SELLING TWILIO APPS

Patrick McKenzie – Kalzumeus Software

My Business

Two Ways To Sell Software

Low-touch sales Demand driven Convert customers at scale: web, email, etc End-user is buyer Lower price points

High-touch sales Supply driven Convert customers one at a time End-user probably is not buyer Higher price points (up to $GADZOOKS)

The Curious Case of Modern SaaS

Monthly billing is a core innovation. $X,000 LTVs can be acquired at low-touch

Hybrid models are possible $200/month for small businesses … but you need an SLA? Talk to sales

team.

A Brief Primer On SaaS Pricing Price based on value, not on cost.

Anchors matter! Do NOT anchor on Twilio cost!

Segment to capture customer value. The 4 plan pricing page

Evolutionary maxima for low-touch SaaS. Not necessarily optimal for high-touch

sales. Interesting ways to play with it.

Always remember: it is not their money.

Pricing Page Teardown

Single Most Actionable Tip at TwilioCon

OfferAnnual Billing

The Six Figure Email

Offer discount (“1 month free”) if they switch to annual billing.

Offer it to “loyal customers” over email

One click + confirmation to switch.

Conversion rate from 10% to 25%+

Immediate revenue of $200 per email sent

Low-touch Stuff That Works

SEO / AdWords / marketing site / etc Olark / chat widgets / etc Fully-functional free trials

Funnel optimization Product tours

Email. Email. Email.

Let’s Talk Product Tours

40 ~ 60% of 1st time users won’t ever come back

First experience of app has to rock

Customization screens do not rock Empty dashboards do not rock Productivity apps (w/o team) do not rock

Three Goals Of A Tour

1) Demonstrate one awesome improvement to the user, immediately.

2) Establish a reason why the user should come back.

3) Ask users to invite anyone appropriate into the app.

Appointment Reminder Product Tour

Problem: Customers require 4 ~ 6 weeks to perceive value from product … and the product has a 30 day trial … and 60% of users abandon on Day 1

Solution: Demonstrate value on Day 1

Tour Script

Customer first listens to reminder on their phone.

Then, they learn how to schedule appointments.

Then, they learn how to manipulate appointments.

Then, they learn what they should do next. This would be a great point to sell sell sell. Or to ask them to invite their co-workers

into the app.

Ugly As Sin But It Works

Single Best Tour Tip

Introduce

StickyFeature

s

EmailCustome

rsMore

Low Conversion To Trial? Sell Via Email

Conversion from visitor to paying signup: ~1%

Conversions to free email submission can be 20 ~ 40%, particularly if you offer a decent incentive

Send people a drip campaign “One month free course, delivered over

email, about $TOPIC” 6 ~ 8 emails Educate. Persuade. Then, and only then,

sell. Absolutely prints money.

Sample Landing Page For Email Submit

Offers immediate incentive for signup

Asks for permission to contact, with the course offering

Describes what they’ll get if they opt-in

http://speed.wpengine.com

Drip Marketing Example

More Advanced Uses Of Email Client starts using software?

Send “personalized welcome” from the CEO.

Client looks like they’ll cancel? Send a rescue email. (“Write back and I’ll

extend trial.”) Client doesn’t use a particular feature?

Send a getting started guide. Client getting to decision point?

Send them an ROI calculation!

Weekly Checkup (“Get Them Promoted”)

EveryoneCan

Do Sales

Core High-Touch Sales Insights

You are not being bought by the person using the software.

Customers can “request” high-touch sales with questions or behavior in trial.

Expectations are very different.

Who Is The Decisionmaker?

Business owner? Typical for SMB

Head of IT? Head of Ops? Project lead lower in the organization?

Dealing With Purchasing Cycle

Purchasing may have adversarial relationship with users.

Purchasing is scored on discounts. Purchasing hates rejecting work, wants

you to reject them. Lead -> Call -> Meeting -> Proposal ->

Formal Quote -> Deliver -> Invoice -> Heat Death of Universe -> Check Arrives

Purchasing Has A Checklist

Lacking certain things will auto-kill deals. SLA Support/maintenance contract Industry-specific compliance (HIPAA, etc) “Sign our standard vendor contract”

You need to have and mention that you have these things.

Charge through the nose for these things.

Enterprises Have Money. Take It! SLA Maintenance / support Custom integration work

… and maintenance! Training

Delivered in person Delivered scalably (videos, etc)

Key Sales Anchors

“The fully-loaded cost of one employee” Wasted time with hard costs associated

with it Truck rolls High-value employees Low-value employees who are monitored

effectively Lost business / missing revenues / etc

Missed appointments Missed opportunities for sales Case studies make this much more credible

Have A Question You Can’t Answer?

Roleplaying

Exercise

Dealing With Pricing Objections Never compromise on unit prices. Purchasing needs a discount. Give them

one: Bundled extra, “normally” charged $X, for

$Y instead Nominal discount for pre-payment or

commitment.

Unfortunate Necessities

Corporate shield Insurance Lawyer (ideally, on standby)

More Goodies!

LifecycleEmails.com : 5 hour video course, with annotated examples, of how to use email to sell SaaS better.

kalzumeus.com/blog : ~6 years of posts training.kalzumeus.com : Free video on

improving first run experience of app patrick@kalzumeus.com or @patio11 I love talking about this.