#52 - Write your SaaS Growth 📈

Welcome 294 Tech Founders and Marketers to the 52nd edition of Write your SaaS Growth Newsletter:

In this edition, we discuss:

• Content Marketing: 7-step process to generate leads for your SaaS

• Email Marketing: SaaS Email Onboarding flow template

• Growth Marketing: How to truly retain your SaaS customers

• SEO: Avoid these 3 SEO mistakes for your SaaS

• Social Media Marketing: 9-step SaaS audience-building crash-course

Let’s GO!

Growth Tip of the Week! 🚀

Anthony says:

• Retention is cheaper than acquisition

• Retention is cheaper than acquisition

• Retention is cheaper than acquisition

Content Marketing 📈

The end goal of content marketing is to bring leads and customers to your SaaS.

Kuba shares a 7-step process to leverage content marketing for lead generation:

1. Define Your Target Audience. Understand the pain points, desires, and challenges of your ideal customer. Target specific segments that your product/service can help.

2. Create Valuable Content. Create content that solves your audience's problems. Use various formats:

   1. Blog Posts

   2. Videos

   3. Infographics

   4. Case studies

   5. Podcasts

3. Create Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs). The goal of your content is to guide the reader to take further action. CTAs for lead generation include:

   1. Free trials

   2. E-Books

   3. Webinars

   4. Consultations

4. Optimize Landing Pages. The landing page must match your offer. Simplify the process.

   1. Clear headline

   2. Sub-headline

   3. Benefits

   4. Forms

5. Use Gated Content. Gated content requires a form to access. It's exclusive to those interested in the topic and generates more leads. Offering valuable content has a higher chance of engagement and sharing.

6. Nurture Leads. Gather email addresses and maintain consistent engagement with newsletter campaigns. Provide valuable content to stay top of mind and build trust.

7. Analyze and Refine. Analyze the performance of your content and adjust.

   1. Email open rates

   2. Click-through rates

   3. Conversion rates Refine strategy to maximize results.

Implementing this 7-step process sets up your content for lead generation success.

Related: How to do Customer Research for your SaaS Content Marketing

❤️‍🔥 Community Shoutout ❤️‍🔥

Our friend and member Stuart is does weekly research to send funded SaaS companies with SaaSyDB! You can discover new startups being funded or can also grow your marketing service business. Know more about SaaSyDB.

Would you like any of your product or marketing story to be featured in our upcoming newsletters with the community? Send me a DM on Twitter!

Email Marketing 📈

Email Onboarding flows for SaaS products will drive your users to become customers. I have seen this work for my own SaaS! Gives that extra nudge to your prospect to fill out card details and bring you a sale.

Muhib says an email onboarding flow is ESSENTIAL for every SaaS to activate & convert users. Here’s the framework to create a great one:

An email onboarding flow is a sequence of emails that automatically go out after a user signs up for a free trial or paid plan…

1. Welcome 

First impressions matter and you know it The initial emails are your opportunity to get the relationship started on the right foot And to show the user that you’re there to help them on their journey This builds trust and connection.

At this stage, I like to include the following in my emails:

• social proof

• how easy the product is to use

• success stories

Think about it like the first time you go out for coffee with someone It’s not too serious, but instead more fun and easygoing.

But remember, the ultimate goal is to use these elements to push users into the SaaS & start exploring Expert Tip → Many free trial users won’t log in. Send an inactivity email prompting users to enter to boost activation.

1. Activation

Once you’ve got started off on the right foot, it’s absolutely VITAL to activate users What does this mean? It means not only getting users into your platform to explore, but getting them to take actions that lead them to quick wins

You need to get them real, tangible results that prove your product solves their problem and is the very best Key tips to getting this right:

• Be the guiding light

• Give users simple & actionable steps

• Focus on 1 CTA per email

Do you see how when you get this right, even if the user is a complete idiot, they’ll still get quick wins?

