SaaS Sales - Why Customers Don't Pay After Trial
“We are not like everyone else! Our product is exceptional and unlike any other on the market! ”
“As soon as you try our product, you will definitely want to buy it”
“Our product is so good that it sells itself”
As a marketer working in the field of software development and cloud technologies (namely, RedHelper online consultant ), I am used to hearing these phrases every day. Any SaaS developer loves his product and is confident that this is what the market audience needs. But are SaaS owners often satisfied with sales?
Cloud developers are widely using the method that allows you to increase the number of sales, but at the same time reduce the sales process and even eliminate the manager from it. It is about using the free version - after all, customers are often ready to purchase the product immediately after the test. In this article we will examine 5 reasons why sometimes things are not as smooth as we would like.
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On the main page, in the top navigation bar or in several pop-ups that pop up on each cloud service site, in 90% of cases you will see a call: “Try our service for free!”. These words really need to read like this: “when you try our product, you will immediately want to buy it!”.
Sometimes, these words can be true - the service is so good and convenient that a customer, having tried it for a few minutes, will have time to evaluate the product and make a purchase. In such rare cases, the trial version is an ideal option to attract customers.
But many SaaS developers are faced with the fact that trial-version users of the product do not become clients: a large percentage of site visitors agree to install a trial version (and that’s great!), But not all of them are willing to pay to continue using the product (and this already sad).
The good news is that there are ways to increase the conversion from using the trial. Market research shows that the best-in-class SaaS developers convert up to 25% of trial users to actual customers. Let us examine five reasons why the trial does not bring payments.
The trial version seems to be a great way to interest the user when he is just introduced to the service, and to show the product in action. At first glance, some SaaS companies do this: users at every opportunity receive an invitation to "start using for free."
But let's dig deeper. Almost all successful companies use the site content to “enhance” the effect of their trial version. The content of their sites - in the form of blogs, videos, presentations - helps to stand out among competitors, which can not be. And the best way to attract potential customers at the stage of studying a product is to give them a “recipe” for solving a problem with the help of your service.
Without quality information support, you cannot convincingly argue why your product is exactly what a visitor needs. A powerful brand, a spectacular design and the use of SEO will help you to get some fame in narrow circles of those who are familiar with the market, but most likely these people will simply enlist you on a list along with your competitors. To increase the chances of using your product after the end of the trial period, customize your customers to this from the very beginning of their acquaintance with the product.
Conclusion: do not make a site consisting only of calls to action. Tell me more about the product.
Continuing the theme of the previous paragraph, we recall the idea-fix SaaS - a lot of quick payments. This principle returns the developers of such services to the beginning of the “consumer funnel” by default - the more users try the trial, the more people pay. That is why appeals to take advantage of the freebie are found literally at every step, on every page, in every sentence.
The disadvantage of this approach is that not every visitor is ready for this, even in the world of SaaS. Using this method, you lose the opportunity to describe your product and explain why customers need it. Yes, many visitors will install a trial version, but only a few will figure out how your product works, assess and understand whether it meets their needs.
Remember, your strategy requires adaptation at various stages of the buying decision cycle, and must take into account the fact that potential customers can pass it at different speeds.
Do not try to force everyone to try the product - remember that some users came to your site without a goal to find a paid solution to their problem, but only in search of information.
Such users require a special approach, with the expectation of a long-term perspective. Here we will talk about this in the next paragraph.
Conclusion: different clients will go different ways to the free test.
If you are ready to educate and engage potential customers while using the trial version of the product, email marketing should be one of your main tools. In fact, e-mail is one of the best ways to reach people before, on time and after a free trial period, so do not underestimate the power of communication through the Inbox.
Set up automatic mailing for the first few days to everyone who left their e-mail. For example, you can send them a few case studies or a short tutorial. And after that, send a letter with an appeal to try the free version.
Those users who have already installed the trial version will not have one letter written in the “Welcome” style. Of course, throwing a bunch of spam at your customers is not worth it, it is advisable to do with 2-3 letters in the first week of using the product - this does not cause negative. In these letters, set out the features of your service to help the client get a positive result from using the trial version. Try to send practical recommendations and tips that will stimulate customers to appreciate your product.
