SaaS companies grow or fold based on their ability to convert free users into paid. Without paid users, there’s little opportunity to scale.

I’m going to burst a bubble, first, though.

No matter how great your offering, someone is still not going to pay you for it.

I use several software tools daily and I never opt to use the paid version. The reason is usually a simple one: I don’t need the extras that come with the paid version.

You will have many people like me on your user list. They don’t need the extras for the paid version. If you’re going to have a free forever option, you will have people who don’t pay.

There are plenty of things I am happy to pay for, though. And they all have something in common.

The New Customer Journey

Think about the last time you needed a particular tool. You probably started with a problem, like 

“How can I track my time quickly?”

You wanted some ideas on how to accurately track how long you spent on a task, whether for work or play. You might have come across a few articles and tried some of the techniques.

If that wasn’t enough, you might have kept those articles open and noticed one or two were written by a software company.

And you went exploring. You read related articles or decided to follow a link to learn more about a particular product.

As an individual who wanted to get better at time management, you matched a buyer persona at the company.

You, and others like you, followed a similar path through the marketing to arrive at the exciting “Buy” button. This path was structured based on your wants, needs and desires.

This is the key to creating long-term relationships more likely to convert.

Step 1: Define the prospects

These buyer personas need to be detailed. Go beyond the simple questions of company size and annual revenue. Remember, an individual is reading your marketing, not a company.

You most likely have more than one ideal type of prospect, client, buyer etc. That’s a good thing!

In fact, very few offerings only apply to one prospect. If they did, they probably wouldn’t get far because of a limited user base.

When you create content that’s specific to your different prospects, it’s much easier to provide a personalized experience for them. And they are more likely to convert.

Studies have shown that 74% of online users are annoyed when they see something unrelated to them.

People want the exact information they are looking for.

Creating a complete funnel, from beginning to end, with the customer and user experience in mind, will pay off in the future.

And it’s not as difficult as you may be thinking.

Step 2: Top concerns

In the situation above, a potential buyer went looking for answers to a specific question.

Quick and relevant answers are at our fingertips, or a thought. Anyone can pick up their phone or turn to a corner of the room and ask Google, Alexa, Siri or other devices a question.

And they expect a quick and relevant answer.

More and more people are starting a search this way. The algorithms behind SEO recognize this and are changing so content reads as an answer to a question.

If people want better time management tips, the search doesn’t start with looking for a specific solution. The person doesn’t know if there is a specific solution. They are looking for an answer to a question.  

Step 3: Create content outside your site

While you should create content for your own site, especially when you have a new product, it’s a long-term strategy. It takes time for the search engines to find your content and rank it.

You also want a strategy to get in front of your audience in the places they hang out. For a software company, this may be TechCrunch, Product Hunt, a Medium publication and others.

What publications do your ideal prospects read? See if they have open submissions and create content your audience wants to read.

Step 4: Onboard with style

You’ve established a connection with the right type of buyers. They join your product or service at a free level.

Now they need to fall in love with your product.

This is where your audience segmentation comes in handy. Create an onboarding sequence for each segment based on your research and with goals to actively engage in your product.

You can tag people in your CRM or email program as they join if you have dedicated landing pages. Direct the traffic from your articles to a specific landing page. You know what broad category they fall into.

Another option is to ask them what category they fall into.

Put a simple question about why they want your product or service in an email with a few different answers. Tag them based on where they click and put them in the right sequence.

Step 5: Make it easy

The more hoops someone has to jump through to make a purchase, the less likely they’ll make it to the “Buy” button.

You want as few steps as possible for the user to move from free to paid.

Asking for information they’ve already provided, such as their names, emails, etc, makes it more frustrating. If possible, import this information to the checkout.

People are generally happy with what they already have. They may not have the time to explore your offering further either before the trial ends.

Create an incentive for upgrading within a specific period of time. Be very clear on the benefits and explain how things will change if they don’t upgrade now.

Step 6: Run a random special

If they don’t upgrade within the trial period, they aren’t lost to you.

Create a nurture sequence to stay top of mind and build anticipation for upgrading. Some users may not need the extra features or benefits from a paid tier now, but will later.

If you stay top of mind, then you become an obvious choice. If you ignore them after the trial, they won’t get the idea to upgrade and can easily forget about the better options when they need it.

Step 7: Clean the list

You want to continue nurturing anyone who expressed an interest in your product. But only if they continue to engage.

Track engagement rates, such as opens and click-throughs.

At the 3-month, 6-month or 12-month mark after signing up for a free level, depending on the response rate, run a re-engagement campaign.

Those who don’t ever open your emails are highly unlikely to upgrade.

Keep them on your list for a little longer but move them to a different campaign.

If they also don’t engage in the software, move them to a separate list of minimal contact.

This keeps your email deliverability and open rates high without being a bother. After a certain period of no engagement, remove them from your list entirely.

You can increase conversions by providing personalized experiences to your users, from the first interaction to the free trial and beyond. It takes a while to set up. Once it's ready, you can begin to increase your paid user base on autopilot.

Setup a high-converting welcome email series to move free users to paid and engaged users within a few days. Grab a spot here to discuss your email project.