5 Strategic Ways to Increase Revenue as a B2B SaaS Company

Partners 29 Aug 2023

According to Gartner, organizations spend over $145 billion each year on B2B SaaS technology, while experts forecast a 40% YoY growth for the current year. This is a clear indication of the growing SaaS adoption across the industries.

As a B2B SaaS company, this hints at a bright future. However, the fierce competition in every industry means the only metric that ultimately matters for continued success and expansion is revenue.

Put simply, revenue reflects the financial health of your company and its ability to generate consistent income. A sustainable recurring revenue (MRR/ARR) is vital for covering operational costs, investing in product development, and supporting ongoing sales, marketing, and customer service. It is also a critical factor in determining your company’s overall market value, increasing investor confidence, improving revenue recognition, and opening doors to more funding opportunities.

So, driving website traffic and free trial sign-ups is great, but your biggest focus should be on recurring revenue growth.

Now, while there are plenty of direct and indirect ways to increase revenue as a B2B SaaS company, here are 5 strategic approaches to do so sustainably.

Invest in customer retention and upselling

In the competitive realm of B2B SaaS, customer retention is not just a goal – it’s a cornerstone of sustainable growth. While targeting new customers is important, retaining existing ones is equally, if not more, crucial considering that the cost of retaining a customer can be 4-5x lower than acquiring a new one. Additionally, loyal customers often become advocates, referring new business and contributing to your brand’s reputation.

Here are some of the most effective ways to invest in customer retention.

Provide personalized customer service. Assign dedicated account managers who understand the unique needs of each customer. Provide multichannel support options such as in-app support, live chat, video calls, and a self-service knowledge base that enables users to get quick answers to common questions.
Deliver value continuously through product updates. Regularly ask your users for feedback and collect feature requests to enhance your product with capabilities that are actually desired. This will help you keep the customers engaged and excited about the ongoing value they derive from your solution.
Offer incentives to sweeten the deal. Consider creating a loyalty program that rewards customers for their continued partnership. This could involve discounts on annual renewals, exclusive early access to new features, or personalized training sessions.

Furthermore, better customer retention translates into more opportunities for upselling. Here are a couple of ways to upsell without being pushy.

Tailor offers based on usage patterns and needs. Analyze customer-specific product usage data to identify opportunities for upselling. Recommend higher-tier plans or additional features that align with their usage patterns. For example, if a customer is about to reach the storage limit on their plan, offer them an early upgrade to a higher-tier plan with more storage space at a discounted rate.
Bundle complementary products. If you offer a suite of products, package complementary products together, providing the customer with a more comprehensive solution tailored to their needs. Bundles provide added convenience and value, often incentivizing customers to opt for a higher-priced package.

Focus on driving qualified organic traffic

If you have a huge marketing budget, running highly targeted ad campaigns on Google and LinkedIn is a great way to reach prospective customers quickly and drive interest in your product. However, relying solely on paid advertising channels in the long run isn’t the best option.

On the other hand, investing in organic channels (such as content marketing and SEO) early on can drive steadily increasing traffic to your website which, in turn, can lower your customer acquisition costs over time.

The caveat? While driving website traffic is great, the real key lies in bringing in qualified visitors – prospects who are more likely to be interested in your solution and thus more likely to convert into sign-ups, which leads to revenue growth. In other words, don’t look at traffic volume (visitors arriving at your website from general keywords and little-to-no conversion intent) but instead, focus on traffic quality.

So, how do you do that?

If you haven’t already, start by identifying your ideal customer profile (ICP). Define the industries, job roles, pain points, and challenges that align with your SaaS solution. This laser-focused approach ensures that your revenue marketing and lead generation efforts are directed at individuals and organizations that stand to benefit the most from your product.

Based on your ICP, your content strategy should ideally include a mix of blog posts (top-of-the-funnel), whitepapers (middle-of-the-funnel), and case studies (bottom-of-the-funnel), along with other useful resources such as templates, webinars, etc. that address your prospects’ pain points and talk about your product’s key benefits.

In each piece of content, target long-tail (more specific and granular) keywords that your past visitors responded to. Include those keywords in the title of your next blog post, video, case study, etc. Build backlinks to your top-performing pieces and product pages on relevant anchor texts (such as “email marketing for enterprise” if your product is an enterprise email marketing software) from relevant, reputable websites. Also, conduct a content audit to strip out content and pages that rank for keywords that never convert.

This will refresh how your SaaS website is perceived by search engines, helping rank important pages for high conversion intent keywords and driving qualified traffic as opposed to traffic that may never convert.

Improve your landing pages

Unlike your homepage, most landing pages are created with a specific goal in mind, whether it’s getting visitors to sign up for a free trial, download an ebook, or request a product demo. They act as a gateway to conversions, offering a focused experience to people interested in your B2B SaaS product.

