Frankly, if your product sucks, upgrade emails won't magically bring you hundreds of conversions. The latter might be even better because you're not specifically starting a conversation (therefore not creating an uncomfortable feeling for the user). and feel "this belongs to me". SaaS welcome email templates. This reduced time to benefit, as well as the ability to use SaaS tools anywhere in the world can also increase adoption. You do not know what constitutes a successful trial, You have neither time nor money to polish things up, Using sticky features (e.g. For fun, I ride bike, read books, and hike in the Alps. improve your retention, double your MRR, win back lost customers, they are using your app daily or never. However, it’s time-consuming, most emails never get answered, and reaching the right people at the right time is often the most challenging part. My friend Jane Portman chimed in with a thought-provoking remark: Lastly, you want to send them more than one reminder email to make sure you get a happy new customer - and not just someone who pays your bills for two months and then does a chargeback. Finding the MPA for your product is a journey that takes weeks or even months of studying data, customer interviews, Oct 13, 2016 | 7 min read . after they cancelled or didn't convert from the free trial, you'll quickly figure out those objections. SaaS companies often try to get on a consumer’s radar through inbound marketing methods, such as social media and gated content. so there aren't any clear pattern showing up. Here are some must-have metrics for your app: When you count the "number of logins" make sure you not only count the times a user put in username & password, Good afternoon, or evening, depending on where you are. Which of your emails did they open and click? Benefits of SaaS – Higher Adoption. You can unsubscribe at any time. This article on the email that decreased Moz's churn rate by 40% What articles did they read on your website? A perfect onboarding experience in turn improves the conversion rate on your upgrade emails. Boring. 2) Raises the value the users receive. If you are conducting any sort of exit interview with your customers People are inherently afraid of losing something they already have. This article is split into multiple sections, each addressing different stages of your product. Once you have discovered the MPA for your product, the upgrade email is merely the last step along the path and The opposite of the Minimum Path to Awesome is called "red flag" metrics. This email is there to make the customer’s work easier. But most marketers, Vero’s Fusion feature allows you to use more data to create one-to-one personalized emails. The structure on the upgrade notifications workflow straightforward: When you receive the Some SaaS providers simply move their on-premises software to the cloud and call it SaaS. Sign up for my mailing list and get the Upgrade Email Workflow that you can install instantly in Drip to increase your trial-to-paid conversion rate. And there's a ton of ideas to improve on it, too. I am going to share a great example I received recently and, with a little deconstruction, we can determine why this email works so well and what lessons we you can apply to your own upgrade emails. We'll keep personal data according to our the right content. Sophia is writing in Airstory writing software. The goal is to build a comprehensive digital blueprint of all process activities. Fair enough. And some of you might have a 5M+ ARR, a team of 20, and want to learn what else your devs/marketers can improve. Building an effective, relevant, segmented, action-driven email onboarding for a SaaS (software as a service) is probably one of the hardest projects a marketer needs to deal with in their career. 14 Onboarding email templates. If a user sees immediate benefits from the tool they are more likely to stay engaged. Here's what I did in one of my emails: Don't be afraid of that. Canceling or subscribing is just a click of a button. later stage. Software as a Service (SaaS) is the business model of today. The third email is pretty much the same as the second one except for the changed deadline. Take a wild guess (or use some of the data collected in step 1) and promote your app's sticky features. The emails I gave you to start with aren't tailored to any audience - especially not yours. But there will be one right after the user takes action X related to your app. We'll keep personal data according to our is an excellent (if accidental) example of the power of the Minimum Path to Awesome. The process is demanding — but can be done skillfully and deliver positive business outcomes. March 2019. Here’s how to influence retention via email. who didn't use the app at all. No credit card details required, five killer examples of email remarketing, four other conversion optimization experts reviewed HipChat’s SaaS welcome email, Stop Your Campaigns Before They Stop Your Users, How to Use Vero’s Event-Based Email Automation for One-to-One Email Personalisation, Include the primary Call To Action (CTA) again at. Takeaway: Sometimes you need to get real with readers. First of all, you need to create a sense of ownership. Some have launched their product, are pushing moderate revenue with a small team, and want to grow. Privacy Policy. more content and/or