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Trevor Hatfield 5/5/15 2:06 PM 7 min read

SaaS Marketing: Personify Your Product to Know Your Customers

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If SaaS products were humans, everything would make much more sense as to why your customer churned or why they may never have converted in the first place.

Do you know the old saying, “It’s what’s inside that counts”? Well if we focused more on SaaS products' inner beauty and worried less about their outside appearance, most failing products on the market might be very successful. In the SaaS world, there is immediate judgment on your outside appearance and success is sadly not always determined on how well your product works.

Putting a human element to this relationship may help you understand the process a bit better. So let's look at how this would work by comparing a SaaS product to meeting a new potential mate. When meeting a new person, you can’t just go up to them and immediately become friends out of thin air; it just doesn’t work that way. So let's put this into a life scenario and see how this would play out:

  • SaaS Product (Me)
  • Potential Customer (Possible Relationship)

Let me set this up. I walk into a restaurant with my friends and we sit at a table close to the bar. I notice a group of girls at the tables close by and find one extremely attractive. She gets up to go to the bar, so I decide to get up and see if I can start up a conversation.


So I order her a drink and kick up some chitchat. I’m thinking about how she's even more attractive up close, but first things first, does she think I’m attractive?

As everyone knows, first impressions are always deal makers or deal breakers.

  • Represents: Your website’s home page or possibly a landing page the new user has arrived to your site on. Be sure your home page represents you professionally and accurately.


The conversation continues and it seems like she is at least giving me a chance. I’m thinking I must at least be attractive enough for her to see what I’m about.

Even if you get past the initial attraction, you have to ease into it, make some small talk, assess them first, figure out their personality, examine their mannerisms, see what makes them laugh, who they are, etc.

  • Represents: Your website’s messaging and interior pages. Do you know your visitors journey on your website, and where you lead them? Make sure you have an end goal and direct your page flow accordingly. Keep in mind your interior pages should visually entice as much as your home page.


So, we’re getting along pretty well and I’ve had a few jokes work out in my favor. She seems pretty attracted to me. We’re finally getting comfortable with one another. At this point it could be my good looks (site design) or simply my great personality (site messaging). Either way, we are making progress and we are ready to take the next steps.

The potential customer must feel comfortable with your website, your product, and overall feeling of doing business with you just as one would feel in a relationship.

  • Represents: Your potential customer is assessing your product and is now starting to trust you. They have come back to the website for a few more looks and are contemplating the next steps.


Now, I’m feeling pretty confident and I ask if she wants to go to dinner sometime.

This is where your CTA’s must stand out, be attractive and clear cut. Don’t try to dance around the subject, be clear about what you want to achieve.

  • Represents: Your call-to-action (CTA) - pricing page, landing page or any conversion area on your site.


She accepts! I suggest a new place in town and we set a date and time, then exchange numbers. I wish her a good night and return to my table.

Always be 2 steps ahead. Expect your customer to convert and know what happens from there.

  • Represents: The user has given you their information through possibly a free trial, a demo request form, or some other conversion page particular to further testing out your product.

  • Pro Tip: Now, look into Contextual Marketing and woo your potential customer when they return to your site with targeted information specific to their needs.


So the day has come and I arrive at the restaurant and I am super excited to see her. She’s a little late but not a big deal. We sit down for dinner to really start to learn about each other.

Do you know your customer? Learning about potential customers is just as important as active customers. Be active in learning about them and be as personable as possible.

  • Represents: At this point they are testing out the product but they are not fully using it. This could represent a couple of scenarios:

    • Giving a live online demo (just expect they are going to be late to the online screen share)

    • Using the free trial testing process

Have some sort of communication chain going at this time, whether through direct contact, or even automated learning emails.


Dinner was great, we split artichoke dip for an appetizer and each had a lobster tail dinner. I might have gone all out for a first date, but I really like her. I ask her out on a second date to a concert I know is coming into town and she accepts.

Know your cost to acquire a customer (CAC). If you can afford lobster dinners for the worth of your customer’s lifetime value (LTV), then don’t be afraid to do it. However, don’t buy lobsters if your customer is only worth a shrimp.

Learn more about these SaaS metrics and their importance in the article “The 2 Simple Metrics You Need To Grow Your Business. 

  • Represents: It might take a couple of live demos or free trial periods to win over a new customer. This process should get better as you learn what converts your potential leads into customers. We want them to become a paying customer, and we need to know what it should cost us to acquire them.


I pick her up for our second date and we go to a concert of one of my favorite bands. As the date goes on she seems to also really like the music. We have a great time and by the end of the night I asked her if she would want to start dating and she gladly accepts.

We now have a new customer, congrats! Now we have to keep them happy. Make sure you either hire a customer success manager or study this art well in order to keep your customers interested in your product. Some companies even suggest hiring a customer success manager before a sales person.

  • Represents: This is where you close your customer and set them up as a paying customer.


After a few months of dating, I see she still likes me but I feel like she’s not acting the same as if she’s sidetracked a bit. We’re still dating but I have a bit of worry that I’m no longer making her happy the way I used to.

Make sure you are listening to customer feedback and constantly improving your product. More importantly, make sure your customers know you’re improving it. Keeping your customers in the loop as much as possible with important updates and exciting new features.

  • Represents: This can represent multiple things:

    1. Make sure you are communicating with your customers. Without communication, it is simply a gamble that you and your customer stay on the same page.

    2. Your product is never finished. Be sure to constantly look for ways to improve it. From its appearance to its inner workings. Your customers are always open to a better solution, so keep them happy and engaged as best you can.


It turns out she had been cheating on me with my best friend. Now that I think about it, it was right in front of my face the whole time.

Everything doesn’t go right all the time. Stay confident in yourself and what you are doing. Take the necessary time to analyze everything and make sure what you are doing is truly working. Figure out ways to fix issues and better your product for the next customer.

  • Represents: At the end of the day you won’t be able to keep all of your customers. The idea is to improve with each new customer, learn from your mistakes, and constantly improve all aspects of your marketing and product.


I was truly heart broken. Then, just the other day she calls me out of nowhere. I hesitate to answer but I decide to pick up. She mentions how she made a mistake and wants me back. I told her it wasn’t happening and I would be insane to make the same mistake.

Well I guess everything doesn’t relate to a SaaS product in a relationship, since I would suggest accepting a customer back who has “cheated” on you with a competitor. However, you can learn to be sure not to make the same mistakes and to optimize your SaaS marketing sales strategy with this complimentary download!

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Trevor Hatfield

Trevor Hatfield is the founder of Inturact and strives to create highly tuned marketing machines for their clients websites, products, and apps. While also constantly keeping up with technology and building a team of multifaceted and dedicated professionals.

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