19 Killer Strategies To Keep Users Paying For Your SAAS Solution in 2021

When users fail to derive the full benefits of a SaaS solution, they get worried and eventually cancel their subscription. It is particularly important to motivate users to engage with the software in the right way. Moreover, it is very crucial to identify customers pain points to give the right value. 

In this article we will be covering all you need to know about strategies to keep users paying for your SaaS solutions in 2021.   

1)Try Before They Buy:

A recent study found that 44% of B2B SaaS companies offer a free online trial, 41% offer a free 30-day trial, and 18% offer a 2-week free trial. No one likes to enter into an agreement without looking at the house or do a trial run of the car, or get a demo of a new vacuum cleaner. This applies to subscription-based solutions too. Many providers still provide no commitment, cancel any time even without entering credit card information trial period. If your business is a new into market and want to attract new customers soon this is a strategy that you don’t want to ignore. 

2)Solve a real problem:

Business run as they solve a problem in the customers life. Be it a dishwasher, a car, house or even a Netflix. They have a need of having their dishes clean, commuting safely, watching some series for entertainment etc. If we are not solving a real problem to the customer he may choose to stop his subscription some time down the line. Figure out what is the customer’s problem and address them in your package. This ensures your software is providing value to your customer. 

3)Deliver Value By Making Your Software Easy to Use:

A multi-billion dollar business is built around very easy to use user experience, yes you guessed it right. Its world-famous Apple Inc. They proved it to the world that simple products which solve their customer needs are the best-selling items. Design your product with simple to use yet delivering high value to your customers at the right time when they need. Your application will become most loved of all. 

4)Encourage Two-Way Communication: 

Everyone wants to be listened to their needs. So as a customer to his needs. Consumers want to build relationships with brands, more specifically, they want to feel valued and appreciated. This is why opening a line for two-way communication is extremely important. Listen to your customer’s concerns and needs, and identify what they are to say about your product or service.

Your customers are your first priority as they pay for your business to run. Send a personal email for new signed up users from a real human, on board them and follow up with them regularly. Let them respond to your newsletters. Let your customer service be receptible for the customer’s feedback. Your application will reach new heights if you listen to your customer.  

5)Make easy to connect to you: 

Reaching you shouldn’t be a hassle for your customers. Always ensure that they can contact you from their mobile app, website or even better a chat. A concern addressed quickly will make a high impact on customer satisfaction than anything. Respond to them in the stipulated time which is as per your service level agreements to keep a strong commitment towards your work. 

6)Create an experience not just an app:

 Its easy to create an app with help of a couple of developers. But to build an experience it needs several roles working in synchrony. Customer support team, backend management team, sales and marketing teams and the product development teams are to work in sync to make sure that your application is making what your customers want. Focus on building customer experience than just a technical solution in their hands.  

7)Use push notifications rightly: 

Push notifications are like medicines, use them rightly at the right time they work very well. Over using them can cause very bad experiences and even cause your customers to uninstall your app. Use it to send right information to the right customer at right time. They will love it. Don’t over send 10-15 notifications a day which makes a very annoying behaviour. You can choose to provide categories for your notifications which allow user to switch off or no that category of notifications. A user who is not interested in offers can switch off and only switch on critical notifications like One Time Passwords(OTPs), password rest notifications etc. 

8)Constantly improve new features: 

Rome isn’t built in a day. So is an excellent business. You may start your business by providing critical features to launch, but to continue in the market you will have to keep innovating and bring new features that are user-friendly, necessary and problem solving. Plan your features in each release and send the new feature’s release notes, training demos etc. in periodic way to keep your users engaged with your business. 

9)Provide referral bonus:

Who doesn’t like referral bonus. Let your customers bring their friends and family to your business and let them be rewarded for that. Giving them a extension in the subscription services or letting them to have access to your premium services for a while are few thoughts you can consider. Which business doesn’t want to have new customers at very low cost to acquire customer. 

10)Report the advantage they get by using your application: 

It is exciting to know that using a new fitness wearable that I am burning these many calories, having these much intake. How exciting it would be to let your customer understand the benefits of using your product. It could be as simple as that how much time he saves by this product, or how much comfortable your app is to use. If your customer understands your products and service value he won’t be lost any time soon. 

11)Choose right pricing model: 

Choose the right pricing model for your business. Few pricing models are pay as you go, flat rate pricing, tire based pricing, per user pricing, per feature pricing. Choose what fits right for you and give your users a couple of plans to choose from. This is very critical as this is how you are going to make money to run your business.  

12)Choose auto deduction of amount from user: 

This is one aspect which a saas business owner should emphasis upon. Many customers would like to auto deducted from their accounts by linking them their credit cards. Lack of this automated payment deduction you may have to follow-up with customers for payments, which you loose time that could be spent wisely on your other important aspects of your business. 

13)Rollout offers and discounts for yearly or bulk options: 

Who doesn’t like a long lasting customer with long term commitments? Offer your users for a long term contracts with yearly discounts. If there is a customer who loves your product it’s the right time to make him a long term customer by offering them yearly contracts or bulk purchase discounts.  

14)Negotiate while cancelling the plan: 

Some users may want to rollback even before their trial is complete. You may choose to show him the value you are bringing to the table. Let him understand what he is losing by not choosing this subscription. Ask him to check out other services that he haven’t had a change to look at. In many cases users will like to explore other options you have than just cancelling. Consider giving them some discounts if they feel if its expensive and still want to have your services of your business.  

15)Share positive stories and accounts from paying users: 

Some users will get encouraged to signup or extend their subscription based upon the user testimonials others had by using your product or service. Highlight them how your other users are benefited by using your solution. No better marketing tool than a customer testimonial to your business makes more impact on a new customer’s mind.

16)Unlock paid features for a limited time: 

I was surprised when we were in starbucks, India they were asking their customers to taste and give feedback on their new product lines. This is a way to make your customers get a taste of some of the features they never tasted about. Zoom Inc when there was huge demand on online conferencing solutions due to covid19 pandemic used to give their customers a free unlimited meeting for a limited time for their unlicensed customers. These will make your users to try out your new features and who knows some may become your paid customers too.

17)Your free plan is very generous: 

Your free plan should be a teaser to your free users so that they will choose to use your paid version of it. You choose the limitation in free plan, as you have right understanding of your business. If you are a cloud provider don’t provide generous storage space, if you are email marketing company don’t let your users send generous emails in free plan. This way users get to use your product as well are compelled to purchase subscription too. 

18)Moving to Mobile:

Having a mobile strategy for your business is a must in this era. Be it a non technical business like ecommerce or a tech business like project management tool. Everyone would like to have their work done on the go in this fast paced world. Make sure you have a mobile app for each of your use cases.  

19)Personalize User Experience: 

According to an Epsilon survey, 80% of respondents are more likely to buy from a company that offers a personalized experience. Personalize your communication, interaction and offers specifically to your user needs so that your turnaround time and conversion ratio is higher. Consider providing a white-labled application version of your solution under their name if it can increase customer satisfaction and retention.  

Conclusion 

In this extensive article we have tried to enlighten best tips for your saas solution in 2021. So,you want to keep your users from canceling their subscriptions,and deliver a seamless experience, you should undoubtedly implement all these strategies. 

Stay tuned with Saasro at www.saasro.com for your technological journey into saas. 

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