The Good

Kick off your Tuesday with insights from Jon MacDonald and Brad Friedman on The Digital Slice Podcast! In the latest episode of the show, Jon shares how psychological principles can guide optimization strategies.

Customer acquisition costs (CAC) have steadily risen for both B2B and B2C companies. With CAC up roughly 60% compared to five years prior, it is more expensive than ever to acquire a new paying user for your SaaS product. So, once you acquire a new customer, it’s crucial you deliver the value and user experience to keep them around. This is the whole point of the product-led growth (PLG) movement and is usually a major optimization focus. Make the product so good that they can’t imagine life without it. But, even though we believe wholeheartedly in PLG, it’s naively idealistic to assume you’ll never send a customer to the brink of cancellation on your product experience alone. So, another lever you can pull to reduce churn is adding or optimizing a cancellation flow. Rather than approaching a customer who is looking to cancel as a lost cause, take it as an opportunity to listen to their needs and finally address them with the right experience or offer. There are plenty of SaaS companies out there that are already getting it right. In our work with clients, we’ve researched and reviewed hundreds of cancellation flows and analyzed them to determine what works to reduce churn. We’ve also conducted rapid tests to validate our ideas. In this article, we’re opening the box on these learnings to show you what the best SaaS cancellation flows have in common and what really saves users within the online cancellation journey. Make the most of that sunk CAC, and let’s optimize your flow. https://hubs.la/Q02ZK11n0

You have plenty of assets at your disposal to drive the adoption of your tool. Traditional marketing tactics and product-led growth strategies are likely both built into your plans for 2025. But have you thought about how you might leverage your current user base to increase product relevance and reach? This can be a low-cost, high-impact way to improve product quality, re-engage dormant users, or get in front of some new eyeballs. It’s hugely beneficial to both your tool and the users by creating positive network effects. The more people that use your product, the more valuable it becomes. It’s a self-propelling mechanism to drive growth.

Are B2B buyers cowards? That is the question research from Forrester hoped to answer earlier this year. Ultimately, the buyers aren’t cowardly; they are rational and thorough in their decision-making. Forrester reported that “an astonishing 43% of B2B buyers admitted that they make defensive purchase decisions more than 70% of the time,” meaning that less than 30% of B2B buyers are risk-tolerant. And it makes sense. They are on the hook with their company and colleagues regarding the spending. In many cases, the purchase also has a direct effect on how they do their job day-to-day. So, this raises the question of how B2B companies, like SaaS tools, can bridge the gap between risk-averse and purchase. The answer is trust. There is plenty we could go into on the theory and psychology of trust-building, but instead, I’d like to focus on the actionable. Specifically, one great lever SaaS companies can use to build trust with their users is website optimization. Read on to learn: ✅How trust and authority fit into the Heuristics for Digital Experience Optimization™ ✅Strategies for identifying the trust gap in user research ✅Specific tactics to build trust via the UX design and content of your website

Learn how to harness the power of positive network effects to drive SaaS growth. https://hubs.la/Q030wNyy0

You can bridge the gap between risk-averse B2B buyers and purchase decisions with these tactics. Find out how to build trust and increase retention. https://hubs.la/Q030wCL80

We talked to eight product strategy experts about how to make the most of annual planning. Here’s how to start 2025 on the right foot. https://hubs.la/Q030wQbj0

Which rapid testing method should I use? Find out the answer:

The secret to great SaaS user research: here’s why the most successful teams lean on long-term research partners. https://hubs.la/Q02ZK4fl0

Most SaaS teams have a million things on their plate, juggling KPIs, internal politics, and all the day-to-day tasks to keep the product moving forward. However, nothing is as important as the foundational user experience and how your audience perceives your product. This is where heuristics come in. You can uncover pain points that can be solved with tactics to address them. Read Sumita M. Paulson's POV on the benefits and unique selling points heuristic here: