Your team has successfully implemented an SEO strategy, and your website is prominent in search results.
You’re finally driving visitors to your website.
But is getting more traffic enough? What if those visitors find your website’s content robotic or dull? What if you’ve focused too heavily on features and not enough on the benefits your business delivers to your customer?
Those visitors will end up going to your competitor’s website. And that’s not a happy situation for any SaaS business.
That’s why effective SaaS copywriting is so important. It can be the difference between a visitor signing up for your product or moving on to something else.
As a SaaS marketing agency, here are some tips and best practices that we follow for our SaaS clients.
What We'll Cover:
What is SaaS Copywriting?
SaaS copywriting is the process of creating persuasive and actionable copy that generates leads and converts them into paying customers for your SaaS product.
It shows users the value of your product and why they should make it a part of their everyday lives.
For example, look at how Todoist framed its homepage introduction.
They underline the main goal of using their app (task management) and communicate it in a way that appeals to its readers. Instead of just stopping at “organize your work,” they added the “..and life, finally.”
These small additions to your copy can form a connection with the reader and persuade them to take the action you want, like subscribing to a free trial.
Why is SaaS Copywriting Important?
You might think, “Can’t I just write about the product and its features?”
That may have been enough a few years back when there were only a few SaaS apps in each niche. However, in today’s hyper-competitive market, your copy must be precise and persuasive. You can’t have your landing pages be too long or your content be all about your features and what “you” bring to the table instead of being consumer-centric.
That’s what copywriting can bring to your SaaS business – it creates the exact content the visitor would like to read, which drives higher engagements, conversions and click-through rates, lowers CPC, and increases mailing list signups.
What Does a SaaS Copywriter Do?
A SaaS copywriter understands the needs of your target audience and works accordingly on the following types of content:
Product Descriptions
A product is the main highlight of any SaaS business. SaaS companies need an excellent copy to differentiate their products from competitors’ products and portray them in a way that encourages purchases.
A SaaS copywriter writes compelling product descriptions after understanding the in-and-out of your product and how it benefits your target audience. They highlight the features and benefits of your offerings, along with relevant visuals, screenshots, or customer testimonials to strengthen the copy.
Landing Pages
SaaS landing pages are created to encourage visitors to take some desired action. For example, the landing page for a lead magnet is created to get details about your visitor, like their name, the company they’re working at, and their email address.
These landing pages should be keyword-rich and compelling so that visitors take the desired action. A SaaS copywriter also researches the type of landing pages their competitors are creating and how you can create better ones.
Email Campaigns
Email campaigns are a great part of any SaaS marketing strategy. They can be used for multiple purposes, and you can build a loyal customer following with your email lists. A SaaS copywriter knows how to write fun email copies that result in more opens and reads.
A good copywriter will also know how to write content for drip email campaigns, welcome emails, re-engagement emails, and other types of email content.
Website Copy Optimization
Your website is the first thing your visitors will see when they want to know more about your company and the tool you’re offering. They might arrive at your site after clicking on an online search result or paid advertising.
A good SaaS copywriter will help you make a favorable first impression on your visitor with solid and engaging copy. They will also help you form important CTAs that will be present on your homepage and other pages.
What Are Some Tips and Strategies for Effective SaaS Copywriting?
There is a lot of advice on creating good SaaS copywriting. The following 13 tips are not only effective but they are tried and tested by our team with favorable results.
#1 Understand the Product and Its Industry
Knowing about your product and industry is paramount to writing great copy.
You can’t produce content that solves your potential customer’s problems without knowing the product's features.
At the same time, by developing a deep understanding of your industry’s trends, recent developments and pain points, you can craft copy that hits the right chords and results in conversions.
#2 Identify Your Target Audience
The copy that appeals to project managers won’t appeal to content creators.
By developing a specific target audience, you can form a copywriting strategy that hits the mark.
To identify who you need to target, here are some questions that will help you gain more insights into your audience:
- What is the core problem they are trying to solve?
- What kind of features would appeal the most to them?
- What kind of terminology do they use?
- On which platforms are they most active? Can we engage in social listening to find out more about them?
- What are the common demographic and psychographic traits?