Conclusion: use e-mail to push users to test the free version and to keep them after it ends.
This is the point at which you may have to face the unpleasant truth and the question - will your product be really good enough to sell itself. A large percentage of refusal to purchase a product after using the trial version may be caused by the fact that people simply do not see the opportunities that your service could provide. As a result, their interest decreases, and the need remains unsatisfied, and a separate study of such users is required on the part of the manager-seller.
In addition, it may happen that your service has a cool feature that really "hooks" customers as soon as they find out about it, but it is not available in the free version. Or, for example, someone fails to take advantage of the trial in the existing conditions.
And the solution is very simple - show your product to the visitor. This approach ensures that users have the opportunity to learn about the functionality of your product before they refuse to purchase.
As an example, RedHelper’s online consultant . Almost every owner of a commercial site has searched the Internet for ways to increase conversion. But not everyone can set their own chat on your site. Therefore, next to the call to try the free version on the site there is a video that in a minute and a half tells about the main features of this service:
Conclusion: some users need to be shown what the product can do before they try it themselves.
A few weeks of trial have become standard in the SaaS industry, but trial versions should not have such a long lifespan, because not always a long trial period is interesting for users and gives the desired result.
In RedHelper, they noticed that of those who used a special promotional code for 45 days of extended trial, almost no one has acquired a license. Moreover, 95% of those registered by the promo code entered their personal account only during the first 5-7 days. Based on this study, RedHelper reduced the trial period from 14 days to 5, and sales not only did not fall, but began to grow!
This practice is explained quite simply - the user's involvement increases, if he knows that they have less time to sample the product, and the sales cycle, respectively, will be shorter.
If you are already using a multi-day trial version, examine the statistics and see how many people actually took advantage of the long trial period. If they came in during the first few days and then lost interest, then it may be worth reducing the trial period?
Conclusion: Do not do the trial for 30 days just because others do it. Analyze and track the term that really benefits.
Of course, we didn’t understand all the options, why the users of the free version didn’t want to switch to the paid version. All products are unique, and often the reason lies precisely in the service itself. We will only be happy if you share your experience in the comments!
“As soon as you try our product, you will definitely want to buy it”
“Our product is so good that it sells itself”
As a marketer working in the field of software development and cloud technologies (namely, RedHelper online consultant ), I am used to hearing these phrases every day. Any SaaS developer loves his product and is confident that this is what the market audience needs. But are SaaS owners often satisfied with sales?
Cloud developers are widely using the method that allows you to increase the number of sales, but at the same time reduce the sales process and even eliminate the manager from it. It is about using the free version - after all, customers are often ready to purchase the product immediately after the test. In this article we will examine 5 reasons why sometimes things are not as smooth as we would like.
')
On the main page, in the top navigation bar or in several pop-ups that pop up on each cloud service site, in 90% of cases you will see a call: “Try our service for free!”. These words really need to read like this: “when you try our product, you will immediately want to buy it!”.
Sometimes, these words can be true - the service is so good and convenient that a customer, having tried it for a few minutes, will have time to evaluate the product and make a purchase. In such rare cases, the trial version is an ideal option to attract customers.
But many SaaS developers are faced with the fact that trial-version users of the product do not become clients: a large percentage of site visitors agree to install a trial version (and that’s great!), But not all of them are willing to pay to continue using the product (and this already sad).
The good news is that there are ways to increase the conversion from using the trial. Market research shows that the best-in-class SaaS developers convert up to 25% of trial users to actual customers. Let us examine five reasons why the trial does not bring payments.
1. The visitor does not understand why you need your product.
The trial version seems to be a great way to interest the user when he is just introduced to the service, and to show the product in action. At first glance, some SaaS companies do this: users at every opportunity receive an invitation to "start using for free."
But let's dig deeper. Almost all successful companies use the site content to “enhance” the effect of their trial version. The content of their sites - in the form of blogs, videos, presentations - helps to stand out among competitors, which can not be. And the best way to attract potential customers at the stage of studying a product is to give them a “recipe” for solving a problem with the help of your service.
Without quality information support, you cannot convincingly argue why your product is exactly what a visitor needs. A powerful brand, a spectacular design and the use of SEO will help you to get some fame in narrow circles of those who are familiar with the market, but most likely these people will simply enlist you on a list along with your competitors. To increase the chances of using your product after the end of the trial period, customize your customers to this from the very beginning of their acquaintance with the product.
