One of the most obvious digital trends in recent years is that some software applications are already “webified.” This simply means that instead of installing a piece of software into your computer, you can simply log on to a website and utilize the capabilities of the browser-based software applications you can find therein.
Truly, SaaS companies are now very prominent all over the internet that the competition is becoming stiffer and stiffer each time. In that regard, you have to come up with some innovative ways of marketing your software services. Here are 5 ways that you can learn and take advantage of.
Never stop your cold email outreach efforts.
People won’t visit your business establishment or bother to check out your products if they don’t know your business exists. Advertising is, of course, the best way to make yourself known. But apart from the traditional advertising that happens in social media or various publications, advertising via cold emailing is also a great marketing tool.
“Cold email outreach has proven to be an effective strategy in the past and most likely remain as such for years to come”
Since the concept lies in reaching out to people that you have no prior engagement with, it truly does require you to pour in a great amount of effort. If you have already started doing it, you should continue and improve on your methods. If you haven’t done it yet, then you should make the move already.
Training your staff to handle cold email campaigns would be a great option, or you could hire an agency that specializes in doing the job for you. Either way, reaching your clients through cold emails should be conducted, improvised, and continued as your SaaS business grows over time.
Regardless of how established your brand has become already, you must never undermine the power that cold email outreach can offer. It has proven to be an effective strategy in the past and will most likely remain as such many years to come.
Emphasize the promotion of your trial version.
When you aggressively urge people to buy your products immediately, the chances of getting rejected will be very high. It is the reason why many software companies, including those that don’t belong to the SaaS category, always include a trial version of the products they sell.
Telling about the greatness of your software applications might be a good thing, but letting the clients try it for themselves would be even better. Your products can surely give the best testament as to how effective they are when put to actual, practical use.
But how long should a trial period be? According to experts, it should not be longer than 15-days, but not shorter than a week, or 5 days. Of course, this highly depends on the kind of software service you’re offering, or on the nature of the business your clients own. Either way, don’t make your trial periods too long that your clients might exploit your generosity, or make them too short that the true efficiency of your software’s features could not be seen by those who tried them.
Make your demos value-centered.
If you’ve been in the SaaS business for quite some time, you should have already figured out that conducting demos is one of the best ways to boost your prominence. But if there is one trait that your demos should contain, it should be conciseness – the kind that emphasizes the value or benefits of your products.
While explaining the features and capabilities of your products might be one of your top priorities, you should not treat them to be more important than explaining the benefits that your clients can get. Technically, they can be seen as the same thing. However, they could have different impacts from the perspective of the clients.
If you focus too much on the complexities of your software’s features, some customers might get alienated since many of them might not be too knowledgeable about digital technology. But if you focus instead on the value or benefits that your SaaS business can give, the clients might be even more convinced since they would discern your sincerity in helping them grow their businesses.
Be extra careful in giving prices and discounts.
People love it when they’re given discounts and when they are offered products at very low prices. Making your products very affordable to a huge number of people is a very smart strategy. But great care must be executed along with it. Business psychologists have the understanding that when you make your products’ prices very cheap, people might think they are "low-quality or sub-standard."
It is the reason why you should work on the quality of your software services and put it on the highest level that it can reach. If you set your prices to be very high yet they can show that they are worth it, then the customers would have no complaints since they are getting their money’s worth.
Reach out to your subscribers personally.
When people subscribe to you, then do the very best that you can so they will not unsubscribe. The best way to handle this is to reach out to them personally, as much as you can. This would require a great workload on you and your staff but then, it would be the ultimate strategy you can execute to make your clients stay in touch.
Reaching out to them doesn’t mean you have to send them emails every day. That would be too annoying for them, and too burdensome for you. Calling them once, and checking them out once in a while through personalized emails should be good enough. If there are new users who signed up to you, some of your staff should call each person immediately, or send them a message as to how you might help them further.
Just make sure that once you have a grip on your clients, you must not let them fall into the hands of your competitors.