Software-as-a-Service or SaaS businesses often have difficulty with customer retention and brand awareness. Since their products are intangible and customers never permanently purchase their software solutions, it can be tough for users to associate a SaaS brand with a core product. This, in turn, makes it hard for SaaS companies to form emotional connections with their target consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, building an online community for your SaaS business<\/a> could overcome this limitation and help you see massive improvements to customer retention and more. Let\u2019s break down how you can build an online community as a SaaS enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many reasons why SaaS businesses can benefit from online communities, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n An online community allows a SaaS business to gather more information about their target audience, helping to optimize marketing campaigns and develop better software for their core consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As your audience engages on a community platform, you\u2019ll get unfiltered, raw feedback you can use to improve your offerings over months and years. Such feedback may also help you adjust your pricing as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An online community can significantly help you optimize your customer acquisition cost or CAC. If you cultivate a positive community that says a lot of good things about your brand, getting new customers will be cheaper because they will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even better, an online community for a SaaS business can improve the public\u2019s brand awareness<\/a> of your company. Again, having core consumers talking positively about your brand can do wonders for improving the reputation of your business across the Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You get this benefit without necessarily having to put more money into advertising, too. With the right online community, a prospective customer searching for the right keywords could find your community\u2019s forum or website, become aware of your brand, and decide to make a purchase without you having to spend a single dollar on them specifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also Read:<\/strong> 6 Things to Consider When Building a Successful SaaS Business<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The best online communities will eventually produce high-quality, customer-created content you can use in your advertising campaigns. Even if you decide not to use the content for ads, searchers will still stumble upon it. And people are more likely to believe user-created content about a brand rather than content created by the company itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n With an online community, your SaaS business could see an improved customer retention rate. It\u2019s harder for customers to leave a brand if they have several friends they\u2019ve made over a few years or if those friends are still using the SaaS products in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The improved customer retention rate will boost your revenue and help your SaaS business thrive as clients continue to subscribe to your services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A SaaS business\u2019 online community can improve customer loyalty across the board. By joining a community, humans as social creatures are more likely to feel loyalty and appreciation for the brand as an abstract concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you build up your brand\u2019s online community, even disappointed users may be less likely to pick an alternative service or brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps most importantly, an online community for your SaaS business will likely help you generate more sales and yield improved profits for years to come. Your online community will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these benefits could result in significant revenue increases, especially if you build your brand wisely and with the right goals from the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With so many benefits to building an online community for your SaaS business, there\u2019s no reason to wait. Fortunately, you can get started with just a few steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Firstly, be sure to define your community and its broader purpose before launching it. For example, is your community meant to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n By defining your community and its objectives, you\u2019ll be able to set the right metrics and identify when your SaaS community has grown<\/a> to the right size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of metrics, you\u2019ll need to determine several key performance indicators or KPIs before launching your community. These KPIs will help you determine whether your community is growing properly and on track to reach your organization\u2019s sales and brand awareness goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some example KPIs to track include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also Read:<\/strong> Latest SaaS Trends<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Any good community has to have the backing of its primary organization or product. That\u2019s your SaaS business! So, be sure to assign several of your employees as community managers. Even better, you can tell all of your employees that growing the community and ensuring it lasts for years to come is a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When your employees and brand engage with your community, you grant it legitimacy and give members a reason to continue to engage with it. Why would you join a community for a SaaS product if the developers of the said product never participated on the forums, for example?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Community managers in your company can also assist with moderation (see more below). Don\u2019t forget to use good time tracking software to ensure your employees spend the right amount of time on community building instead of wasting time elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, you\u2019ll need to pick a platform to host your online community stably and consistently. You can choose a free or paid platform, but both approaches have pluses and minuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Free platforms are cheap, but they don\u2019t necessarily come with extra features unique to your brand. Furthermore, they are not usually owned by you, so the platform developer or owner could decide to pull the plug at any time and fracture your community in an instant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternatively, a paid platform, like an app or forum that you develop yourself, is owned by your company. This is excellent for long-term community growth and engagement. You may also decide to use several platforms simultaneously, such as social media like Facebook in conjunction with a community app. This approach gives you the best of both worlds and helps you reach as many people as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy Build an Online Community for Your SaaS Business?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Better Information About Target Consumers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Optimized Customer Acquisition Cost<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Bolstered Brand Awareness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Leverage Customer-Created Content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Improved Customer Retention Rate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Greater Customer Loyalty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Boosted Profits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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How to Build an Online Community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Define the Community First<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Determine KPIs to Track<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Assign Community Managers \u2013 Make Community Growth a Priority<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Choose a Community Platform<\/h3>\n\n\n\n