Subscription Fatigue Is Real: How SAAS Businesses Can Combat Customer Churn

The software as a service (SaaS) business model works well for software vendors and has many tangible benefits for end users. However, over the past 12 to 18 months, many businesses have noticed a phenomenon now being called ‘subscription fatigue’, in which customers are becoming more sceptical about the value of subscription-based software and services. Customer turnover or ‘churn’ is becoming a serious issue for many SAS software businesses. In a marketplace in which there is a subscription for everything, therefore, how do you differentiate your product and convey your value proposition to your target buyers, in order to secure more sales and keep more customers?

Personalisation Is The Key To Long-Term Customer Engagement

One of the big problems that customers now have with SaaS software is the idea that they are paying repeatedly for something which they only really needed to purchase once. Once a customer starts feeling that they are being ripped off in some way, or they are no longer getting value for money, then they are more likely to cancel their subscription.

The solution is to continually personalise the software or service to reflect the customer’s evolving needs, challenges, and motivations, and to express this in your marketing content. For example, if your software helps customers to streamline healthcare admin in hospitals, your content should showcase success stories from hospitals and clinics, demonstrating how your software resolves a range of long term and emerging problems.

Highlighting long-term benefits and growth will help keep your customers engaged with your product and reduce churn. In your email marketing, you can use dynamic content tools to adapt your subject lines, messages, and recommendations for individual recipients based on their industry, job title, or previous interactions with your business. These personalised messages, e.g. “Josh, find out how we have saved financial analysts like you over 10 hours per week over the past five years”, can be more compelling than generic messages such as ‘improved efficiency of your team’.

Demonstrate A Clear Lifetime Return On Investment (ROI) With Use Cases And Figures

Another concern that many customers have is whether the lifetime cost of your subscription will pay off in real terms. To combat subscription fatigue, your marketing content needs to place ROI and lifetime value centre stage, providing your customers with clear and quantifiable evidence to show how your software reduces costs, saves time, or increases revenue month on month, and year on year.

For example, your content could include case studies that showcase how your SaaS tool has delivered measurable results for specific customers. Include details and graphics showing annual savings, lead conversion percentages, and other specific figures. Don’t rely on vague or anonymous claims – solid data helps build trust with your market and reinforces the value of keeping subscriptions going. Some businesses are now also adding ROI calculators to their websites, allowing potential customers to visualise the cumulative benefits they’ll get by using your tools in year one, year two, and beyond.

Highlight The Unique Features Of Your Software That Solve Real-World Problems For Your Customers

Another chronic issue for the SaaS marketplace is the overlap of many mobile apps and tools with other very similar services. This undermines the value proposition of some subscription-based tools and makes it more difficult to convert customers. To overcome this, differentiate your software in your marketing content by emphasising the features that solve specific customer problems in ways that your competitors don’t. Customers facing a subscription overload will be fussy in their choice of software, and are likely to prioritise the tools that address business-critical needs, so focus your content around the features and benefits that make you unique.

For example, if your tool uses AI or machine learning to predict trends or to automate routine tasks for your customers, showcase how this benefits them in practical and saving ways. You could also, for instance, highlight the integration capabilities that allow your tool to seamlessly work with popular platforms and mobile apps, such as the customer’s accounting system or CRM. If your competitors can’t connect to these tools or aren’t able to adapt their software to integrate the newest technologies, then this could be your marketing advantage.

However, when talking about any features, it’s essential to connect these features to the lived customer experience. Customers aren’t usually interested in raw features such as ‘innovative workflow automation’. It is more relatable to talk about how your features help your customers to “automatically handle repetitive tasks such as scheduling, so that you can focus on strategy”.

Find Out More

If you are struggling with customer churn or are interested in finding out how to increase your subscription sales and retention through digital marketing, please get in touch with one of the inbound marketing specialists at JDR today by clicking here.

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