How do you generate 370 monthly leads for your Enterprise SaaS product without spending a dime on marketing? Well with the same technique as I got you to start reading this post – using a highly-targeted message. But the message must follow through with delivering value for the user.
Exactly two months ago, I wrote a LinkedIn post celebrating the Beta launch of our SaaS product. And today, we finish February (the shortest month of the year) with 370 leads in the pipeline. My team accomplished this by meticulously following the steps outlined below.
Use the MVP path to optimize your message
During our initial dev-cycle, we were lucky enough to have a few large clients use our SaaS tool. This not only helped improve our UX, but also refine our messaging points. I paid close attention to:
- Who was giving us feedback (to develop our Personas)
- What their pain point was (understand intrinsic motivation)
- Why it mattered (qualify the business value)
This approach helped me define a message that was semi-tested on an Enterprise market – even before we had a decent product out the door.
Content while you Code
The launch strategy relied on content marketing. After all, our SaaS tool optimizes content for Search and Social propagation – so it was right up our alley. But we didn’t wait for the product launch to start blogging.
Instead, we worked content in parallel with development. By the time we’d a beta product ready, our blog was organically bringing in thousands of interested eyeballs to the site.
Invest in SEO
Take the time to optimize your content – dont rely on the “Build and they’ll come” mentality. Do continue to write engaging, and useful content but take the time to optimize it for Search.
This is extremely important at the start when people don’t know you. So make it easier for them to find you though search by making Google your best-friend.
This came naturally for us since SEO is part of our tool. But it still took a lot of effort from my team to get it done right. Currently, more than 80% of our new visitor traffic comes from organic searches.
Analysis without the Paralysis
We quickly learned to identify key metrics that were important at each stage of our business. For example, at the early stages, we were looking at how long it took users to create reports, as a way to simplify our UX.
Now we look at how long users spend reviewing reports, as a sign of what widgets they find useful. We learned to quickly identify metrics that help solve our current bottlenecks.
So don’t get bogged down by meaningless data. Use the analytics to create clarity, rather than cause confusion.
Devil is in the Details
Go the extra mile – obsess about your UX, messaging and conversion experience. It’s these little things that help squeeze more out of your product. And be diligent and systematic in your approach.
For example, we have a highly successful landing page that we created using our tool (yes, our SaaS product optimizes landing pages). And we were already getting an exceptional conversion rate, but the team took the time to make several new versions. We tried different images, headlines, and CTAs. Our current version gives us tremendous value in converting organic traffic to qualified leads.
Apply the Golden Rule
Treat your users with respect – the same way you’d like to be treated. This means, there are no tricks to getting demos or signups. Just create simple conversion paths with clear messaging and set the right user expectations. Deliver on what you promise – without any gotchas.
But this doesn’t mean you can’t be creative in your approach. For example, we started to use the following demo request form. It’s human-oriented and puts the customer first. Instead of having sales-driven form fields, ours is more conversational.
Do your Homework
I strongly believe that the onus is on me – not my visitors to engage.
This translates to a simplified lead-capture form. We removed obsolete information in our forms. Instead, we developed smart-logic to automatically determine lead classification. Now we can automatically learn what vertical they are in, the size of the company, the important company contacts and much more.
If visitors take the time to fill out a form on our site, I want us to be fully prepared when engaging with them. We owe them this level of professionalism.
Sneak Peeks give better Quality
I’ve purposely designed our login page that gives a “sneak-peek” of the app in the background. You’d be surprised how it improves the quality of leads we get from this. It gives a feeling of you’re “almost there” to the user. It motivates them to take the action to convert.
Market your SaaS
These were the techniques that have worked for us, but we still have a long way to go. I strongly encourage you to try these in marketing your SaaS product. Also feel free to share your past experiences in the comments below.
