What are the most effective ways to nurture leads for SaaS companies?

One strategy that seems to be most effective is implementing a multi-touch email campaign. I once worked with a CRM client who saw a 15% increase in trial conversions after we segmented their leads and prospects based on website behavior and sent tailored follow up emails on a weekly cadence over the course of 6 weeks. These emails provided additional value and insights related to the pain points our offerings addressed. By the 6th email, over 12% of those in the sequence had converted to paid trials compared to their previous average of only 8%. A steady stream of relevant content delivered at the right time is key to nurturing interest and effectively moving contacts down the funnel for SaaS businesses.

Educating is the best way to nurture the leads in the SaaS industry. SaaS is a technical product rather than an emotional one. Educate more on the technical aspect and how your product solves their problems. Educate them based on their stages of awareness in terms of your niche and product. Take them through the sequence from the initial level to the detailed aspect of the product. Content Marketing and Email sequences can be useful in educating.

Education is probably the area where most agree that SaaS marketing needs a presence. It is also the easiest to not do well. Buyers aren't college students. You have to be fast and get to the heart of solving real problems they face or you'll lose attention quickly, as your viewer is busy addressing those very challenges. Designing content that is brief but helpful is a constant balance—one of the toughest things about being a SaaS content marketer. But avoid at all costs making your content too extensive or theoretical, at least for marketing. You also don't want the reader to have to "work" too hard to get the answer. That type of detailed and challenging content is better suited to existing customers who want to dive in.

One of the most powerful forms of content marketing for SaaS companies is whitepapers. These detailed documents tend to be easy to read and graphically interesting, but also promise lots of useful info. This is a great way to get leads and engage them. Think about what your audience wants to know and present them with something relevant to their interests with plenty of stats and charts. This not only feels valuable to them but it also helps establish your brand as the expert.

There are two things you need to do to get the “education” stage of lead nurturing right in the SaaS world. 1. Validate: First, articulate to your audience that you understand the industry in great detail. Validate what they know through what you know — this is often done with deep research that combines authority with empathy (“we know your top problems and we know they matter”). This is a good start. 2. Innovate: Now that you have the validation stage now, you can challenge your audience based on your authority. This is where you can introduce new ideas and new ways of working that are aligned with your solution. You need both of these things to thrive, because they essentially cover the entire funnel. Happy educating!

SaaS leads are no different than other B2B leads. Know your target audience. If you have two persona's then segment leads and then provide them with content that nurtures them throughout the funnel. From "how to" blogs to FAQ sections and designated landing pages for bottom of the funnel, create the content your needs lead to see to build trust with you, see your awesome USPs and personality, and that shows a deep understanding of their pain points.

Engaging with leads in many forms, but a normal/non-pushy cadence is incredibly helpful. Not every message has to be directly asking for a sale. Educating a lead on a topic in your field, showcasing a new feature, or important company news, are all things to include in engaging outreach. You can reach out via phone, email, & LinkedIn. In the past, my best approach to reach a lead prior to the initial response is a combo of all of the above, during different times and days of the week. Personalization will make your outreach stand out from everyone else's. If you can find some company news, see that the lead changed jobs or was promoted, went to the same college, etc. include that. It'll show you pay attention to the little things.

Conduzir a jornada do lead é uma prática estratégica que envolve oferecer contatos prontos, envios regulares de e-mails com atualizações e novidades sobre funcionalidades. Também inclui o convite para eventos e webinars, permitindo uma avaliação do nível de engajamento. Posteriormente, direcionamos esforços para conteúdos mais específicos, orientando o lead para a conversão e transformando-o em um cliente satisfeito. Essa abordagem visa nutrir o relacionamento de forma progressiva, oferecendo informações relevantes em cada etapa, culminando na fidelização do cliente.

Email allows for the delivery of segmented and personalized messages. Not to mention, email marketing is cost-effective compared to other channels. It enables you to reach a large audience with minimal expenses, making it an efficient tool for lead nurturing, especially for SaaS companies with limited budgets. Email for lead nurturing in SaaS companies is effective because teams can deliver personalized, timely, and relevant content directly to inboxes. This fosters engagement, builds relationships, and guides leads through the sales funnel.

If you segment your audience, each nurture sequence will look different. As an example, we'll move an interested prospect to the product-aware stage. Let's use this framework: P - Problem A - Agitate S - Solution O - Outcome of your solution P - Present another problem This gets the reader saying "Yeah I had this problem, but I also have this other problem..." Try it like this: Email 1 - Intro, deliver lead magnet, present a problem Email 2 - PASOP Email 3 - Solve previous problem, deliver social proof Email 4 - PASOP Email 5 - Comparison w/ another problem Email 6 - Solve problem, deliver social proof Email 7 - Big ask - Book demo, etc Present problems. Use your product to solve them. Present social proof to back up the outcomes.

Free trials are an excellent way for SaaS companies to convert prospects to customers. To be effective, it's critical to onboard, train, and support trial users. Track the activity of users on a trial to keep the prospects happy and to get the conversion rate you expect. Create email campaigns to introduce key features and link to the associated instructions. If possible, segment the users according to industry to ensure you highlight the most important features for each user. Segment people who aren't using the trial and create an email campaign or a phone campaign to determine why they aren't using the product, and to identify how you can help them get more out of the product.