What landing page conversion rate should your SaaS website actually be aiming for

If you run a Software-as-a-Service business, you’ll know it’s a bit of a numbers game.

Whether it’s daily active users, customer lifetime value, or that all-important conversion rate, it’s easy to get kind of obsessed with these stats.

And you know what? I’m kind of obsessed too.

I’m so obsessed, in fact, that I’ve taken some time to dig into the detail of what really makes SaaS consumers tick. More specifically, I want to know what makes the difference between a SaaS landing page which converts at 0.01% and one which converts at 25% (yes, they exist).

With that in mind, I invite you to join me on a deep dive into conversion rate optimization for SaaS websites – and how you can supercharge your own.

Let’s get stuck in.

First things first – a little bit of groundwork

As we’re talking about optimising landing pages for SaaS companies, I want to get really specific about how such websites operate – and how they convert.

I’ll begin with a simple question: What is your SaaS website’s raison d'être?

Factors vary from business to business, but broadly, your site should be:

Conveying your value proposition or unique selling point
Offering a clear-cut – and consistent – Call-To-Action (CTA)
Being visually appealing and engaging via compelling images and copy
Delivering a reliable, consistent flow of quality conversions

It’s this last point that really matters in this discussion.

Your website should look great. It should make people want to take action and – ultimately – it should deliver conversions.

So how do you make it happen and, perhaps more importantly, how do you know when it is happening? (Because it might be already).

The anatomy of a landing page conversion rate

Let’s zoom out at this point and make sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to exactly what a ‘conversion’ is.

At its most basic level, a conversion happens when a prospect takes an action you want them to take. In the context of SaaS, this might be:

New user acquisition
Activation of a free trial or offer
Lead form submissions
Product demo enquiry

So, to really understand how your SaaS website currently stacks up against the competition, you need to know how everyone else is doing.

Thankfully, Unbounce did a lot of the hard work for us.

In their survey, they discovered that the average conversion rate of a SaaS website is currently 2.9%.

They also found that the very best SaaS websites convert at a whopping 24.2%.

It’s always good to have goals.

The good stuff – 4 ways to optimize your landing page conversion rate

Okay, now that we’ve got the basics down pat, let’s get into some actionable methods you can use today to improve your conversion rate.

After roasting tons of landing pages, here are 4 of the very best ways I’ve found to optimise conversions and send those numbers skyward.

#1: Deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time

When you’re building out a SaaS landing page, you can often fall into the trap of trying to target all audiences at the same time. I get it. Every conversion counts.

But how can you really expect to land quality conversions if you’re targeting 20+ different personas on the same page?

Even the best digital marketers in the world wouldn’t be able to manage that – so what’s the solution?

It’s simple: niche down.

Before you build your landing page, make a firm decision about who you are targeting and the offer you’re putting on the table for them specifically. Take some time to build a persona for your perfect SaaS customer, then use it to drive your creation process forward.

Ask yourself:

What problem is this persona really struggling with that your product solves?
How can you help this persona to really visualise themselves using your product to solve that problem?
What nuances do you know about your persona’s lives experiences that should be reflected in the copy?

Knowing all of this really matters.

It’ll play into everything from images to copy, messaging to CTAs. Implement these insights well, and it’ll make a huge difference in your conversion rate.

#2: Respect your visitor’s time with lightning-fast page loads

When it comes to conversion killers, they don’t come much bigger than page speed.

With ultra-fast internet speeds the norm, your potential customers simply don’t have the time – or the inclination – to wait for your landing page to load. You might have enticed them with your ad copy, but even the best copywriter in the world can’t stare down a 10-second page load and win (sorry, guys).

Want some hard numbers?

According to recent stats, a page load time of up to 10 seconds can increase the probability of a visitor bouncing (read: leaving and never coming back) by 123%. You read that right.

Get that page load speed to between 1 and 3 seconds, and that same chance drops to under 32%.

The bottom line here? The faster your site, the better your chances of converting (and that’s without all of the trickle down benefits it’ll have on your SEO, too).

Testimonials have been part of the DNA of business websites for years.

I’d love to sit here and tell you that everybody was wrong all this time, but guess what? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Customer testimonials are still one of the most convincing factors in any purchasing decision – B2B or B2C. Humans are social creatures, and most of us like to stick to what the herd is doing.

So, your landing page needs to make it clear that the herd is all about your SaaS product. That means including genuine testimonials from real people straight from the horse’s mouth.

I cover a bunch of ways to you integrate testimonials effectively in this Twitter thread, but if you don’t have time to check it out here’s a TL;DR of some highlights:

If you don’t have a lot of customer testimonials to work with, just create one really powerful one and showcase that front and centre on your landing page (include a photo of your customer for added authenticity)
Video testimonials are more engaging and cann really allow you to dive into the story behind each sale
You can increase how relevant testimonials are by allowing people to filter by job type or vertical (or better still, only feature testimonials that really speak to that target persona you identified at point 1)
Highlight relevant parts of testimonials & keep them short so that they’re super skimmable…

...And last but not least:

Quantify customer outcomes with metrics wherever possible.

#4: Make ‘em a (consistent) offer they can’t refuse

Take a look at any good SaaS landing page and you’ll see a number of Call-To-Action (CTA) buttons and links throughout the page.

They really are the bread and butter of your landing page – and they’re the conduit by which you’ll start racking up conversions. But one of the biggest problems I’ve seen in all the landing pages I’ve roasted is inconsistent CTAs.

“Sign up”, “Get started”, “Watch video now”, “Download the whitepaper”…

With so many options, it’s easy to overwhelm visitors. So, if you really want to keep your conversion funnel as tight – and as effective – as possible, you need to ensure your CTAs are all pointing in the same direction.

Decide right at the start what the goal is here, what you consider a conversion, then double-down on having your CTAs end up at that same destination.

Another tip here is to make your CTAs outcome focused.

Think about what your SaaS offers your website visitors and make that your CTA instead. So, for example, instead of “Sign up now”, you might write “Start saving now” (or whatever it is that your product offers).

Just remember: whatever you pick, keep it consistent.

Does your SaaS landing page need more sass? It’s time for a roast

Let’s face facts: conversion rate optimization isn’t a walk in the park.

It’s not even a light jog in the rain.

Actually, it’s more like an uphill sprint with a couple of sacks of coal on your back.

Well, it is if you do it alone, anyway.

Luckily for you, I can help.

I’ll roast your landing page for just £199 and give you honest, actionable, advice about what you specifically need to do to start racking up those conversions – and winning the numbers game.