promotions of interest to you. you're using their app. SaaS CRM is available for sale following subscription criteria using your credit card including the essential upgrade, maintenance, and reliable customer support. In Stage 4, you’ll keep your existing customers happy by continuing to provide value through your emails, reduce your churn rate with a few email marketing tricks used by the best in the industry, and create upsell offers that convince users to upgrade their accounts. You solve this problem by segmenting your users. You can get the template she’s demonstrating here. Ideally, you want to include some metric telling them how much they have used your app or how much money they've made because of it. Social proof is one of … from hallway usability testing, demoing your product, or Asked another way: What color would your Tesla be? In this section you'll find more ideas for you to try out. Retention emails. Some of the improvements, especially the gathering of additional metrics, will only take full effect at a Automation is changing the way marketers do business. and exit the workflow if so. have helped me tremendously with feedback on my drafts, quotes, and new insights. the stakeholders to buy your software. This model has its drawbacks and does not take full advantage of the cloud delivery model. The entry and operations cost of on-premises solutions is high, but on-going maintenance costs are low. The problem is that every user needs help with different topics. (Yikes, back to Grammarly I go) Article by Get Your SaaS On Board | SaaS Email Examples + Best Practices. I don't care. I would add that to the existing emails - i.e. Download templates. win a copy of the SaaS Email Marketing Handbook! For example, you may send an email to boost activity from a dwindling account. It is different for each app and discovering it gives you a blueprint for the emails (and in-app messages) you Moving from legacy applications to cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications is no different. and much more in my email crash course, You'll get about one email per week with educational and/or promotional content. It will challenge your technical knowledge, logical mindset, copywriting creativity, people’s skills, and patience. and how they use your product. SaaS minimizes the costs related to internal resources and IT support as the provider is responsible for most things. 4 Welcome email templates. They help convince and remind people to convert and upgrade from free to paid accounts and to higher plan tiers. I won't send spam. The focus of email is on the SaaS email design usability — the buttons give recipients the possibility to review these updates in detail. There are so many hints you can take from the smallest of user interactions and combine them into incredibly SaaS (Software as a service) is a rapidly growing industry. They sent an email announcing that they have enhanced the application’s interface and enumerated all the benefits it has on their users’ work. It’s easier and cheaper to retain and upgrade paying customers than it is to get new ones. because sending an email twice increases your conversion rate by as much as 50%. You have got a few dozen people using and paying for your app. Mint understands that business and SaaS email marketing has to be a two-way street. They can also get pretty messy in terms of the decision-making logic. It's a starting point - no more, no less. How can we make those steps effortless and/or reduce their number? Show Me The Money: The Secrets of a Great ‘Upgrade’ Email, Free for 30 days. that you can install instantly in Okay, let's talk about the very first upgrade experience you put in place. I went into business (as a freelancer) at age 19 and have since launched multiple profitable products. At what point does a user see value in the app? If you remember their login for 30 days, all your trial users will have a login count of 1 - no matter whether Write some better copy - or get someone to do it for you. Sadly, it’s also affecting customer experiences for the worse. 4. Implementing the above improvements helps your thriving product grow at an expedited rate. That is a trait you can exploit. Once you have time & money to make this optimization, do it! two hours. For now, we will focus the copy on highlighting the benefits and features and include social proof to There are a lot of things you need to get right before a customer is ready to upgrade and start a subscription but, assuming that you have moved your customers through your funnel successfully, how should you write your upgrade email? Get new users engaged, and inform them how to use the product in the best possible way. TRANSCRIPT. Read our Privacy Policy. Did they receive a lead nurturing campaign? Did they use the app 15 times in the first 5 days of the trial? Take a moment and think back to the last SaaS app you signed up for. I recently heard someone say “before long, A/B testing will be. Here's what that first email could look like: The second email, sent 24 hours later (or 48 hours out) has more urgency and also a bit more details on what happens. Joanna Wiebe: Good morning, everybody. Another great way of increasing your conversion rates is by further personalizing your emails. Once you have around 1,000 customers you're approaching $1,000,000 annual run rate pretty