Thread by @iamwillcannon

There are 3 ways to increase your SaaS’s value:

1/ Reduce Churn
2/ Increase LTV
3/ Get more customers

Here’s a thread on how to do each (and start making more money every month):

#1 Reduce Churn

5 steps:

Raise your prices
Allow customers to pause their account
Have a cancellation flow
Go Annual Only
Upsell on monthly or annual

I will break down each one so you can apply them to your business:

1. Raise your prices

The simple way is to raise your prices (yes really)
Raising your prices:

- Reduces churn
- Attracts higher quality customers

Cheap customers churn faster.

2- Allow Customers To Pause Their Account

They may need a break because:

- Your product is seasonal
- They’re having financial issues

This doesn’t reduce revenue churn,

But it does retain customers and give them the incentive to come back.

3. Have A Cancellation Flow

The first thing your buyers do when they want out is click cancel...
So don’t want to make it hard to cancel!
You should have some friction in the decisions they make.

Example:

When Uplead members click cancel, we ask them:
Why do you want to leave?
We give them another step in the flow from their answers.
The flow lets you understand WHY they’re churning...
Which is valuable data when you want to fix gaps in your business

Bonus tip: Offer a discount (works for some businesses)

You’ll get a small revenue churn,
But it’ll reduce user churn to almost 0

4. Go Annual Only

Don’t offer monthly plans.

If they want to commit to your product?

They will

Higher quality customers + a almost 0 churn rate

5. Go Annual or Monthly but with an Upsell

For example:

When they buy the monthly plan?

Have an Upsell offer ready.

Say something like:

“Upgrade to annual right now and you save 30%!”

They’ll pay annually and that reduces your churn.

#2 Increase LTV

3 ways:

-Raise your prices
-Have multiple pricing axes
-Turn into a pillar of their business

1. Raise your Prices

Everything comes back to this.

If you want to attract better customers?

Then target higher paying customers.

2. Have Multiple Pricing Axes

As a SaaS owner,

You have 3 pricing axes:

-Features-based pricing

More features, higher price

-User-based pricing

More users, higher price (team accounts)

- Usage-based pricing

More usage, higher price (look at UpLead, MailChimp)

When you have all three?

You’re allowing people to pay as they grow.

And it happens seamlessly (they don’t have to contact you)

Hint: The reason you want 3 pricing axes is because the companies that have lifetime value and the lowest churn are using the pricing axes
The holy grail of SaaS is negative churn.

Example:

The best companies have 140% net dollar retention...
That's 40% net negative churn.
If I didn't add one new customer at all, my business will still grow by 40%.

3. Turn Into a Pillar of Their Business
As a SaaS owner,
You’re a part of someone’s everyday workflow
If a bomb drops on their business?
You want to be the last thing they cancel.
You only want them to cancel if they go out of business.
So...
The stickier your SaaS is, the better

#3 Getting More Customers

4 ways:

-Cold Email
- Multi Channel Marketing
- Twitter
- Partnerships

1- Cold Email

Everyone loves to hear that they're great,

And love to talk about what they're into.

So if you're reaching out to people and you're talking about something that

interests them?

They’ll read and respond to you.

2. Omni Channel Marketing

Take advantage of:

-Linkedin
-Cold email
-Facebook groups

These are some of the best ways to push your product in front of more faces.

3. Twitter

Building a personal brand on Twitter is VERY powerful.

I grew my Twitter from 3,000 - 29,000 followers in 3 months

And let me tell you…

It has been POWERFUL for growing brand awareness with Uplead

4. Partnerships

Word of mouth is the best form of marketing.

Referrals mean:

-Your product is good
-It’s getting people results

You know you’re winning with referrals.

Thanks for reading!

I tweet about:

>SaaS

>startups

>business

>outreach

>cold email

>getting clients

Follow me if you’re interested in that ;)