The role of customer success & 5 must-have sales reports (+SaaS conversion benchmarks & winning characteristics of first startup hires).
8 tips to increase your SaaS activation rate / 5 Sales Reports / Customer Success Role
Hey - itโs Alex!
Today, I will share with you:
4 actionable SaaS growth tips
Best tip, failure, & learningโ by Andreas Michel (Co-founder & CEO of Locaboo)
1 software tool recommendation
โฆ that will help you quickly grow your SaaS product ๐.
๐ย Before you begin:
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1. SaaS conversion rates + 8 tips to increase your activation rate
Corey Haines (Swipe Files) recently published a great SaaS marketing report.
And what it shows, is that:
29% of SaaS startups have a visitor-to-lead conversion rate below 1%
the majority (59%) have a lead-to-customer conversation rate below 10%
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1da3a455-8aa0-43aa-8b81-83b91c715f79_625x604.png)
If youโre getting enough leads, but having a hard time activating them, Iโve collected 8 tips for you.
8 tips to ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฅ
The Bowling alley framework gives you a great overview, of what you can use to convert new leads into active users.
1๏ธโฃ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ท๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐
Start to draw your customer journey (e.g use Miro).
Decide intentionally how you get them from one stage to the next stage (e.g. email sequence, call, in-product tourโฆ).
Ask yourself: Can you remove complexity? Do I provide enough guidance in each stage? Does the journey makes sense or should we revamp the customer journey?
2๏ธโฃ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ
Once the journey is clear, do you make it easy to move to the next stage?
Do you have the right CTAs in place? Also is it consistent in your messaging?
Move them one step after the after in your onboarding.
3๏ธโฃ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ
If youโre following sales-led growth, is it easy to book a demo with you?
Embed a scheduling tool e.g. Calendly
4๏ธโฃ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฝ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น ๐ฎ๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
After signup, send out a welcome email.
Let them know what to do next.
Ideally, itโs not just a single email, better set up an email sequence.
The goal of the sequence is to get them active.
5๏ธโฃ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด
A lot of tools are really complex when you sign up.
You see lots of different features.
Better remove complexity and focus on delivering value as fast as possible (quick time to aha moment).
What is the key feature new signups need to experience? Focus on that.
6๏ธโฃ ๐๐ฑ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐, ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ธ๐น๐ถ๐๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ด๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด
โGuidanceโ within the product is a great way to get them to the aha moment, especially if youโre product-led.
7๏ธโฃ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐
Track how your new signups interact with your product.
If you see someone is lost, offer support.
Also segment new signups (e.g. Tier 1, 2,3) and proactively offer sales support to the most valuable (Tier 1).
You can segment signups using forms in the signup flow (e.g. number of employees, company name, amount of โvalue metricโ).
8๏ธโฃ ๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐ณ
Add social proof (logos, case studies, testimonials) along the customer journey.
This means having social proof in your welcome email sequence, signup page, pricing page, and help center.
Also, readย this articleย by Laura Kluz & Ramil John for some great examples of product onboarding experiences.
![Source:ย Hubspot Website Source:ย Hubspot Website](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8142897c-eed5-465e-b5ab-72928e0f68ff_1109x255.png)
![Source:ย Calendly Website Source:ย Calendly Website](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5c5642e1-36db-4b2f-a90c-a70e2bb682d1_1092x259.png)
2. 5 reports every SaaS founder should have!
Iโve seen founders tracking every single metric possible, and also Iโve seen SaaS founders lacking crucial metrics.
Here are 5 reports that I would highly recommend to every B2B SaaS founder.
๐ญ) ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
Track your website traffic and amount of new leads created.
๐ฎ) L๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต
See how many new leads are created this month.
Track what percentage of those are converted to deals.
Track month over month to see if youโre getting better.
๐ฏ) W๐ถ๐ป ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ
What percentage of the deals youโre closing this month are 'won' and 'lost'?
If your win rate is below 20%, you need to work on your sales demos.
See if your sales team gets better over time in closing deals (higher win rate).
Identify sales reps that need more training in closing.
๐ฐ) L๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐พ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
Itโs normal to lose deals. But make sure you know why you lose deals.
Use predefined lost reasons (drop-down) to make analyzing easy.
At least once a quarter, analyze them.
๐ฑ) S๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐(๐)
Yes, sales is also (not only) a numbers game.
Track the number of emails / calls / demos / meetings per week.
