We're seeing a lot of movement in the job market this summer as the economy is emerging from the pandemic.
So, your role is focused on Saas lead generation, and you need to get results quickly. You'll be expected to bring new lead generation strategies to the table to maximise growth and streamline the process of acquiring qualified leads.
Ideally, you'd have a product that sells itself, with effort only needed from you on spreading awareness via content marketing. Obviously, this is almost never the case with Saas companies, so you'll have to roll up your sleeves and tackle some challenges, some of which may have been evident years before you joined the Saas company.
For those unsure about the importance of leads in your business model, we're sure you've asked yourselves this question many times: “Why do we need to generate leads?”.
Let’s start with the why.
Sales teams need to have a stream of leads to work with – ideally a steady stream of leads. Without these leads, the team has no one to call, email or interact with, which is why lead generation is so important in the overall sales process. Whilst it’s often marketing’s job to generate leads – a marketing qualified lead, that activity alone is not simply going to convert leads into customers
Product features and appearance don’t have enough of a draw to generate the lead volume you’re trying to get. The product is not drawing leads in, instead you have to go out and hunt for people.
Awareness campaigns are burning through your budget without ROI. They’re not working because people don’t feel a strong enough need for what you’re offering.
Leads fall out of the marketing and sales funnel without converting, and your sales team can only do so much to aid conversion. You must optimise your funnel in such a way that your B2B or B2C SaaS lead generation has a high conversion rate.
Is the root of the problem lead quality or are the potential buyers scared off by something they're not impressed with? While it may be easy to blame lead quality, you should make sure that the leads are getting the experience they deserve.
Your Saas lead generation strategies must:
1- Know where your customers are: Being present where buyers are is key to retaining them and growing your business. Having a mobile-friendly website, for example, is crucial for nurturing leads and staying top-of-mind.
2- Be engaging and consistent: This is in reference to all your marketing activities. A consistent presence online will help you grow your following, and an engaging experience will have your customers coming back for more
3- Create a personalized experience: In today’s marketplace, where customers are king, going above and beyond is expected.
4- Use data to direct your efforts: With data, you can see what’s working and what’s not. This will help you direct your efforts at the key areas for improvement.
5- Leverage technology to automate your tasks: The less time you have to spend on day-to-day tasks the more time you have for lead generation and innovation. Marketing and sales automation will help you scale your efforts, bringing in more leads.
Airbnb attributes User Experience as the main factor in taking them from being a near-failure to being valued at $10 million. User experience must be prioritised to have an effective lead generation strategy.
Furthermore, a study by Soussan Djamasbi et al., looking at UX design and especially the mobile user experience, revealed that when design was optimised for mobile users, marketing and sales stats improved greatly.
Some of the results of optimising UX were:
Suddenly we can see that UX is critical in acquiring marketing qualified leads and conversion. Improving UX is also a low-budget, high ROI initiative compared to Google Ads campaigns, as it's only a short project rather than a permanent commitment. You'll keep reaping the rewards long after the project has been completed.
At Synetec, we’ve seen the magic of optimised UX multiple times over the years. The most recent UX success story are SCQuARE, who deliver training programmes and strategy workshops to world-renowned clients such as PepsiCo and General Mills.
SCQuARE’s platform went through a UX Refresh, giving the star product the functionality and look it needs to do the best job at converting leads and retaining customers. The more reactive interface drives business growth as it’s now easier to use and keeps end users engaged.
Winning new business will be easier as the updated platform delivers a contemporary, responsive service. With the improved User Experience, SCQuARE can now start looking at how we can support business growth and move into new service territories.
Paul Wilkinson, CEO, SCQuARE
If you would like to discuss a bespoke software development project, challenge or goal please book a 30 minute Clarity Call with us and we'll point you in the right direction (even if you chose not to work with us)
