Social Media + SaaS = A Customer Service Re-Awakening

The following quote came up on my Twitter feed and really inspired me to write this post:
“If you’re not using social media to make money, you’re doing it wrong.”
As I have said countless times, Social Media is a micro conversion for generating leads. However, I have also pointed out is a way to build community and thus a way to nurture your current client base. I would like to add a minor change to this quote from Social Fresh:
“If you’re not using social media to make money, you’re doing it wrong. If you are using social media to continue to make money, you’re doing it right.”
Social media is not a medium by which you will bring in new sales immediately. It is a way to personalize your company to your current and new customer base. Who is more likely to be a brand advocate, a new customer or a long time customer? Simply put, social media is the ultimate way to increase your customer retention.
Introduction to SaaS
Keeping customers is becoming even more important for digital companies who are moving to the ‘cloud’. SaaS (Subscription as a Service) are web based applications hat users buy into over a period of time. Some companies have monthly billing, quarterly billing, or yearly billing. In any case you want your customers to be happy with your product so that they sign on for the next billing cycle. Reducing churn rate is the only way a company will be able to become profitable with SaaS.
By adopting the SaaS model, a company is getting rid of large license fees and is letting their customers opt-in to their service over a period of time for a digestible sum. SaaS products grant users with many benefits (as opposed to digital downloads or physical software) such as:
- Access to the product anytime & anywhere
- Operating system agnostic, i.e., runs on a Mac or PC
- Nothing to download
- Updated immediately
- Low Price
- Easy exit strategy
SaaS products are truly a service to the customers that use it. Every time there is a new version of a product it is the responsibility of the company to update everything on their back end. Customers only need an Internet connection and they have access to the most up-to-date version of their SaaS product. Also, there is no need to pay for any more upgrades, the monthly subscription takes care of that.
The Social Turn
We have heard this time and time again, ‘Social Media is about community and engagement’. The members of this community are prospective customers and current customers. For SaaS products, your current customers can cancel their service at any time, much like a prospective social lead can unsubscribe from your news feed, unlike your page, or stop following you on twitter. Social media is about keeping your customers and leads happy, and the same is true for SaaS products.
Since Social Media and SaaS can be so volatile, it is important that you can keep users interested in your page and your product. People remain followers on Social Media because of amazing content created by your company. People remain customers of SaaS based products because they continue to improve their product and utilize as many possible mediums for immediate customer service.
Social Media and SaaS have caused a renewed focus on the customer, we no longer patronize the customer with the old saying ‘The customer is always right’ but we regard the customer as an equal and address their issues on a personal level with incredible results. To conclude, for both SaaS and traditional products, Social Media will not make you money but it will help you continue to make money form your users.
“If you’re not using social media to make money, you’re doing it wrong.”