Add case studies and social proof in the form of stories to further support activation. This excites users and makes them feel the NEED to use your product.

1. Conversion

At this point, the user has been exploring your platform and they’ve got some quick wins and real results… You’ve pretty much proved to them that you’re an easy solution to their problem.

Knowing these things, we can ASK for the sale (so many SaaS don’t even ask for it and miss out on tons of $$$) But before you jump into this… You MUST prepare users by dealing with their objections before they come up.

The goal is to reduce as much resistance as possible when asking for the sale I like to draft up a list of common objections, FAQs, and anything else your prospect will need to convert. This is your ammo And you’re going to throw these things into your “sales” emails.

You don’t need to be too direct, this is where copywriting and creativity run wild. Tell stories, evoke emotions, and follow the way your prospect is thinking to be there at every step.

Once you’ve built them up, send out an upgrade email Here are a few ideas:

• Upgrade now

• unlock XYZ features

• Your trial ends in X days

And the best part is, with the help of the onboarding flow, your users have built a strong relationship with you, got a ton of value + results from your product, and are HAPPY to pay you. This is just the tip of the iceberg on what goes into building onboarding flows.

Related: 5 types of email campaigns you can send for your SaaS

🆘 Community Chat of the Week: 🆘

Do you have an onboarding email system setup for your SaaS? How is it working for you? Leave a comment below:

Growth Marketing 📈

Customer success is a new industry. It is simply a partnership you have with your customer so you can get them a maximum ROI.

Ognjen studied over 50 hours worth of Alex & Leila Hormozi’s business advice and noticed a pattern. It can all be implemented in SaaS for massive growth.

Here are the 5 key takeaways you should implement in your SaaS startup:

1. Consistent tracking. Every time you log in to Instacart it shows you that you saved thousands of hours of grocery shopping. The same can be applied to your SaaS. Always track the ROI you generate for your customer. And show it to them. Consistently.

2. Pre & post-sale experience match. The end of a funnel isn’t when your customer opts in. It’s when they leave. Build an everlasting funnel. Give your customers something in return:

   1. VIP feature access

   2. Merch

   3. Discounts Make them feel like they're your best friend.

3. Time-to-value longevity. TTV is the time it takes for the customer to realize the value your product is bringing to their business Always aim to shorten it as much as possible. Example:

   1. New user onboards

   2. Immediate freebie they can utilize

   3. Reciprocity goes a long way

4. Never stop onboarding. A lot of effort is made in the onboarding process. The same effort should be put toward LTV (lifetime value).

   1. Host workshops

   2. Acquire feedback

   3. Listen to the pain points

   4. Then implement. Create a ‘day 1’ UX consistently.

5. Fill in the product gaps. Market shifts & changes. None of the above makes sense if you’re falling behind your competitors. Always speak to your users & fill in the product gaps based on their needs. YOU should be the constant shiny object in your customer's eyes

Related: How to acquire your early-stage SaaS customers?

🧰 Marketing Tech Stack to Add this Week! 🧰

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Engage, convert, and nurture your customers effortlessly with MooSend's robust features. From personalized drip campaigns to powerful automation tools, you'll have everything you need to deliver the right message at the right time. 🎯

Don't miss out on this opportunity to elevate your email marketing strategy. Experience the magic of MooSend and watch your conversions soar! ✨

SEO 📈

Vinay reviewed SEO strategy of 50+ SaaS products in the last 72 hours.

He found 3 SEO mistakes most SaaS products are making that are hurting their SaaS growth:

1. Content strategy isn't aligned with business goals. Your goals are to increase sign-ups & paid customers but, you've created most content around top-of-funnel. So, you get plenty of new visitors but hardly any conversions.

2. Existing assets aren't used to full efficiency. 80% of SaaS websites had incredible content that:But, It's just lying dead on a page receiving no shares or links.

   1. get more shares

   2. build more authority

   3. attract more links

3. Over 90% SaaS, don't utilize the existing backlinks properly. All SaaS websites had high authority links pointing to: However, No one was using it to rank their money pages by interlinking.

