Quick Tip #1 - Speed up SaaS user activation with templates and integrations
It´s time to introduce a new regular feature in this newsletter series: The quick tip, or short: Quicky. I will be posting regular small SaaS growth hacks or eCommerce best practice tips as an easy to digest bite-sized morsel.
Today, let´s look at a potentially high-impact tactic that can be used for both: activation and acquisition.
1. Create templates to speed up user activation & acquisition
You can easily create a head start for users and get them up to speed by offering templates for your product's most common use cases.
Examples include theme templates for WordPress, survey templates by SurveyMonkey, email templates by MailChimp, and base templates by Airtable.
Templates let users understand and dive into your core product´s value faster, increasing the percentage of users who will be activated.
There's SEO potential to rank for template-related phrases in organic Google search results on the acquisition side. SurveyMonkey ranks for phrases like questionnaire template, customer survey template, hiring questionnaire template.
To make the most out of this traffic, make sure after signing up, users land on the selected template so that the experience is perfectly aligned with what they came for. There is nothing worse than breaking user expectations. Just imagine you log in to that shiny new email automation tool for the first time, and you find a company blog page instead of a newsletter dashboard? That would not be very clear at best.
2. Leverage existing ecosystems with integrations
You don´t have to necessarily create your own ecosystems as there are more than enough existing opportunities already out there that let you create and sell a native integration to their system. You can build an integration to your own startup tool and list or even sell that on their extension directories. People using their system are looking to extend the functionality can find your offer without you spending marketing Dollars for those eyeballs.
And vice versa. Depending on your startup idea, it might make perfect sense to open up your system´s API and allow third-party developers to create addons, plugins, or any extension to your startup.
But you could take this tactic even one step further and create a marketplace for your own startup, like, e.g., Shopify did with templates and plugins to their eCommerce cart system. This way, users who need more features have a wider choice. The opportunity to get free exposure to Shopify's vast user base attracts creators (freelance developers and agencies) who have a chance to show off their skills and get new business.
You could even start a rival marketplace for any established or up and coming ecosystem as another alternative. Think about well-established players such as WordPress, Shopify, Android, or new emerging trends like Webflow, Amazon Alexa, Lottie animations, or whatever comes up next. In this case, you might even have a first-mover advantage and be able to establish a high traffic marketplace just by being first to leverage all that upcoming search traffic.
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Thorsten Hunsicker is a serial entrepreneur, multichannel eCommerce and online marketing expert for more than 15+ years, home office junkie, and proud dad of two super kids.
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