I believe that growing plants and witnessing the growth stages of a living thing is very peaceful. With the right touches you make, the plant you planted a short time ago can show rapid development.
Those who read the first two sentences might think they are reading a blog about growing plants. However, this article will definitely be about the SaaS customer journey. Every writer has a unique style and I like to write my posts with an unusual introduction! 🤸♂️
You can accelerate the growth of the plant you grow by using different drugs according to the seasons. Sometimes you have to make moves to protect it from insects. You really need to know which touches you will make at which stage.
The key to growing a healthy plant is to master the processes and make the right touches.
You want customers to purchase and use your product, keep the relationship going with them, and eventually recommend your product.
As in the growing plant example, you need to master the processes and make the right touches.
One of the best ways to build an effective customer journey is to understand your customer and take a close look at their entire SaaS customer journey through the lens of your business so that you can optimize it and get it right.
Now, if you’re wondering “what?!” take a short time with this article and witness the four stages of the SaaS customer journey up close!
What is the SaaS Customer Journey?
SaaS customer journey is the statistical and dynamic way that decides how you will efficiently communicate with your customer.
You are constantly working to pursue and retain content about your product, which shapes customers’ needs. The customer journey map comprehends the customer’s needs and indicates the best and most beneficial aspects of your development, company, and team by using an innovative system.
With the SaaS customer journey map, you solve the problems and establish healthy, modern, and active communication with your customer.
The 4 SaaS Customer Journey Stages
1. Awareness (Attract)
Awareness is the first phase of your SaaS customer journey. Users may be aware of your product in different ways. When they see a post about your product on platforms like Quora or Reddit, or thanks to the unique content you produce, they can make the first contact with your product.
Since the awareness step is the first point of contact between the user and the product, you must have a free trial version. In this way, your potential users will not only hear about your product but also have the chance to experience it!
How to Optimize the Awareness Stage?
By regularly optimizing your awareness process, you can ensure that this step works perfectly. Identify and fix difficulties your users are experiencing.
Don’t forget to share the things you fixed and the user-friendly features you developed on social media platforms. Progress is one of the things that can change people’s minds in a positive way, and if you want to reap the fruits of your work, let people know what you’re doing!
The Power of Ads
Ads are the best and most practical example of the Awareness (Attract) stage. Social media ads will be helpful and influential in gaining awareness. Today, Facebook and Instagram ads are the easiest way to grab people’s attention about your product. Seeing your product and its solutions in a familiar and accessible platform will directly convey your step forward.
The Showcase of Success
Similar products suffer from similar problems. You can show your happy customers and their case studies to attract visitors from the same industries. Case studies start to raise awareness at some point and you can use them as a showcase for other people suffering from the same problem.
2. Consideration (Experience and Convert)
At the consideration stage, customers are trying to determine whether a SaaS product is right for them. They will often look at reviews and case studies to get an idea of what other people have experienced with the product.
Once they have decided that the product is right for them, they will need to convert their trial into a paid subscription.
How to Optimize the Consideration Stage?
You can use relevant and intelligent content, product webinars, ebooks, or podcasts. The KPI for this stage is conversation rates, case volume, or signups to optimize the successful SaaS customer journey.
Free Ebooks
To convert customers at this stage, it is important to provide a great trial experience. The trial should be easy to sign up for and use.
You can give free access to the customers who are considering buying your product. You can conduct a survey after the free trial ends to collect data from their limited experience and provide them to experience extra details about your product.
Another crucial thing about a free trial you give them is that it should also include all of the features that the customer will need to see in order to make a decision about whether the product is right for them.
Once the customer has had a chance to use the product and see its value, they should be able to easily convert their trial into a paid subscription.
3. Decision (Purchase)
At this stage, the buyers cease to be SQL and become customers who have realized the deficiency, decided to buy, and want to solve it by making an explicit effort to get to know the product. They believe in the product and start using it. They begin to generate feedback about the product for you.
If possible, I recommend that you stay in touch with your users at this stage. A new user comes with a new perspective, and the feedback you gather guides you to areas where you need to improve. You must gather valuable insights by communicating with your users.
It is one of the lucrative and essential steps in collecting data in mapping after persuasion. Recurring revenue and churn emerge and become more critical at this stage in SaaS growth.
How to Optimize the Decision Stage?
Free trials, demos, testimonials, reviews, and case studies again play a crucial role at this stage to ensure that the buyer uses the product in the best possible way.
Clear Explanation
Time is the most crucial thing to grant for this step – therefore easy navigation. When the customer encounters your product, single sign-on to the system, well-informative pricing and plans, and a simple purchasing process will inevitably affect their decision for your product.
Offering Help
For the ones who purchased, you can follow their data and recommend some extra opportunities to create a profound bond between them and the product.
You can offer help, send e-mails or arrange meetings for the ones who haven’t decided to purchase your product yet.
Every move you try to add value to the user in the SaaS customer journey increases your chances of being recommended to different users. In addition to advertising and marketing efforts, your users recommending your product to other users is an example of effective natural advertising.
4. Retention (Long-Term Relationship)
The retention step is when you strive and reach the result of your effort in all phases. Since the thought of buying the product turns into the continuity of the product at this stage, many companies ignore this stage and can quickly lose their customers.
It is the most critical step that creates the continuity of the product. You follow the customer month by month and observe in detail whether the product meets the expectations if there is a deficiency or problem, how it can be corrected and continued, and the general issues and differences experienced by the customers.
How to Optimize the Retention Stage?
You can use in-App Messages, email campaigns, knowledgebase, training Courses, or NPS surveys to optimize this process. All this effort to stay in touch creates a healthy process for you and your customer to get to know each other better, and the buyer turns into a regular customer.
Personal Touch
The most reliable, supportive, and uplifting way is personalization for this step. A customized language in e-mail campaigns or content sharing will make your customer connected and updated to the product and news about it, so this will be a lucrative way for your development and data. Your initial attempt should be to create an enhancement and profound connection for your customer.
Conclusion
The SaaS customer journey enables you to establish integrative, up-to-date, and personal communication by capturing and thinking about every detail between your buyer and you. SaaS customer journey stages provide the best path to success while shedding light on how this process can be optimized for best progress.
Have you read our previous article? We recommend you take a look at Cloud-based Integration: 7 Cloud Integration Platforms and dive into the cloud!
