5 Techniques to Boost SaaS Customer Engagement

There’s a lot of talk when it comes to engaging ecommerce customers as a means of boosting sales, and that’s great. But what if you are a SaaS company? Customer engagement is important for you as well, but you have a bit of a trickier job to do.

While customer retention is something that ecommerce brands chase after as well, there is more of a need for it when it comes to SaaS companies. After all, you sell your service to your audience on some type of recurring basis- typically either monthly or yearly. You need your customers engaged on a regular basis in order to keep them around.

So, how should you go about not only boosting engagement, but also keeping it high all year long? We’ll be answering that question today. By incorporating a few different strategies and producing some unique content, you can be sure to both boost SaaS customer engagement and keep engagement high on a more consistent basis.

1. Educate via Video

Video marketing isn’t just a trending digital marketing strategy, it’s a solid way to boost customer engagement. This is especially effective for SaaS companies when it comes to tutorial videos. The best way to educate your audience on your service is to show it off! This helps both with acquiring new customers (so that they can see the value of your service and see it in action) and engaging current customers by continuing to educate them on various product features.

An introductory video is a great piece of content, like the above example from Trello. However, make sure you don’t stop there! As you regularly update your software, make sure your audience knows about it. If not, you run the risk of looking outdated and customers may turn to other options. Keep them engaged and excited about your service by announcing and showing off any and all new features.

2. Gather (and Listen) to Feedback

Releasing new product features is a great way to keep your audience engaged and interested in your software service. This becomes even more valuable when you release updates based on customer feedback. You may have a good idea of what your users want, but by gathering feedback you can know for sure.

If there is a feature that a lot of users have requested, it is in your best interest to introduce it if at all possible. Not only does this show that you listen and care about what your customers have to say, it also ensures your service remains relevant and valuable.

Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for feedback from your users. Listen to what they have to say, and respond and implement change as needed. This will go a long way to ensure your customers don’t grow bored with your service and go in search of something else.

3. Engage in Live Chat

We’ve all been a frustrated customer at one point or another. You’re trying to start using a new service, you’ve run into some type of error, or you can’t figure out how to do something you need to. Whatever the case, the result is the same: Frustration.

As a SaaS company, you need to be aware that this frustration is going to happen. And that’s okay! What matters the most is how you handle it. Live chat is a great way to engage your customers and help them solve their problems as quickly as possible.

By engaging in live chat you can reach your audience while they are still at your website or using your app. Nearly 45% of customers say that having live chat is one of the most important features they look for when making a purchase. This represents an easy and quick way for them to get the answers they need.

Even if you have a great help section as part of your website, you need to be prepared to answer questions from users. Give them this help in an easy, convenient way in order to keep customers engaged, happy, and educated on your service.

4. Utilize Gamification

If you are suffering from low engagement rates, getting started with some smart gamification can be just the thing you need to have users regain interest in your service. This can be in the form of interactive content, quizzes, or some type of goal program that users can work towards. In short, all you are looking to do is make using your software service more engaging and fun.

Fitness programs (like Fitbit) frequently rely on gamification in order to keep their users engaged. Working out may not be the most fun thing in the world for some people, but it becomes a lot more fun when you are working towards achieving a badge or trophy and are competing against your friends.

You don’t have to be in the fitness industry to make gamification work for you. Create your own gaming system that gives your users points for various tasks they complete, for example. By making it more fun or interactive to use your software, you are sure to see a major increase in engagement.

5. Re-engage via Web Push Notification

Finally, all SaaS companies should have a solid strategy for re-engaging old users that they want to bring back. Web push notifications are a great way to reach out to customers directly to encourage them to come back and use your service.

Set up a recurring campaign, for example, that sends out once a week to customers who haven’t visited your website for a specified amount of time (say 1 week). Personalize your notifications as much as possible in order to increase their effectiveness.

You can also use your web push campaigns in conjunction with a lot of the other strategies we talked about on this list. Let users know how close they are to reaching their goal, alert about new product videos, ask for feedback, and more! Web push allows you to engage directly with your audience and provides an easy way for them to head back to your website.

We also recommend segmenting your audience according to their actions, demographics, and more. Create unique campaigns that will keep your various segments engaged with your service on a regular basis- and don’t forget to harness the power of automation in order to save time!

Wrapping Up

If you are a SaaS company, you understand the need for customer engagement. If you have been struggling with implementation, we suggest trying out these techniques in order to reinvigorate your audience. Engage them on site, provide them with useful tutorials, ask for feedback, gamify your software, and retarget via web push.

What is your favorite technique to boost SaaS customer engagement? Let us know by sending us a message!

Are you new to web push notifications? Get started for free with Aimtell, or learn more about web push by reading our Beginner’s Guide.

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