Everytime you sell your product to a new customer, you need to consider how much free time they have. Why would they add something extra to their daily tasks? That means, why would they take out some extra time from their busy schedule to use your product on a daily basis? Understanding this question would lead you towards getting the nuances of SaaS product adoption.

A customer, while using your product, goes through a series of stages in their usage journey. It starts from the first time they hear about the product and ends with them becoming your loyal customers. So, what comes in the middle, how to pass those stages, and finally, how to successfully reach the end goal?

It is the product adoption that acts as a bridge between a new customer and a loyal customer. It is the stage when your customer has got accustomed to your product and it has become a regular part of their routine. There are various factors that are into play for helping them adopt a product. All in all, your objective for a lifetime retention of customers is to cross this stage of SaaS product adoption at the earliest. 

So, let us look at the five best ideas that can accelerate your SaaS product adoption in your business.

#1 Understand your customer

For your product to fit right into the customer’s business environment, you need to first evaluate their current scenario. You must be able to identify what are their challenges, their pain-points and their needs. Possessing a bit of their domain knowledge would add some extra benefits. Only when you understand their business and their needs, would you be able to place your product as the right solution. 

This is especially important when your product has various aspects of solutions to offer. Through client’s requirements, you would know exactly how to place your product so that it fits right into their situation. 

Understanding your customer would also help you provide a better service to them. You must store all their information in your customer success platform that can be accessed centrally by various teams. This way, your team would always be prepared to provide a prompt response to the customer’s queries and issues. It will also help you avoid repetition of accessing customer’s information from them everytime they report an issue.

#2 Send tips based on Customer segmentation 

For SaaS product adoption, you need to identify the customer’s usage pattern of your product. A heat map of used features can give you the exact information in this regard on your customer success platform. Once you know it, you need to take steps for enhancing product usage by customers. So, for the unused features, you must send recommendations and tips in emails explaining them about the benefits of those features.

Now, there would be different roles of the users of your product from different customer organizations. For example, some might be tech-savvy while others would be from management or business backgrounds. So, it would be useful if you could create personas of different users. Based on these personas, you can tailor your emails that demonstrate different values of your product or unused features. 

The more you speak in users’ terms, the more they would be receptive and respond to your recommendations. And this is one of the best ways to ensure SaaS product adoption.

#3 Engage according to the phase in their journey

Customer relationships are to be nurtured slowly and consistently. You must segregate the customer journey into different phases. And based on these different phases, you must engage with your customer. 

For a customer who is in the onboarding phase, it wouldn’t make sense to show them some highly advanced features that they would use at a later point in time. You need to wait for them to get acquainted with the basic features and become comfortable with them. Only after that you must show what advanced features are in line for the enhancement of their product experience.

And if you send emails about basic features to those customers who have been using your product for a long time and have turned into loyal customers, it will only degrade your value.

So, make sure you segregate your customers based on the phase in their journeys and engage with them separately. This way, they will always find value in every touchpoint and that strengthens their engagement with your product.

#4 Keep it simple

Before you approach your customer for any tips or recommendations, remember that their time is important. They would not be always free to entertain every email you send them. Hence, instead of sending long and laborious emails that consume a lot of their time, keep your communication simple and to-the-point. 

If it is getting longer than the time they can allocate to your product from their busy schedule, then you must segregate your communication into a series of short emails. Sending them timely short notes and tips are far more effective than sending long and thorough documents about the product. Remember, it is only through short and specific steps you can help them immerse into your product.

Make short video tutorials for each feature that you would like them to know. Giving quick bites would always keep it fresh and interesting. And when it is executed in an extraordinary manner, they would always be looking forward to getting these emails from you.

#5 Enable in-app engagement

This is one of the best working strategies for SaaS product adoption. Your product should have a feature within the app itself to engage with your customer success team for any help they need. It keeps them engaged with the product even when they are facing any issue. 

There is no guarantee that customers would be always opening your mails in the middle of their work. But in-app messaging allows them to engage with your brand in a holistic way. They must look at your app holistically as a one spot solution for all the business needs for which they purchased your product in the first place.

Final thoughts

If your business sustainability depends on nurturing a long-term relationship with the customers then product adoption is the most crucial part of it. Until they have adopted the product, there is no guarantee that they would renew their subscription. 

Most of the SaaS companies mistakenly assume that the free trial they are offering to the customers is enough to ensure product adoption. No doubt, that initial trial helped them realize some value from your product, it is in no way enough for a complete SaaS product adoption. 

You need to work towards your customer experience and engage with them holistically to strengthen your relationship with them. Your product’s performance is crucial to add value to their business, but it takes the effort of the whole organization to think towards customer success and engage with them accordingly.

WRITTEN BYRohan Sheth

Rohan has over 11 years of experience in client services, marketing and hospitality field. Previously, he was head of digital marketing for a hi-tech mobile application. Rohan is driven by new challenges and the possibility of making an impact on individuals and businesses.

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