"Focus on being productive instead of busy." — Tim Ferriss
"I want to know who the SOB is that just sent me anthrax," wrote the prospective subscriber to our SaaS service. This is not the optimal introduction to a business relationship one hopes will end with the prospect spending $5,000 or more annually.
The truth was I had authorized sending him a voodoo doll — a small, political-themed figurine with Republican and Democrat signage and several stick pins, accompanied by a vial of white powder around its neck. Our tagline read: "Our legislative tracking service is so cutting edge you'll think it's magic." The problem was that the week we began mailing these dolls was the same week a letter containing anthrax was discovered in the U.S. House of Representatives mail room.
The campaign ultimately won a prestigious national marketing award. It generated almost no subscribers. I felt like the financier of a film that won an Academy Award and bombed at the box office. Looking back, the campaign had no measurable call to action, no CRM integration, no coordinated follow-up sequence, and no stated value proposition.
A well-constructed sales funnel is the architecture that connects awareness to revenue. Every element of your SaaS platform should be evaluated against the question of how it supports or accelerates that funnel.
Roadmap Considerations
◆ Could the platform offer a scaled-down free version that demonstrates core value before requiring payment? ◆ Could users pay based on usage rather than a fixed subscription, lowering the barrier to initial commitment? ◆ Can elements of the platform be linked to social channels or a mobile app to expand the top of the funnel?