fast. 5 winback email templates (+ examples) to keep customers engaged. The same happens when you wait until the last minute to ask your users for the upgrade. Online Tools for SaaS Cold Email Marketing and Follow-Ups. SaaS sales reps can also spread brand awareness by contacting potential leads. Red flag metrics Monday takes a more cohesive approach to long emails. Sign up for my mailing list and get the Upgrade Email Workflow Enter this contest to You're less likely to eat it - right? In your sequence include an email where you ask people what describes them best. One way is to start users on a trial with premium features. Another seriously advanced technique is to automagically segment your list by keeping track of the following: These informations can give you a pretty decent idea of which marketing persona each user fits - without With those metrics you'll be able to implement some of the following improvements to your upgrade emails: Another thing you can do to improve overall conversions is to ask for the upgrade at the right time. Depending on which link they click, you tag them in your email marketing software, and proceed to send them with your SCRUM software and doubled the number of shipped features per month. But why should you even care about that? the Minimum Path to Awesome (MPA) for your application. Use some humor in there. first session duration. Let's dive in and look at the structure and the copy of your very first upgrade email experience. The easiest way to segment them is through self-selection. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. You give your users points for actions they take: Once they hit a threshold, you ask them to upgrade. Unsubscribe at any time. If they are not successful, you have essentially two options: either you postpone the trial end - by offering to extend their trial - or you just start charging them anyway. Additionally, you'll get the SaaS Email Marketing Crash Course - a 5 day course to double your MRR with Now is also the time for you (or rather: your team) to fine-tune all the things about your upgrade emails. Before implementing SaaS, enterprises should deploy data-discovery tools to identify the current state of their business processes. Before I wrap this up, I want to thank a few people without whom this article wouldn't be as comprehensive as it is now. When to send: You send retention emails to existing customers, though there are different use cases. Throughout most of this article I'll assume you do not ask for credit card details during signup. Build on sign-up momentum and easily convert trials into paying customers. You can do this with tools such as Mixpanel, which comes with a free plan for up to 20,000,000 tracked events The one you need right out of the gate. user interviews. SaaS vendors provide users with software and applications via a subscription model. If you'd love to show every website visitor a custom version of your website, check out RightMessage.io. When you have a user with positive "red flag" metrics, make sure to re-engage them ASAP. SaaS Email Marketing Handbook. a variety of content that is sent to people who do you don't know whether a given customer is successfully using your product - it is a lot harder to write great copy. indicate that an account is not successfully using your software and likely to churn. I'll show you how you can build great upgrade emails (a.k.a. Using automated tools can help, which is why most companies surveyed say they use automation. Tools to help you design, automate and coordinate the messages you send your customers, whether you have 1 or 10 million. So here are some ideas on how to improve your upgrade emails that aren't too burdensome: Tracking feature usage and user behaviour is the foundation for most of the following tactics. Rather than having sections that cover a bunch of different topics underneath the standard top section, they use the rest of the email to expand on the same issue. You can personalize the email by stating things like "You have used 63 out of 100 fuzzies". Stripe and Drip - and good enough to get started. Upgrade emails are your bread and butter messages. Suggesting the right tier makes signing up for a paid plan easier, reduces friction, and increases your Upgrade emails. Nevertheless it is crucial to start collecting that data now, else you'll find yourself at a Alternatively, you send C-level employees case-studies of similar company who streamlined their processes SaaS Email Marketing Funnel Examples from Real Brands Application Improvements Mailchimp . If we can't get the user there quicker, can we provide value in a different way faster? Or heck, don’t even write them at all. account usage of premium features in your app. In the last section I'll show you a number of possible improvements - so that you can predict their success in using your product from the behaviour you are tracking. your users needing to self-select. Users do not have to manage, install or upgrade software; SaaS providers manage this. Your humble upgrade email has matured into the T-1000 of upgrade email marketing automation workflows. After all, this is a fantastic example of the sort of lifecycle email you should be sending your customers. As Thinkific’s VP of Growth, Sid Bharath, told me about 12% of new users attend the webinar, which leads to a 15-20% upgrade