Customer Communication for SaaS Retention

September 14, 2020

The customer is the core of any business. With strong interpersonal skills, you can maintain excellent communication with your clients. Customer communication for SaaS retention is the key to building lasting relationships and combating churn.


A happy customer is an advocate for your SaaS business. Happy customers are willing to promote and recommend your business for free. When things do not go according to plan, a happy customer is more understanding and forgiving.

Why is Customer Communication for SaaS Retention so Important?


Communication is the key to the success of any relationship and SaaS companies are no exception. In order to encourage SaaS customer retention, it's important to have efficient communication and to provide the best experience you can for your customers. Developing a relationship with your customers is not only beneficial to retention but also to your brand messaging.

Effective communication can boost your sales and increase your bottom line. Establishing regular communication with your customers allows you to reinforce your brand and communicate the value of your services. Not to mention, up to 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.

Strategic Communication Communication for SaaS Retention


An open line of communication with your current and potential customers provides you with the opportunity to build and fortify your relationships. You can use this concept to attract new business and retain your existing customers. You will want to consistently provide customer support, training, tips, and updates on features of your product or service.

Each of these suggestions are essential to combating churn and retaining your customers. Effective communication lets your clients know that you care about their well-being and satisfaction with your service.

Clearly communicating with your customers also provides an opportunity for customer feedback. With the information and data that you gather, you can work on improving your product or service. By fixing bugs in your software, you are creating a better user experience. Gathering feedback is an essential part of customer communication and retention.

When do You Communicate with Your Customers?


Customer communication is vital in every step of the sales funnel - including the onboarding process. Establish a relationship and clear communication with your customers as soon as they start using your software.

Some clients may require guidance, support, and user tips - use this opportunity to help your new customers get comfortable with the kind of services that you offer. Keep in mind that your communication should not stop here. Continue communicating with your customers even after they complete setting up the software.

Engage with your clients - let them know that you are always there for them and that you care about their experience. The relationship between the customer and the company thrives on healthy communication practices. Be sure to provide value in your messaging points with your customers, so they understand the importance of your product or service. Before you know it, your communication strategy will help you retain more customers and generate more sales.

Customer Communication for SaaS Retention: How to Communicate


Customer relationship building is an important element for SaaS retention. Take the time to be professional and personable. Get to know your customers and take note of what they have to say.

Like any other skill, active listening requires some practice to perfect. Ensure that you stay involved in the conversation. Do not be afraid of asking questions for clarification. For complex and technical issues in SaaS, you can use analogies to explain your point. If you have an established relationship with a particular customer, use examples that they can relate to.

Internal customer support policies, benchmarks, and standards ensure that your employees communicate with your customers in a professional, yet consistent, way. Installing such standards gives you some peace of mind knowing your customer communication for SaaS retention is working flawlessly.

In any relationship, disputes are inevitable. The way you handle these disputes can either strengthen the relationship or break them entirely. In the SaaS industry, disputes arise in the form of customer complaints. It is in the best interest of your company and reputation to handle such disputes professionally and quickly.

Customer Communication for SaaS Retention: the Best Modes of Communication


A customer is more likely to remember you and retain your services when you have a relationship that involves regular and effective communication. You will need to create and implement a customer communication strategy for SaaS retention, but first, start by choosing the right method of communication.

  1. Phone Calls: Customer communication for SaaS retention involves touching base with your clients. Phone calls are an excellent tool for this purpose. You do not have to sell your customers anything during these phone calls. Use the opportunity to reinforce the relationship that you have with the customer by checking in on them, ask for their feedback on your product or service, and most importantly, make them feel heard.

  2. Newsletters: 91% of customers check their email accounts daily. Emailing newsletters is one of the best ways to publish success stories and promotions of new products and services. You can also share personal experiences and milestones with your customers. This will help you build a rapport between your customers and your business.

