Account activation is a key metric in the SaaS world, and it's one of the most important metrics for an account manager. You can attract millions of visitors to your site, but if none of them are converting (activating an account), then that traffic is almost pointless.
What is user activation? Account activation is when a new account starts using your product for the first time and in order to use it, they need to create and login an account. Without this, SaaS companies are not going to make it far, which is why we are here today!
If you're struggling with account activation growth in your company, here are seven ways that will help you increase your account activations. Let's take a look!
1. Start Tracking
The first customer activation strategy to increase account activation is tracking. I know, I know... this is a no-brainer. But the truth of the matter is that many account managers don't really track account activations or account creation at all.
You must be tracking account activation and account creation if you want to improve it. It's crucial for account managers to actually know which accounts are being created and activated on your platform.
This will also allow you to start figuring out why other accounts are not activating. It's going to give you insight into who specifically is activating/creating an account within those accounts.
You can use tools such as Ocotboard to track your user's actions related to your products. In order to understand where exactly your account activations come from, you will need to rely on analytics tools. The first move to improve is through tracking analytics.
You should also use Google Analytics. This is going to allow you to track things such as returning customers and new customers. Make sure you are tracking account activation, account creation, your traffic, and the actions they take.
2. Customer & Website Flow
Once you start tracking your customer activations, the next step is to understand how accounts are actually activating. What are the steps that your website traffic is taking? What is the process from start to finish on your website? Your website's flow.
You really need to know exactly what actions users are taking once they visit your site. As mentioned before, you can use Google Analytics to track the exact actions your potential customers are taking. If you can't figure out how users are activating accounts within your own product, then it's almost impossible for you to improve them!
A great way to do this is through customer and website flow reports. These reports will show you exactly where people are clicking or scrolling on your website (or in some cases, not clicking or scrolling). It breaks everything down into sections that help with user research.
Don't stop here, though. Now that you have an idea of that flow and their actions, it's time to improve!
Is that flow easy? Is it user-friendly? Does it make the most sense in the order that it is now? Can you make it more efficient or user-friendly?
Ask yourself these questions and make adjustments from here.
3. Send Customized Gifts or Products
Another way to increase account activations and create long-lasting loyal customers is by giving them something they actually want or need. They will be more likely to activate within your product when you give them the tools and resources they need.
If you're not sure what they might need, then ask yourself this: What exactly do I know about my customers? How did they find out about me? What makes sense for them? What do I know about their company and industry in general? Once you figure this out, it's easier to send customized gifts and products in a brand promo! (that hopefully they actually need).
Everybody loves something that is free... especially when it's custom! Use marketing tactics such as sending a free shirt or a tote bag for signing up!
Here are a few customized gift ideas that you can send to your new potential customers.
- Tote Bags
- Backpacks
- Drawstring bags
- Apparel (Shirts, jackets, etc.)
- Drinkware
- Lanyards
- Other stationery items
According to this article from Forbes, 98% of marketers say personalization advances customer relationships. What are you waiting for? Start sending those gifts and creating more and better customer relationships.
4. Make Things Simple
This is probably the best way to increase customer account activations. If you are creating too much friction, then it will be difficult for users to activate within your product.
To make things simple, there are two things you can start doing right now to improve your process:
- 1. Make sure it's easy for people to understand
- 2. Do what makes the most sense for them (not necessarily for yourself)
If you are not making it easy enough for people to understand, then you have got some work ahead of you. You need to improve your copy, your messaging, and your UX design.
It's hard to do this because it requires knowing exactly who they are and tracking them at every step of their journey.
So make sure you understand who your target audiences are and the best way to reach them. Here are a few more ways you can make the process as easy as possible.
- Reduce the number of steps they have to take to sign up
- Ensure that the language used in each step is easy and marketed towards the right audience
- Improve your site's performance such as speed, scrolling, and elements
Once you've improved all of these, you'll be sure to see a huge difference in account activations.
5. Use Emotions
Human beings are emotional and this plays a part in marketing. Your emotions will have an effect on whether you buy something every single time.
Many marketers are using this to their advantage by creating campaigns that trigger certain emotions. If you can tap into an emotion, then it will be easier to increase account activations.
Some examples of this are using fear, happiness, envy, etc... Using these types of emotions is a tactic that should be used in everything you do as a business.
For example, let's talk about the emotion of happiness. As we mentioned earlier in this article, giving a free handbag or tote bag can increase your account activation and build loyal customers. Well, how does that work? Through emotions.
A free handbag is a way to make your customers feel happy. You can't go wrong with that, right?
Other ways you can create or stir emotions in potential customers are:
- Telling stories. People love a good story and this is the perfect way to captivate them.
- Through fear, you can evoke an emotion that they must buy the product now. Think about offering a discount that only lasts a few hours.
- Greed is one that will allow you to increase your sales as well. Humans naturally want and providing them with something valuable will do exactly that.
- Trust is another valuable emotion to use in marketing. The same tactic we used for happiness can also work to build trust with new and existing customers.
Therefore, you should use emotional triggers as a part of your marketing strategy if you want to increase account activations and create loyal customers.
6. Get Personal and Re-Engage Customers
In order for this technique to work, you need to know exactly who your target audience is! You'll need to get specific and personal with them in order for this tactic to be effective.
Personalizing the experience requires tracking their actions on-site and understanding what they are clicking on or not clicking on during their user journey before they convert into a customer or client.
Once you have that information, then it will be easier for you to build a campaign model at the right time of the customer journey. This also requires the personalization and understanding of each individual customer.
It doesn't stop there, though. You will most likely have several different target audiences, which means you need to get personal with each one. You should run campaigns that target every group of audiences to whom you want to sell your products or services.
Re-Engaging
On top of knowing your customers, you need to re-engage them as well. For example, if a user hasn't logged in for six months and they come back to your site, you should send them an email welcoming them back.
You can do this via automation so it's not really that difficult to implement. You can also use re-engagement emails that suggest products or services that they've been interested in before but haven't purchased yet.
This will increase the likelihood of increasing the number of accounts created because you're targeting their interests from previous visits on-site. It's a perfect example of using past behavior data, without being too repetitive or intrusive with customers because you're promoting products or services they've already shown interest in purchasing before.
7. Email Campaigns
Email is a great way to send out messages and updates. It's one of the most popular channels that marketers use to communicate with their customers and it's also one of the cheapest, too!
When consumers sign up for an email list, they expect you to provide them with value, so make sure you do just that. You don't want to be spammy or annoying, either, because they'll most likely opt out and unsubscribe.
But this is the perfect way to welcome new customers, re-engage previous customers, and remind your potential customers.
The key thing here is creating automated emails at certain time frames after someone has signed up for your email list. This is where timing comes in, as well as knowing who your target audience really is.
Increasing Your Account Activations
It all starts with tracking and knowing your customers. You should leverage these neuroscience principles in your marketing strategy to increase account activations and create loyal customers.
If you're looking for more ways to increase your account activation and increase sales, make sure to check out the rest of our blog for more content just like this one!
