SaaStr Workshop Wednesdays - Merve Nazlioglu, CMO @ Insider

140% NRR: 10 Game-Changing Customer Marketing Tactics with Insider
Merve Nazlioglu, CMO @ Insider

1. MERVE NAZLIOGLU PATH TO 140% NRR: 10 GAME-CHANGING CUSTOMER MARKETING TACTICS CMO & Partner, Insider

2. Retention is the new acquisition.

3. Customer Marketing is taking the lead on the marathon to 140% NRR

4. Source: State of Customer Marketing Report, Influitive

5. Source: State of Customer Marketing Report, Influitive

6. Increasing customer retention rates by only 5% increases a company’s profits by 25-95%. Source: Harvard Business School Research

7. Despite the revenue impact, customer marketing teams remain relatively small in B2B organizations.

8. But they cover a wide array of customer-focused activities… Source: State of Customer Marketing Report, Influitive

9. Who thinks their customer marketing program will have greater importance over the next year compared to the previous year?

10. Source: State of Customer Marketing Report, Influitive

11. Tactic 1

12. Build a segmented communication plan The common practice Segment customers based on their upsell potential Create email nurture programs, webinars and events that exposes them to new products and features The game-changing practice Segment customers based on their persona, upsell potential, tenure, maturity etc. C-Levels don’t care about about products & features details, they need to trust you & want to see results Users care about what’s new, tips & tricks and how they can increase the ROI from your product

13. Tactic 2

14. Take your onboarding gifts “outside the box” The common practice Every SaaS company sends an onboarding GIFT BOX with branded “things” in it: The game-changing practice Create experiences that touch your customer’s 💜 — a personalized digital frame with a dynamic QR? Give them a reason to advocate for you on social The future of “gifting” will be outside the box — A basketball game with your brand’s jerseys and water bottles to kick-off your partnership? Chocolate Candles Mugs Water bottles Snuggies

15. Tactic 3

16. Reinvent your traditional upsell flow The common practice Meetings! Emails! Meetings! Emails! Meetings! The game-changing practice Product Walks by the bay — or even online Introduce a new product while your customers are enjoying a walk physically or tuning in online In this context, you can send them branded t-shirts/hoodies, water bottles and healthy snacks before the walks to amplify the community experience Don’t forget to take a selfie & amplify this moment on social with your customers

17. Tactic 4

18. Drive PLG with active upsell campaigns The common practice Freemium model Lack of automated personalized feature offerings within the product The game-changing practice Practice active upsell Surround your platform with dynamic & personalized content based on their recent activity Make personalized feature/product recommendations within the platform based on their latest usage & results where applicable Make a relevant feature available for free to show real results for users to create stronger internal buy-in with DMs.

19. Tactic 5

20. Create “that loving feeling” in your community The common practice Creating disconnected programs without real community engagement Poor management of Slack communities can quickly lead to an unengaged audience Running product webinars with a tedious demo to drive upsells can turn off customers The game-changing practice Building an active community that triggers a sense of belonging requires consistent & connected programs Ongoing gamified webinar series Repeatable, scalable customer events & customer advisory boards Championing customers with online & offline award & certification programs Building meaningful & valuable conversations in online communities & within your platform (i.e. anniversary video pop-up)

21. Tactic 6

22. Add “meaning” to your incentivized loyalty program The common practice There is a lack of established customer loyalty program in most SaaS organizations Most provide gift vouchers that does not mean much for those customers who have the potential of becoming “real” advocates The game-changing practice Gamified loyalty programs with meaningful incentives help you create stronger customer advocates Creating a points system for loyalty programs help you gamify advocacy programs & give your customers an option to turn them into gifts or a donation for a cause they care about

23. Tactic 7

24. Gamify your customer referral program The common practice Single fixed reward for referrals Monetary incentives The game-changing practice Tiered incentives based on the number & quality of referrals Go beyond monetary incentives and provide VIP access to events, offering additional features or benefits free of charge, personalized workshops etc. Gamify the referral process with leaderboards, badges, or points systems to create a sense of competition to improve referral frequency Run referral contests with cool prizes to create excite ment & drive urgency

25. Tactic 8

26. Build enduring review programs that last The common practice Blasting periodic and automated review campaigns to the entire customer base This might work against you as unhappy customers can provide lower scores Providing gift vouchers as an incentive to submit reviews The game-changing practice Target your high NPS customers for reviews with a personalized email from the Account Manager. Make it human! Sending personalized thank you emails with a donation gift after they submit a review would drive stronger relationships and advocacy

27. Tactic 9

28. Give, give, give — before you ask The common practice Ask! Ask! Ask! before giving to customers. Companies ask customers to: Buy more products Fill in NPS & product surveys Be speakers at events Provide case studies Write product reviews before giving. The game-changing practice Give, give, give, give, give , give, then ask.

29. Tactic 10

30. Champion a culture of customer marketing The common practice Customer Marketing teams remain relatively small in organizations They fail to get the level of support they need from Customer Success, Product and Sales teams. The game-changing practice Educating the teams around the impact of customer marketing on NRR and even assigning common OKRs will drive more value Drive a culture of collaboration within cross-functional teams to support customer marketing programs

31. Bonus

32. In the end, #1 source of new customers should be WOM Happy customers spread the word. They become your best sales reps. Beyond 100M ARR — Aim to acquire 30-50% of your new customers through WOM . 77% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product or service when they hear about it from someone they trust. (Source: Nielsen) Customers acquired through WOM have a 16-25% higher LTV than non-referred customers. (Source: University of Pennsylvania)

33. Key Takeaways

34. Bonus: #1 source of new customers should be WOM Key Takeaways Build a segmented communication plan Take your onboarding gifts “outside the box” Reinvent your traditional upsell flow Drive PLG with active upsell campaigns Create “that loving feeling” in your community Add “meaning” to your incentivized loyalty program Gamify your customer referral program Build enduring review programs that last Give, give, give — before you ask Champion a culture of customer marketing

35. Thank You