rate. themselves to making your upgrade workflow as smooth as possible. One of the things we love the most about this blog is that Janet Choi not only breaks down examples of SaaS companies known for their successful email marketing, but she also gives basic templates which allow you to fill in the information specific to your own company. There is an amazing article/case study on the KissMetrics blog That wasn't easy and you damn well deserve a little party. Now - at the latest - comes the time where you will no longer be able to talk about "your upgrade email", because Again, UX expert Jane Portman had some great advice to share with us: You can do it via in-app message — using a tool like Intercom — or by scattering upgrade buttons in strategic parts of your user interface. Take the readers of this article as an example: Some questions you might be asking during this phase are: Understanding how customer success manifests itself and how it is achieved, allows you to perfect your onboarding. you push the user into this upgrade workflow. SaaS upgrade emails were designed to serve existing customers at a deeper level. Make these emails short, but include points that attract your customers to upgrade. win a copy of the SaaS Email Marketing Handbook! What is appealing in the template? by clicking on different links in that email. See the email from Squarespace, a SaaS for website building and hosting. counter the most common objections. Email outreach is at the heart of many businesses. need to write to each user at each step along the path to maximize your trial-to-paid conversion rate. In this tutorial, SaaS copywriter Sophia Le shows you how to write an upgrader email for your SaaS trial. "Usage of metered features" means that when you are selling 3-4 different pricing tiers of your product and Such a move gives us an opportunity to discard old items and old ways of doing things while managing emotional involvement, resistance to change and challenges to the status quo. Receiving emails from Google 'Gmail upgrade confirmation' email 'Google password assistance' email 'Google email verification' message 'Gmail removal confirmation' message 'Google email change verification' message ‘Suspicious sign in prevented’ email Offer them an upgrade. The master of this technique is Brennan Dunn, who just launched a SaaS app around the concept. It's like grits - except you're eating the packaging. The basic workflow outlined above, gives you a good starting point. That way you do not bombard converted users with useless emails. ranging from copywriting, to personalization, and beyond - you can employ once you have some staff that dedicates seeing the value in your app. The one that is "good enough for now". In their email, they share the results of their work and revisions. We’re not going to sugar coat things. Maintaining a stable retention rate creates a more sustainable SaaS business, and brings more satisfied and engaged users. We're committed to keeping your information safe. Here are a few more quick-fire tips to optimize your upgrade emails: For even more tips and tricks, check out this article on increasing trial conversions written by Kate Harvey. Drip to increase your trial-to-paid conversion rate. Upgrade Email - SaaS. You need to get as much accomplished in as little time as possible – and within budget. you have less than 100 customers "Designer running his own agency"? The MPA is the magic sequence of actions a user has to take to be successful in your app. When you ask for credit card during signup the upgrade email turns into a "impending charge email" and What do you think – what extra elements or ideas would you test to improve on Emil’s email? Upgrading your users accomplishes three crucial goals: 1) Nurture relationships. La gestion en mode SaaSpermet à une entreprise de ne plus installer d’applications sur ses propres serveurs mais de s’abonner à des logiciels en ligne et de payer un prix qui variera en fonction de leurs utilisations effectives. Upgrade emails are important for your business success, but as with so many things you got to start somewhere and then iterate from there. customer.subscription.trial_will_end event from Stripe, Additionally, you'll probably need to track some of this stuff in your own code/database. they didn't upgrade by then. I'm assuming that you are either still going at it alone or with a tiny team of freelancers. Remember to always provide a default segment - i.e. but also how often they returned to the app after a period of inactivity - e.g. Okay, that moment is over, let's get back to work :-). How the Best SaaS Companies Write Upgrade Emails that Convert by Janet Choi, Customer.io. and you don't have a few millions in VC money that you can throw at the problem. Here's what expert Kate Harvey has to say about that: Finding the right time is all about monitoring user behavior and to use lead scoring. I’m going to share 13 email sequence templates that will help convert and retain more customers for your SaaS. Take this email here: If you could increase your signups by 15% while decreasing your churn rate by 40%, how would that so you should start collecting this data as soon as possible. Common red flag metrics are number of logins per period (e.g. That means you are facing two big problems when it comes to upgrade emails: Ideally, when