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How to Improve Your SaaS Conversion Rates

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedMay 20223 min read

Naturally, having an SaaS product that is straightforward to use, functional and affordable forms a solid foundation for attracting and retaining customers. Plus, offering a free trial or a freemium version can be a great way to pull in new clients. However, sometimes a little extra beyond the basics is required to optimise conversion rates.

In this post, we’ll outline some tips for ensuring you achieve a beyond average SaaS conversion rate.

Ways to improve your SaaS conversion rates

Improving SaaS funnel conversion rates will lead to higher revenues and company growth. Find out the best ways to achieve this below:

1. Create engaging content

Having a free trial which allows users to test your product before paying can be a great way to get them onboard. However, your SaaS free trial conversion rate may suffer if you don’t do enough to keep users engaged throughout their experience using the product.

Creating educational content, such as blog posts, videos, guides and case studies, to accompany a customer’s experience can help communicate the full extent of your product’s capabilities, and help keep them engaged. In fact, many users who sign up for a free trial end up either hardly using it, or not using it at all, simply because the SaaS company didn’t do enough to keep them engaged. Releasing a steady flow of quality content can help users to graduate from “mildly interested” to “keen to purchase”.

Even at the end of a free trial, however, posting content should remain a priority to keep those engagement rates up.

2. Send out emails

Sometimes, onboarding emails can be enough to push customers from on the fence to avid users of a SaaS product.

These emails should be tailored to the customer stage for optimal results. For instance, when signing up, a welcome email should be sent. When converting to a paid plan, on the other hand, a congratulatory email with information about why the customer has made a great decision would be best. From there, appropriate emails should be triggered according to the actions of the user, i.e. when they reach certain milestones. The more personalised the email, the better.

3. Offer superb customer service

While excellent customer service should be a priority for every business, it is especially so for SaaS companies. This is because direct, face-to-fact customer contact is rare, making it even more difficult to build a relationship with clientele. As a consequence, virtual lines of customer communication need to be as efficient, straightforward and helpful as possible. When these channels break down, the customer experience breaks down causing high customer churn rates and low conversion rates. Keeping customers happy by always being on hand to answer any queries can help optimise conversion as well as improve retention rates.

Additionally, customer service can include offering perks to loyal customers. Examples of this include free upgrades and discounts.

4. User testimonials

Including testimonials from satisfied users is a great way to boost conversion rates. However, it’s important to choose your testimonials carefully.

Potential customers will be most drawn to testimonials of individuals they have a lot in common with. For this reason, it’s crucial that you use testimonials that will appeal to your demographic and target audience. The more a visitor relates to the customer depicted in the testimonial, the more likely it is that they will choose to purchase the product too.

5. Optimise payment

Most SaaS companies adopt a subscription-based model. This means that payment is collected from customers on a recurring basis. A frequent cause of customer churn is failed payments, which occurs when a customer’s registered card expires, or their payment method is no longer valid.

With GoCardless, this can be avoided altogether, as businesses collect payments directly from customer bank accounts via Direct Debit. As the payment is pull-based and the business is in control, failed and late payments are virtually eliminated. As a result, churn rates plummet.

In the UK and Germany, Instant Bank Pay, powered by Open Banking, also allows for greater control over one-off payments. With this method, bank-to-bank payments are confirmed instantly, allowing for improved visibility for businesses and customers. This can help save time spent chasing one-off payments and create a smoother customer experience overall.

And, needless to say, a smooth and quick payment process can help boost conversion rates by contributing to an overall more appealing and pleasant user experience.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.