SaaS Companies: Get Your Client to Stick
We all know how promising a client can be, that is, if they first pass the "onboarding phase."
Help your client adopt your platform as soon as they begin their journey, and you might ask, how do you do this? Well, it doesn't matter what your software does, a new client is a new client, meaning that they will need to learn how to use your software. The sooner this happens, the best, because they will be able to see all the things they can do with your help, and all the other million capabilities of your platform.
Once your client learns how to use your software (which shouldn't be a hard process if you have an awesome support team they can call) get them to use the platform as often as possible, using as many (if not all) the features they have access to. Make sure your clients' needs are met, and that they get quality attention when they reach out to your support team. it's important that they know they are being heard and that their questions don't go into a bottomless pit. Address their concerns and help them solve their problems. Something else that adds value to your service is when you show your client you're not just offering a service, you're also their friend, and a consultant, someone who wants them to succeed no matter what. Sit down with your client and together work on setting some goals for them and for you, teach them that you're there to see them succeed, because in consequence, the business will succeed too.
Follow the next 5 steps to materialize the ideas we just talked about:
1. Use Metrics to Monitor Accounts. You can monitor everything if you want, but what useful data could you gather that will help the business succeed? There are a few metrics that are worth tracking; such as product data usage, feature usage, and volume/type of support tickets)
2. Personalize your Marketing to Show you Care. Provide useful information based on your clients' struggles and successes. When clients see personalized content, the value of your service goes up.
3. Be Welcoming Always. Most businesses are welcoming just in the beginning, they get the person to sign and forget about them, well, don't get me wrong, they still deliver what they promised and they help any time the client reaches out for help; but what if you were to communicate with your client more often? A lot of successful businesses send monthly newsletters to their clients showing the ups and downs of the business, the new things around the office, new equipment that just came in and other trending news, or even to welcome a new client to the "family". That gives your existing clients a sense of belonging and that "everyone knows each other". The probability of that client (who feels important and included) to leave you is very, very low.
4. Be Smart and Reward Your Client. You want your client to understand your software, but you also want them to love it. When a client first signed, their business looked in a certain way. After a year or two, maybe things have changed a bit, meaning that their needs have also changed. Reward those loyal customers by letting them try (for free or at a discount) other parts of your platform that they don't have access to right now and that you think could be of great help to them. If they like what they see, then they can add all those new cool features to what they already have.
5. Have Awesome Customer Service/Tech Support. You can have an amazing software, and you, as the owner, can get along wonderfully with all your clients, however, how long do you think those great relationships will last if every time the client calls, your support team can't be reached, or they never call back, or are rude or impatient, or they are not trained well enough to even answer their questions? Make sure your team is up-to-date with your customers needs and that they are always working on finding bugs in the system so they don't show up to your clients first.
What are some of the things you'd add to the list? Leave comments below for us to see!
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