How to Get Your Users to Actually Start Using Your Product so You Can Sell It

Lars LofgrenMarketing Analyst - March 2013

@larslofgren #KISSwebinar

We’ll cover...

What is SaaS activation?1

The 3 stages to perfect it2

4 ways to improve activation3

What is Activation?

There’s a gap in our user acquisition...

Most SaaS business track this funnel:

Let’s say that John visits your site.

And he signs up for a free trial.

What then? He magically upgrades?

The first point where you deliver the value that you promised.

Activation is..

If people don’t see the value of your product, you won’t be able to

upgrade them to a paid plan.

Activation is the key to a healthy SaaS business.

Our new funnel looks like this:

Stage 1 - Define Activation

1

Answer this question:

Where do you deliver the core value of your product for new users?

Let’s look at an example.

What if your product isn’t so simple?

Talk to new users that paid within last 30 days.

Have them tell you how they started using your product.

Then talk to new users that didn’t upgrade

What do they miss?

Also segment your current funnel by...

Look for abnormal conversion rates.

Business model1

Customer type2

Traffic source3

A funnel segmented by business type.

Find the moment where your product “clicks”

MailChimp Activation

Shopify Activation

Stage 2 - Measure

2

We can’t improve it unless we’re measuring it.

Remember our funnel? Get Your baseline.

Segment your funnel.

Then A/B test changes

So what should we test?

Stage 3 - Time for Tactics

3

Checklist1

New user experience2

Filter3

Lifecycle emails4

4 Ways to Increase Activation

1. The Checklist

Easy to test and implement

2. The new user experience

An integrated guide for how to get to activation.

A unique experience just for new users.

Doing this right takes a lot of work.

3. The Filter

Target different customer segments.

If people get value from your product in different ways, filter

them into different paths.

Some filters work better than others...

Conversion Rate:

22.1%

Fast or Advanced Filter

Conversion Rate:

38.2% (vs 22.1%)

4. Lifecycle Emails

Stay in touch with your users.

Target the walls that your users hit.

Getting over the first hurdle in Crazy Egg

Talk to users and define activation1

Baseline your funnel2

Test checklist, then NUX and filters3

For user education problems, send a lifecycle email

4

Action Steps

KISSmetrics funnels measure activation for you

Find the right people to talk to1

Build funnels for historical data2

Easily segment funnels3

VIP KISSmetrics Demo

kiss.ly/webinar-17

Q&A Time!

For more info on KISSmetrics contactRossi Khoung

rkhoung@kissmetrics.com(415) 800-4156

Lars Lofgrenllofgren@kissmetrics.com

@larslofgren