So optimizing your landing pages can be a significant contributor to increasing revenue. Start by assessing the quality of your landing pages for every channel – PPC, social media, and organic search – based on the following three key elements that go into an effective landing page.

Clear and compelling value proposition. Your landing page should immediately communicate the unique value your product offers via a concise yet compelling headline. Clearly state how your product addresses pain points and fulfills the needs of your target audience, and how it’s better than other solutions available.

Strong and relevant call-to-action (CTA). Your CTA should stand out on the page (as a prominent, contrasting button) and nudge visitors toward the desired action. Make sure it’s concise, action-oriented (“Start Your 14-Day Free Trial” or “Get the e-book”), friction-reducing (with supporting text such as “No credit card required”, “Cancel anytime”, etc.), and directly related to the purpose of the landing page.

Social proof and customer testimonials. Incorporate social proof in the form of customer testimonials, case study links, G2 ratings, and logos of well-known customers. This helps build trust and credibility among prospects on the fence.

Furthermore, while not all landing pages require a video, this type of content can help prospects understand your product’s value proposition more effectively. Also, focus on writing clear and concise copy that emphasizes the tangible benefits of signing up for your product.

Create better product demos

Product demos typically sit at the last stage of the funnel and can make or break a conversion. Prospects who are on the fence are likely to look for a demo to better understand how your product serves their goals and if it’s the right fit for their team.

Effective product demos build a bridge between your solution’s features and the specific challenges your prospects are looking to solve. So, if you have created product demos in order to better explain the features and benefits of your B2B SaaS product, giving them an upgrade can be a big revenue booster.

The most effective way to create better product demos is to personalize them as much as possible. That’s because a generic product demo might not resonate equally with the diverse range of buyer personas across various industries that your B2B solution caters to.

So, consider creating different versions of your product demo that are tailored to the unique pain points and goals of each buyer persona. This personalized approach enables your prospects to see the direct relevance of your solution to their specific challenges. Use real-world scenarios and examples to illustrate how your SaaS can alleviate these challenges.

Moreover, industry-specific demos showcase your organization’s in-depth knowledge of that particular sector’s intricacies, thus positioning your brand as a reliable authority – ultimately helping drive more conversions and revenue.

Learn from churn

Churn is your biggest revenue killer as a SaaS. Sure, you can (and should) invest in retention strategies such as improving your customer service response times and onboarding process, but ultimately, churn is inevitable. Over time, some customers will always leave.

If you offer a free trial, the “free trial to paid customer” conversion stage is where you’re most likely to lose potential revenue.

However, while churn is a bad thing, you can derive value from it to increase future revenue. It highlights areas that require improvement in your product, customer support, or other areas of the overall customer experience. By analyzing churn data and taking proactive measures, you can enhance customer retention, leading to sustainable revenue growth. Here are a few ways to get that all-important churn data (the reasons why customers part ways with your product).

Feedback surveys
Exit interviews
Personalized email outreach

Churn can be triggered by various factors both controllable and uncontrollable, such as dissatisfaction with the product, inadequate customer support, missing integrations, changing business needs, or even competitive offerings. Identifying the specific reasons for churn can provide valuable insights into trends and patterns. Look for commonalities among customers who churned, such as usage behavior, feature adoption, or engagement levels. Analyzing such data can help you pinpoint areas that need improvement.

Adopt a proactive approach to reducing churn, such as by providing incentives or special offers to customers who exhibit signs of disengagement or dissatisfaction. This could include discounts, extended trial periods, or training sessions to help them extract more value from your product.

Long story short, the more you can find out about why customers and free trial sign-ups leave, the more you can feed this information upstream into product development, marketing, sales, and customer support to refine the customer experience.

Wrapping up

In the fast-evolving B2B SaaS landscape, the pursuit of revenue growth is a journey that demands strategic finesse. By delving into the 5 strategic pillars we’ve explored, you have a multifaceted plan to elevate your revenue game.

Remember, revenue generation in the B2B SaaS realm isn’t just about numbers – it’s about forging enduring relationships, delivering value that resonates, and anticipating your customers’ needs. Each strategy you implement represents a stepping stone toward building a thriving SaaS business that thrives on customer satisfaction and sustained growth.

As you move forward, adapt these strategies to suit your unique business context. Embrace agility and test new data-driven approaches to refine your revenue optimization efforts. A dedication to enhancing user experience, refining lead generation, and learning from both successes and setbacks is how you propel your B2B SaaS company toward a stronger future.

Lucy Manole is a creative content writer and strategist at Marketing Digest. She specializes in writing about digital marketing, technology, entrepreneurship, and education. When she is not writing or editing, she spends time reading books, cooking, and traveling.