More than 90% of businesses that start with a subscription-based product fail. This is primarily because they don’t have a strong retention strategy in place. Don’t be one of them. We have listed 20 tips to raise your SaaS conversion rates and keep your customers happy.
What is a SaaS Conversion Rate?
SaaS conversion rates are a popular metric used to measure how many leads become paying customers.
A SaaS conversion rate is defined as the percentage of visitors who sign up for a free trial or paid plan of a software as a service (SaaS) product. The number of SaaS conversions is often used to predict how much revenue you can generate from your marketing efforts.
Conversion rates vary drastically depending on the industry, but most fall between 2% and 25%. A conversion rate of 2% means that 2 out of every 100 visitors convert into paying customers. A conversion rate of 20% means that 20 out of every 100 visitors convert into paying customers.
Tips to Raise Your SaaS Conversion Rates
Improve Your Homepage
The homepage is the first page people see when they visit your website. It must attract their attention and convey the value of your product without overwhelming them with too much information.
Here are some tips for optimizing your home page:
Make Sure It’s Clear, Concise, and Easy to Navigate
Your homepage should highlight key concepts in a way that makes sense, even if someone has never heard of your company or product before. For example, on Shopify’s home page, they use icons rather than text links (which can be harder for people with visual impairments) and organize their content into categories so new visitors can easily scan through all the different things they offer quickly while familiar users can get right down into the details they need faster than ever before!
There Should Be an Obvious Call-to-Action Button(S)
After reading about it elsewhere (or finding out about it through word-of-mouth/SEO), you want someone who visits your site to take action immediately. Otherwise, there’s no reason why anyone would come back again later. This means spending some time thinking about what kind of actions are best suited towards accomplishing those goals (e.g., signing up after reading about pricing plans might not make sense since there may not yet be enough information available through purchasing something immediately might work better).
Reassess Your Pricing Page
Did you know that your pricing page is one of the most important pages on your website? It’s true! This is where people evaluate the value of your product and decide if they want to sign up.
So how can you ensure that this page is working at its optimum level? Here are some tips:
It Should Clearly Show the Value of Your Product
If someone can’t understand why they should pay for your product, there’s no point in showing them an expensive-looking landing page with many bells and whistles. Instead, focus on what exactly makes up their pain points and show them how their lives will be better off after signing up for your service.
Make it Easy to Understand
The last thing you want is for people who might have some doubts about purchasing from you due to confusion or lack of information to be able to see that as an excuse not to buy from you instead! Remember: You don’t need fancy graphics or text explanations – just provide everything straightforwardly so there should be no room left for doubt or confusion when it comes time to making decisions about whether purchasing would benefit them personally (for example: “You’ll save $100 per month!”).
Say Goodbye to Pop-ups
Pop-ups are annoying. They’re a barrier to conversion, engagement, and customer satisfaction. They’re also a barrier to customer loyalty and advocacy. So why should you use them?
There’s actually one good reason: they work! But then again, so do email marketing campaigns with low open rates. The problem isn’t that pop-ups don’t work—it’s that many businesses use them incorrectly or ineffectively because they don’t understand how to leverage this powerful tool correctly.
Build Trust with a Free Trial
A free trial is a great way to build trust with your customers. It’s also an excellent way to get people to try your product.
When you offer a free trial, it means that someone gets access to some of the features of your product without paying anything upfront. That’s why they call it “free.”
It’s true—free trials can help build relationships, too! The more time you spend with your potential customers, the better chance you have at converting them into paying customers. And if not? Well, then, at least you’re getting valuable feedback on what needs improvement in order for them to buy from you later on down the line!
Create a Compelling CTA
When you’re creating your CTA, it’s important to remember that the copy is what will compel a visitor to take action. You want your CTA to be clear, concise, and compelling. It should also include a benefit or reason why the reader would click on it.
Here are some examples of CTAs:
- Are you ready for this?
- Sign up now!
- Subscribe today!
Use Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological trigger that causes people to trust a product or service more when they see others like them using it. Social proof can be used in many ways to increase conversion rates.
Testimonials
When customers rave about your product, include their quotes and pictures on the page where they are mentioned. Testimonials are one of the most effective forms of social proof because they’re usually made by real people who have experienced your product firsthand (instead of just reading about it).
Social Media Shares
Some businesses track social media shares from influential sources like Twitter and Facebook, which can help build trust in potential customers. If you have a large number of shares from well-known blogs, publications, or individuals within your industry, these posts can help raise awareness of what you do among new audiences as well as existing ones—and potentially even get some free press coverage along the way!
Develop a Dedicated Landing Page
The most effective way to increase conversion rates is through dedicated landing pages. On average, you can expect an increase of 9.7% in conversion rate if you have a dedicated landing page. Add videos to your landing page, and the conversion rate will be skyrocketed to a whopping 86%!
Having a dedicated landing page is important because it has all the features and information that your customers need when visiting your site. This means that people are not distracted by links or other content that might not be relevant to them at this stage in their decision-making process. It also means that the message comes across clearly with no clutter or distractions from other elements on the page (such as social media buttons).
Add Customer Testimonials
Customer reviews are an essential part of any SaaS landing page. In fact, they could be the most important tool you use to convert your visitors into leads. Not only do they help build trust and credibility with your prospects, but they can also help you build credibility with a new audience—like when a new company starts using your product or service and your testimonials show up on their site (if you’re lucky).
Forget the Text, Use Video
If you want your customers to go through a conversion funnel and buy your product, then you need to make the absolute most of every interaction they have with your site. One great way to do that is with video content. There are plenty of reasons why video is so effective:
- It’s more engaging than just text on a page! People like videos because they’re colorful, fun, and dynamic—and it’s hard not to be drawn in by them. That’s why we all love YouTube so much!
