creating a fluid onboarding process is one of the biggest challenges for SaaS companies. Not only because it’s a highly prized status to achieve, but because it’s a great and efficient way to increase conversions and sales, saving precious company resources and marketing costs. Converting users on free trials to paying customers should be one of the primary objectives for SaaS companies—but also one of its greatest challenges!
Hands-On Approch: The beginning phases of a SaaS company’s marketing campaign and sales efforts are some of the most important stages for a company. During this time it is imperative that a “hands-on” approach to the first leads that come in be coordinated between the sales and marketing teams. This a sensitive time for SaaS companies and creating a proactive “go-getter” attitude mixed in with sassy interpersonal skills can help you close difficult, but important leads that first come into your pipeline. Having a more “hands-on” approach in the beginning will strategically pay off in the long run.
Duh? It’s the Signup Process: A decisive, if not imperative process sometimes overlooked by many SaaS companies is how fluid and clear the signup process is for users entering their site. This could be a “deal-breaker” for the success of a SaaS company. It is essential that SaaS companies develop a simple and intuitive flow to their signup processes and that users entering their site understand clearly how to complete even the most complicated tasks. In other words, confusion is death. If your user can’t understand your product or site, then it’s a lost client thrown to the arms of your SaaS competitors. And that’s not what you want. Remember, the end goal here is that users enter your site—sign up for free trials—and convert to paying customers. Any unnecessary hurdles and confusion by the user to the signup process or how to engage with your SaaS company’s product should be eliminated as soon as possible! Period.
Leave me a comment telling me what YOU think are the best practices in increasing conversions for SaaS companies. I’d love to hear!