10 Best SaaS Email Marketing Strategies That Can Help You Win More Customers

Though it’s been around for a while, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to acquire and retain customers in the SaaS market.

And when it comes to SaaS businesses, this marketing strategy can be especially beneficial in terms of generating and nurturing leads.

What’s more, email marketing can easily be one of the most profitable ways to acquire customers.

Did you know that customers gained through email marketing campaigns can generate up to $42 for each dollar spent?

That’s a whopping 4200% ROI.

But it’s only possible if you have the right SaaS email marketing strategy in place. In this article, we’re going to talk about the best strategies you can apply for your email marketing campaigns.

• Know Your Target Audience
• Understand Your Customer Journey
• Segment Your Email List
• Personalize Your Emails
• Track The Right Email Marketing Metrics
• A/B Test Your Emails
• Use Power Words On Your Subject Lines
• Automate Your Emails
• Mix Promotional And Educational Emails
• Use Varying Content Types In Your Emails

Let’s talk about them one by one.

Strategy #1: Know Your Target Audience

Before you can create any effective SaaS marketing campaign, you need to know your target audience. This includes understanding their demographics and psychographics.

Only by knowing who your target audience is can you create relevant and interesting content that will engage them.

And when it comes to email marketing, attracting and building relationships with your target audience is the key to converting them into paying customers.

To better understand your target audience, consider doing some customer research.

To do that, you can launch surveys for your current customers. With these surveys, you can ask them about their interests and why they decided to purchase from you.

You can also look at social media data to get an idea of what kind of content they’re interested in. SaaS solutions like Hootsuite and Talkwalker have social listening tools that can help you do that.

Once you have a good understanding of your target audience, you can begin creating content that appeals to them. And that will help increase your chances of converting them into paying customers.

Strategy #2: Understand Your Customer Journey

It’s not enough to know who your target audience is. You also need to understand their customer journey. This means understanding the different stages they go through before making a purchase.

The customer journey is the process that buyers go through when making a purchase. It includes three main stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.

But SaaS marketing doesn’t really end after the purchase. You still need your marketing efforts to keep winning your customers over and make them subscribe as long as possible.

Because of that, we can add three more stages to the customer journey: adoption, retention, and advocacy.

Awareness Stage

In the earliest stage of the buyer’s journey, your potential customer is just becoming aware of the problem or need that they have. They may not even be sure what solutions they need yet.

That’s why the most effective email content for this stage is educational pieces. Don’t include a lot of sales talk yet. In fact, don’t even mention your product if it’s not really relevant to your email’s content.

Your goal at this stage is simply to introduce your SaaS brand and hopefully establish yourself as a reliable source of information in your niche.

Consideration Stage

In the consideration stage, your potential customer is starting to learn more about their pain points and the possible solutions to them. But they are still unsure about what particular kind of SaaS solution would best solve their problems.

That’s why the content you send in this stage should start to revolve around SaaS solutions that can possibly address their needs.

At this point, your goal is to help them find out what kind of SaaS solution will work for them. And hope that it’s the same kind you provide.

Purchase Stage

In the final stages of the buyer’s journey, your potential customer is already convinced about what kind of SaaS solution they need. They only need to choose between you and your competitors.

This is where your sales and marketing teams need to be on their toes. Because this is the stage where most buyers make their purchase decision.

Make sure you have plenty of content that’s designed to help them make that decision, including case studies, pricing information, and demos.

Adoption Stage

Even if the buyer has already completed the purchase of your SaaS solution, your work isn’t done yet. You still need to help them get set up and started with your SaaS product.

Although your customer success and support teams do the heavy lifting at this stage, your email marketing efforts can still make some contributions.

For starters, you can send them content that would supplement their onboarding process. Those content pieces can be how-tos and guides on maximizing your SaaS product’s features.

Retention Stage

Once your new customer has been using your SaaS product for a while, you need to start thinking about how you can keep them from churning.

One way to do that through email is sending them content that’s relevant to their interests. That could be new features they may not be aware of or helpful tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your product.

Another way to keep them engaged is by occasionally asking for feedback. This can help you gauge how satisfied they are with your SaaS product and what (if anything) needs improvement.

SaaS businesses usually send a Net Promoter Score survey and other customer satisfaction questionnaires. These surveys will help you identify which users are happy with your product and which are about to cancel their subscriptions.

Knowing the specific customers who aren’t happy with your SaaS solution will enable you to reach out to them and prevent them from churning.

Advocacy Stage

The final stage in the buyer’s journey is when they become a raving fan of your SaaS solution and start recommending it to their friends and colleagues.

