7 CRO Tactics To Power Up Your SaaS Business in 2020

So, do you feel like your CRO is the bane of your SaaS company’s existence?

If you are nodding your head in agreement, then I have to tell you that you are not alone.

Many SaaS companies out there struggle to improve their conversion rate. But why is CRO so crucial for your business?

Well, without a solid strategy to turn your visitors into customers, your SaaS business will, unfortunately, get stale. And trust me, no-one wants that!

To boost CRO, there are many tactics you can follow. All of them are great; however, did you know that there are a few more you can leverage to boost your CRO?

Digging them up from the depths of the Dwarven kingdom of Moria, today we’ll take a look at some of the best CRO tactics that your SaaS business needs.

But before looking at the best CRO tactics, let’s see the definition first.

1 What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or maybe it’s your conversion optimization rate?

Well, it’s definitely that! But what is it exactly?

In digital marketing, conversion rate optimization is a process that aims at increasing the number of visitors that take any desired action on your website and convert into customers.

Building an effective CRO strategy will help you scale your SaaS business and optimize every stage of your marketing funnel and driving more revenue.

2 7 Amazing CRO Tactics For Your SaaS Company

1. Optimize Your Online Forms

First in our list is the almighty online form, which you can create with an amazing online form builder.

Online forms will help you expand your mailing list and incentivize your visitors to take some form of action that will lead them to conversion.

Using forms to capture your leads’ email addresses is a common practice. However, what if I told you that having only one online form won’t give you the conversions you desire?

If you want to rock that CRO, you need to follow one basic rule: come up with variations.

Numerous visitors land on your website every day; however, it’s impossible to deliver a personalized form for every single one of them.

So, what can you do?

Well, to capture as many email addresses as you can, you need to find out what appeals to the majority of your visitors.

But is that enough?

If you want to maximize your CRO, then you need to test your forms regularly. This way, you’ll manage to capture as many leads as possible.

As the old saying says, practice makes perfect, so next time you plan your form design, try to make different versions and see what converts better.

Here’s a great form example from Moosend:

And here’s another one with different copy and an exit button displayed a week after the first one:

2. Improve Your PPC Campaigns

Investing in paid traffic is essential to power up your SaaS sales cycle and increase your reach.

While running a PPC campaign sounds easy, you need to master it first or find a PPC master to help you get better results!

To save time, you should consider collaborating with a PPC management agency for better results.

Hey Digital, for instance, can help you manage your campaigns more efficiently, offering you excellent solutions like keyword testing, intelligent retargeting, and CRO.

Now, all you need to do is start creating your amazing PPC campaigns.

Taking advantage of Google Ads, for instance, will allow you to target users searching for specific keywords to discover your company.

Here’s an example from Zoho CRM:

Monitoring your ads regularly will allow you to tweak them accordingly and improve keyword matches for more conversions.

To get from PPC to CRO, though, you also need the best marketing collateral to help you turn visitors into customers.

If you thought of landing pages, then you’re on fire!

Landing Page Optimization

A landing page is a single page that will appear when a user clicks on your ad. Every SaaS business out there has a landing page connected to their Google Ads or Facebook Ads.

To see them yourself, just search for a SaaS company and take a look at the ads. I’m sure you’ll come across some fantastic landing page examples if you search long enough.

While these examples will get you inspired, most businesses forget to optimize some important elements.

Landing page optimization is a big thing, and you need to get yourself familiar with it fast if you want to boost your CRO.
To capture your leads, you need to design the perfect landing page with the right colors, CTA, and an irresistible value proposition.

To convert more, you also need to minimize any potential distraction that’ll lead the visitor away.

For instance, let’s see what makes Zoho CRM’s landing page a true conversion bomb.

First of all, the landing page has neither a navigation bar nor clickable logos that will send your visitor away.

The company also leverages social proof, displaying the number of trusted businesses and logos of their most famous customers to increase credibility.

When you combine all these with the red CTA, you get an optimized landing page that will skyrocket your conversions.

3. Implement Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is all about ranking your qualified leads according to their behavior.

Much like a reward system, lead scoring will help you determine which leads engage more with your company and which less.

For instance, when a prospect visits your SaaS pricing page, you can reward your visitor with a specific number of points.

Downloading an ebook or opening your emails are some of the actions that you should also reward.

Implementing lead scoring will allow you to discover your prospect’s intent and assign the most suitable person to convert them.

The magic of lead scoring doesn’t stop here, though. As a tactic, it will also help you find out which prospects pay little or no attention to you.

For instance, a prospect that doesn’t open your emails or hasn’t visited your pricing and product pages can receive a negative score.
This negative score will show you that your lead isn’t ready to convert and help you create a strategy to nurture them.

Lead scoring may be a time-consuming process, and that’s why numerous SaaS companies “intentionally forget” about it.

However, lead scoring will help you identify qualified leads and get your CRO to higher heights.

4. Leverage the Hello Bar

If you’ve never heard about the hello bar, then you’re missing out!

Imagine the hello bar as the host of your SaaS website that greets your visitors the moment they land on your page.

The hello bar has one goal, to grab your visitors’ attention with a fantastic offer and get them to convert.