- People are more likely to share videos than plain text links or images (plus videos look better when shared). So if someone likes or finds value in what you’re creating, they’ll be inclined to pass on the good word about what they saw or found helpful from one person’s experience into another person’s life as well—and this can help boost brand awareness too!
- Videos tend not only to get watched more than once but also watched on mobile devices like smartphones (where many companies actually see their highest conversion rates). This means that marketers should always consider including this kind of visual content for maximum impact over time and reach potential-wise within an organization.”
Optimize for Mobile Devices
As the most popular way to access the internet, mobile devices are essential for your website.
Therefore, it is essential to optimize your site for mobile users and make it easy for them to convert. Mobile users are more likely than desktop users to convert, spend more money on average, and share what they’re reading or buying with others. And if you’ve got a responsive design, all those stats go up.
Make Your Forms Foolproof
The first thing to consider when optimizing your form is, “What do our customers and prospects find easy to complete?” As a customer, what do you like? Do you prefer filling out forms on a desktop or mobile device? Do you prefer using autofill or having everything filled in for you?
Is there anything that makes the process difficult and prevents users from completing the form at all? For example, does it take too long to get through an entire page’s worth of fields before submitting anything (progressive disclosure), or does one field require data from another field (inline validation)? Are there any error messages that could be improved upon (inline help)? Are these error messages helpful enough to encourage people to continue filling out the form even if they encounter errors (inline error messages)?
In addition to this, do users need animated progress bars throughout their journey through each step of your multi-step form, so they know exactly how far along they are in completing it successfully (progress bars)? These features should definitely be considered if not already implemented into your website’s design.
Reduce Abandonment Rates with Cart Recovery Emails
Cart recovery emails are an essential part of any SaaS conversion strategy. They’re simple to set up and effective at bringing people back to your site after they abandon their shopping carts.
When you send cart recovery emails, you can:
- Get more information from potential customers about why they left the last step in the checkout process.
- Show them relevant products or add-ons that would make their purchase more appealing and help them complete the sale.
- Keep your brand on top of mind for those who may be on the fence about buying from you next time.
Think like a Marketer and Experiment like a Scientist
This is the most important section of this guide, so we will say it twice: Think like a marketer and experiment like a scientist.
If you want to boost your conversion rate, you need to be willing to change what’s already working. You need to be willing to try new things, even if they seem counterintuitive or weird at first. It might feel risky, but it will be worth it if it works! If it doesn’t work…well, that’s why we keep testing everything until we get results that are right for us.
Like many other SaaS companies out there today, there’s an abundance of information available on how our customers use our software—and what they would like from us next time around! However, most businesses don’t take advantage of this data because they’re afraid of making changes based on their customers’ feedback alone—which means they’re missing out on huge opportunities for growth and innovation.
Pay Attention to Checkout Design and Usability
Whether you’re selling to consumers or businesses, the checkout process is your last chance to convince the customer to buy. Hence, you should:
- Use a simple checkout process
- Make sure your checkout process is easy to use
- Make sure your checkout process is secure (HTTPS, SSL Cert)
- Make sure your checkout process is fast (a few clicks)
- Make sure your checkout process is consistent with other parts of the site/app (no surprises)
- Make sure your checkout process is reliable (works every time)
- Use flexible payment options
Don’t Forget About Retention and Upsells as Follow-Ups to Purchase Conversions
When it comes to customer retention, your first priority should be on providing an excellent experience and keeping your customers happy.
Remember that the SaaS model means that you have a recurring revenue stream, which is great news for your business. This means that you can focus on providing a solid product and service to your customers instead of worrying about upselling or cross-selling right now.
But don’t forget about retention! Your customers are likely aware of other products and services within your industry or niche—so when they see them advertised elsewhere, they may decide to switch brands (or at least tryout something new). And if they do leave? That leaves an open spot for new potential customers to fill those shoes!
Focus on Instant Customer Service
Make sure that someone is available 24/7 (or at least during business hours), so it doesn’t look like you can only be reached during regular business hours – this will make customers feel more comfortable about contacting you with questions or concerns.
Don’t forget about SEO!
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is essential for any company that wants its website traffic to grow and convert into paying customers. SEO can help increase traffic by up to 70% when done properly. If you haven’t already started an SEO campaign for your website, now is the time.
Implement an FAQ Section
Make sure you have an FAQ page where visitors can find answers to common questions about your product or service before they ask them in person or via email, so they don’t lose interest before they convert into paying customers.
Use the Law of Reciprocity to Increase Conversions
The law of reciprocity says that we feel obligated to return a favor. When you give your customers something valuable, they are likely to reciprocate by purchasing your product.
A great example is when you give away a free trial for a SaaS product. You’re giving them something for free, so they feel obligated to purchase the product when their trial expires.
You can use the law of reciprocity in many areas of your marketing, including:
- Send out a thank you email after someone subscribes to your blog or service.
- Give away a free sample of your product or service.
- Offer a discount incentive on Facebook ads or through retargeting ads.
Create an Affiliate Program Where Affiliates Are Rewarded For Bringing In New Customers
You can do so through online promotions such as social media ads or paid search campaigns on Google AdWords or Bing Ads. This is a great way to attract new leads and expand your reach at no cost other than commissioning payouts once the affiliate has made a sale for you!
It’s All About Improving the Customer Experience!
The most important factor in a successful SaaS business is improving the customer experience. In fact, it’s essential to your success because you want to make sure that every single customer has an amazing experience with your product or service—and will tell other people about how great it is.