How Can SaaS Companies Improve Conversion Rate Optimization?
Wherever you look, there’s yet another handy tool offered by an innovative, smart organization for customers looking to simplify their lives. The software has become an integral part of modern living, whether it’s meant for individuals or businesses, or even both. Just look at companies crafting intuitive task management tools that can be used both by soloprenerus, busy moms, and entire corporations. However, it’s one thing to gain some attention in this densely-populated world of ours, and completely another to transform that attention into actual purchases.
Many SaaS companies could use more refined conversion rate optimization techniques in their arsenals, so as to improve their chances of converting curious visitors to actual loyal customers. However, many strategies that would work for other business models might not be ideal for your SaaS business. To overcome this issue, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most effective CRO methods at your disposal, so that you can boost your CRO and improve your reputation in one fell swoop.
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Implement powerful customer support
Much like not all solutions are created equal, not all people will understand your software with equal ease, no matter how much you refine the product. More often than not, customers will abandon a product or give up on the brand altogether simply because they feel stuck. It can be one tricky feature or a whole slew of underused functionalities they’re missing out on, but it’s up to you to communicate with them effectively.
When customers know they can rely on your support crew to help them through the adaptation process, they are much more likely to stay loyal to your brand. Let them know how they can reach you via email, your 24/7 ticketing system, your chat platform, and the like. Reach out to them and provide them with educational content to help them master your software and discover some of its more amazing features. This level of involvement will greatly impact your CRO over time.
Rely on tech tools on your site
Other than testimonials and general word of mouth, other forms of social proof can contribute to better CRO. A single social proof tool can serve as your CRO tool as well when you show your website visitors that others are subscribing to your exquisite service. This real-time proof of your relevance for other customers is a perfect incentive for those who are still in the browsing stage to reach their decision faster.
Quick and informative notifications that don’t affect their browsing experience negatively have the potential to give your visitors the confidence they need to try out your product. Ultimately, this form of social proof is another digital variant of the word of mouth that works in favor of your brand.
Collect feedback to boost UX
The fact that your development crew loves your software doesn’t make it the be-all, end-all of software in the eyes of your customer. Chances are, there are dozens of software solutions much like your own that your customer has tried before or might try in the future. In addition to A/B testing your solutions, regular feedback collection from your existing customers can be invaluable in enhancing the actual software.
User experience is the main reason why so many SaaS offers fail to impress. If the layout is complex, the navigation takes too long to learn, or the tool is overall not that intuitive, you’ll need to continue improving until you get it right. To know what needs improving, you should gather information from your customers.
Time-bound free trials
No matter how many cool reviews you’ve published on your site and how many customers rave about your software on social media and Google, people are skeptical and difficult to convince that yours is the ideal solution for them. By giving them the opportunity to have a taste of your product for free, you show confidence that they will be impressed, and you give them a transparent opportunity for a test drive. Your software might not require a costly subscription in the first place, but free trials are still a necessity for most SaaS businesses.
Use them as a way to qualify more strong leads and to connect with each trial subscriber on a deeper level. Use all available resources, be it email, chat, a ticketing system, or any other platform to give them support, make sure that they are utilizing your tool properly, and to see how their journey is going. Alternatively, you can always give a freemium option without that time limit, but if they want added capabilities, they’ll need to sign up for a paid tier.
Add cross-selling and up-selling
Optimizing your conversion rate doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to landing new leads and growing your customer base. In fact, focusing on your existing clients and their needs is one of the most successful strategies your SaaS business can use to boost the CRO. One particularly effective method includes cross-selling a complimentary service you have on offer that makes sense for a particular portion of your target demographic. If you can show them how they’ll benefit from these two services combined, you boost your chances to land another sale.
Then again, up-selling can be equally potent especially if you have different tiers of your software services. Maybe enabling specific features that only come with that upgrade makes sense for a larger organization, and the investment on their part might not be that substantial, to begin with. Sending newsletters to your existing customers about the latest available upgrades and the newest features can be a great way to spark their curiosity and get them to try out something else you have within your service packages.
SaaS businesses have numerous opportunities to look into their existing selling, onboarding, and customer journey processes that might be stifling their CRO. Among many available and SaaS-ready tactics, these continue to be the main solutions most business with this model choose. Make sure to refine your CRO strategy with the help of these tactics, and use them to slowly scale your business for more happy customers.
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