Utilizing software and providing customers with the service have distinct aspects of business practices, particularly marketing. At its core, SaaS marketing holds the fundamental marketing principles to draw consumers and increase revenue. But, it must be considered differently and is worthy of special attention as it cannot be accomplished by using methods and rules that are already familiar to marketers. Saas operates on a completely different approach to business. Saas is primarily a part of the digital age and draws its inspiration from marketing in the digital age.
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What is SaaS Marketing?
SaaS marketing is a type of marketing that’s designed to promote software-as-a-service products. The marketing strategy can benefit every SaaS company, including the subscription-based model, web-based software, and hosted software applications.
As SaaS firms sell products that are not tangible, SaaS marketing strategies such as trial offers and demos allow businesses to permit their clients to try the product before purchasing the product.
How can SaaS marketing be different from other types of digital marketing? Also, what are the particular marketing strategies for SaaS products? This guide can answer these concerns and many more. Let’s have a look.
Top 5 SaaS Growth Marketing Strategies, You Should Try in 2023
1. Feature Marketing Will Increase in Popularity
Feature marketing is a fashion that’s been in use for some time. However, it was less popular before then and is now becoming more streamlined. It is the term used to describe selling your SaaS product to find new customers through the continuous addition of additional features. Feature marketing not only provides new customers with reasons to hop on the party but also acts as an incentive for customers who are already to stay with you. To take advantage of this SaaS style in your business. You’ll need to constantly gather feedback from your existing customers to enhance your product. In the same way, product marketing, which most companies concentrate on, is a disaster. A report on Inc.com says that more than 30000 new products are released each year, but 90% still need to be successful. Another report from McKinsey revealed that 90% of software and specifically SaaS firms fail when they grow at 20 percent or less. How can you keep the SaaS product from being a failure?
You could do this by adding new features to your product if the research of Salesforce believed that 69% of users anticipate new features for existing products by introducing new functions or improving existing features.
Furthermore, you will receive an in-depth content library to help your SaaS marketing campaigns with a silver plate. This allows you to focus on the latest keywords, increase your site’s SEO, and provide the chance to gain new customers. The ability to turn your free users into paying customers, keep those already there and improve your overall revenues through features marketing. SaaS companies can also create tools and plug-ins to enhance the main SaaS product’s features. It is also known as unbundling. It’s the next thing on the list of SaaS marketing patterns.
2. Unbundling Strategies Will Help Improve Conversions
Unbundling SaaS services involves tearing the main product into tiny pieces to address the specific issue of users. Many VC funds agree that unbundling is crucial to making cutting-edge SaaS products that fit perspective customers’ usage scenarios. As one of the most innovative SaaS marketing strategies, Unbundling can be a fantastic method to allow SaaS marketing to reach out to its target audience with a simple and concise message focusing on solving certain issues. Marketers can identify clearly defined issues that their audience confronts, provide clarity about the best solutions available, and reduce the risk of failure. If you understand the ideal customer is much simpler to convince them to like or even appreciate your product and boost conversion.
For example, users utilize Excel/Spreadsheets to do various things, including tracking their finances and task management, CRM, etc. Many other businesses have bundled Excel into specific SaaS instruments that provide more worth and can solve a specific issue more effectively. The more targeted and specific your SaaS products are, the greater chance you’ll improve your conversion rates. It is possible to offer a variety of choices for customers to choose the products that are not bundled based on their requirements. In this way, customers aren’t required to look through an endless amount of useless information which isn’t relevant and could turn them off.
In addition, you can develop “How-to” guides, instructional webinars, videos, or other customized content to inform your customers about the unbundled SaaS offerings. It will also help the effectiveness of your SaaS content marketing efforts and increase conversions by 2023.
3. Aspirational Selling in Branding Will Be Essential
There are many advertisements for sales that marketing firms put out. What separates the smart marketer from others is that they market items, not just aspirations. Smart marketers understand that customers buy something based on something other than its quality. They choose to purchase it in response to the emotion and hopes these products can bring to them. When Marc Benioff started Salesforce, the company launched a “No Software” campaign, which helped get the word around.
