Table of Contents
A multitude of organizations is drifting towards the adoption of cloud services, which is pushing the demand graph of SaaS upwardly.
After developing a SaaS model, you must be looking for strategies to make it perfect for grabbing a large chunk of profits in the market.
With the presence of a number of competitors in the market, it becomes even tougher to plan a strong and expedient SaaS growth strategy.
A report by BCC Research predicts that the SaaS market for business applications is anticipated to touch the $94.9 billion mark in revenue by 2022. In 2017, the SaaS market was valued at $44.4 billion. A jump from $44.4 billion to $94.9 billion is long. Isn’t it?
Growth matters to every organization but in the SaaS market, it is a bit complicated. People cannot touch your software and come to a decision. It takes a bit more time and patience for SaaS companies to gain customers.
The formula is simple, if you gain more customers than you lose, then you are on the way towards growth. If you do not fit in this formula, your competitors will devour your market share.
As a SaaS company, you need to pursue a different set of rules and best practices. Many strategies are tried & tested, but the market is dynamic and you cannot completely rely on the old-growth tactics.
We have drafted a few SaaS marketing & growth strategies, which you can deploy to get success in today’s market scenario.
1. Emphasize on Customer Storytelling
Stories have a huge influence in shaping our brains and as a business, you should take advantage of it. Customer storytelling has become a great tool to grow your SaaS business.
A 2017 report by Demand Gen states that 78% of the business-to-business decision-makers come to a conclusion after going through customer stories and case studies.
Prospects can relate to potential customer stories, which persuades them to close the deal with you. Case studies can be deemed as strong bedrock to win more customers as they are looked upon to increase your completion rate significantly.
They also play a major role in customer engagement as prospects can relate with the users like them and become your next new user.
Case studies help prospects to see their reflection in customers’ shoes. It strengthens their trust in your brand reading how you have helped other people.
Case studies are useful at every stage of your sales funnel and help in increasing your content strategy’s ROI.
2. Provide Free Trials to Your Prospects
Almost every customer you come across wants to try your product before buying. A report by Accenture claims that around 75 million millennial population possess annual purchasing power of almost $600 billion.
It is expected that by 2020, the millennial population is likely to spend about $1.4 trillion per annum.
Attracting a more millennial population may translate into rapid business growth. To attract millennials, offering a free trial of the software is a great strategy at your disposal. Free trials also assist in keeping your email marketing campaigns running.
You can keep edifying prospects with the benefits and values of your software. You can offer exclusive offers to your prospects to extend free trials or buy your subscription plan at a discount.
3. Implement Content Marketing Strategies
You might have heard that content is the king. In today’s scenario, it really plays like a king. Content strategy can be expedient for almost every type of business operating in any market.
People mostly search for something they want on Google and here you can bring in your content strategy in the play.
Plan a robust content marketing strategy so that you can be visible to the people searching for solutions online. Map out SEO strategies for your content and be patient.
If you are visible in the relevant searches then you are bringing in high intent traffic, which can expeditiously push the growth of your SaaS business.
4. Take On Subscription Models
For attracting customers, free trials are great magnets. But your business cannot earn from free trials only. For initiating sales, a pre-planned subscription strategy must be present.
Make it available on your website so that every user can see all your subscription models and opt for the best-suited one.
People have become even smarter now. They don’t need a salesperson to persuade them to buy a subscription plan.
If they like the software, they themselves switch to the paid subscription from a free trial. It has exempted the need for employing a salesperson to lure prospects for switching from free to a paid version.
5. Opt For a Profitable Referral Program
Many B2B organizations have employed referrals programs at their disposal. If you plan a worthwhile referral program, you can produce a win-win situation for you.
The companies having profitable referral programs are likely to have higher sales, fewer acquisition costs, and more connected sales and marketing teams.
Try to sketch a referral program that can offer value to your customers and more revenue to you. Attract customers by offering them points for each referral. Allow them to use these points as credits for their future purchase.
You can also offer them more points for a higher subscription referral. Also, try to stand out from the competition and present bonuses in such a way that they look more profitable than your competitor’s offerings.
6. Jump Into Influencer Marketing
Another tactic that has been proved to be successful for B2B businesses is influencer marketing. A trusted person recommending your software to the audience leaves a remarkable impact and channelizes your business.
Influencer marketing is considered to be costly, but reality has something different wrapped in it. Influencer marketing doesn’t cost you much and returns are quite high.
You can grant access to a free version of your software to the influencer. Let the influencer try and understand your software. Allow the influencers to promote the product in their way because they know their audience better.
Keep your relationships with your influencers sustained by sharing their content on your social media channels.
7. Keep An Eye On The Reviews on Websites
Before buying any product in the B2B market, people first prefer to go through a review portal. Personal recommendations are very influential but social proof has a different impact on prospects’ minds.
These review portals help prospects to make a buy decision by collecting ratings & reviews from users. The more positive reviews you have, the more business you will attract.
From your end, you can collect those reviews from different websites and make improvements in your software.
You can also ask for an honest review from your customers, sometimes in exchange for a gift card.
Moreover, review portals also backlink your website, while sharing a review about you, which boosts your overall SEO.
8. Plan A Supportive Sales Process
Today’s users are very smart as they try to find a solution on the internet first by themselves. But should you let them do it on their own? No. Bring in your sales team to assist the users with the features and functionalities of your software.
You can connect with your users using calls, messages & emails, and ask if they are facing any problem. Send customized messages to your users to make them feel valued. Plan a robust onboarding process because the journey of a user with you starts from there.
9. Map Out A Robust Social Media Strategy
Almost everyone is on social media today and you should benefit your business from it. The presence of everyone has made social media a great place to ask for feedback. You can see what people are talking about your brand and if it is negative, you can make improvements.
Addressing the issues faced by your users is an important aspect of growth. Collect the data from social media and restructure your SaaS product model to answer the needs of your audience. When you quench the demands of customers, your business is more likely to touch new heights.
10. Try Price Optimization
There is no ideal SaaS Pricing Model for every company. You need to keep experimenting with your SaaS models. The market is dynamic and changes are frequent here.
You should also try price optimizing your product price because a constant price for a long time can be one of the reasons that your product is not getting enough traction from the audience.
You can try with a price drop and see what happens. If your product starts getting traction after a price drop, which means your product was overpriced.
If you still don’t get enough business, you should try optimizing features of your software. Compare your product with competitors and experiment with the peculiar features that they offer.
One more tactic that you can try is offering external features and add-ons at the same price. Present it in a way that customers are getting more at a lesser price. This method can also bring you more business than your competitors.
Conclusion
There you have it, all the 10 true and tested SaaS growth strategies planned as per the modern market. You just need to take a step forward and adopt these strategies to thrive.
Even the slightest change can take your business towards the peak. A different mindset can make you stand out of the competition and leave a profound impact on your SaaS business growth.
Sketching out SaaS growth strategies can serve you a set of unique challenges. You just need to understand them, plan a sturdy approach, and take a leap.
As a growth marketer, you will have to keep looking for new growth hacks to drive your SaaS business. But, the above-mentioned strategies are likely to help you in the long run.
