After pouring years of blood, sweat, and tears into your SaaS business, nothing is more rewarding than the notification of a new paying customer.
Another income layer added.
Another contribution toward growth.
Wonderful.
Unfortunately, a subscription payment is a much more difficult conversion to achieve on a Landing Page than one-off payments like a $9 Ebook or even a $99 course. Potential customers may be more reluctant to splash out on their credit cards and typically tend to do extensive research before committing to a new recurring payment.
In this article, I’m going to share 10 tips to help strengthen your SaaS Landing Pages and convert those visitors into subscribers.
1. Step into your visitor’s shoes
The secret to SaaS Landing Page optimization is to try to step out of your shoes and into the shoes of your first-time Landing Page visitor.
- Who is your target demographic?
- What problem do they have?
- What doubts do you think they would have learning about a SaaS like yours?
Now, what exactly would they need to see and read on a Landing Page to be persuaded to go all the way?
💡 Action: Start by answering those 3 questions to get a better understanding of your SaaS Landing Page. Then identify which current elements do not contribute to your visitor. Remove them.
2. Set one objective
This is an obvious one, but it’s still a common mistake I see on daily basis. An effective SaaS Landing Page should only have one objective, not many.
Imagine the mixed narrative that would come with promoting both an upcoming event registration and a SaaS signup. Your objectives wouldn’t be very clear:
- 🚫 Register for our upcoming conference + signup to our service
- ✅ Signup for our service
💡 Action: Decide on what exactly you would like your visitor to do when they arrive at your SaaS Landing Page? This is your primary objective. Move the rest into separate Landing Pages.
The beauty of a Landing Page is the single canvas to persuade the visitor to do one thing.
3. Catch the lead immediately
Like we mentioned earlier, a SaaS Landing Page visitor is more hesitant to make recurring payments; they need a bit more convincing. A simple call-to-action on your landing page can help plant the seed for your SaaS product. This call-to-action could lead to automated email drips, a free trial, or a simple onboarding procedure to convince customers of your product.
💡 Action: Embed your sign-up forms above the fold, with as few *required form fields as possible other than their email address.
4. Utilize testimonials
Utilize your customer testimonials by highlighting features and answering doubts.
So often I see SaaS Landing Pages packed with testimonials providing very little value to the visitor:
- 🚫 Hey email rocks!
- 🚫 I love these icons!
A great testimonial highlights one of your SaaS product’s shining features while also answering a user’s potential doubt.
💡 Action: Round up all of your customer testimonials and select only the choice few adding value for your SaaS Landing Page visitor.
5. Cut off dead ends
A paying customer wants to know their monthly subscription will be met with a team invested in the product. They will certainly check out online reviews and maybe even burrow through your social media accounts to see how proactive your business is. Cut off those dead ends to help build user confidence in your SaaS product.
💡 Action: Remove dormant accounts or start publicly sharing your roadmap on them.
6. Consider an explainer video
Well-thought-out explainer videos can help improve conversions for complex SaaS products or services. It’s not easy to sell table-heavy Enterprise software via screenshots on your SaaS Landing Page.
- ⏳ Keep it under 30 seconds (longer can work, but only if brilliant)
- 💬 Use subtitles
- 👆 Don’t forget the CTA at the end
Conversely, a rushed explainer video without a budget or refined script will hurt both your brand and SaaS Landing Page conversions.
💡 Action: Head to Fiverr and commission a cheap “pilot” Explainer Video just to see how it feels.
7. Layer with social proof
Think of social proof as herd mentality. We tend to follow bigger herds vs. smaller herds. We are influenced by higher ratings vs. lower ratings. If everyone else is doing it, it must be the best and safest bet.
Strengthen your SaaS Landing Page social proof by including:
⭐️ Customer Ratings
💬 Testimonials
🏆 Service Awards
📈 Statistics
✍️ Critic Reviews
🥇 Industry Rankings
🍏 Client Logos
📰 Press Features
💡 Action: What would you need to integrate into your SaaS Landing Page for your visitor to believe you are the obvious best choice?
8. Offer an annual discount
Offering a discount for a 12-month commitment can really help boost cash flow for your SaaS business.
You can offer tiered pricing changes as you switch between the monthly and annual tabs for your customers to see the discount at work:
💡 Action: Once you’ve decided on your annual discount, avoid doing anything too fancy with your pricing switcher. Rather aim for legibility and a stable experience that’s been tested on mobile thoroughly.
9. Let them experience your SaaS
We’re not here to trick someone to pay for something they don’t want. We’re here to solve problems and help our customers. Be proud of your offering by showcasing it with beautiful screenshots and, if possible, letting them test drive the SaaS product without signing up for a full subscription.
A freemium trial can further explain how your product works and, in-turn, it will help reduce churn.
Popular website builder Carrd allows a full website build before asking for an email address:
💡 Action: Ask yourself how you can demo your SaaS better. A simple link to a screencast walkthrough is a great start.
10. Start at the end
If I was only allocated 1 tip to give, it would be showing your visitor where your SaaS business will take them. For example, showing them that only by embarking on a journey with your brand, they will be able to:
- Experience leading entertainment
- Learn to cook Asian cuisine
- Improve mindfulness
- Lose weight
- Streamline productivity
💡 Action: What does your customer look like after using your SaaS for an extended period? What feeling would you want them to have? Write those down to guide you.
I hope these 10 tips help strengthen your SaaS Landing Pages. Please let me know on Twitter (@robhope) if any of them helped improve your conversions!
If you’d like 90 more of them, I’ve written an Ebook with 100 Landing Page Hot Tips that includes an audiobook, over 200 resources and pre-launch checklists. This link gets you 40% off: https://gumroad.com/l/hottips/saasmag
