Don't launch your SAAS without an autoresponder

In our experience of launching SAAS companies, the easier part of the user funnel is getting traffic to your website. Converting them and activating them is the harder part. To settle any arguments about this, consider this, you can always BUY traffic. By using Google/Facebook ads. Its that commoditised. Traffic is easy. Conversions and activations are not.

There are many tools for conversions to free trials that you can use which includes exit intent popups, credible testimonials, displaying trusted brands that use your product etc.

Then there is activation. People sign up but that is just the start of a journey. A journey that varies from person to person. Here are all the typical aspects of this journey you need to consider

Users need to feel welcomed

Signing up for a free trial is like visiting a restaurant. If you don't feel that there is anyone to attend to you in the first few minutes you will anticipate a bad experience and feel unwelcomed and may leave.

Its important to feel the human presence in the beginning to know there are people behind the scenes who care.

The Welcome email is therefore a must. All it needs to do is to say Hi indeally in a personal manner. Maybe from the founder. It also gets the user used to seeing emails from your domain in their inbox. After a day or 2 with so little attention span, users may not remember what your product does just by the sender name in their Inbox.

Users need to get a quick win

An email showing them how to get a quick success in their problem space takes them to the Aha moment which lets the user "Get it". Once they see the point of the product, the rest of the usage is easy for them to imagine. Sending a quick and simple call to action, a small guide, video or even a link to a webinar can go a long way.

Users need encouragement

People know that they should go to the gym. But knowing is one thing and doing is another. Its hard. So is your product. Even though its in their best interest to use them. So we all need a bit of encouragement when we hit small milestones. Sending a "Bravo" "You rock" style email has surprising results in the onboarding process.

Users simply forget

Since the trial is typically a month's deal, users might simply forget about having signed up to your service in the first place. Its important to explicitly remind them of the progression of the trial. "You are half way through your trial" or "Just checking in" or "Your trial is about to end" serves as a gentle reminder that might gently nudge people back into using your product.

Users need to be educated

Especially the advanced features of your product. Its our job as makers to help people get the most of our product. Educational emails, especially demo videos are super useful in cutting short the learnign curve.

Users may have something to say

As a consumer there has been many a times a product that I actually love using but there is a small little thing annoying about the product which is preventing me from taking my credit card out and actually making the purchase. If there was a way where I was gently asked for feedback on the product, I could find an avenue to vent and maybe get some help or workaround for my annoyance. For this I need to know that the team is keen on hearing feedback and I might feel attended to and you might have a paying customer.

An email asking for feedback especially if they decided not to pay after the trial period could be worth its weight in gold.

We built a tool which does this at 1/10th the costs of any email marketing platform out there by using Amazon SES. You can setup an autoresponder in minutes and increase your converions dramatically. Check it out here.