"Follow the Leader", Featuring Jeannie Walters

How does the SaaS customer experience differ from traditional business models?

Any customer experience has some of the same steps in the journey. At some point, a prospect begins to narrow down selecting a purchase, for example, and at some point they buy. The SaaS customer journey leans heavily on the customer to understand the product before buying, and that's why trial periods are so popular.


Customers "kick the tires" of SaaS products in more customized ways. They want to see if they will really understand HOW the product will solve their specific, personalized challenges. They need to hear that others have gone through a similar journey and had good results. Because of this need to understand, supporting these customers in the sales process AND early on in their relationships is critical to a great experience. If onboarding is neglected, customers may simply feel they aren't understanding the product well and cancel. It's best when a SaaS journey is understood by the organization to the point of proactively initiating support at key moments in the experience. 

That said, all journeys require a thorough understanding of where each customer might require that proactive support.  The only way to do that is to look at your customers and their real lives. Pay attention to feedback before it becomes a huge amount of data. Listen and learn from your customers each and every day!

Jeannie Walters is a customer experience and patient experience speaker, a writer, and a consultant with more than 15 years experience in assisting all types of companies, including Fortune 500. Specialties include in-depth experience evaluations, customer journey mapping, user experience analysis, and leading workshops and trainings. 

Follow the leader: LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog