How SaaS After-Sale Services Monetization Becomes Growth Driver
The sales performance of marketing and sales teams is constantly monitored and checked to interpret the scale of business growth. Sales representatives have to meet their sales targets. Targets that are being missed create panic across the floor. So, marketing and sales teams keep prioritizing and reprioritizing their goals.
But have you ever thought that after-sale services can be a way of SaaS customer retention and revenue diversification to help achieve SaaS customer success?
It is generally perceived that customer care, customer support and after-sale services are just for goodwill not to earn revenue. However, team SubscriptionFlow is here to make you orient your thoughts about after-sale services in a new dimension. We can help you drive growth with your after-sale services.
Also Read: Why & How After Sale Services Can Enhance Customer Retention For Subscription Business
Which After-Sale Services Can Add Value in SaaS Customer Success and How?
B2B SaaS sales teams usually opt for the following types of after-sales services:
- Quick and easy-to-understand support guides
- Free of cost customer care helpline
- Sales follow-up calls
- Follow-up emails and notifications when meetings or usual check-ups are scheduled
- Training to use the technical SaaS platform
You will probably be thinking that monetizing such services is more like killing customer relations with your own hands, but it is not.
The mistake that SaaS companies do is that they think after-sales services like those mentioned above do not bring revenue so they do not input their one hundred per cent to it.
After-Sale Services As Part of Customer Care
After-sale services are actually SaaS B2B customer services, and in the SaaS business market offering, customer care is the way to turn a one-time customer into a loyal customer. Perceive it this way:
- You onboard a customer.
- You put in the effort to give him a detailed overview of your SaaS platform.
- You send him follow-up emails and notifications.
- You offer him training if there are issues of system understandability.
By doing so, you indebt the newly onboarded customer on every step. A customer that came for termed subscription will probably now subscribe for evergreen subscriptions—that’s the magic of after-sale services. After-sales services may not become a direct source of revenue, but somehow they have their role in diversifying your SaaS subscription business revenue stream. For instance,
- Lenovo offers the Lenovo Vantage app with its systems that help its customers advantage the machine to the fullest. Other brands also offer similar applications for their systems. These applications not only increase brand worth but also sales.
- Ferrari has a special warranty offer for its customers. It covers replacements of all parts of the car for three years.
Though we are all part of the SaaS business market, we are finding such after-sales services lucrative. Right? That’s what exactly after-sale services do to your business.
You have done your part.
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After-Sale Services & Value Proposition
Value proposition means a complete set of benefits that a SaaS company promises or commits. It is a way to convince customers why they should do business with your company rather than any competitor in the market.
The value proposition is also important when it comes to attracting investors. And when it comes to the complete benefit (value proposition) that you offer to the customers, B2B SaaS customer services are part of it. Unfortunately, SaaS companies usually fail to project and propagate their value proposition. They, themselves are unaware of the strength of their SaaS product and the right way to portray this strength to the customers. For example, Apple is a class apart in the electronics marketplace. The way they portray the design of their phones shows clearly that they know what sets them apart.
And that’s what SaaS businesses need to do as well. Find what makes you different. Market it the right way, monetize it rightly, and that is it!
Your Customer Support Program
The customer support program is the part of customer experience. If you want to keep your customers happy, you need to offer impeccable customer support. However, you can monetize customer support (which is also an after-sale service). When it comes to monetizing recurring customers for support, there are two ways to do that:
- Charge your customers directly
- Charge them indirectly
To charge customers directly, you will probably need to convince customers that you are surfing resources to offer them desired customer support so, they will have to pay accordingly.
However, to charge customers indirectly, you can increase the awareness of your SaaS product, and then offer to cross-sell and upsell options to recurring customers. You can also go for partially paid customer support.
Some SaaS platforms are quite technical, and users need sufficient time and effort to be able to use such platforms to the fullest. You will need to monetize the technical support for such complex platforms intelligently. Do not make your customers feel that your approach is just to squeeze money out of their accounts. First, make customers feel valued, then propagate that monetization of technical support is necessary. You go in a loss by offering it for free.
After-sale services are surely a way to earn revenue, but only when you monetize customers the right way.
Conclusion
In the SaaS business market, monetization of after-sale services depends on the nature of your SaaS business as well. However, some after-sale services, for instance, training programs can definitely be monetized. But keep your sales and marketing team in the loop when you are strategizing to bill customers for after-sales services. They are the ones who sell your SaaS product and services. They are the ones who interact with the customer at first. They need all your monetization policies at first. If you are looking for a SaaS subscription billing platform where you can test and try your pricing strategy regarding after-sale services, then team SubscriptionFlow waits to hear from you.
