9 Steps to Improve Your SaaS Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate for SaaS

Generally, the conversion rate for SaaS companies is the percentage of users who become paying customers. A good SaaS conversion rate is nearly 3-5%, while a strong conversion rate would be higher than 8%.

This benchmark is a good reference point, but you should focus on your conversion rates and what optimizations are needed to achieve your specific goals. 

1. Website Conversion Rate

Website conversion rate reflects the percentage of site visitors who perform the desired action (ideally, you should measure qualified leads). That could include such conversions as viewing the pricing page or signing up for a demo.

One of the best practices is to focus on a single website conversion goal, as it allows you to evaluate if you are meeting your conversion goals and revenue.

Tip: If your website doesn’t attract enough conversions, it makes sense to optimize your page for higher CR and take a look at Conversion Rate Optimization tools.

2. Free Trial Subscriber Conversion Rate

It’s obvious that a free trial user is much more valuable than a site visitor. This person is an active user as he/she has taken action toward the product. If your customer processes and onboarding email sequence are effective, this person is likely to become a paid subscriber. 

Tip: To increase the chances of free trial users becoming paid customers, you should communicate expectations clearly throughout the trial period and make it easy to upgrade or downgrade.

3. Conversion Rate For SaaS Products With a Long Sales Cycle

SaaS conversions are difficult to track if the business sells enterprise products and a sales process is long. For example, if the annual contract is $100,000, the site can’t complete the selling funnel without a sales team. In this case, the conversion rate optimization will focus on generating qualified leads. You should consider tracking marketing qualified leads (MQLs), sales qualified leads (SQLs), and other metrics.

How to Improve Your Conversion Rate

1. Identify Customer Journey Touchpoints 

First, you need to identify the steps that your users make to become paid customers, i.e. their customer journey. Once you know it, figure out measurable metrics for each stage and prioritize them. Now you know what is important to track, and you can set up KPIs. Check out our useful guide on how to set up your SaaS KPIs the smart way.

2. Set Up Proper Targeting and Lead Scoring

You will be optimizing your landing pages and onboarding process endlessly and unsuccessfully if your traffic is low-quality. That’s why having relevant targeting is a must for an effective workflow and a broad holistic effort towards reaching the same goals. As an option, you can have customized landing pages for different demographics.

3. Choose the Relevant Marketing Channels 

Pick one or two marketing channels where your target audience can be reached at a reasonable price. Your customer acquisition rate will increase if you get more qualified leads at the top of the marketing funnel.

4. Make The User Experience Easy

Offering a great user experience is one of the most important steps in attracting paid customers. If you sell a complex product, involve customer success in the onboarding process. This point is especially critical if you are using a low-priced or free trial offer.

5. Offer Calls or Meetings for Customers

Online meetings and calls are one of the most effective communication types. If you don’t have a huge customer base yet, you should think about getting on the phone with them. Offer meetings to map out your customers’ problems. Once you understand their concerns, you can help them to achieve better results using your software. Also, calls are a great way to collect information about any technical issues and work out the problems, as nobody wants to have a dysfunctional product.

6. Tailor The Trial Strategy

There is no doubt, trials are the best option to convince the potential customers to purchase your product. Each SaaS requires specific features for a trial period – like short or long, free or paid, with a credit card, or without a credit card. However, you can think about different options as well. For example, offering users two or three extra days if you see they are using your product actively. This time may help them see more value, and you can contact them to finish the sale.

7. Work on Your Email Marketing Conversion Rate

During the trial period, a user is starting to learn your product from scratch, so it is a great idea to send emails with helpful content. For example, short step-by-step videos on how to set up a program or complete tasks in the product. Send personal emails and don’t overload the audience with corporate information, rather think about what is essential for a new user.

8. Use Customer Reviews

Reviews, testimonials, or customer references – any social proof makes your SaaS offering look more convincing in the eyes of the prospective customers. The market has shifted to “people like me” trust, while trust in advertising has decreased. That is why the reviews and testimonials are brilliant to prove to potential customers the brand is worth trying. You can use testimonials prominently and strategically on the website and in various sales and marketing communications.

9. Try A/B Testing the Pricing Page

Your pricing page is a powerful point where a buying decision is made, but a badly designed pricing page may be a reason for low conversion rates. Test various pricing pages to determine the ones which convert best.