you write your upgrade emails you know enough about your users and your product The copy is bland. Making the most out of your upgrade emails pretty much comes down to finding the Minimum Path to Awesome and In taking inspiration from Emil’s email and giving your upgrade email a facelift, here are a few other ideas that will make this email even more effective: That’s it! Image from GetVero. As a solopreneur you're notoriously short on both. First of all, congratulations on the success so far! Despite the fact that churn is so common, you’d be surprised at how many companies totally botch their winback emails. Did they log in once, close the tab after 10 minutes never to be seen again? by the time you send it, the user is already sold on your app. There are over 15,000 SaaS companies in the market, which is projected to reach $157 billion by the end of 2021. End-of-year upgrade to annual plans; Transactional emails don’t often get credit for any of those $42 in email ROI. "web developer working as a freelancer"? you differentiate those tiers by how much some feature gets used, you should now start tracking that usage - If you sell a subscription online or run a SaaS business, then you will regularly be asking customers to upgrade and, odds on, you’ll be doing so via email. Janet Choi on May 28, 2015. each 24 hours after the previous. Sweet! to put in their credit card details. Lately, I built You've got nothing to lose from sounding remotely like a human being. This basic upgrade workflow starts three days before the trial ends and sends three emails - Points for actions they take: once they hit a threshold, you need to track how often does active... Small team, and new insights is pretty much the same happens when you have a lot customers... Have something they will lose once the trial ends each addressing different stages of your website check... ( Yikes, back to grammarly I go ) article by get your SaaS needs to see the value your! Hours until the last minute to ask your users by their level of experience, company size job! Are straight-forward customer interviews, etc business processes system migrations of 2021 13 email sequence and the... Hallway usability testing, demoing your product, or user interviews look at what does. Advantage of the SaaS email marketing has to be successful in your email marketing software, they! Okay, let 's talk about the very first upgrade email marketing Handbook - each 24 hours activate. Developer working as a freelancer '' they share the results of their business processes emails - i.e article is into... ‘ upgrade ’ email, free for 30 days subsequently provide them with reports explanations. And features and include social proof to counter the most common objections using emojis in marketing.... Your team ) to keep customers engaged a set of `` sticky features... Users points for actions they take: once they hit a threshold, you to... To long emails each 24 hours to activate the account user has to take to be successful your. Topic for another day any of the data collected in step 1 Nurture! Personalize the email by stating things like `` get the user takes action X to! User successfully adopted, things are straight-forward emails: do n't shy away from sending same... User with positive `` red flag metrics are number of logins per period (.! Marketing emails email has matured into the T-1000 of upgrade email experience with features... 'S sticky features in loss of data - e.g positive business outcomes increases! Once the trial, copywriting creativity, people ’ s choice ( you understand the potential.! Many companies totally botch their winback emails launched a SaaS app around concept... Results of their business processes marketing software, and set the tone for their experience of! Understand the potential ) needs a lot of customers and a lot more tips in this excellent article Customer.io! It does not collect credit cards during signup and the Google Privacy Policy and terms of the SaaS marketing... You 'll find more ideas for you ( or use some of article! Powerful customer success team ) would want to grow features and include social proof to counter the common... To people who do not bombard converted users with useless emails start to worry about this too much launched SaaS. From the very basic first approach to long emails marketing automation workflows variety of content that ``. Use cases in as little time as possible of losing something they will lose the! Sends three emails - i.e have 1 or 10 million segment - i.e it... It will challenge your technical knowledge, logical mindset, copywriting creativity, people ’ s skills and. Great way of increasing your conversion rates collected in step 1 ) Nurture relationships on-going maintenance costs are also low. That is sent to people who do not have to manage, install or upgrade software ; SaaS providers this... Potential ) 'd love to show every website visitor a custom version your... First 5 days of the SaaS email marketing software, and patience the structure and the copy the! Different use cases through self-selection SaaS company, your time is right and at the and... Features back in 2015, they let them know that involvement is needed here 's I... Through self-selection do you think – what extra elements or ideas would test... Is needed in loss of data - e.g and sends three emails - each 24 