SaaS marketers don't exactly have it easy. Selling software already presents several inherent challenges.For starters, your "product" is somewhat intangible – and a prospect isn't quite able to fully understand its total value until after the purchase is already made.
Plus, you're marketing a solution that is constantly undergoing changes and updates. And to make matters more complicated, to the layperson, your technology may seem a lot more complex than it does to you.
Hence, you need to be able to simplify your marketing message without watering down the advantages of your solutions.
.
If you're a technology marketer or business owner struggling to generate results from your marketing efforts, fear not!
Below, we've identified six reasons your SaaS customer acquisition strategy may not be working:
1. You don’t clearly communicate what problem your software solves
2. Your customer service is lacking
3. Your demo or trial has a barrier to entry
4. You treat SaaS Marketing like all B2B Marketing
5. You aren’t segmenting your audience
6. Comparison options aren’t clear, front, and center
1. You don’t clearly communicate what problem your software solves
Software, particularly in 2022, can be pretty complicated, especially for a prospective audience that may not be remotely familiar with your product or even the problem your product solves.
As such, it's incredibly important that the problem your software solves is clearly articulated and demonstrated on your website, preferably in diverse, visually appealing ways.
While this may seem obvious, it's not always done well. If you look at a handful of SaaS sites, you'll note that not every company articulates a pain point- or even how their solution helps solve an issue.
To help educate your prospects on your software and the problem that your software solves, we recommend using diverse methods to get your message across, including charts, explainer videos, infographics, and other forms of content that a visitor to your site can engage with.
Don't just tell people – show them examples. A customer story, case study, or even a set of testimonials can make a difference in how your software and services are perceived- by providing multiple entry points.
2. Your customer service is lacking
Technology companies are often laser-focused on the software, while the service component falls to the wayside as an afterthought.
Don’t let this happen!
Especially since many of your customers are likely to be long-term, users have very high expectations of service and support, particularly in the B2B community, where businesses depend on your software and services to run and manage pieces of their own.
If your company isn’t meeting those expectations, they may choose a different SaaS and potentially leave a scathing review in their wake.
Remember that long-term customer success is a proactive process. So ideally, your team should be solving problems before customers even have a chance to encounter them. Or, if they face a problem, you should empower them to solve it independently.
This means identifying the most common issues customers experience at different stages of the customer journey and providing them with resources to address these challenges.
As part of your SaaS customer acquisition strategy, tutorials, and knowledge bases make for a good start.
3. Your demo or trial has a barrier to entry
Don’t make it harder than it already is to capture a new bottom-of-the-funnel lead.
Make it easy as pie for a prospect to try your product: no credit card, no cancellation policy, and easy to access.
Let prospects try it solo or with your support, whatever makes sense for the product and the potential customer.
Furthermore, don’t bog down your schedule a demo or consultation form with form fields that ultimately don’t matter.
Get the information absolutely necessary for your sales team and ditch the rest. We promise that your sales team can find out how they found you or their purchasing timeline when they speak with them directly.
And of course, be sure you are demonstrating the same exceptional customer support and service during the trial that they will enjoy if they become a customer. It's one thing to acquire a customer- it's another thing to keep them.
Your customer success team should know your product inside and out, which means they fully understand the customer journey and the challenges customers face.
If your organization offers a particularly complex product, you can segment your customers into various customer types and assign them to different team members to ensure 360-degree support coverage.
4. You treat SaaS Marketing like all B2B Marketing
Unlike most other forms of B2B marketing, where the sales cycle typically lasts a few months to a year or longer, closed deals in the SaaS industry can come fast and furious.
This mercurial sales cycle is partly due to the industry's nature, where products are constantly evolving, being updated, and incorporating new releases, features, and applications.
Plus, the relatively low price point of SaaS allows prospects to try these products without full company buy-in, as opposed to, say, an ERP or a new CRM.
But all this, of course, you already know.
That said, your SaaS marketing strategy needs to adjust for quicker follow-up and closing. Information provided to prospects must be timely and complete, and follow-up should be fast.
5. You aren’t segmenting your audience
When creating content, be sure you are customizing it for your audience.
Creating customized content is an important step many companies overlook, thinking they already know their customers well.
However, there are usually different types of buyers searching for your SaaS solutions. Even if there is only one primary user, their pain points and priorities may surprise you.
Go through the exercise of creating buyer personas the right way. We promise it will be worth it! Remember, a great customer experience starts with marketing when potential buyers are in the brand awareness stage.
On the same note, you should start the customer success process early in your customer's lifecycle; don't wait until they've bought your product.
You don't have to become an established business to focus on customer success. On the contrary, the earlier you start focusing on customer success in your company's life, the easier it will be. Customer success is a mindset.
6. Comparison options aren’t clear, front and center
Make it easy for potential buyers to understand their purchasing options, especially if you offer a variety of packages and service levels.
HubSpot, for example, makes it very simple to examine its pricing using the popular column format.
They also offer a features comparison chart on the same page, with a Call-to-Action (to contact their team) at multiple points.
Another comparison to consider showcasing is that of your competitors. If your product is clearly better, why not let your prospects know it?
Our team members are always looking for ways to improve our marketing, and we hope you are, too!
Ideally, incorporating these strategies will improve the marketing and sales of your SaaS solutions.
Let us know how it goes! For more tips on improving your marketing content and website structure, check out this long-form article: How to Fix Your Biggest Website Problems (And Bring Back Visitors)