#3 Speak Your Audience’s Language
Your copy should talk to your audience in a way that relates to them.
For example, if you’re targeting executives and high-level managers, you shouldn’t use informal language or too many jokes.
One great way to learn more about your audience's terminology is by contacting your customer-facing teams, like sales and marketing. You can then create a guide/document outlining the language and tone you’ll want for different content mediums like websites, emails, landing pages, and product pages.
You can use A/B testing to find out the tones and language that are well-received by your audience.
#4 Create Catchy Headlines
How often have you opened an email or article because the headline was catchy?
Countless times, right?
Your headlines can draw the reader’s attention and increase their likelihood of reading the entire copy.
Here are three headline examples formats to get you inspired:
- [Core service] + [Main benefit]
While there are many website builders available, Shopify mentions their core service, website builder, then its main benefit – building that website in minutes.
- [Relevant question related to your product]
Canva’s headline immediately lets visitors know what the product is about – accessible design tools. Moreover, it encourages visitors to click on the CTA to start designing.
- [Core proposition] without the [limitation]
Anybody can provide a project management solution. But by adding the “without limits” part, Monday.com brings something unique to the table. This technique is most effective when the limitation is felt deeply by your target audience.
#5 Optimize Content for Easy Reading
While SaaS products can be complex, your SaaS copy shouldn’t be complicated. Your copy must be easily understandable, even by people unfamiliar with your product or niche.
Here are three ways to make your content easily readable:
- Avoid jargon or technical terms unless you’re writing BOFU content or content specially made for current users.
- Use short, simple sentences and break down lengthy paragraphs.
- Include white space and visuals to make your content easily skimmable.
#6 Drive Emotional Responses
Many people think there’s no place for emotions when you’re on the B2B side of things.
But that’s not the case. You want to get value when parting with your hard-earned money for a tool. One of the greatest ways to bring that value is by calling on your potential customer’s emotions.
For example, if you’re providing financial budgeting software, instead of portraying the different values like the software could help save more or spend less, you could portray it in words like, “Buy your dream car faster” or “Plan a trip to your favorite destination in no time.”
You can even use words that evoke emotions:
#7 Prioritize Features That Customers Need
If your tool provides many features, that’s great! But SaaS companies often make the mistake of assigning all these features equal importance.
Instead, recognize the features that your customers love or require the most.
How do you achieve that?
Look at the usage of your tool by different customers or talk with your sales and support teams and find out the features that the customers first ask about or want to know more about. When you have this information, you can portray the important features on your homepage or give more prominence to them in your email campaigns and other marketing initiatives.
ClickUp showcases the prominent features on its homepage, while its product section has all the features they offer.
#8 Integrate Valuable Features With Actual Benefits
Many copywriters think that selling benefits means not giving due importance to the tool’s features.
But they don’t need to be mutually exclusive. So, for example, you can talk about a feature and also mention the benefit that the feature will bring to customers.
Some formats that you could follow are:
- [feature] that helps you [benefit]
- [feature] so you can [outcome]
When talking about the benefits, a great idea is to mention the numbers that go with it, like “Save 3X more time.” Ensure you have solid evidence to back these numbers.
#9 Include Data Statistics
Imagine there are two case studies in front of you with these headings:
Case Study 1: Learn how Buffer increased its blog visitors by 67% in four months
Case Study 2: Learn how you can increase your blog visitors
Which headline stands out more? The first one is more hard-hitting because you are faced with real numbers and a notable brand. This makes the reader go, “Wow! I could get similar numbers from my blog.”
Look at how HubSpot features real numbers in their case studies to make them more compelling.
You can even use statistics to demonstrate a problem that your niche faces while writing copy for your home page.
#10 Strategize Call-To-Actions (CTAs)
CTAs are the most important parts of your copy. A great CTA can encourage users to take the desired action.
Here are some key points you need to draw out while creating CTAs:
- Ensure the CTA is visible and stands out from the rest of your content.
- Think about the placement of your CTAs. Many SaaS businesses often use two CTAs – one above the fold and one at the bottom so viewers can see the CTAs even if they don’t scroll down.
