In this issue of the 'SaaS Weekly Growth Stories' (AI Mini-Series), I share the three lessons I learned from my conversation with the founder of Advocat AI, a virtual deal desk that uses AI to help sales teams automate contract negotiations. The interview highlights how Advocat AI built a $1M ARR business by spending 12 months on customer discovery.
These are my key takeaways: 1) Don’t rush customer discovery, it may take multiple iterations before you find the core problem. 2) Involve your customers on day one, but be selective when building their feature requests. 3) Be outcome-focused not solution-focused when building your product.
The economic headwinds still shrouding the economy are forcing SaaS companies to re-balance their retention expectations and prioritize customer success strategies. Companies that efficiently retain their customer base this year will be those that remain afloat (and even thrive) as the 'growth-at-all-cost' mantra is swept away.
(Food for thought). The most significant impact churn has on a SaaS business is not just the immediate loss of revenue, but the 'snowball' effect it has on all future revenue the company will lose. Specifically, when customers churn, companies lose 1) potential dollars from expansion and 2) lost revenue from referrals that churned customers could have made.
In a recent discussion, thought leaders from OpenView reflected on this past year's challenges and shared their insights on what to expect in the coming months. SaaS companies are still in choppy waters, and there are a lot of potential shakeups that hang in the balance this year.
These are their predictions: 1) Companies will have more talent to choose from next year, 2) Prices will rise and pricing models will become more complex, 3) B2B marketing is shifting to micro-influencers.
Crafting a compelling brand story captures the imagination of your customers, and paints a picture of how your company can solve their problems. This article walks you through why SaaS founders must go beyond designing the perfect logo when building a successful brand strategy.
To avoid wasting time on lower-tier prospects, or worse, letting hot leads go cold, sales teams must do a better job of vetting prospects during the sales qualification stage. This article walks you through the four steps to creating a successful qualification process.
Jonathan
Costet
@
Gong sales
It’s important to align your team on the strategic value SEO provides. Lack of buy-in often leads to the channel becoming underutilized due to a lack of investment. To prevent from happening, this article walks you through how SEO can help you achieve your strategic marketing objectives.
Companies that treat Free Trials as Customer Onboarding, risk driving poor product engagement and lower free-to-paid conversion rates. This article walks you through the differences between the two distinct stages and how to clear up the confusion.
In 2022, OpenView extended its content library with a variety of insightful blogs and three major SaaS reports, including the sixth annual SaaS Benchmarks Report. Throughout the year, the firm published advice from thought leaders at successful companies such as Airtable, Hotjar, and Zapier.
In this article, OpenView summarizes 22 growth lessons they learned from their top focus areas of 1) marketing and acquisition, 2) activation and conversion, 3) pricing and monetization, and 4) retention and expansion.
Throughout 2022, ChurnZero shared hundreds of Customer Success articles that span a variety of topics, including career growth strategies, team management frameworks, retention tactics, and industry benchmarks.
In this article, ChurnZero reviews the top ten resources the company curated in 2022. A few of our favorites include the annual customer success leadership study and the blog post on helping companies navigate a downturn by Harvard Business Review.
In case you missed our Top SaaS Reads Of 2022 last Friday. We’ve curated over 200 articles for B2B SaaS founders throughout 2022. Helping them to filter out the signal from the noise.
As we close the chapter on 2022 and sharpen our pencils to write next year’s, here are the best 2022 SaaS reads that were clicked on the most by the SaaS Weekly community.
ChartMogul spoke with SaaS leaders across different sectors to deliver insights on sustainable growth strategies for 2023. In this article, discover the seven ways SaaS companies are replacing “growth at all cost” with growth efficiency.
Moz has published 156 blog posts this year. In this 2022 recap, discover the best insights on social media search, tips for e-commerce SEO, trends in technical and local SEO, and other Moz magic.
Morgan
McMurray
@
Moz seo
With the recent launch of ChatGPT and its ability to create fully functioning code, the question remains: will companies still need software developers? This article explains what ChatGPT is and why it’s not a replacement for devs but an enhancement for their productivity.
By converting customers into raving fans, companies can remove most of the leg work of convincing a prospect to purchase their product. The key is to get existing customers to bring in new deals. In this article, discover the three steps to creating an effective customer referral strategy.
2022 has been nothing short of a rollercoaster for SaaS companies. Multiples have compressed, profitability is now favored over growth, and generative AI has become the new mainstream hype.
But what continues to remain constant is the need for impactful information. Thousands of articles were published this year, and SaaS Weekly has helped you surface the best of them. In this article, we review a few of the top SaaS reads that stood out in 2022.