Conclusion: do not make a site consisting only of calls to action. Tell me more about the product.
2. Your site is too annoying
Continuing the theme of the previous paragraph, we recall the idea-fix SaaS - a lot of quick payments. This principle returns the developers of such services to the beginning of the “consumer funnel” by default - the more users try the trial, the more people pay. That is why appeals to take advantage of the freebie are found literally at every step, on every page, in every sentence.
The disadvantage of this approach is that not every visitor is ready for this, even in the world of SaaS. Using this method, you lose the opportunity to describe your product and explain why customers need it. Yes, many visitors will install a trial version, but only a few will figure out how your product works, assess and understand whether it meets their needs.
Remember, your strategy requires adaptation at various stages of the buying decision cycle, and must take into account the fact that potential customers can pass it at different speeds.
Do not try to force everyone to try the product - remember that some users came to your site without a goal to find a paid solution to their problem, but only in search of information.
Such users require a special approach, with the expectation of a long-term perspective. Here we will talk about this in the next paragraph.
Conclusion: different clients will go different ways to the free test.
3. You forgot about e-mail marketing
If you are ready to educate and engage potential customers while using the trial version of the product, email marketing should be one of your main tools. In fact, e-mail is one of the best ways to reach people before, on time and after a free trial period, so do not underestimate the power of communication through the Inbox.
Set up automatic mailing for the first few days to everyone who left their e-mail. For example, you can send them a few case studies or a short tutorial. And after that, send a letter with an appeal to try the free version.
Those users who have already installed the trial version will not have one letter written in the “Welcome” style. Of course, throwing a bunch of spam at your customers is not worth it, it is advisable to do with 2-3 letters in the first week of using the product - this does not cause negative. In these letters, set out the features of your service to help the client get a positive result from using the trial version. Try to send practical recommendations and tips that will stimulate customers to appreciate your product.
Conclusion: use e-mail to push users to test the free version and to keep them after it ends.
4. Visitors are not always able to try the service.
This is the point at which you may have to face the unpleasant truth and the question - will your product be really good enough to sell itself. A large percentage of refusal to purchase a product after using the trial version may be caused by the fact that people simply do not see the opportunities that your service could provide. As a result, their interest decreases, and the need remains unsatisfied, and a separate study of such users is required on the part of the manager-seller.
In addition, it may happen that your service has a cool feature that really "hooks" customers as soon as they find out about it, but it is not available in the free version. Or, for example, someone fails to take advantage of the trial in the existing conditions.
And the solution is very simple - show your product to the visitor. This approach ensures that users have the opportunity to learn about the functionality of your product before they refuse to purchase.
As an example, RedHelper’s online consultant . Almost every owner of a commercial site has searched the Internet for ways to increase conversion. But not everyone can set their own chat on your site. Therefore, next to the call to try the free version on the site there is a video that in a minute and a half tells about the main features of this service:
Conclusion: some users need to be shown what the product can do before they try it themselves.
5. Long trial - not always good
A few weeks of trial have become standard in the SaaS industry, but trial versions should not have such a long lifespan, because not always a long trial period is interesting for users and gives the desired result.
In RedHelper, they noticed that of those who used a special promotional code for 45 days of extended trial, almost no one has acquired a license. Moreover, 95% of those registered by the promo code entered their personal account only during the first 5-7 days. Based on this study, RedHelper reduced the trial period from 14 days to 5, and sales not only did not fall, but began to grow!
This practice is explained quite simply - the user's involvement increases, if he knows that they have less time to sample the product, and the sales cycle, respectively, will be shorter.
If you are already using a multi-day trial version, examine the statistics and see how many people actually took advantage of the long trial period. If they came in during the first few days and then lost interest, then it may be worth reducing the trial period?
Conclusion: Do not do the trial for 30 days just because others do it. Analyze and track the term that really benefits.
Of course, we didn’t understand all the options, why the users of the free version didn’t want to switch to the paid version. All products are unique, and often the reason lies precisely in the service itself. We will only be happy if you share your experience in the comments!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/292624/
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