Salesforce’s cloud-based delivery platform could differentiate itself from others because Salesforce solutions didn’t require an installation on the premises. Salesforce didn’t sell any software. They were only selling their dreams (as in “Aspire To”) to their ideal clients looking for a better future.
Simply put, Salesforce targeted their prospects with their aspirational identities to convince them they must have Salesforce products to progress professionally. This indicates how the traditional approach to marketing your SaaS product has to be changed.
The key is to dive deeper to understand how you draw out the emotion of your customers’ ideal buyers while informing the customers about your product. It is important to ensure they are purchasing something other than software or a product that is just another one and should think they have aspired and are keen to see your product become the top within their industry.
As the year progress, the goal of your business should not be to sell another SaaS product but to promote aspirations. Integrating aspirational sales into your budget for branding will be important in 2023. This is when the SaaS content marketing company can help you out. However, some aspects must be considered before hiring a SaaS marketing company in 2023.
4. The Optimization of Customer Retention will be Prioritized.
Getting new customers, particularly within the SaaS sector, can take time. In the past, offering the most comprehensive brand experience and experience was the most important factor in maximizing customer retention. In one report on customer experience, 90% of participants said they would be more likely to purchase after having a pleasant customer experience. Yet, the average SaaS company spends 92% of its initial contract’s value on new customer acquisition. There needs to be a significant discrepancy between expectations from customers and the level of satisfaction. Customers expect brands to offer satisfaction to remain loyal, while companies attempt to attract new customers.
The importance of a positive customer experience, especially in SaaS businesses that generate approximately $1 billion in revenues and can anticipate earning another one billion dollars. This staggering amount suggests SaaS marketers must improve their retention rates with customers. One way to do this is by ensuring they provide a pleasant customer experience, then turning a bad customer experience into a positive one. It will increase customer satisfaction and boost revenue overall.
The most effective way to improve the customer experience is to make yourself present and be able to assist whenever they need it. Social media can be a good starting point. Twitter and Instagram are among the most frequently utilized channels for customers to contact businesses for answers or resolve issues. You should be active on these platforms. This can help enhance the customer experience and also keep them to make your business double.
5. Use-Based Pricing Strategies Are Supposed to be Adopted
Not least, one of the most important SaaS trends in marketing is the use of an ad-hoc, use-based pricing strategy. In addition to other aspects that affect pricing, it is a key element that directly influences customers’ buying choices. Pricing is the biggest influencer for your company. It’s a thing that is constantly reevaluated for making changes by adopting the pricing model based on usage. Based on a research report, SaaS companies spend only 6 hours over their existence on formulating pricing strategies. This can be a challenge because many attributes and variables constantly change prices, even when you use the pricing model based on usage. Factors such as new rivals, changing technology, and much more pop up each day, decreasing the perceived worth of your SaaS product.
The most recent instance to think of is Netflix. Its streaming service has cut costs in certain Asian regions due to intense competition and lower earnings. Therefore, if Netflix were to continue its current market, it would have to grow its customer base, and the only way to achieve this was to cut prices on its streaming service. This isn’t saying you should cut the price of your SaaS services as Netflix did, but instead, improve it according to what you’re offering. The article from Profitwell about price adjustments states that businesses using subscriptions must get caught up to as high as 30% growth since they must still optimize their prices.
Therefore, SaaS companies should ensure that their pricing is always in line with the constantly changing value equation and they’re making maximum profits by 2023 and beyond.
Conclusion
If you’re a SaaS marketing manager or founder, you must stay up-to-date with the latest SaaS marketing trends to benefit from them in 2023. With a greater focus on native ads and video marketing, an unbundling strategy, aspirational sales, and feature marketing, 2023 will likely be one of the best years for the SaaS sector.
AI/ML, branding experience development, a more customer-centric approach, and the use-based pricing model will significantly optimize customer retention. Therefore, keep watchful for a glimpse of the SaaS marketing trends that are expected to explode by 2023.
