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What is “SaaS”?
SaaS, or Software as a Service, is the “centralized hosting of business applications which can be accessed through a web browser.” Gmail and Microsoft Office 365 are two examples of SaaS.
SaaS products or services can be accessed through a monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription plan. They usually have a simple sign-up and payment process and can be used by both individuals and businesses.
One of the fastest growing “on-demand software” trends globally today, the SaaS industry is a $141 billion industry (data source: https://www.custify.com/blog/choose-best-marketing-automation-software/).
The competition in the industry is getting stronger as more and more companies digitalize their processes.
Image source: https://zenpost.com/blog/saas-marketing-automation-tools/
What is SaaS marketing automation?
As a SaaS business owner, you need to be focused on growing your business rapidly. This involves business expansion, an increase in users, and reduced churn rates. How can you focus on your current user base and simultaneously convert new ones?
By using marketing automation tools
SaaS marketing automation involves the use of devices and tools to carry out manual or repetitive tasks. Marketing automation tools can perform many tasks, for example, distributing content, generating leads, targeted messaging, and communication at scale.
Marketing automation tools also include analytics to track your company’s progress. It can also include CRM marketing tools that allow you to target specific customer groups and personas.
Why should you have a marketing automation strategy?
The essence of SaaS is speed and accuracy. As a SaaS business owner, you want quick answers, and like to understand things on your own. Marketing automation tools and software help you get your answers in a relevant and timely manner. Further, as your SaaS business grows, many repetitive tasks can be difficult to complete manually.
Marketing automation helps you to remove or reduce human error in your business processes. It also allows you to offer a consistent and personalized experience to all your users in a cost-efficient and accurate way.
Image source: https://www.custify.com/blog/choose-best-marketing-automation-software/
How should you set up your marketing automation strategy?
You must implement a marketing automation strategy at every stage of your customer funnel – acquisition, activation, adoption, retention, and referral. The following are the key steps for a successful strategy:
- Set up your marketing automation goals
- You must be clear about what you want marketing automation to achieve
- Do you want to increase your conversion rates? Do you want to increase sign-up rates? Or do you want to reactivate lapsed users?
- You will be able to focus clearly on the expected outcomes by answering questions such as these
- Map your user journey stages
- Marketing automation tools help your customers move from one stage in their journey to the next
- Your SaaS business could have multiple customer segments
- Your first step should therefore be to understand the journey for each segment
- Identify all the tasks that need to be automated at every stage
- Identify all the repetitive tasks at every stage
- These repetitive tasks slow down your conversion rates and must be automated
- However, do not blindly automate every task – check which can be done better through human intervention
- Choose the right automation tools and software
- The user journey maps that you created in the second stage will help you draw insights for this step
- Here you need to identify the channels to be used to engage with your users
- This will help you identify the right tools for each stage of your user journey
- Integrate your marketing automation tools
- Your marketing automation tools must integrate with your existing SaaS setup
- This helps to ensure that your data and workflows do not sit in individual silos
- This also prevents manual data manipulation
- Make maximum use of your data
- Marketing automation tools need constant data flows to work effectively
- These data can help you draw useful insights, check metrics, identify new markets, and make better decisions to drive your SaaS business
- Build a content strategy based on your goals
- Your content is an integral part of your customer journey
- But you cannot have personalized and special content for each customer
- SaaS marketing automation helps you to design and deliver content that is personal yet scalable at the same time
Finally, remember that marketing automation is not just the purchase of software and crossing your fingers in the hope that it will work properly. You must make the maximum use of your marketing automation to draw out benefits that will improve your SaaS business.
What are the benefits of SaaS marketing automation?
- It is cost effective
- Marketing automation tools and software help you save money
- It can also help you reduce costs, generate new clients, and improve your bottom line
- Makes it easier for small and medium companies
- Many small and medium companies may not have budgets for full-sized marketing teams or departments
- By automating their routine or repetitive marketing processes, they can compete better and more smartly with larger companies
- Helps you extend your market reach
- Your company can identify new markets and untapped segments in existing markets through data
- These data can be tracked, measured, and analyzed using marketing automation software
- Allows you to focus on developing new products and services
- By automating routine and repetitive tasks, your marketing team is freed up to concentrate on more customer acquisition actions and ideas
- Your marketing automation strategy will also help you focus on developing new products or services
- This is obviously of great benefit to your company as it improves the revenue over a period of time
Other benefits include:
- Better data collection, analysis, and reporting
- Better coordination between the sales and marketing departments
- Better lead generation
- Increased customer conversion rates
Conclusion
As a SaaS business owner, you could have many different priorities. You can consider using the services of a digital or SaaS marketing agency to ensure that your SaaS marketing automation is working to the best of its capabilities.
A typical marketing automation setup for a SaaS business can include tools for activities such as email verification, in-app onboarding, content publishing, push email automation, and message distribution.
By choosing the right software, you can make your customers’ journey easy and comfortable. Your marketing automation strategy must therefore give you a 360-degree view of your customers. It must show you who they are, what they are doing, and the process of their engagement with your business.
The right marketing automation strategy will make your SaaS business processes faster, easier, and more accurate. Your business will have a much more efficient system of identifying and tapping potential customers, capturing more qualified leads, pushing trials of your product or service, and retaining customers.