How to Perfect SaaS Customer Acquisition Strategies

There are currently 30,000 SaaS companies worldwide, 60% of which are established in the US. 

You would be forgiven for saying that the struggle is real when it comes to acquiring SaaS customers.

Customer acquisition is difficult and requires strategic skill in the SaaS industry. Today, the competition is getting more intense, so traditional tactics are ineffective. 

This is where this article comes into play.

This guide will explore the art of SaaS customer acquisition, offering tried-and-true tactics to accelerate your business's growth. 

If you want to achieve long-term business success, then keep on reading.

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The 4 Biggest Challenges of SaaS Customer Acquisition 

Selling SaaS is a challenging endeavor. In contrast to traditional types of businesses, SaaS enterprises frequently struggle to find customers. 

The sales cycle? 

Well, it's like a marathon, stretching over nearly three long months on average.

Nonetheless, when considering the factors contributing to this extended purchasing process, it becomes apparent why customers prefer to take their time.

Take a look at the following most common SaaS marketing challenges.

Expensive

SaaS solutions are generally not known for being cost-effective. 

Even when using less expensive tools, customers need to account for the recurring fees associated with the subscription-based payment model of SaaS. 

These ongoing charges can accumulate to a considerable amount for some customers.

Data Security Issues

Because SaaS solutions operate in the cloud, some new customers may feel reluctant to entrust their (or their customers') personal data to unfamiliar tools that process it on external servers without obtaining more information. 

This hesitation is further intensified for businesses handling the data of EU citizens due to the GDPR, as they must ensure that all their third-party providers comply with GDPR as well.

Complexity

Most SaaS tools are developed with robust features and complex use cases, aiming to solve complex problems that customers may not fully comprehend regarding their needs.

Overwhelming Choices

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With the recent surge in SaaS services, sometimes customers find it hard to decide which products are the best options for their companies.

All of these factors pose challenges to acquiring customers. 

This is why SaaS customers necessitate extra care and education, gradually guiding them toward purchasing.

Tailoring your nurturing tactics based on the stage of your relationship with potential customers is key to effectively communicating the value you provide. 

This involves implementing various strategies on your website and through external messaging to engage and build trust with prospects at different points in their buyer's journey. 

So, it is mandatory to outline your customer acquisition cycle to understand better the specific steps potential customers need to take before they commit to your solution.

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What is a Customer Acquisition Strategy? 

A customer acquisition strategy is like a strategic blueprint designed to attract new customers to your business. 

Like any well-crafted plan, addressing several operational questions before action is important.

Here are a few key questions to guide and shape your customer acquisition strategy:

Activities

• How are you assigning roles and responsibilities among your team members?
• How much of your total company budget are you dedicating to customer acquisition?
• How can we define success in terms of overarching accomplishments?

Strategies

• What approaches will you use to attract and gain new users?
• How will potential customers navigate through their buying journey?
• How will marketing contribute to the process of acquiring customers?
• At what stage will Sales be introduced in the customer's purchasing journey?
• What does your overall strategy for entering the market entail?

Indicators

• What is your desired success rate for a B2B SaaS sales strategy?
• What is your projected timeline for acquiring customers?
• What is your estimated cost for acquiring customers (CAC)?

As the above questions show, your customer acquisition strategy and internal organizational structure are mutually influential. 

You should note that every company's acquisition strategies are unique and depend on the specific context of your business.

Alongside evaluating your strategy's efficiency, managing customer acquisition costs effectively is crucial. 

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How to Create SaaS Customer Acquisition Strategies for Your Business

Creating a strong customer acquisition strategy is essential for your SaaS business to thrive. It involves finding effective ways to attract new customers and stay ahead in a competitive market. In this guide, we'll explore straightforward steps to help you develop a strategy that suits your company's needs.

Define Your Target Audience

Spending time, effort, and resources to develop an exceptional customer acquisition strategy is only beneficial if tailored to your target market. 

Otherwise, you will promote your SaaS to prospects who have no need or interest in it.

To find qualified prospects, you must thoroughly understand your target market. 

Before implementing your acquisition plan, ask yourself: who is the right fit for my SaaS?

Furthermore, your target market is key to determining the most effective acquisition methods. 

For example, if your company follows a product-led approach, offering a freemium business model may help rapidly build a user base with free trial customers. 

On the other hand, if your focus is on selling to enterprise clients, targeted Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaigns, participation in industry events, and a more traditional sales-led approach may be more suitable for acquiring accounts with higher Total Contract Value (TCV).

Evaluate Successfully Closed Deals in Your CRM.

Sometimes, the best advice is right before us, which holds when developing your customer acquisition strategy. 

One helpful technique is closely examining the closed deals and opportunities recorded in your CRM system.

• Which marketing channels did potential customers engage with before they made a purchase?
• How do prospects react to your sales outreach efforts?
• What types of interactions have the most significant impact on successfully closing deals?

