Table of contents

5 Best Practices for SaaS Email Marketing Campaigns

Digital MarketingOctober 2024

Want to boost your SaaS company’s email marketing? Here’s what you need to know:

  1. Tailor emails to different groups: Segment your list and personalize content.
  2. Set up automatic responses: Use triggered emails for key touchpoints.
  3. Provide helpful information: Share tips, guides, and insights.
  4. Make emails phone-friendly: Optimize for mobile devices.
  5. Track results and improve: Use data to refine your strategy.

Why bother? Email marketing can lead to:

  • 6x higher transaction rates with personalization
  • $36 return for every $1 spent
  • 138% more spent by email subscribers vs. non-subscribers

But SaaS email marketing is tricky. It’s 3x more complex than regular email marketing. You need to:

  • Really understand your customer data
  • Set up some fancy tech
  • Focus on segmentation, automation, and valuable content

Get it right, and you’ll see better customer retention, more conversions, and higher customer lifetime value.

Practice What You Get
Tailored emails 6x higher transaction rates
Auto-responses Steady engagement
Helpful info 86% better retention
Mobile-friendly Reach more people
Track and tweak Data-driven wins

Ready to dive in? Let’s break down each best practice.

Tailor Emails to Different Customer Groups

Sending the same email to everyone? Big mistake. Here’s how to break your list into groups and send emails that actually matter:

  1. Gather customer data: Use sign-up forms, surveys, purchase history, and product usage info.
  2. Create customer segments: Split your list by age, location, job title, product usage frequency, and favorite features.
  3. Craft targeted messages: Speak directly to each group’s interests.

Nordstrom boosted engagement by matching email models to the recipient’s gender. Smart move.

Segment Email Content
New users Getting started guides
Power users Advanced tips and tricks
Inactive users Re-engagement offers
  1. Use dynamic content: Change parts of your emails based on the recipient. Society6 showed items people had viewed before, nudging them to buy.
  2. Test and improve: Try different approaches for each group. Keep tweaking.

Here’s the kicker: Smaller, more specific groups = better results. Optimove found that smaller segments led to more engagement.

Tailoring your emails can lead to:

  • 29% higher open rates with personalized subject lines
  • 41% higher click rates
  • Up to 760% more revenue

Start small with a few segments, then expand as you learn what works for your SaaS business.

2. Set Up Automatic Email Responses

Automatic email responses can supercharge your SaaS marketing. Here’s how:

1. Welcome new users

Send a friendly hello when someone signs up. SE Ranking nails this with an overview and helpful links.

2. Guide through setup

Break down onboarding into bite-sized steps. Send clear instructions and video tutorials.

3. Nudge inactive users

If a user hasn’t created a project in two days, give them a gentle push. SE Ranking does this well.

4. Follow up on abandoned carts

Remind users about items left in their cart. Sony’s PlayStation Store uses this tactic.

5. Re-engage dormant users

Spark interest in users who haven’t logged in for a while.

Why automatic emails work:

Metric Improvement vs. Regular Campaigns
Open rates 83.4% higher
Click rates 341.1% higher
Conversion rates 2,270% higher

Tips for better automatic emails:

  • Keep it short
  • Make it personal
  • Focus on one clear action
  • Test and improve

Remember: Be helpful, not pushy. Your goal? Make the user’s journey smoother and more enjoyable.

3. Provide Helpful Information in Emails

Want to boost your SaaS email marketing? Focus on content that actually helps your customers. Here’s how:

  1. Share tips and tricks: Zapier‘s monthly newsletter is packed with practical automation advice.
  2. Offer exclusive insights: Grammarly hosts webinars just for their email subscribers.
  3. Create how-to guides: Monday.com‘s onboarding emails include video tutorials for their software.
  4. Highlight case studies: Airtable shows off real-world product uses in their emails.
  5. Compile resource roundups: Semrush’s "Learning with Semrush" emails feature top weekly articles.

Tailor your content to different customer groups:

Customer Stage Email Content Ideas
New Users Product setup guides, FAQs
Active Users Advanced features, productivity tips
At-risk Users Troubleshooting help, success stories

By helping, not just selling, you build trust and show expertise. This leads to better engagement and loyalty.

"B2C communication focuses on emotions. B2B communication focuses on information, facts, and profit."

Keep emails short (50-125 words) and always include a clear call-to-action. Result? Emails your subscribers actually want to open and read.

sbb-itb-4c080d3

4. Make Emails Phone-Friendly

Let’s face it: most people check their emails on their phones. Here’s why that matters for your SaaS email marketing:

  • 68% of email campaigns are opened on mobile devices
  • Mobile email opens jumped 30% from 2010 to 2015
  • 41% of all email views happen on mobile

So, how do you make your emails look great on smartphones? Here are some tips:

1. Keep it simple with a single column

One column works best across all email clients and keeps things readable on small screens.