  3. Feedback Surveys: Feedback is essential for growth and improvement. One of the fastest and easiest ways to acquire feedback is by collecting the information through surveys. Surveys can be tricky because not all customers will take the time to fill them out. They are easy to ignore. One way to encourage participation is to provide incentives for completing the survey such as product discounts and vouchers.

  4. Social Media: Social platforms are useful tools for customer communication and SaaS retention. You can use your social media pages to post special offers, product information, and general announcements. Social media is best for building relationships, connections, and rapport with your customers. The greatest risk of social media is that you have little control over what your customers post about you.


Which Communication Methods are Effective?


Automated messages are often most effective for customer communication for SaaS retention. The advantage of using automated messaging is the fact that you can distribute one message to an unlimited number of users through the same process.

Automated messaging is the perfect way to maintain consistent follow-up with customer support and feedback. You can also use automated messaging to nurture new customers through the onboarding processes.

Emails, social media, in-app notifications, and forums are other innovative ways of using technology to communicate with your customers. Using multiple communication channels can increase your message's visibility.

Before you can decide on the most effective mode of customer communication for SaaS retention, you need to test different channels for your business. Conduct some research and identify the platforms that most of your customers use.

There are many ways of interacting in customer communication for SaaS retention, you must find the most effective communication method that applies to your business.

Customer Communication for SaaS Retention: Great Customer Service


Customer communication for SaaS retention is critical to the survival of your business. At the heart of great customer relationships is great customer support. Developing a strong rapport is essential to any customer communication for SaaS retention strategy. Online customer support services are useful for SaaS companies. You can use phone calls, emails, and chat bots to facilitate online customer support.

Below are a few tips that can help you develop excellent customer relationships:

  • Have a prompt email response system: The general standard is to have a 24-hour turnaround time. If you know that you need more time to respond to customer emails, you can publish your expected turn around on the "Contact Us" page. This will help you to manage communication expectations with your customers by being completely transparent.

  • Consider a live chat service: Such services facilitate instant communication with your customers which provides instant gratification. However, keep in mind that these services may require more staff and consistent monitoring. Most platforms allow you to switch off chatting services outside of business hours.

  • Add a "Request to Call" option on your contact forms: Through this feature, a customer can schedule a phone call. This will allow you to gather a customer's contact information.

  • Keep a log of all customer interactions: Take note of date, time, questions and queries from each customer. This information can be very helpful when you follow-up with your contact to understand their pain points and how to best solve them.

  • Add a feedback form to your Website: Customer feedback is valuable information. You can gather the insight that you need to improve and implement new service ideas.


Customer Communication for SaaS Retention: User Communities


A community is a forum that allows your customers and users to communicate with each other. Within these communities, customers can form relationships that are beneficial to the business. Different users can learn from each other about tips, new products, and services.

In some cases, user communities can lift the pressure off your customer support teams. A customer can post a query and have other members of the community address the question.

User communities can develop a culture that is beneficial to your company. Such cultures can add value to your business and increase retention. Many SaaS companies view communities and a transaction instead of a relationship.

User communities need support from your business. Take note of the discussions that users have on these forums and take the appropriate actions. With the right approach, user communities can be effective platforms for customer communication for SaaS retention.

Customer Communication for SaaS Retention: Final Thoughts


No matter the issue your customers are dealing with, you must find the right words to appease them and find an appropriate solution.

Communicating with your customer is not the time to sound robotic or formal. Keep your communication personable and casual. Find the right balance to help you solve problems while continuing to build a strong relationship to encourage SaaS retention.

With the tips and best practices outlined above, we hope you have found value in this article.

Customer communication for SaaS retention should be the core of your business and is more than just conveying messages. It is about focusing on building lasting relationships and providing excellent customer service. Consult with Insivia for more information about customer communication for SaaS retention. Insivia has solutions that will yield the best results.


About Insivia

We're a SaaS Growth Agency scaling SaaS & technology companies through brand positioning, integrated marketing, web design, sales and retention.