Provocative idea to grow complex, business-critical SaaS
Context
(skip to idea below)
Our B2B SaaS has traction (revenue to support a small team, a non-trivial number of paying customers, established working sales channels, etc) but fails to grow consistently (let alone exponentially).
The core issue/problem is that we provide business-critical functionality and many features (as most are necessary to companies we target). As such, clients are overwhelmed and either botch the onboarding or do not finish it. Even more so because we aim at medium-sized businesses that have a million other pressing and mature priorities which can easily take priority over implementing our solution.
The textbook reply here is to remove features and apply narrower targeting aiming for clients who match the product effortlessly. Somehow this doesn't feel right though (see paragraph right above).
Idea
Suggest a pricing scheme where clients get 50% discount in their subscription if they complete the onboarding in 2 months. The numbers probably need adjustment but the concept should be evident. Make the money saved work as a motive to focus and get it right.
What's your feedback on this?
- Would you consider it for your SaaS or to suggest it to your clients?
- Are there conditions you'd consider necessary for it to work?
- How would you respond to such a premise if you were on the receiving end?
- Have you seen it (work) anywhere?
TIA
I think discounting is unnecessary and devalues your product.
You should make it a mandatory/highly recommended onboarding session and explain why it's necessary.
If you're actually solving a problem and they're buying to solve this problem, you just need to do a better job of communicating why they need to do the onboarding.
And are you talking to the right people who decide who does the onboarding?
Is there a way to make the session more efficient? How long does it last?
I've never sold to a company who wasn't interested in an onboarding session when you're actually solving for a problem. Most early stage software providers have subpar onboarding (we did!) and it causes churn. I was doing customer research for another idea I had and one consistent theme was how bad some vendors were after a contract was signed. They want to know how to use the product they just bought!
Sorry for the ramble but I remember seeing some stat about churn and if people sign up and pay and don't use X amount within 24-48 hours of signing up, they almost always churn.