SaaS Lifecycle Marketing KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics marketers look at to determine the impact of their marketing. They are the numbers we want to see, and leverage, when the C-suite asks us:
“Did that campaign perform well?”
or
“What was the result of that message to our subscribers?”.
Usually, you’d take a few KPIs you should have access to from your ESP or Marketing Automation tool and that you are measuring, and reply with:
“The click-through rate of 5% on that campaign, sat above our benchmark of 1%, which led to a higher conversion rate to purchase of 10% and brought us a total of $1,000,000 of revenue.”
One day I hope as a marketer to be able to say my message brought in a million dollars of revenue, but I still have a few years left (if I’m lucky), if not decades, to get there.
Lifecycle marketing, which encompasses owned marketing channels including email, push, in-app, and SMS normally uses key performance indicators related to message engagement to determine their success.
Whereas e-commerce and DTC industries can oftentimes attribute revenue back to messages, SaaS makes it a bit trickier with various subscription types, and subscription durations (the nuances of various plans and prices), to measure revenue.
Revenue in SaaS attributed from lifecycle marketing can be difficult to pinpoint with most companies using an equation for LTV, making it a nuanced KPI should the marketer choose to use it.
Additionally, most lifecycle and email marketing managers won’t have access to their ESP or MAP contract cost, so calculating customer acquisition cost (a common SaaS paid KPI) is also out the window.
With open rates now dead, and unsubscribe rates not as scary as they used to be as subscribers saying goodbye should be met with cooperation, I’ve detailed some KPIs below that SaaS lifecycle marketers could be using to measure the success of their marketing, and why they should look at these indicators.
How many should you track? It depends on what you have available, and what you plan to do with these metrics to shape future strategy.
Message Engagement KPIs
Email Open-rate
What it is?
Emails opened automatically by those on a device with iOS 15 or higher that are on wifi and not on low power mode. This could impact subscribers that have logged into Apply Mail via their Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc account. When the content is pre-fetched by these devices, it mirrors the behaviour of an email open when the open pixel that normally lives at the bottom of the email is also fetched.
Recipients who have actually opened emails.
Why does this matter? Although you can no longer use open rate as a success metric, open rate can be used to measure deliverability. When your emails land in spam, the open pixel is not fetched. For brands with a clean list, I would expect open rates to sit between 60-80%. By looking at open rate as a KPI, you can be confident that your audience is receiving their intended comms.
Push notification direct opens
What is it?
This is the measurement (terminology may differ between MAPs) of direct opens from your push notification into your app.
Why does it matter?
Similar to email opens, it shows that your message reached your user at a good time, and your messaging directly influenced them to navigate with your company.
Push notification influenced opens
What is it?
This is the measurement (terminology may differ between MAPs) of influenced opens from your push notification into your app. Braze defines an influenced open with the below:
At their base, Influenced Opens measure the number of users who open the app after receiving a notification without clicking on the notification. Because there is no direct action linking the notification to the app open, an influenced open is awarded if the user opens the app 30 minutes since the user received the push notification, or under half the average time since the user’s last session.
Why does it matter?
Here’s an example. If UberEats sends a push notification to me at 3 pm saying I have a 50% off discount code, I’m probably too full from Lunch, and not hungry enough for Dinner to feel like interacting with it. Plus, I might be driving, or in the middle of baking cookies and not have available hands to do the right swipe to open the app up. But come 5 pm, I might remember that message and choose to open the app. Although it can’t be attributed as a direct open, it absolutely influenced me and it can be attributed back to that push notification.
Email & In-App Click-through Rate
What is it?
Whether it’s an email or an in-app message, this can be a KPI for both. This is a click of a call to action (CTA) or an embedded link in one of these messages.
Why does it matter?
It signals that your user intends to take action against the value prop you are providing them. It is important to check whether or not your ESP or MAP includes clicks on an “unsubscribe” is included in your overall click-through rate reporting. Although not a negative, if the majority of your clicks are the engagement of your unsubscribe link, it may be worth calling out when stating to your C-suite how the message performed.
Email Unsubscribe Rate
What is it?
The measurement of how many people unsubscribed from your email program.
Why does it matter?
It marks how people you are losing from your list. However, take this metric with a grain of salt. Sending once a week to 1000 subscribers and having 100 people unsubscribe will have an unsubscribe rate of 10%. Sending once a month and having the same amount that would have unsubscribed on a per week rate (100 x 4) will show a rate of 40%. It’s not a negative to have people want to leave your email program depending on the value prop you’ve established with them at the time of signup. It’s up to you as a marketer to determine if this unsubscribe rate is healthy or not.
