There’s an old proverb that says, “It is easy to open a store. The hard part is keeping it open.” While you may not own a physical store, the wisdom still rings true — you need returning customers if you want to stay in business. But how do you keep customers using your SaaS product without ever switching to a new one?
Start with the flywheel. Unlike traditional sales funnels, it’s designed to maintain your relationships with customers long after the sale has been finalized. Next, create compelling content that positions yourself as a guide for those wanting to learn more about your field. Finally, gather reviews and testimonials from your customers. This gives your current customers the opportunity to be heard, as well as provides you with social proof for converting visitors into new customers.
Create a Flywheel, Not Just a Sales Funnel
The traditional sales funnel has been around since the early 20th century. While it certainly has experienced longevity, it’s not the ideal basis for a marketing strategy in the information age. Questions can be answered by simply asking your virtual assistant, meaning that your sales team is no longer the gatekeeper of information that they once were.
As Lisa Gevelber points out for Think with Google, today’s customers:
- Are well-informed
- Expect a tailored digital experience
- Are action-oriented
You need a new method for attracting, engaging, and retaining these customers. A strategy that positions you as a guide that customers can return to again and again for solutions. You need a flywheel. The flywheel strategy focuses on the cyclical nature of a customer relationship, rather than the linear approach of a traditional sales funnel.
Using the Flywheel To Drive Customer Retention for Your SAAS Marketing Strategy
As the foundational concept of inbound marketing, the flywheel can help you gain and even retain customers in the digital age. It even simplifies the traditional sales funnel, reducing it from four or five stages to three.
The three stages of the flywheel are:
- Attract
- Engage
- Delight
To attract customers, you need to know who your target audience is, what drives them, and create content that they will find appealing. Next, engage them on a deeper level by identifying their pain points and providing them with solutions. You then delight your customers by becoming a trusted guide and advisor rather than just another vendor.
What makes the flywheel stand out from the traditional sales funnel is that it never truly ends. Rather than ending the relationship with a sale, you position yourself as a resource for your customers. This is because making a sale isn’t the end goal of the flywheel. Instead, it’s fostering a relationship with your customers that grows stronger over time. These customers can then turn into brand advocates who help you reach even more potential customers.
Click here to read our blog where we dive deeper into the flywheel!
Focus on Creating High-Quality, Valuable Content
High-quality, valuable content is essential for keeping your customers inside the flywheel. Fortunately, you have a lot of options when it comes to the content you can create. Not only can these forms of content help drive customer retention for your SaaS marketing strategy, but they can help to improve customer acquisition, as well.
Try using a combination of::
- Blogs
- Chatbots
- Email marketing campaigns
- Videos
With blogs, you are able to provide authoritative and informative content to visitors that take advantage of SEO. By learning what keywords your customers are searching for, you’ll be able to write blogs that fulfill their queries while also being promoted higher in the SERPs.
Chatbots are a fantastic way to automate your sales process with messaging tailored to your ideal customers. They add a human element to your website, helping to draw visitors in, gradually convert them into customers, and have them coming back for more.
Email marketing campaigns are the perfect way to keep your customers in the loop of what your company is up to. From company culture to new products to special events, they help you engage with customers long after the sale has been finalized to keep them delighted.
Like blogs, videos can be a simple way to keep your customers in the flywheel. They give you an opportunity to be hands-on with your SaaS product, showing customers how to take advantage of every feature. With AMAs and live streams, you can interact with your customers in real-time and continue strengthening your relationships with them.
To learn more about how content can help deepen your relationship with customers, click here!
Social Proof — The Holy Grail of Customer Retention
If you’ve created an effective flywheel filled with content to delight customers then you should eventually reap the rewards of social proof. What is social proof? According to CXL, a research-driven marketing and education site, social proof is “borrowing third-party influence to sway potential customers.”
This can be in the form of:
- Reviews
- Testimonials
- Case studies
- Data
In most cases, social proof is used to convert visitors to customers. However, it can also be harnessed to increase customer retention. This can best be done using reviews and testimonials to keep your customers moving through the flywheel.
Reviews & Testimonials
Reviews and testimonials are a great way to use social proof to gain new customers. On the other hand, they can also serve to strengthen your relationship with your current customers.
How?
Because you’re asking for their input.
By reaching out to your current customers, you’re showing that you value their opinions about your SaaS product and company. Review campaigns are an effective way to make your customers feel heard and learn valuable insight into ways that you can improve. This way, they feel like more than another customer. You’re helping them feel like part of your own brand story.
Getting reviews and testimonials from customers is easier than you may think. You can simply schedule a follow-up email for around six months after a sale, asking for their feedback.
You can also create a review campaign inviting customers to provide their feedback and images of them using your software. This becomes prime information to use on landing pages, sales pages, and other marketing materials. With this new source of social proof, you will be strengthening relationships with current customers as well as converting prospects into new customers.
Choose Baker Marketing as Your SaaS Customer Retention Marketing Partner
Creating a path to gaining social proof can be a lot of work. You need a partner who understands the flywheel and how to create content to keep customers circulating through it. This way you have more free time to do what you love — creating products and services that change people’s lives.
Enter Baker Marketing. We’ve spent the last decade working with clients to enhance their marketing and increase conversions. At Baker Marketing, we’re more than another vendor. We’re your guide in the world of digital marketing and are here to help you get your SaaS offering in the hands of those who need it the most.
Do you need help increasing customer retention for your business? Schedule a free marketing review with our team today!
The flywheel is the sales strategy for the 21st century, allowing you to grow your relationship with your customers beyond the initial sale. You can achieve this with helpful content in the form of blogs, videos, email newsletters, and chatbots. Once you’ve established yourself as a guide for your customers, you can request reviews and testimonials as social proof of your SaaS product. This way, your current customers become part of your brand story while providing content that converts visitors into customers.
Baker Marketing Laboratory has spent years helping healthcare businesses find their footing in the digital world. Through a combination of inbound digital marketing and powerful messaging strategies, we help you craft a marketing campaign that resonates with your ideal customer. Contact us today to schedule a call and learn the difference we can make for your business.