hours activate. Website building and hosting a sticky feature, you ask when the time for you start! User use the app in the best SaaS companies write upgrade emails were designed serve... Remember to always provide a default segment - i.e up for a plan... Dedicated a whole nother topic for another day product, are pushing moderate revenue a. Need to create one-to-one personalized emails be done skillfully and deliver positive outcomes. What you can build great upgrade emails use language that signals the impending loss - e.g to send you... Via email step 1 ) and promote your app as well as the ability to use SaaS tools in! More data to create a sense of ownership updates in detail cards during.. Providers simply move their on-premises software to the lack of data if we ca n't get the she! Cloud delivery model usability testing, demoing your product saas upgrade emails again, unsuck your product first! to your... Let 's talk about the very first upgrade email marketing Handbook allow them to sign up very basic approach. Track some of the trial assume you do not have a lot of time for a paid easier! Sticky '' features - features that make your users for the first time where. To `` Woah cloud ; equipment failure does not contain any personalization aside from the very basic approach... You tag them in your sequence include an email to boost activity from a dwindling.! A basic upgrade experience you put in place can also increase adoption essential customer retention that... Saas marketing Consultation Moving from legacy applications to cloud-based software-as-a-service ( SaaS ) is the magic sequence of a! A threshold, you ( or rather: your team ) to keep customers engaged a later stage in... More tailored to the sophisticated, conversion-optimized setup you 'll probably need to create a sense of.! The first 5 days of the cloud and call it SaaS in place into paying.... Do you think – what extra elements or ideas would you test improve! First of all process activities technique is Brennan Dunn, who just a. Not collect credit cards during signup data collected in step 1 ) and promote your app they sure! See value in the first time: do n't shy away from sending same!: you send your customers called `` red flag '' metrics, make to. To help each and every user, job title, etc if they already have get to. Ask them to self-select by clicking on different links in that email team of freelancers who not... Of their business processes user see value in a different way faster this technique is Brennan Dunn who! Is pretty much the same email twice - maybe with a different way faster in... By Janet Choi, Customer.io the copy is good, but include points that your! User takes action X related to internal resources and it support as the second one except for changed... What describes them best final goal, and puts success in their hands use.... Allows you to follow certain growth strategies to outdo your competitors send an where... To boost activity from a dwindling account the benefits and features and include social proof to counter the most objections... Looks like - designed in Drip: Due to the lack of data, etc describes them best site protected! Example passes the baton to the lack of data at first we look at what can., demoing your product first! 10 minutes never to be seen again lose from sounding like! Of data - e.g not going to sugar coat things even write them at all same email twice maybe! 1,000 customers you 're going at it alone or with a different way faster you ( or your success. Same happens when you 're going at it alone and have since launched profitable! And the user there quicker, can we provide value in your app automated tools can,. This is a whole nother topic for another day on-going maintenance costs are also pretty low mindset copywriting... Post sharing five killer examples of segments you can target have helped tremendously. Book my free SaaS marketing Consultation Moving from legacy applications to cloud-based software-as-a-service ( SaaS applications. Who do not have a user sees immediate benefits from the tool they are already seeing the in! Annual plans ; Transactional emails don ’ t even write them at all companies, it is crucial for to... Crucial for you ( or your customer success emails your SaaS on Board | SaaS email examples best. Of 100 fuzzies '' re not going to sugar coat things people who not. 'Ll keep personal data according to our Privacy Policy and terms of the SaaS companies the! Features that make your users by their level of experience, company size, title... Their level of experience, company size, job title, etc for sale following subscription criteria your. Meh '' to `` Woah especially the gathering of additional metrics, will only full!, install or upgrade software ; SaaS providers manage this they ’ re not to! Service ( SaaS ) is the magic sequence of actions a user immediate! A sequence saas upgrade emails feature adoption ( they first use a, then later B, then later B then... Fine-Tune all the things about your upgrade emails ( a.k.a legacy applications to cloud-based software-as-a-service SaaS. Kissmetrics blog that I dedicated a whole nother topic for another day for 30 days take to sending... Threshold, you need right out of the categories above soon after signup do they start each! 2015, they made sure to re-engage them ASAP of reaching buyers the!