2. Bump up that font size

Apple says go for 17-22px for body text and 22px+ for headlines. Bigger text = easier reading.

3. Left-align your copy

It’s just easier to read, especially for longer sections.

4. Make those CTAs pop

Put them near the top and make buttons at least 44×44 pixels. Give them some breathing room for easy tapping.

5. Short and sweet

Aim for 50-125 words in your emails. Break it up with bullet points or short paragraphs.

6. Speed it up

Compress images and keep your code light. Slow emails often end up in the trash.

7. Go responsive

This makes sure your emails look good no matter the screen size.

Here’s a quick comparison:

Mobile-Friendly Emails Non-Mobile-Friendly Emails
Single-column layout Multi-column layout
Large, readable fonts Small, hard-to-read text
Thumb-friendly CTAs Tiny, clustered buttons
Compressed images Large, slow-loading images
Responsive design Fixed-width design

Don’t forget to test your emails on different devices and email clients before hitting send. It’ll help you catch any weird rendering issues that could mess up your campaign.

"I think about the experience of what using the newsletter is going to be—rather than just how it looks to me at a certain ratio. I’m thinking about where it will break and what it will look like in a bunch of the different previews in Litmus." – Hannah Tiner, Marketing UX Designer at Litmus

5. Track Results and Make Improvements

Want your SaaS email marketing to actually work? You need to keep tabs on how it’s doing. Here’s the scoop:

Key Metrics to Watch

1. Open Rate: How many people open your emails? Shoot for 20-28% in SaaS.

2. Click-Through Rate (CTR): How many click your links? Aim for 2-5%.

3. Conversion Rate: How many take action after clicking? Calculate it:

(Number of Conversions / Total Emails Delivered) x 100

4. Bounce Rate: How many emails don’t make it? High bounces = bad reputation.

5. Unsubscribe Rate: Above 2%? Time to rethink things.

Making Sense of the Numbers

Don’t just collect data – use it. Here’s how:

  • Compare to other SaaS companies
  • Look for trends over time
  • Test one thing at a time

A/B Testing 101

  1. Pick one thing to test
  2. Create two email versions
  3. Send each to 10-20% of your list
  4. See which wins
  5. Send the winner to everyone else

Pro tip: Wait until you have 1,000+ subscribers before A/B testing.

Clean Up Your List

  • Ditch inactive subscribers (6+ months of no opens)
  • Fix or remove bouncing emails
  • Use double opt-in for new subscribers

Let Data Drive Decisions

Problem Solution
Low opens Test subject lines or send times
Low clicks Clearer CTAs or new offers
High unsubscribes Segment list or adjust frequency
Low conversions Improve landing pages or offers

Conclusion

SaaS email marketing packs a punch when done right. Here’s a quick rundown of our five best practices:

1. Tailor your emails

Slice up your audience and personalize content. This can skyrocket transaction rates by 6x.

2. Set up auto-responses

Use triggered emails to keep users engaged throughout their journey.

3. Educate your customers

Share helpful info about your product. Why? 86% of users stick around when onboarding hits the mark.

4. Go mobile-friendly

Make sure your emails look good on phones. Lots of folks check email on the go.

5. Keep tabs and tweak

Use data to fine-tune your strategy. Watch those open rates, click-throughs, and conversions.

These practices don’t work in isolation. They team up to create a killer SaaS email marketing strategy. Take Canva, for example. They boosted engagement by sending personalized template suggestions. Loom shared success stories that matched user experiences. And Zapier? They used trial reminder emails to showcase their paid features’ value.

Here’s the deal: SaaS email marketing never stops. You’ve got to know your customers, roll with their needs, and keep tweaking based on what the data tells you.

Nail these practices, and you’ll see:

  • Better customer retention
  • More conversions
  • Higher customer lifetime value
Practice What You Get
Tailored emails 6x higher transaction rates
Auto-responses Steady engagement
Helpful info 86% better retention
Mobile-friendly Reach more people
Track and tweak Data-driven wins

FAQs

Which of the following is a best practice for email marketing?

One top email marketing practice? Keep it short, sweet, and skimmable. Why? It:

  • Supports your campaign goals
  • Creates useful content
  • Shows subscribers your emails are worth reading

Here’s how it stacks up:

Practice What You Get
Short, relevant content More engagement, easier to read
Personalization Better open rates, more clicks
Mobile-friendly Reaches more people, works better
A/B testing Data-driven tweaks, more conversions

Email marketing drives SaaS growth. The SaaS market’s set to hit $317.55 billion by 2024, up from $273.55 billion in 2023. Want a piece of that pie? Write emails that respect time and deliver value.

"Keep it concise, relevant, and easily scannable. Your subscribers will know your messages are worth their time." – Salesforce US