Software-as-a-Service – or SaaS as it is commonly known – is one of the most competitive sectors for businesses today. So, if you wish to stand apart from the crowd, your landing page needs to be up to the mark and constantly updated according to research by Marketing Sherpa:
“48% of marketers create a new landing page template for each marketing campaign.”
Further research indicates that “On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline” – not a small percentage by any stretch of the imagination.
Any landing page worth its salt should be one that can capture quality leads, drive traffic to the product pages on your website, and encourage users to either sign up or make a purchase while wanting to come back for more. In short, having a landing page that works is essential to keep your business up-and-running. In this blog, we will look at landing page tips and tricks that can help bring your SaaS A-game to the table. Are you ready?
Top-5 Ways Strategies for a Killer SaaS Landing Page:
1. Use Live Chat Triggers for Higher Chances of Conversion
Text messaging is the new phone. People wish to connect with brands quickly and seamlessly. Enter: Live chat software.
Before you start thinking of a drab and dull live chat window (that rightly belongs to the Stone Age), consider the following examples:
- Live chat helps automate key tasks and takes off the workload of your sales and marketing teams. The bot can be built in such a manner that it literally speaks the customer’s language. For example, HLC created an effortless customer experience with live chat and delivered a more customer-focused experience on its website. Here’s a quick snapshot of the results the brand leveraged due to live chat:
Plus, the brand used a chat tagging feature to tag live chat conversations. This feature helped its customer-facing team to identify and categorize issues — and get proactive about solving them.
- This tool can be used to connect with multiple customers at once – that too, 24×7 (weekends included). In cases where the team is not available, the chatbot can collect important user details such as their email ID so that the team can get back to them as soon as possible.Let’s take the example of Splashtop which used the customized bot to increase sales conversations by 35%:
Plus, the chatbot allowed the company to engage with prospects when their sales team was offline. The chatbots could collect contact information, including names and email addresses, enabling the sales team to follow up the next day.
Key takeaway: Using a multi-purpose tool like live chat can help your business capture leads even when the team is away. Plus, it enhances the customer’s experience by offering seamless and instant support round-the-clock.
2. Get a Pulse of where your Customer Stand’s in the Customer Journey
You can think of this tip as the starting point of your ‘landing page optimization’ endeavor. The idea is simple: You need to understand your ideal customer’s pain-points, needs, and aspirations to better cater to their requirements. After all, if you don’t do your homework and research, you’ll be left shooting in the blind. Take a look at the following example of a landing page that focuses on the customer’s key pain-point during Covid-19 – ‘accessing essential vitamins and supplements at cheaper prices’:
As you can imagine, communication is clear, direct, and relevant to the target audience, making it a hit.
Additionally, you need to gauge where your customers stand according to the “5 Stages of Awareness” Principle by Eugene Schwartz:
A. Unaware: Customer’s don’t know they have a problem, hence marketing to them is unnecessary.
B. Problem Aware: Customers are aware of their problem but unaware of the potential solutions.
C. Solution Aware: Customers know about the existence of the solution but have no inkling about your product.
D. Product Aware: Customers know about your product, but need to gain trust in your offering.
E. Most Aware: The customer is most likely to buy as they know about your product and how it can be helpful to them. With a little help, you can close the deal.
That’s not all. It also helps to understand the ‘type’ of landing page you should build. As per research by Unbounce, these are the types of landing pages SaaS marketers are creating:
Key takeaway: If you wish to communicate with purpose and relevance, spending time in this first step is crucial.
3. Make the Messaging More Consistent & Specific
Ever seen a landing page that has varied messaging all across? A pop-up here, a deal coupon there. The banner ads talk about something, and the landing page content talks about something else entirely. No brownie points for guessing that by the time the reader is five seconds into the landing page, they’ll close the window and vow never to come back again.
Take the example of Syncplicity:
While some may argue that this page isn’t necessarily all bad, we’ll tell you why it doesn’t work:
A. There’s too much happening on the right side – the contact button is getting overshadowed with the demo button.
B. The graphic elements do nothing for the page except for making it look chaotic and messy. The design isn’t clean.
C. Undoubtedly, new users will be left confused about what they should do first: Should they request a demo? Or check out the remote work resources? Or create an account?
