5 Ways to Improve SaaS Customer Experience

Great marketing campaigns might bring customers to your SaaS product. But getting the customers to stick around and refer others is a whole different ball game.That’s where customer experience comes in.Customer experience is the impression your brand leaves on customers. Every interaction they have with your platform throughout the customer journey contributes to shaping these feelings. Great customer support, for example, leaves a positive impression or ensures a good customer experience.The best part? When you prioritize customer experience, 85% of customers won’t mind paying more to use your product. Otherwise, you risk losing 32% of them after just one bad experience.Of course, you don’t want the latter, especially for a SaaS company, where most of your revenue depends on subscription renewal.In this guide, you’ll find experience-backed tips for positive customer experience SaaS companies can implement.

1. Personalize the onboarding process

Using a one-size-fits-all approach for onboarding is not advisable, especially if your product targets multiple customer profiles. Take, for example, a project management tool with two users::

• A: Project managers who need a sprint planning tool.

• B: Casual users who just want a to-do list.

Personal Greeting SaaS onboarding

Tooltip SaaS

Micro Survey SaaS Onboarding

Onboarding user B with complex project management features can prove complicated.This poor onboarding can discourage up to 60% of customers from returning even after initial sign-up. But personalized experience can help retain 76% of users and make them 20% less likely to switch.The question is how?Greeting users using their names on the welcome screen is a nice touch, but it's just the beginning:SourceSegment your audience based on their persona, pain points, and Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD). Then,create a personalized onboarding flow for each segment, either using checklists, tooltips, or short tutorials.For example, user A might need a detailed sprint planning tutorial, while user B could benefit from a to-do list tooltip:SourceBut how do you know if a new signup belongs to A or B in the first place? Welcome them with a micro-survey like Surfer:SourceBased on their choices, you’ll understand the segment they belong to and the right onboarding flow for them.If your product has a steep learning curve or advanced capabilities, automated onboarding might not be enough. So, opt for face-to-face (or virtual) demos. Here, you can ask the customers questions about their goals in real-time and help them settle in well. This is especially essential if you’re dealing with enterprise businesses who tend to bring in more money.Further, use personalized email communications to complement your on-site onboarding process. For the best result, this should be done in a sequence of at least three emails:

• Personalized welcome emails, sent after sign-up

Upvoty Welcome Email

• Re-engagement email(s) to invite users back if they've not completed the onboarding.

Onboarding email SaaS

• Follow-up email(s) to give users a nudge toward the next stage of the process. For instance, encouraging users on a 14-day free trial version to get a paid account.

Follow up SaaS onboarding emails

Following excellent onboarding, customers start developing a positive perception of your product. Build on that.

2. Implement proactive customer support across different channels

In-Depth SaaS Knowledge Base

SaaS Walkthrough Onboarding

Social Media Marketing Auto DM Campaign

Support Emails SaaS

Customers want you to anticipate their problems and proffer solutions even before they have to contact you. That way, you can change the impression of 92% of them towards you positively.Make sure you implement proactive support across different channels. This will help ensure you meet your clients in their preferred communication channel.Self-service resources, for instance, help clients navigate your product or solve customer issues without having to reach contact centers.From the feedback you gather (we’ll talk more about this later), you’ll discover your customer’s most common pain points and questions.Produce SaaS content around these issues to create an in-depth knowledge base.See an example from Jira below:SourceFurther, consider creating interactive walkthroughs to help users navigate your product better. For instance, Kommunicate’s customer service team doesn’t have to worry about teaching users how to create their first chatbot. That’s because there’s a walkthrough for that:SourceSpeaking of chatbots, they are also an excellent customer support resource to consider. Set up these chat solutions on your website. You can also deploy them across your social media platforms. Check out an Instagram chatbot example below:With social media chatbots, you won’t just make it easier for users to access quick solutions and information. You’ll also draw more people to your social media pages. The result? You can boost your Instagram following, Facebook comments, retweets, and shares.By using a visual chatbot builder, you may additionally improve accessibility and user-friendliness for people who don't know anything about programming. With a strong emphasis on providing a visual interface that simplifies the chatbot creation process, this innovative technology opens doors for individuals and businesses to effortlessly design and deploy sophisticated chatbots. This user-centric approach not only accelerates the development timeline but also empowers a broader audience to harness the power of conversational AI without the need for extensive coding skills.Additionally, consider having dedicated call center operations for more complex customer service inquiries or personalized assistance. A well-trained call center team can provide real-time support, answer customer queries, and resolve issues effectively, further improving customer satisfaction.Creating a community or a forum helps as well. If your customer service agents have previously resolved these issues, other users can easily find their solutions on these platforms. If not, they can ask questions, and another community member might be knowledgeable enough to answer.As a final tip, remember, honesty is an important aspect of proactive customer support. Say you notice a bug or an issue. Let the customers know about it before they discover it on their own. Your customer support team can apologize for any inconvenience caused and let them know you’re finding a solution, like Extensis did below:SourceRemember, too, that proactive customer support doesn't always have to be about troubleshooting and issue resolution. Your communication with customers could be to see how they are faring or if there’s anything you can do to enhance their experience.This can go a long way in building positive relationships.

