SaaS businesses are lucky enough to have customers who are mostly consistent monthly subscribers. But how do you build that customer base and establish a strong MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) to drive your business? To grow and maintain profitability, you must provide high-quality services and develop a bond of trust with customers. You can use MRR/ARR to plan your investment in additional features, hiring, and subscriptions such as CloudZero and ProfitWell.

Today, every niche has several businesses operating within it; that’s why competition gets tougher by the minute. So, if you really want to stand out, it’s important to prioritize trust and establish it as early as possible. One way to do this is to find a top SaaS marketing agency to help your business grow.

I’m going to talk about growth hacks that businesses are using these days. These hacks, based on customer satisfaction and user engagement, help increase sales and improve your chances of building a sustainable business.

When it comes to customers, listen and act!

You could be a hard worker with your product/service, do lots of in-depth research on the industry, but none of it matters unless you pay attention to your customers. This helps you develop effective business plans and strategies that drive greater profitability and sustainability.

It’s best to listen to your customers and ask for their advice so you can understand whether their needs are being met. This technique applies to all kinds of businesses and keeps existing customers loyal and closer to your brand. But the interesting part is that you can build brand awareness and attract more customers by incorporating constructive criticism and improving your product. Before you know it, existing and new customers will become brand advocates with positive feedback about your product/service.

That’s why I love ClickDesk. They continuously listen to customers via their chat app and incorporate improvements and additional features based on that feedback. Almost every customer communication tool out there offers ClickDesk integration. It has shown to be user-friendly with Google Analytics, Unbounce, Zendesk, and MailChimp; these extensive integrations have been a huge factor in their consistent growth.

Blog, blog, and blog a little more

SaaS business owners should ensure that their blogs contain relevant, up-to-date content. It should be high-quality content in your niche that answers questions other entrepreneurs are trying to answer. If your blog has sufficient content, you’re sure to inspire others to share such information within their circle. The more your content is shared, the wider the potential reach to attract new customers.

Why is blogging important? This isn’t the 90s, when a team of sales reps called a list of phone numbers to pitch a product and get a few sales. In today’s world, when selling a product, it’s necessary to inspire and encourage people to convert into paying customers. Blogging is the most convenient and viral way to inspire an audience!

The BuzzStream Blog is my personal favorite, even though it’s not as popular as Moz.com. An intriguing aspect of BuzzStream is that it addresses industry-relevant questions; this attribute helps a targeted audience stick around and eventually become a paying customer. Have a look at the blog yourself!

UI and UX are as important as functionality

 From personal experience, UI and UX are almost as important as the SaaS tool’s functionality. Ask yourself this: Why would a user stick with your tool if its features aren’t working or it creates problems from time to time?

The same answer applies to design and user experience. If the functionality of your tool is superb but the UI and UX are ‘not so good’, users will most likely choose their second choice to meet their needs, even if they signed up for a trial account with you.

A few years back, I did some consultation for a rank-tracking tool called Rank Watch. The tool was perfect at that time, but their website lacked a good user experience and, hence, struggled. Today, they are well-established, and one of the main areas the business adjusted was its UI and UX. Once they made strategic tweaks, their user base began to grow.

Remember, your customers are the most important people in your business’s life. You should always think of them first. No customer wants a clumsy interface or a painful user experience, so spend the necessary time and energy on UI and UX. Once you provide customers with a seamless user experience, they will stick with you and may possibly promote you online with positive reviews. All the credit goes to an enjoyable, smooth user experience you’ve built into your SaaS app.

Build and manage a community: Let’s get together

We all know that building a community around your product is important, but a remarkably small number of SaaS businesses do so successfully. SaaS businesses should especially have an active community around their brand. This can include existing customers and new potential customers. This helps you expand the brand’s reach to a new audience and encourages potential customers to become paying customers. Last but not least, it gives current paid customers a good reason to upgrade. A community shows you care. Sometimes, new and existing customers need that warm fuzzy feeling.

Moz.com is one of the few SaaS businesses that get it right when it comes to community! They’ve built a strong community of brand advocates around them and are now a number one marketing tool for almost every type of small business.

I cracked into Moz.com’s community a while ago; read this article to learn more about building and managing a community around your brand.

Social Media: A tweet a day makes customers stay

SaaS businesses aim to retain customers and increase their customer base to build a profitable business with a strong MRR. When discussing this, I think it’s vital to acknowledge the significant role social media plays in customer engagement.

Nobody talks to logos and call centers these days!

Nowadays, people want real human communication with companies and businesses. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram encourage interactions, questions, and updates between companies and customers. They provide a platform to approach customers and connect with them every day.

If your brand name constantly pops up in their news feed or timeline, you will surely stay in their minds. Never forget to make a presence online! Consistency is the key to staying relevant online.

Here is another example. SEMRush.com runs its social media quite efficiently. Not only do they tweet, but they’re quick to respond and follow up in Twitter chats, too. Follow them right now and get a good sense of how to use social media for a SaaS company.

Add Gamification to it!

Recently, I’ve written about gamification, and I strongly believe that it’s the secret ingredient to retaining customers. If you add gamification within your system, your customers won’t get bored and are more likely to visit again rather than turn to other alternatives.

Tree House is a great example of adding gamification within systems. It motivates users to return, so they can share awards and badges with the rest of the world. This helps promote your brand and encourages potential customers to become paying customers!

Where do I add gamification to the system? Before coming up with an answer, go out there, understand your customers, and identify reasons they’d come back. Once you’ve concluded these points, you can make decisions.

There’s also gamification for sales teams. All-in-one sales and marketing automation apps like Agile CRM make it easy and affordable for SaaS startups to gamify sales efforts with leaderboards and email reports. My clients who use CRM for sales gamification often report learning a lot about their customers by encouraging competition and collaboration among their sales reps. A high-pressure environment demands that sales pros find the hottest leads and learn how to pitch their product to specific user personas.

Get one step closer!

One step closer? Yes, exactly! The competition is tough. If you are not the first name on your customers’ minds, you probably aren’t the first choice either. The idea is to get one step closer to customers and remind them about your brand name!

Many brands are doing this through multiple means, such as conferences, training programs, webinars, and more. Even businesses with tight marketing budgets can achieve it.

Get reliable webinar software and invite the speaker. All you have to do is promote this on as many avenues as possible. You don’t need thousands to attend, and you can start small!

There are other ideas, too, but the one mentioned above is the easiest and fastest for small setups. This way, you can retain customers and spread brand awareness, plus in the long run, you’ll see increased profitability. SaaS might be a struggle, but it’s also immensely fulfilling (and financially rewarding). Connecting with your customers is the first step in building a successful brand!

Frequently Asked Questions