In contrast, take a look at the following landing page by Trello:
A. The design is minimal and clean. The use of illustration is a bold move and frankly, a refreshing change from the stock images.
B. The reader’s eyes immediately wander to the “Sign Up – It’s Free button. There’s a clear, specific, and singular Call-to-Action button that’s highlighted which does not leave the readers confused and well, overwhelmed.
C. The content is crisp, consistent, and to-the-point, explaining exactly how the product – Trello can help the customers.
Another superb SaaS landing page example is “Shoelace”:
In the example above, the landing page clearly asks readers to ‘Download the Deck’ or book a demo. In doing so, the user can make a decision quickly and easily, thereby boosting the conversion rates.
So, when building a high-converting landing page, ask yourself the following questions:
- What’s the primary message that should go on my landing page? Is it simple enough for the audience to understand?
- Is my landing page focusing on one and one thing only? (e.g., getting users to submit their email id)? If not, it’s best to reduce the number of goals intended.
- Does my audience really need more than one solution or one CTA button?
Key takeaway: Every landing page should have a singular goal – To compel the reader to act – by signing up or requesting a demo or filling a form, you get the drift, right? Basically, care should be taken to not include too many CTA buttons that can confuse the readers. The adage ‘Less is more’ stands true for SaaS landing pages.
4. Strategy + Emotion + Customer Centricity = The Holy SaaS Trio
Even in the highly-technical SaaS world, using strategy alone to lure your customers can fail. The smart customer of today wishes to interact with a landing page that can:
- Offer 360-degree benefits and gain their trust and not a mindless narration of features.
- Take away their pain-points by offering free giveaways and gain their loyalty, and not simply talk about the pricing models.
- Provide true value in terms of convenience, support, and ease-of-use and demonstrate the same (think: social proof, testimonials, screenshots of the product in use, etc.) to make them self-confessed brand advocates; instead of promising tall claims with nothing to show.
If you notice closely, every requirement stated above caters to some sort of human emotion in the customer – be it trust, loyalty, or brand advocacy.
Key takeaway: When building your SaaS landing page strategy, make sure to factor in the three components to offer a holistic page that can drive sales and traffic while boosting customer happiness.
5. It’s a Visual World!
“90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text.”
People’s attention spans are lowering, and most of them process visual content faster than text. The emergence and explosion of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Snap chat are proof. So, it makes logical and aesthetic sense to incorporate compelling, life-like visuals into your landing page to boost user engagement like never before.
But wait…we aren’t talking about stock images of professionals shaking hands or smiling creepily. We’re talking about illustrations, short videos, real-life product shoots, vector images, the like:
Take a look at the following gorgeous examples of SaaS landing pages that are a treat to sore eyes, to put it mildly:
- Mixmax uses screenshots of the offering to immediately communicate – and demonstrate (extra points for this) – to the reader about the benefits of the offering and how it can help them:
In a sea of sameness, Todoist and HelpScout use beautifully-crafted illustrations to bring the landing pages to life:
Saving the best for last, heystack demonstrates the customer’s pain-points in the form of a dynamic visual:
Key takeaway: Incorporating high-quality visuals allow people to connect with your brand on an emotional level. Also, visual optimization of your landing page should also include small yet significant elements such as placement of icons, the hamburger menu, contact buttons, CTA buttons, etc. It helps to conduct A/B testing frequently and fervently so as to understand which type is offering the best conversion results.
Final Word
Though SaaS is a highly-technical and formal field, your website need not be. As we saw from the examples above, SaaS companies today are mixing it up with creative, illustration-led designing, clean and informal content, and value-driven CTAs. The age of chunky, boring, and cold IT websites with a professional person smiling or shaking hands is behind us (and thank God for that!).
So don’t be afraid to experiment with your website’s inherent style and make sure to offer a landing page that’s truly useful, considerate, relevant, and universal in appeal.
Author bio:
Dhruv Mehta is a Digital Marketing Professional who works at Acquire and provides solutions in the digital era. In his free time, he loves to write on tech and marketing. He is a frequent contributor to Tweak Your Biz. Connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.