You can encourage this kind of advocacy by rewarding your customers for their referrals. You can also send them content that’s designed to help them promote your SaaS product to others.

As a SaaS business, it’s important to understand and target each stage of the buyer’s journey. That way, you can provide the right content at the right time to influence their decision-making process.

To do this, you need to know what content is most effective at each stage of the buyer’s journey.

For example, at the awareness stage, you might want to send emails that introduce your product or service. And at the decision stage, you might want to send emails that point out how your SaaS product is better than your competitors.

Strategy #3: Segment Your Email List

The first step in any email marketing campaign is to create a segmented email list. This means dividing your contacts into different categories based on certain criteria.

For a B2C market, you can segment your lists based on demographic and psychographic factors.

Demographic factors include age, gender, income, and education level. While psychographic factors include interests, values, and lifestyle choices.

If you’re targeting a B2B market, you can categorize your list according to different factors about their companies. That includes company size, industry, company location, and more.

But those are not the only way that you can segment your email list.

You can also create ones based on what stage they are in in the buyer’s journey. After all, the needs of a buyer at the awareness stage are different from those who are at the decision stage.

Once you’ve created these segments, you can then begin tailor-fitting your emails specifically for them. This will help increase the chances that they’ll convert into paying customers.

By segmenting your email list, you can ensure that you’re sending the right content to the right people. And that’s a key ingredient for any successful email marketing strategy.

Speaking of tailor-fitting your emails to your specific leads…

Strategy #4: Personalize Your Emails

In order to create a successful email marketing campaign, you need to send personalized emails.

Personalized emails are ones that are specifically addressed to a certain individual. They contain the recipient’s name and other information that may catch their attention. That may include interests, hobbies, location, and more.

The purpose of personalized emails is to make the recipient feel like they’re the only person who matters at that moment.

It’s a way to show them that you care about them and want to provide them with the best possible experience.

Personalized emails have been shown to be more effective than non-personalized ones. In fact, according to recent studies, personalized emails have 26% higher open rates.

That’s because recipients are more likely to engage with emails that are relevant to them. And when they’re engaged, they’re more likely to convert into paying customers.

The best way to create personalized emails is by using customer data. This data can be gathered from a variety of sources, including surveys, feedback forms, and social media.

Once you have this data, you can use it to create targeted lists and customize your emails accordingly. By doing this, you’ll increase the chances that your recipients will actually read your emails and take action.

Strategy #5: Track The Right Email Marketing Metrics

One of the most important aspects of any email marketing campaign is tracking the right metrics or key performance indicators.

With the right email marketing metrics, you can measure the performance of your email marketing campaign. You can determine which tactics are working and which ones are not.

There are a variety of different metrics that you can track, but some of the most important ones include the following

• Open Rate
• Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• Unsubscribe Rate
• Conversion Rate

Let’s discuss them one by one.

Open Rate

The open rate, as its name suggests, is the percentage of recipients who opened your email.

This metric is important because it tells you how effective your subject line is. If your open rate is low, then it means that your subject lines are not grabbing people’s attention.

You can improve your open rate by using catchy subject lines that pique people’s curiosity. You can also improve it by sending emails at the right time.

For example, you should send them during the morning or evening when people are most likely to check their email.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The CTR is the percentage of recipients who clicked on one of your links. This metric tells you how effective your content is and whether people are interested in what you’re saying.

You can improve your CTR by creating compelling content that inspires people to take action. You can also improve it by using relevant images and headlines.

Unsubscribe Rate

The unsubscribe rate, to state the obvious, is the percentage of recipients who unsubscribed from your email list.

This metric tells you how effective your SaaS email marketing strategy is. It also tells you how many people are sadly getting annoyed with your emails.

You can lower your unsubscribe rate by ensuring that your emails are relevant to your recipients. Keeping your emails short and to the point can also help bring your unsubscribe rate down.

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is the percentage of recipients who converted into paying customers.

This metric tells you how effective your email marketing campaign is. It tells you whether or not people are taking action on your content.

You can improve your conversion rate by making sure that you’re sending the right content types in each of the customer journey stages. You can also make them more interesting by using relevant images and headlines.

And of course, you also need to make your email copy more engaging and compelling.

You can track your specific conversion rate for each stage of the customer journey. This will help you determine which stages are most effective at converting leads into customers and which need more improvement.

By tracking the right metrics, you can get a better understanding of how your email marketing campaign is performing. And that can help you make adjustments to improve its results.