   1. homepage

   2. launch page

People say "SEO is dead". The truth is: over 70% SEO & content budget goes to waste. They can be getting 100s of extra sign-ups every month.

But their blindness to SEO strategy is costing them 6 figures+ in annual revenue.

Are you making these mistakes?

Related: 29 SaaS Link Building Tips from Experts to rank in SEO

Social Media Marketing 📈

Building an audience can grow your SaaS at a rapid pace. (both audience for your SaaS product or your personal brand). We’ve seen so many SaaS founders like Level, Tibo, Bhanu, Alex, etc. build an audience and scale their SaaS growth.

Tanmay shares 9 steps to build an audience at breakneck speed:

1. Profile optimization. Your profile is your resume.

   1. Banner – Visual version of bio

   2. Profile – Clean headshot with a smile

   3. Pinned thread –Personal story or case study

   4. Bio formula — I help X people (target audience) achieve Y (results) without Z (pain point). Nail it.

2. Niche You need to have core 3 pillars. 2 broad pillars to attract a general audience and 1 niche pillar to make money. In the personal branding world, the most common are:

   1. Writing

   2. Monetization

   3. Audience growth tactics. Settle on 2 and build authority around it.How this can be applied to your SaaS? It depends on what your SaaS does and who your SaaS if for. It’s a service for a specific audience so that becomes your target audience.

3. Target Audience. Your target audience is always people 2 steps behind you. So let's say you have:

   1. 1000 followers

   2. 100 newsletter subs

   3. $100 in digital product sales Then your target audience is: How this can be applied to your SaaS? If you’re building a SaaS for say cold emails, you wanna talk about cold emails and help people 2 step behind get started with cold emails.

      1. 100 followers

      2. No newsletters

      3. $0 sales in digital products

4. Attracting Audience It's the same way you make new friends. If you want to make ripped friends, hang out in the gym. Your target audience is hanging out in the comment section of big accounts. So:

   1. Make a Twitter list

   2. 10 valuable comments/a day

   3. Get profile clicks

5. Type of threads. Circling back to the target audience, you'll help them in 4 ways:

   1. Beginner frameworks to overcome X problem

   2. Borrowed credibility to go viral

   3. Curation of resources

   4. Personal stories. Keep your reader in mind every time.How this can be applied to your SaaS? This is where you can build in public. Share our story, how you built your SaaS and your daily lessons/struggles/wins.

6. Type of tweets. Solo-tweet is the best way to connect with your audience. You want to include them in the conversation.

   1. Personality – Jokes

   2. Inspirational – Milestones

   3. Vulnerability – Fear/regret

   4. Value – Actionable advice/resource. Create a sense of belongingness.

7. Create an offer/product. Anything that you needed/used 60 days ago is a potential offer. We're basically converting our past problems into systemised solutions with your SaaS.

8. Build Funnels It's the easiest way to find potential customers. Give them free value and gain their email and trust. Two good ways to do it:

   1. Auto DMs

   2. Free consultation Solve a problem from 7th point. Attach free product with a sign-up form for your email list.

9. Scale. Your product and consultation aren't perfect. So you need to:

   1. Collect feedback for your free product

   2. Spot common questions during the consultation

   3. Improve your offer and tackle a specific problem Repeat this forever.

Related: How does building an audience help your SaaS?

How can we help each other? 🥅

• Are you providing any marketing services to SaaS and tech companies? We’re vetting marketing experts to help SaaS companies hire specific marketers. You can apply here.

• Let me help you build a marketing strategy for your Tech Product. Know more

Thanks for reading! SaaSwrites is a humble attempt to help SaaS founders and marketers grow their SaaS.

See you next Saturday.

Ricky,

SaaSwrites

P.S. If you liked this edition, it would mean the world to us if you share it with your friends. :) Thank you in advance!