I would recommend creating a sales dashboard and adding each of the reports to it. This makes it easy to frequently analyze how youโre doing.
Tools like Pipedrive & HubSpot make it quite easy to create these reports (they have templates for it).
3. Customer Success activities and responsibilities
Customer Success (CS) is crucial for B2B SaaS.
But still, I get a lot of questions about what CS really does!
Thatโs why Iโve created a quick overview about ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐, ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ & ๐๐ฃ๐๐.
๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐:
Onboarding & Training of new Customers
Retain Customers and Increase Revenue over time (Upselling)
Optimize overall product experience (especially onboarding) / Product Marketing
๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐:
Doing Onboarding Sessions with new clients
This could be either in 1:1 Sessions or also at 1:n training sessions/webinars.
Offer migration service and/or premium concierge onboarding
Some clients need more help or data migration is key for success.
CS job is to help new clients to get 'live' as fast as possible, including a smooth migration service (e.g. data import).
Monitor customer usage
Observe the product usage of clients.
Identify churn potentials and offer help to prevent churn.
Identify revenue opportunities for heavy users and try to upsell them.
Optimize overall onboarding experience
Work on great emails and help center content (e.g. Training Videos).
Support product with in-product messaging.
Provide Training to boost product adoption (together with Product marketing).
Upselling & Cross-selling strategy
CS is responsible to increase the ARPA over time and increase net revenue retention.
Create a strategy for when and how to upsell and cross-sell over time.
๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐:
expansion revenue / net revenue retention
churn rate
customer NPS Score
Iโm curious to hear how you run Customer Success! Send me a DM on Linkedin.
4. ๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฝ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐
Iโm getting frequently asked by founders about who are the right first 10 employees for my startup.
Here are ๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฝ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐:
Wants ownership and be accountable
Being okay with uncertainty (especially missing structure, processes, and long-term strategy)
Being flexible and being fine with pivots
Donโt need a crystal clear job profile
Open-minded problem solver (always looking for new ways to solve challenges)
Growth mindset and loves to learn new things
Motivated by having impact and ownership (not by money)
Focused on outcomes, not on input
Great culture fit
If youโre building your team right now, keep this in mind!
๐กย Best tip, failure, and learning Andreas Michel (Co-founder & CEO of Locaboo)
Tip: Donโt focus on the competition too much. Better focus on your core target/customer group and talk to them early and continuously (!). But do not ask them what they need or want or what the software lacks in their opinion. Better ask them what kind of problems they are trying to solve and understand their journey to solve their daily business and pain points
Failure: As a product manager with a penchant for UI, I used to tend to get lost in the details. Today, I m convinced that the 80/20 rule gives a real productivity boost. This doesn't mean that the quality has to drop to comply with this rule, but I often spent the last 20% to achieve a worse result than I had with 80%.
Learning: Don't believe the feedback too much when it says: exciting, awesome, amazing stuff you are building. Trust metrics and implement funnels and tracking to get a real understanding of your customers. Everything else is just words. Polite but unfortunately not valuable to build good products.
P.S. Check out Locaboo if you want to manage your resources, spaces, and areas efficiently. Itโs the most flexible cloud platform to manage space and resources and make them bookable online.
๐ง Do you want to share your best tip with 500+ SaaS professionals? Reach out to me via Linkedin.
๐ชย 1 software tool recommendation
I can highly recommend Phantombuster for your lead generation.
Itโs super simple to generate leads from all major networks & websites (like Linkedin, Instagram, Google Mapsโฆ). Here is a guide on how to extract emails from Linkedin.
P.S. Check out my list of best software tools for SaaS startups.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3a212ae0-3aa9-4545-9bff-2986c2b2c705_1826x1492.png)
Happy growth ๐.
TL;DR
The majority (59%) of B2B SaaS have a lead-to-customer conversation rate below 10%
5 must-have reports: Traffic to Lead; Lead to Deal; Win rate; Lost reasons; sales activity
Customer Success is crucial for B2B SaaS success.
9 winning characteristics for a great first startup hire: wants ownership, okay with uncertainty, problem solver
๐ Whenever youโre ready, 3 ways I can help you:
Follow me on Linkedin for more actionable tips to grow your B2B SaaS business
Download your FREE copy of the SaaS Growth Strategy Worksheet and get access to a list ofย 82+ hand-picked, proven SaaS growth strategies.
Work with me 1:1 to grow your B2B SaaS business - send me a DM onย Linkedin or book a free 15min virtual coffee with me to learn more about my offering.
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