3. Streamline user interface and user experience

UX UI SaaS

Upvoty UI

Around 75% of customers judge your credibility based on aesthetics, and 88% are less likely to return after a bad experience. This means UI/UX optimization is another aspect of customer experience SaaS companies shouldn’t neglect:For starters, your interface should be beautiful, simple, and practical. See the example from Upvoty:This simplicity extends to your navigation as well. Like Upvoty, ensure the homepage shows the most relevant links, such as pricing, features, etc. A search bar can also help the process of navigating to specific features or content. This way, users won’t spend too much time trying to figure out the layout or specific information.Some 46% of customers will not come back to a brand with a bad mobile site experience. So, ensure your SaaS product is mobile-friendly.Test it on various devices and screen sizes to confirm a seamless and positive experience across the board.In addition, make your sign-up process straightforward. Your sign-up button should be on your homepage. It’s even better if your users can access the product with their existing credentials on platforms like Google.

4. Gather and act on customer feedback

Upvoty Customer Feedback Portal

Customer feedback helps you understand how your customers think and feel about your product. As we said earlier, customer feedback can help you determine how you should write your SaaS content that will form part of your knowledge base. It can also help you identify missing product elements and areas that require improvement, enabling you to enhance the overall user experience.So, gather customer feedback via surveys. You can send these surveys via your social media channels, emails, or within the product itself.For this last one, you can use Upvoty to set up feedback boards, for example. Users can easily click on the board and give their opinion:Social listening is also a great way to gather feedback. You can use tools like Hootsuite and Buffer to discover customer sentiments and comments.However, feedback is useless until acted upon. Once you’ve gathered your feedback, organize it so that you’ll know which one to prioritize.Organize feedback into the following categories:

• Possible with minimal effort

• Needs time and effort

• Unnecessary

Act on feedback categorized as “possible with minimal effort” first to show customers that your company provides immediate action.

While surveys and social listening platforms offer direct insights into customer sentiments and preferences, CX optimization, aiming to improve customer experience, represents an integral avenue for gathering feedback organically. By closely monitoring customer interactions, analyzing user behavior, and leveraging data-driven insights, businesses can proactively identify pain points and areas for enhancement. This proactive approach not only fosters a deeper understanding of customer needs but also enables swift adaptation and refinement of products and services, ultimately fostering stronger customer relationships and loyalty.

5. Continuously monitor and measure customer satisfaction

CSAT

NPS

Customer satisfaction shows how well a customer loves using your product. With this information, you’ll better understand areas to improve so you can nurture customer relationships and convert users to loyal customers. So, consider measuring these metrics to gain actionable insights.First is Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT). Measured through post-customer interaction surveys, CSAT gauges how satisfied customers are with specific experiences, such as onboarding. A score of 75 to 80% is typically considered good:SourceFurther, use NPS (Net Promoter Score) to measure the likelihood of customers recommending your product to others. Based on NPS surveys, calculate the score using the formula below. Customers rating 7-10 are more likely to recommend your product, indicating satisfaction.SourceFinally, pay attention to customer lifetime value (CLV). CLV represents the average revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your company.Compare this with Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Ideally, CLV and CAC should be above 3:1, reflecting satisfied customers who upgrade plans or stay long-term.

In closing

Positive customer experience can help you boost customer loyalty, customer retention and gain more referrals. To enjoy these benefits, you learned tips for a fantastic customer experience SaaS companies like you can implement.Start by personalizing your onboarding process. Implement proactive customer support solutions across multiple channels. Also, give customers no reason to complain about your UI/UX.Additionally, gather feedback to see what they need and what to improve on. Lastly, monitor customer satisfaction so you can revisit your customer experience strategy if necessary.Follow these tips and you’ll provide an excellent customer experience that makes clients happy.