While getting people to sign up for a free trial can be a big achievement for SaaS businesses, the next step after someone signs up is far more challenging. From signing up to their first visit, many people have signed up for a free trial and briefly explored the platform, but they never got to see the true value of the product.
A combination of user confusion and lack of engagement, or a combination of the ability to understand how the software relates to a specific challenge, often leads to not converting a user from the trial to a paying customer. Not only is it important to look at all the features and how much to charge for your product when attempting to convert a user from trial to paying, but the actual delivery of all of the features in the product is equally important in the successful conversion of a user.
That’s why most successful SaaS companies invest substantially in video. Onboarding videos, product feature tours, customer success stories, and personalized video product tours can help a user demonstrate product value, build user confidence, and be more likely to take action.
Additional Read:
How SaaS Companies Can Use Corporate Videos to Shorten the Sales Cycle
7 Ways SaaS Companies Use Video to Increase Trial-to-Paid Conversions
1. Simplifying Product Onboarding
A lot of SaaS systems provide a ton of useful features; however, sometimes first-time users feel daunted by all the available options at their first login. A Welcome Video created by the company can assist the user with the initial setup step, as well as give some basic guidance on what the user should be doing right away.
Rather than requiring the user to read long sets of instructions, companies will provide a visual representation of how users would go through the process of getting started. Therefore, by reducing friction and allowing them to achieve success sooner, this action increases the possibility of a converted user to a paid plan.
2. Demonstrating Value Early in the Trial
When users comprehend how the solution works for their desired outcome, they will be more inclined to sign up for your service.
The use of short product explainer videos that demonstrate usefulness, use cases, and projected results will allow for a connection between what the product has to offer your users and the actual business results you can expect from utilizing that product, rather than just listing the products available, as is often the case with explaining products to potential customers.
If users see that you can provide them value early on in the relationship, they will have a higher degree of interest in continuing to explore the marketplace and investing in it.
3. Increasing Feature Adoption
When trying the app, users who are only testing do not always convert because they do not notice all of the available features (1 of)*.
Feature-specific videos guide users on how to use and get results from features and potentially help with additional user engagement with the product.
More testing value results in a higher probability of converting to paying customers.
4. Building Trust Through Customer Success Stories
Presently, prospects generally trust previous buyers over marketing claims for SaaS companies–big time! Through video testimonials and real-life customer success stories, SaaS companies can communicate the actual experiences, measurable results, and most importantly, the ‘real’ voice of their customers.
When trial users of your product see how others have successfully used your product, they build confidence in the purchase decision they’ll be making.
When a potential new customer sees other users achieving success, they will have confidence in making their own purchase.
5. Reducing Support Friction
A state of confusion results in indecision; hence, indecision results in delayed sales conversions.
SaaS companies often utilize tutorial videos/knowledge base videos on their website to address frequently asked questions before customers reach out to support by using these videos as a means of helping provide immediate customer support and allowing them to help themselves through potential problems.
By decreasing the number of obstacles that users encounter, they can continue to be motivated through their trial and continue to concentrate on evaluating the product’s actual worth.
6. Personalizing the User Journey
Today’s SaaS marketing has shifted to emphasize personalizing communications with potential customers, and this is becoming a driving force for marketers and brands alike.
Personalized video content can help marketers deliver highly tailored messages that are appropriate to a customer’s industry, business model, or specific situation. For example, a SaaS marketing automation platform may present different types of videos to an e-commerce business than it would for a healthcare organization.
Providing relevant content will facilitate your company’s ability to engage with customers on an individual level and develop trust by demonstrating a clear understanding of the challenges faced by that particular customer.
7. Reinforcing Upgrade Decisions at Key Moments
You could say that the trial period plays a major role in whether users move from being free to paying customers or drop off altogether.
Most SaaS companies create videos for emails, in-app notifications, and sales outreach that remind users of what they have done so far and what they could do as paying customers before the trial ends. These videos give users a highly visual recap of their accomplishments and demonstrate missed opportunities, as well as demonstrate premium features that come with a paying plan.
By reminding users about their achievements while using the product during the trial period, the companies can give users confidence to upgrade to a paid plan.
Why Video Works So Well in SaaS Conversion Funnels
Conclusion:
Just having excellent features doesn’t mean that trial users will take their next step and pay for the product. Once they realize the value of the software in their life and that they have sufficiently experienced that value during their trial will help them shift to being paying customers.
Video has been shown to help SaaS companies do just that; it simplifies onboarding, increases feature adoption, builds trust, answers questions, and supports a buyer in their decision-making process. By leveraging video strategically throughout the customer journey, video can convert inactive trial users into highly engaged, paying subscribers for the long term.
With increased competition in the SaaS space, companies that invest in highly visible and enjoyable video experiences will have a clear competitive advantage as they drive conversions, lower churn rates, and achieve greater growth than those who do not leverage video.