You should also note that a one-size-fits-all approach may not be suitable for catering to different customer segments. In such cases, conducting a group analysis across these market segments can provide valuable insights into the most effective acquisition methods. 

Based on these insights and considering your available resources, you can create dedicated teams and tailor campaigns to target customer acquisition in each specific market stage.

Spread Your Risk

To enhance the likelihood of success, broadening your customer acquisition approach and encompassing various strategies is crucial.

Adopting a 100% product-led strategy can effectively acquire new users. 

However, lacking a dedicated sales team may make it difficult to target and secure larger enterprise accounts with higher contract values. 

Similarly, solely relying on aggressive sales tactics might yield occasional customers. 

Still, it could also mean wasting time on prospects who are not ready to commit to your SaaS solution.

Evaluate Your Pricing Approach

Unless you have a one-of-a-kind product, how you price and package your SaaS solution will heavily impact whether customers choose to buy from you. 

Selecting a suitable subscription model that aligns with how customers prefer your products is mandatory. This will allow you to optimize your SaaS pricing models and gain a competitive edge in the market. 

By adopting this approach, you can effectively draw in fresh clients and establish a consistent source of income for your business.

Use SaaS Metrics to Iterate, Experiment, and Enhance

Perfecting your customer acquisition strategy from the get-go is unlikely. 

Determining the most effective approach will require continuous testing, experimentation, and improvement. 

Your customer acquisition strategy must evolve as customer expectations and market conditions evolve.

To assess your customer acquisition strategy, closely monitor essential B2B SaaS metrics that can offer valuable insights and guidance. 

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) 

The costs involved in acquiring new customers significantly impact the operational decisions within your business. 

Research shows that the typical cost of acquiring a customer ranges from $500 to $2000.

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Every dollar you spend on customer acquisition, whether through sales and marketing expenses or software tools, contributes to your total customer acquisition cost.

If you notice that specific actions are driving up your CAC, adjusting your acquisition strategy as needed to reduce expenses and focus on what is compelling is important.

A more comprehensive formula also considers additional factors such as wages for marketing and sales, expenses for marketing and sales software, outsourced services, and overhead costs for marketing and sales. 

This formula provides a broader understanding of customer acquisition costs and is best applied to more extended time frames, such as quarters or fiscal years.

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) 

Customer Lifetime Value provides a means to approximate the overall value a customer will contribute to your business throughout their entire engagement with your company. 

If your LTV is low, it could be due to a few reasons:

• You could be underusing your SaaS solution's value by not optimizing your pricing to remain competitive.
• Consider the potential scenario where your product may not perfectly match your target market's unique needs and preferences.
• The onboarding process for new customers might not be effective enough.
• You might not have aligned your product roadmap with the changing needs of your customers.
• Your customer success, sales, and marketing teams might not effectively nurture customer accounts.

Another possibility is that your customer acquisition strategy is targeting the wrong prospects. 

To increase the average Saas Customer Lifecycle, you must identify qualified prospects for your SaaS and develop a customer acquisition pipeline that caters to their needs.

Customer Lifetime Value is a measurement that signifies the anticipated revenue a customer will generate throughout their entire engagement with your company. 

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For example, if your typical customer makes two annual purchases with an average value of $500 and remains a customer for three years, the total Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) would be $3000. 

Churn Rate

The churn rate measures the percentage of SaaS customers who cancel their recurring subscriptions. 

If you bring in new customers only to see them leave shortly after, it could be a sign of a flawed customer acquisition strategy. 

You must reevaluate your strategies and prioritize acquiring customers likely to remain loyal and committed to your SaaS solution.

By closely tracking the above three key metrics By monitoring these metrics, you can gather valuable insights into various facets of your business. 

These metrics provide a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of your sales and marketing strategies, pricing approach, customer success efforts, and overall customer acquisition strategy.

Customer Acquisition Tactics 

Various methods, tactics, and strategies are available to attract new customers to your business. 

Here are some of these tactics to consider:

Cold Calling

Cold calling is the process of reaching out to potential prospects with no prior relationship with your business and presenting your product or service to them. 

When conducting cold outreach, you must keep your communications accurate and to the point. 

You want to introduce your offer quickly, provide an exciting reason for initiating a conversation, or address the pain points your prospects may face. 

For startups and early-stage SaaS companies, cold outreach can effectively gain initial users without significant financial investments.

One specific approach that yields positive results is cold emailing. 

It offers excellent scalability and affordability, thanks to the availability of automation tools that streamline the process. 

You can also track cold emails for performance analysis, enabling you to refine your outreach efforts. 

However, it is mandatory to exercise caution and avoid accidental email practices that could damage your email sender's reputation score. 

If your score drops too low, your domain or IP may end up on a blocklist, preventing your emails from reaching your prospects' inboxes in the future.

Resources

SaaS Content marketing involves producing and distributing valuable content through diverse channels such as blogs, videos, webinars, case studies, and original research. 

