How SaaS companies can improve their Customer Experience (CX)

Some of the best SaaS companies have achieved long-term success because of their obsession with the customer experience (CX). I mean, think of Amazon (US) and Uber. These companies are practically pioneers in the field of CX and look where’s it gotten them. However, designing and delivering a great experience in the software industry can be a bit of a challenge – that is, if you don’t know how to approach it properly.

The buying process in SaaS often involves multiple stakeholders and decisions are typically stretched out across multiple departments as well as individuals. And not only that, but in order to evaluate the customer experience, you have to look into a variety of different journeys, as well as countless touchpoints and interactions with users within your software.

And this ability to accurately evaluate and optimise your customer experience is becoming increasingly important for SaaS companies. In order to compete, they’re going to have to excel in it.

So what first steps should your SaaS company take to improve the customer experience?

In this article we will outline:

• Why the customer experience so important for SaaS companies
• Tips for improving your customer experience as a SaaS company

Why is the Customer Experience so important for SaaS Companies?

Measuring and improving the customer experience is not only good for customers, it’s good for business. SaaS companies depend quite heavily on customer retention and an ongoing flow of revenue brought in by repeat customers. Therefore the customer experience serves as a huge differentiating factor and is what ultimately gives SaaS organisations an edge over their competition. Your first impression is everything and if your first-time users aren’t getting their expectations met, you’ll probably lose them right off the bat.

A focus on CX creates a competitive advantage that drives customer retention, revenue expansion and enterprise valuation over time.

– Gainsight

Tips for improving your customer experience

In order to provide a good customer experience, your SaaS company must take the right steps and prioritise the right areas for improvement. As a fellow SaaS organisation and company active in the area of CX, Mopinion knows what it takes to achieve a successful CX in SaaS.

How MeisterTask transformed its UX with feedback

Find out how user feedback has helped fellow SaaS company and task management tool MeisterTask transform the user experience.

Read their feedback story

That being said, we’d like to share a number of useful tips for SaaS organisations looking to improve their customer experience, starting with one of the most important steps.

1. Create a winning onboarding program

One of the most critical aspects of any SaaS experience is the onboarding process. User Onboarding is essentially the process of getting your customer better acquainted with the product they’ve purchased or signed up for. If your customer experiences a poor onboarding process (for example, they are confused, overwhelmed or can’t find something), it can be detrimental to your growth – especially considering it sets the tone for any future purchases or interactions with your business.

Research indicates that customers with a positive perception of onboarding are much less likely to churn in the first 21 days of using a new product or service.

– WalkMe Blog

To achieve a user-focused onboarding program, it’s important to focus on aspects of the process such as content (i.e. your knowledge base, guidelines and/or user instructions), product tutorials, email campaigns and the user experience as a whole.

So keep it simple. Don’t overcomplicate processes with unnecessary jargon or elaborate explanations. Try to communicate in a way that is easy for the user to understand. And make sure the information you are sharing in your FAQs, knowledge base, tutorials, etc is comprehensive so that users have all of the information they need at their fingertips.

2. Make sure you have a user-friendly website

Being a successful SaaS company doesn’t only mean providing a good customer experience within your application, but also on your website and any other digital channels you use such as mobile apps and email. The reason being is that prospects who are performing research prior to selecting a SaaS provider are doing so on your website. Here they should be able to easily find and learn more about your solution as well as feel encouraged to give it a try.

So what might you be doing wrong? There are a number of small blunders that may be putting off potential customers from choosing your solution. For example, maybe your website has:

• Slow loading times,
• Unclear website content,
• Ineffective navigations,
• Page errors,
• Lack of mobile compatibility,
• Missing Call-To-Actions (i.e. demo or trial registrations),
• And more.

These elements and more are so critical to your SaaS website and therefore your customer experience. By optimising pages that bring on these types of hurdles, you’ll be on the right path towards a smoother customer experience.

3. Gather insights using customer feedback

Last but certainly not least – we encourage SaaS companies to listen to their users! Gathering insights with customer feedback is a great and all-encompassing process for understanding how your users think and act, how they feel about your website or solution itself, and more. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of using feedback:

Helps identify pain points.

Identifying your customers’ pain points is critical to improving the customer experience. You should constantly be analysing what your customers need to be successful when using your service, and you should be communicating your solutions clearly with them. You may not get to everyone’s problem immediately, but you should create a culture of caring that your customers can rely on. This helps to evolve your customers into advocates of your brand, who not only remain loyal to you but will happily promote your company to their networks.

Build a following.

By taking preventive measures and tackling any possible customer issues by proactively asking them for feedback, your customers will be more likely to continue using your product and recommend your business to others.

Empower your team.

Customer feedback enables your team to better understand customer needs and work together to resolve issues and keep customers happy. Some customer feedback solutions – such as Mopinion – enable you and your team to work proactively with the feedback you collect with built-in analysis and action management solutions. So you can stop working in silos and start spreading feedback across the entire organisation.

Your ticket to a better customer experience

And there you have it. Equipped with the tools and knowledge you need, it’s time to start improving your CX. So what’s our last bit of advice? Start by listening to your customers. Find out what they need and build up your CX program around these needs, while keeping with your product vision. Do that and you’ll be well on your way to CX greatness.