Strategy #6: A/B Test Your Emails

Another way to improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign is by A/B testing your emails.

A/B testing is a process of testing two different versions of something to see which one performs better. You can use this process to test different aspects of your email, including:

• Subject lines
• Content
• Images
• Call-to-action (CTA)
• Timing

A/B testing can be a great way to figure out what works best for your audience. By testing different versions of your email, you can identify which ones generate the most engagement and conversions.

There are a number of different A/B testing tools available, including VWO and Optimizely. These tools allow you to test different aspects of your email and see which one performs better.

By using A/B testing, you can improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign and achieve better results.

Strategy #7: Use Power Words On Your Subject Lines

One of the best ways to improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign is by using power words on your subject lines.

Power words are words that have a strong emotional impact on people. When used in subject lines, they can help to increase open rates and even click-through rates.

Some of the most common power words include “amazing”, “secret”, and “mind-blowing.”

But tread very carefully when you’re writing your subject lines. There can be a really thin line between power words and spam trigger words.

Spam trigger words are words that are commonly used in spam emails. Some of the most common spam trigger words include “free”, “discount”, and “sale.”

When used in subject lines, emailing platforms may automatically put your email in the spam folder. And even if your email makes it to the inbox, the spam trigger words may just cause your recipient to just ignore it.

So make sure that you test your emails and check each of them for spammy words before clicking send.

Strategy #8: Automate Your Emails

Another way to improve your email marketing campaign is by automating your emails. You can do this through different methods, including:

Email Scheduling

Drip Email Campaigns

Triggered Automations

Email Scheduling

One of the most basic forms of email automation is scheduling them ahead of time. This means using a tool that automatically sends out emails based on a set schedule.

There are a number of different email marketing software that can help you schedule your emails.

One of the most popular is probably Autopilot. This solution allows you to create sequences of emails that the platform will automatically send out based on a set schedule.

This can be a great way to keep your subscribers engaged and ensure that they’re always getting the latest content from you.

It can also help you save time and energy because you don’t have to manually send out each email.

By automating your emails, you can improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. And that can help you increase sales and grow your business.

Drip Email Campaigns

Drip email campaigns are a great way to keep in touch with your subscribers over an extended period of time.

They work by sending out a series of automated emails to your subscribers. The content of these emails gradually progresses from awareness-stage content up to the decision-stage types of content.

Drip emails can be a great way to nurture leads and convert them into customers.

There are a number of different drip email campaign tools available, including Drip, Mailchimp, and ConvertKit.

You can use drip email campaigns to achieve a number of different goals, including lead nurturing and conversion.

Triggered Automation

Triggered automation is another email automation method that can make your emails more relevant and timely to your leads.

They work by automatically sending out emails when a lead performs a specific action, such as downloading your e-book or viewing your website multiple times.

These trigger-automated emails are also called behavioral emails.

For example, you could set up an automation that sends out a welcome email when someone subscribes to your list. And then another automated email when someone actually buys your SaaS product.

There are a number of different triggered automation tools available, including Zapier and IFTTT. These tools allow you to set up specific triggers for sending your emails.

By using triggered automation, you can instantly send emails that are relevant to your leads. And as a result, it can improve your open and click-through rates.

Strategy #9: Mix Informational And Promotional Content

One of the best ways to improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign is by mixing informational and promotional content.

Informational content provides value to your subscribers without promoting a product or service. It only seeks to educate your customers.

Promotional content, on the other hand, promotes your product or service. Its goal is to sell.

Mixing these two types of content can be a great way to improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign.

When you mix informational and promotional content, you give your subscribers the opportunity to learn about your products and services without being bombarded with sales pitches.

This can be a great way to increase trust and credibility with your audience.

Strategy #10: Use Varying Content Types In Your Emails

Another way to improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign is by adding varying content types to your emails.

When you add different types of content, you give your subscribers the opportunity to learn about your products and services in a variety of formats. This can be a great way to keep them engaged and interested in what you have to say.

Some of the most common types of content include articles, videos, infographics, and images. You can also mix these content types up to keep things interesting.

By adding different types of content, you can improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign and achieve better results.

Final Thoughts

Email marketing can be a great way to promote your products and services to a wider audience. But more than that, it can also generate, nurture, and convert leads.

However, in order to achieve the best results, you need to use the right strategies.

In this article, we have talked about ten different things you can do to improve your SaaS email marketing strategy.

Use these strategies and see how they can help you achieve better results with your email marketing campaign.

If you want more guides on growing your SaaS business, visit our SaaS marketing blog here.