SMS Unsubscribe Rate
What is it?
The measurement of how many people opted out of your SMS messages.
Why does it matter?
As SMS is a fairly invasive channel in regards to how urgent it can come off, a high number of unsubscribes can signal that your texts are further away from the value prop people thought you were going to provide when they originally consented. Again, as with email, the % value should be looked at relative to frequency and sending size.
Email Spam Complaint Rate
What is it?
People complaining your email is spam! Yuck! This rate will only be the tip of the iceberg as some ISP’s (Gmail for example) do not provide a feedback loop of users marketing emails as spam.
Why does it matter?
This is a signal back to you as a marketer that your emails as super spammy and unwarranted. It could also be a signal that you haven’t contacted that subscriber in awhile and now they don’t remember who you are. There will always be instances where people are going to mark your email as spam even though you did everything you could to #buildtherelationship. Blame it on a thumb slip if you will. Watch this metric, as any high percentage of it will result in poor deliverability down the line if you keep it up. Respect the inbox of your subscriber.
Conversion Event KPI’s
Now to the fun part! Engagement KPIs are great, but they only scratch the surface. I encourage all marketers to understand the foundation of how their ESP calculates conversion. Is conversion based on the message sent, the message delivered, or the message engaged with? These will differ from platform to platform, and reporting on conversion event KPIs will be a fantastic way to deliver your successes beyond vanity metrics.
Session Start
What is it?
The number or % of users that started a session (normally marked session start at the time of subscription login). If Netflix sends me an email about a movie, and I successfully click the email, but don’t end up logging in,
Why does it matter?
If Netflix sends an email about a new movie, and many people click the email but don’t end up logging in, this could be a signal of something wrong on the sign-in screen that causes a significant drop-off between engagement, and in-app activity. It’s an important KPI that be shown for intent to perform the action asked for, even if there is a hoop involved.
Account Created
What is it?
Normally used as a KPI in lead nurturing where an email address might have originated from a lead magnet, content marketing download, webinar signup, etc. This measures the number of accounts created for your subscription from a message. Depending on how your data team has classified it, it is normally used in SaaS businesses with a freemium model, or a free trial and isn’t directly associated with revenue.
Why does it matter?
It’s a fantastic KPI to tout as the message you delivered pushed the user through the top of the funnel.
Subscription Purchased
What is it?
The number of users that entered their credit card details with the intention of signing on to your subscription as a service.
Why does it matter?
Ding ding ding, you’ve just hit the revenue! This normally signals someone has purchased your subscription, whether it be on a monthly or annual recurring basis, or a one-off license fee (similar to how Adobe Photoshop makes you pay a hefty sum to use them).
Upgraded Subscription
What is it?
The number of users that upgraded their subscription.
Why does it matter?
Depending on what this is measured off of, this KPI will signal that your message encouraged your subscriber that your higher paid tier was worth it enough to pay you more money.
Feature Adoption
What is it?
The number or % of users that used a feature from the message that promoted it.
Why does it matter?
I think this is an incredibly important KPI to measure during the first few days/weeks in a SaaS users lifecycle. As we guide subscribers towards “AHA” moments where they realize our product is the best in the business, we need them to at least start a session, but more importantly use the features that initially attracted them to create an account in the first place.
It is my most frequently used KPI. As a lifecycle marketer, that works closely with product marketing, I want to be able to report back on how our subscribers interacted with different messages, and features that were used throughout.
It’s also an important KPI to look at as you explore the various marketing channels. Do push notifications have a higher conversion rate towards feature adoption than email might?
Key performance indicators were a confusing acronym when I began my career in marketing. During quarterly planning in-house as an email marketer, and throughout interviews for new positions, I’d face the question of “and what KPIs would you use to measure success?” and I’d normally talk about message-specific metrics such as opens, and clicks, and unsubscribes, when in reality conversion is where the focus should be.
I continually look at new KPIs, and explore how using them against messages can drive growth. They’ve recently included:
First-time feature usage
Repeat feature usage
Renewed subscription
Canceled subscription
Updated payment details
Referred friend
Added team member to account
The list goes on…
I encourage more marketers to talk about what KPIs they use to measure their campaigns, how they report them to their C-suite, and what they do with the data to drive future growth. Together we can break down the confusing acronyms and make marketer much more fun, and easier to understand!
