Last Updated on September 1, 2021 by Guest
It’s often tricky for SaaS startups to establish industry authority. It’s even harder to convince new users to trust you enough to sign up for your solution.
However, just because your startup is new on the market doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
In this article, you’ll read about the best ways for your startup to establish authority and trust with your potential new clients.
Let’s start things off!
Provide social proof
If you want to establish trust, providing social proof is a great place to start.
Your visitors trust user experience more than a promotional self-serving copy. Every day, we encounter glorifying advertisements that promise an excellent or groundbreaking solution.
It rarely convinces a user to try it out.
However, when we see other users, similar to us, share a positive experience about a SaaS or a digital tool, we’re convinced more easily.
We establish a connection with them and trust their recommendations more than marketing messages.
On the same note, social proof builds trust faster. It’s always quicker to read a dozen product reviews than doing extensive research on the company and its software.
One of the best ways to provide social proof is to share the personal stories of your customers with your SaaS.
They should talk about their position and how your solution helped them achieve a specific goal.
You’ll give your visitors a tangible product experience they can relate to.
You should also add your SaaS reviews from users. Video testimonials are great, but you need written reviews that can cover user experiences in detail.
A survey on user reviews by BrightLocal has found that 88% of customers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.
The numbers are clear; you need user reviews to build trust for your startup.
Publish case studies
Case studies are a staple for building authority and trust.
They provide tangible proof of how your solution improved a business and helped them succeed.
A well-written case study includes examples and actual data that show the results of your work, all of which help prospects establish trust.
Your potential clients won’t have to predict how your solution will benefit them. Instead, they’ll have a proven success story that will win them over.
Case studies also build your subject authority. When you write them, you show off your subject-matter knowledge and advanced analytical skills.
You also get to share your unique conclusions and expert opinion.
So if you want to create case studies, start by compiling the data you generated.
It can be testing data, project results, or data you’ve acquired by working with your clients.
Don’t forget that going through lots of numbers is difficult for most people. Add screenshots and infographics that help readers visualize your data.
You should tie the narrative together and make it easy for visitors to follow your thesis. Your goal is to deliver an in-depth, detailed examination of a case in an industry context.
Ask critical questions at the beginning of your case study and gradually answer them with your findings.
Ideally, after reading your case study, the reader will understand the situation before your intervention and see how your solution fixed a specific problem.
It’s time to talk about blogs next.
Publish blog posts
Publishing insightful blog posts will supercharge your industry authority and trustworthiness.
Your blog is here to solidify you as an expert.
Whenever you research and post about current niche trends, you’re showing your visitors that your industry knowledge is up-to-date.
Your visitors can then trust that the content you’re publishing is relevant and accurate.
Second point, a blog is a communication channel with your visitors.
When you post helpful content, you’re establishing your startup as a source of knowledge your visitors can rely on.
You communicate with them with every article and build trust. It doesn’t matter if your startup launched months ago; readers will still trust you if they find your posts insightful.
If you want to run a successful SaaS startup blog, there are a few things you have to keep in mind.
You should back your claims with current data. There are many SaaS blogs out there that try to push new ideas with studies and statistics that are 10 years old.
Be better than them.
Go through the latest industry reports to deliver current and insightful content to stand out.
Post new content frequently. According to HubSpot’s data, small blogs should post at least 2 new blog posts per week. You can’t expect to build authority or visitor trust if you post fresh articles only once in a few weeks.
Don’t write posts to sell your SaaS. Instead, aspire to educate your readers and help them solve problems related to your industry.
You won’t earn their trust by spamming them with sales offers.
Besides written content, consider SaaS startup podcasting.
Start your startup podcast
Podcasts are amazing channels for SaaS startups struggling to build their credibility.
With a startup podcast, you can create a personal connection with your audience.
The unique nature of podcasts puts personality at the forefront. Hearing someone’s unique voice helps build an authentic connection with the host, who is the voice of your startup.
If listeners connect with you, they will trust you.
Podcasting is a guest-friendly activity.
When you produce episodes, you can invite other professionals from your industry to have insightful conversations with you.
You’ll have time to show your knowledge when discussing a related topic.
It’s also going to be easier to build a name for yourself after hosting an established guest because their followers will hear about your startup.
It might sound difficult at first, but starting a podcast is not impossible.
Invest in essential recording equipment. Buying it doesn’t require you to bust the bank.
You need:
- Headphones, so you can hear your and your guest’s voice on audio clearly.
- An audio interface that allows you to record your podcast episodes. They’re very affordable machines and go for as little as $150 on Amazon.
- A microphone to record your episodes. If you have a guest in person, you need one more microphone to capture their voice.
- Audio recording software so you can edit podcast episodes and remove any background noises to pristine sound quality. You can even download a lite version for free.
After recording your first podcast episode, post them online and start building authority and trust for your startup.
Provide a valuable onboarding experience
A lot of SaaS startups forget about their user the moment they sign up for their services. That’s a breach of trust.
Even after users trust you enough to try your solution, you must justify their faith in you.
Otherwise, they’re going to become frustrated with your solution and bounce.
And those positive reviews and experiences we talked about? Forget about them.
Onboarding your users is critical for SaaS companies.
Despite your best efforts with blog posts, case studies, and podcast episodes, it can be hard to understand the full benefits of your software.
They have to know how to use your SaaS properly before they can unlock its full potential.
You can leave it to chance or onboard your users.
The onboarding process teaches your users how to use all your software’s features so they can reap its benefits faster.
More importantly, it shows that you care for your users and want them to be happy with your cooperation.
Take a look at your current onboarding process and see how it can be improved.
Divide your onboarding process into stages. Every stage should gradually move your new users from simple to complex features.
That way, your users won’t be overwhelmed every time they open the dashboard. After they finish the final onboarding stage, they’ll know how to use your SaaS.
Always be available for help. Ensure your user support team is quick to respond to support requests.
The last thing you want is for your new users to wait for days before getting any help with the solution.
And finally, monitor their onboarding process. You want to make sure every user that signs up completes the whole onboarding.
If you notice users are giving up in the middle of onboarding, don’t hesitate to reach out and inquire about specific roadblocks or issues.
Conclusion
It’s not easy to make a name for your SaaS startup and show every user that you have the expertise. Building trust takes time and lots of effort.
However, now you know how to nurture both of them for your SaaS startup.
Try these ideas in practice, and you’ll see the authority and trust in your startup skyrocket.
Author:
Ashley Wilson is a digital nomad and writer for hire, specializing in business and tech topics. In her self-care time, she practices yoga via Youtube. She has been known to reference movies in casual conversation and enjoys trying out new food. You can get in touch with Ashley via Twitter.