The objective is to engage potential customers at various stages of their journey and generate interest in your SaaS product.

So, how can you make content marketing work for your SaaS customer acquisition strategy?

Let's take the example of Bubble, a no-code software development platform. 

They have found success by combining free trial offers with content marketing. 

They offer a wealth of resources to prospects and free trial users, including:

• A community page that showcases unique projects built using Bubble.
• A public marketplace where you can find templates, plugins, and software development agencies.
• An online academy that teaches the essentials of app development with Bubble.

Content marketing goes beyond just posting on LinkedIn or creating an occasional ebook. 

When done right, SaaS companies that embrace content marketing enjoy higher growth rates, around 30%, and improved customer retention rates of 5-10%.

SEO 

Search Engine Optimization is like planting seeds in a garden to make your SaaS website more visible and attract the right kind of visitors. 

Just as a gardener carefully selects the best plants and tends to them over time, SEO involves:

• Researching the best keywords.
• Creating valuable content.
• Building links.
• Enhancing your website to increase its appeal and visibility to search engines.

You should understand that SaaS SEO is a long-term strategy that requires patience and dedication. 

It may take around six months to see noticeable increases in website traffic from your SEO efforts. 

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However, the real magic happens after 12 to 24 months when the full impact of your SEO strategies starts to show. 

The great thing about SEO is that it has a compounding effect. 

After establishing a prominent presence in search results, you can consistently draw qualified prospects to your website for an extended period without additional advertising expenditure. 

It is like having a beautiful garden that keeps blooming and attracting visitors naturally.

Paid Advertising

When attracting customers, paid advertising offers a fast-track approach compared to SEO. 

With paid ads, you can launch targeted campaigns and connect with potential prospects immediately.

The beauty of paid ads lies in their versatility. 

You can reach specific and relevant prospects across different channels, ensuring your message resonates with the right audience. 

Whether targeting different segments or nurturing leads at various stages, paid ads allow you to tailor your messaging accordingly.

The great thing about paid advertising is that you fully see how each lead found you. That is why pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has become a go-to tool for many SaaS companies. 

It offers the flexibility, precision, and measurable outcomes to drive customer acquisition and fuel business growth.

Social Media 

Social media marketing opens the door to a massive audience of around 3.6 billion people, providing you with a valuable opportunity to connect with potential customers. 

For B2B SaaS companies, social media offers more than just a presence on popular platforms like Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter. 

You can also tap into community groups, podcasts, and industry forums to engage with prospects meaningfully.

This type of engagement, often called "dark social," occurs through modern distribution channels where tracking attribution accurately can be tricky. 

However, you should note that many buyers use these channels for SaaS market research and make purchasing decisions. 

While attribution software may not capture all dark social interactions, you should not overlook their impact on your customer acquisition strategy.

As you shape your strategy, dedicating time and effort to building an active online presence is key. 

A robust social media presence is effective in connecting with a broader audience. 

This approach helps attract potential customers and increases the likelihood of converting them into loyal and valuable customers for your SaaS business.

Events 

In a world where the internet reigns supreme in driving purchasing decisions, it may surprise you that B2B marketers still prioritize in-person events as their top strategy for generating demand. 

As you shape your customer acquisition plan, do not overlook the power of events, whether physical gatherings or virtual experiences, to raise your brand's profile and attract the right buyers.

Free Trials

A freemium business model is like offering a tasty sample to get people hooked on your product or service. 

It is an intelligent approach to attracting prospective customers by providing them with a preview of your offerings without requiring any initial commitment. 

Implementing this customer acquisition strategy can accelerate your customers' onboarding process, enhance brand recognition, and transition from constantly pursuing new leads to nurturing and expanding relationships with your existing customer base.

Atlassian is a fantastic example of how a company can skyrocket using a freemium model. 

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When they started in 2002, they did not have a team of salespeople trying to push their product. 

Instead, they relied on the power of free trials to win over customers. 

This approach paid off big time, with Atlassian reaching a whopping $5 billion valuation by 2016.

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Conclusion

As we conclude this SaaS Customer Acquisition Strategies Guide, we hope the insights and techniques shared have provided you with a solid foundation for effectively acquiring customers. 

Implementing proven tactics such as content marketing, SEO, paid ads, social media, events, and freemium models can help you develop a strategy that aligns with your SaaS business goals. 

Remember to prioritize understanding your target audience, delivering value, and building lasting relationships.

Armed with this knowledge, it is time to implement your insights. 

Embrace the challenges and opportunities when acquiring new customers, and be open to exploring innovative and unconventional approaches to maximize your success. 

Your dedication to refining and improving your customer acquisition strategies will yield fruitful results for your company.

If you are ready to take your SaaS business to the next level, do not hesitate to implement these strategies and explore new avenues for customer acquisition. 

Remember, success in customer acquisition is about continuous growth, adaptation, and innovation. 

If you need help acquiring more customers for your business, you can book a demo and let us guide you throughout the journey.

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