- Use words that evoke emotions.
See how Buffer uses CTAs on their homepage that instantly draws attention because of the colors used.
#11 Create Strategic Templates
Instead of having your team start from scratch every time they need to make a landing page or create an email campaign, you can use templates to give them a head start.
These templates could have basic design formats or copywriting formats. For example, the CTAs could have the same placement, or you could work around the headlines while keeping the body format the same.
You could also set guidelines for the copywriting rules or tips you might have for different content campaigns. This keeps your team on the same page, and the copywriters know what copy they are expected to create.
#12 Ask Customers for Further Insights
The most effective method for creating copy that attracts and engages readers is by aligning it with their needs, interests and expectations.
The best way to do this is to get in touch with your customer. If you don’t want to interview them, you can set up a form on your homepage or a specific web page on your website where they can share their feedback.
You can use tools such as Usersnap and Marker.io to set up these feedback widgets on your website.
#13 Test It Out
It’s hard to look at your work objectively. So even if you think your copy is top-notch, share it with your colleagues, managers, or even friends to get their feedback.
Ask them questions like, “Did you find anything confusing?” or “What did you feel after reading the copy?”
This will give you different perspectives and present opportunities to further optimize your copy. Again, you can use A/B testing if you’re confused between two copy versions and want to see which performs best.
What Are the Common Mistakes That a SaaS Copywriter Makes?
Here are six common mistakes a SaaS copywriter makes and how you can minimize them:
#1 Not Resonating With the Target Audience
One of the biggest things a copywriter must do is distance themselves from their writing.
What does that mean?
Suppose you are writing copy for a B2B website and have an interesting example you want to quote. But the example involves references to a niche TV show. Would that intersect with your readers? Probably not.
So, provide your copywriters with a general brief of the purpose of the copy and the kind of audience you’re targeting. This will help them create targeted copy.
#2 Using Jargon and Being Overly Technical
While your copy resonates with your target audience, ensure it doesn’t get too technical.
Your language should avoid jargon and be easily understandable by a wider audience, even those unfamiliar with your product or niche.
Why?
Because you might confuse visitors who are just starting their journey and need content that further pushes them down your marketing funnel.
For example, talking about baselines and milestones in your project management tool’s headline won’t work as great as a simple headline such as “Manage your projects better and faster.”
#3 Not Leveraging the Brand Story
Your copy should demonstrate your brand values and vision.
Many copywriters make the mistake of not leveraging the power of your brand story in the copy.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, build a document that sets out how your SaaS brand started, the values you hold close, the journey of your SaaS tool to date, and different brand elements that you’d like to keep constant in the copy.
#4 Focusing Too Much on the Features
You might have great features in your tool -- but solely focusing on them would be a grave mistake.
After all, you don’t want to head to a company’s homepage only to read paragraph after paragraph about what they are doing. Instead, you’d rather read about how their product could help make your work better and easier.
To help your copywriters adhere to the rule of not focusing too much on the features, make it a point to mention the benefits each feature brings to the user.
#5 Neglecting SEO
While you don’t want to stuff too many keywords, you can’t completely neglect SEO if you want to bring more visitors to your site or increase your website’s visibility.
You can use practices like using keywords where they fit, optimizing your URLs and meta descriptions, building an internal link structure, using relevant visuals, etc.
This will bring more targeted traffic to your website and increase the chances of conversions.
#6 Fail to Test
Your copywriting strategy works great as long as you keep testing and optimizing it.
You must constantly check your audience's reaction, the numbers you’re generating, your competitor's copywriting strategy, etc.
By scheduling these checks every few months, your team can stay on top of trends and capitalize on the copywriting strategies that bring results.
Final Thoughts
Businesses in the SaaS industry need to handle a plethora of tasks – roll out new features, find out ways to beat the competition, create content for existing users, etc.
It can be easy to miss out on improving your website’s copy or paying attention to the finer details, like the body of your email campaigns.
But focusing on these SaaS copywriting strategies can greatly impact your KPIs, conversions, and sales.
If your team doesn’t have time to spare or you’re looking for experts to take over your copywriting tasks, reach out to our team at MADX.
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