To do that, you need to make sure that it has the right copy and the right CTA to make your visitor click on it.

The effectiveness of the hello bar is phenomenal, but half of the SaaS websites out there don’t even have one.

According to this study, Digital Marketer managed to increase their conversion rate by 8.45% just by adding a simple hello bar on their page.

Now here’s a great example from Twelveskip:

Despite being a thin line on top of your page, hello bars will give you concrete results and boost your conversion rate.

Plus, hello bars are also super easy to set up, so if you’re not leveraging them already, you’re missing out on some quick and easy wins.

5. Deliver Excellent Customer Experiences

If you’re wondering why customer service is on our list, then let me tell you that customers are more likely to convert when they have great experiences.

Customer support is an essential part of your SaaS operations. Your representatives should be able to manage customer problems, offer quick solutions, and, overall keep your customers happy.

This happiness is what translates into customer loyalty and, of course, more conversions.

Having expert representatives who will handle every customer problem will give you the high ground.

Customer support and CRO are connected more often than you think. So, if you plan to increase your conversion rate, try to improve your customer service.

Having amazing customer service will show your potential customers that you are a company that values them.

If you want to see whether your business offers great experiences, try to search up for reviews.

Monitoring reviews will help you identify potential issues and improve your operations.

Great customer support will boost your customer lifecycle marketing efforts, decrease your customer churn, and get your ARR to the stars.

Just keep in mind that as your SaaS company expands, your customer support staff should grow with it.

6. Revamp Your Free Trial Subscriptions

Free trials are a SaaS company’s best friend! Why?

Because through your free trial, your lead will get the chance to see the true capabilities of your product.

Being free also means that there’s no commitment during the trial period, something that appeals to most customers before making a final purchase.

If you already have a free trial that gives you conversions, then you’re one step closer to achieving your goals.

If not, then let’s see a couple of the things you need to optimize.

Ideal Free Trial length

Successful trials need to make your potential customers want to buy the full version of your product.

So, if you want to see your conversion rate grow, then you need to show them the real value of your product.

The first thing you need to do is optimize your free trial duration. Having very short trials will defy the purpose of the free trial period and even frustrate some of your visitors.

According to research, the ideal trial duration for SaaS companies should be between 14 to 30 days.

Trials that last for less than two weeks may be too short to show your potential customer why they need your software.

So, with that in mind, try to optimize your free trial according to your product’s difficulty-to-learn and use.

Here’s an innovative way to give your trial to your visitors from Userpilot:

Lead Nurturing Through Email

Tweaking your free trial period will help you improve your CRO. But, there’s something more you can do to ensure that your free trials turn into conversions.

Lately, I signed up for so many free trials to see the lead nurturing process of numerous SaaS companies.

Hundreds of emails and trial notifications later, I can say that each company has a very unique approach to get their free trial user to buy.

While some companies just sent me a generic email saying my trial period is over, others took the time to craft the perfect lead nurturing email to attract my attention.

Zapier’s Free Trial

Zapier’s premium trial email campaign is a prime example of a lead nurturing tactic that shows the user why they need the premium version.

With this checking-in email, the company gets the chance to tell their free trial user that all the features they’ve been using are in the premium plan.

Before the free trial ended, Zapier sent another email reminder:

Now, this email shows the free trial user what they achieved throughout their free trial period.

Cleverly, Zapier employs the fear of missing out (FOMO) to its free users that if they don’t upgrade, they won’t be able to use the premium features.

Both the copy and the bright orange CTA contribute to incentivizing the user to act and convert.

Also, the company makes a personal recommendation based on the user’s free trial activity.

Personalized recommendations are your secret weapon to boost conversions as they will offer solutions that will be tailored to their needs.

7. Re-evaluate Your Onboarding Sequence

You set it up, and then you left it on autopilot.

However, does your onboarding sequence give you the conversions you need to grow your business? If not, then you might be forgetting about something.

The perfect onboarding experience will set the foundation of a solid business and customer relationship that will turn into a long term collaboration.

Making a great first impression will help you turn your subscribers into loyal supporters of your company. To do this, you need to show them the value of your collaboration through a series of amazing emails.

While every SaaS company has an onboarding sequence, it is necessary to re-evaluate your onboarding messages frequently.

Sequences that manage to guide and educate subscribers on how to use your product will work miracles and boost your CRO beyond measure.

Here are two emails from Zendesk’s onboarding sequence:

Finding smart ways to get your target audience back to your website will be your chance to ace your CRO and promote your growth.

In this case, personalized emails will be your powerful ally to achieve it.

3 The Stairway to Conversion Rate Optimization

Next time you want to get your SaaS business to the stars, follow these seven brilliant CRO tactics:

1. Optimize your online forms
2. Come up with incredible PPC campaigns and landing pages
3. Start scoring your leads
4. Leverage the power of the hello bar
5. Expand customer support and deliver unique customer experiences
6. Improve your free trial subscriptions
7. Master the art of onboarding

Getting from conversion zero to conversion hero takes time. However, with the right CRO tactics, you’ll join the SaaS pantheon faster!