SaaS company websites: How to use your homepage tagline to explode MRR
One of the biggest issues for SaaS companies is increasing monthly recurring revenue or MRR, especially with growing competition. Whilst there are many ways you can market your digital product, there’s nowhere better primed to convert user leads quickly than your website. Or at least it should be!
I’ve been working with tech companies for a while now and I love their passion and drive, but I can see they need a little help making sure that their base asset, their website, is doing all it can to maximise their sales opportunities.
A great place to start is with your home page tagline.
What is a homepage tagline?
Your homepage tagline goes right under your main headline.
(website home page image by Basecamp)
It tells your site visitors and potential customers how you serve them and why they should choose you over your competitors.
That’s right it isn’t about your accolades and your dream, it’s all about your customer!
3 key factors that go into a good homepage tagline
Clarity - your tagline needs to be easy to read and clear in its message
Simplicity - your tagline should also be simple to understand
Consumer pain points - it should also answer your customer’s biggest obstacles in signing up
If you can get this right then you are much more likely to convert site visitors into trial or paid users at a much earlier stage of their website journey.
Consumer pain points for SaaS businesses
Your SaaS users have 4 things they want solutions for:
Time - they want to know how quickly they can get set up and how much time they’ll save with your SaaS
Quality - they want to know what you can do for them and how reliable your SaaS is
Difficulty - they want to know how difficult your app will be to use (that’s true for B2C and B2B SaaS products)
Money - they also want to know what the cost implications are
All of these pain points need answering in your homepage tagline copywriting.
Copywriting example for SaaS homepage tagline: Basecamp
A client of mine wanted an easy-to-use and budget-friendly project management tool for his team. Something that could fit in with his new hybrid working model. He chose Basecamp after a suggestion from another freelancer who was working with us at the time.
Basecamp was founded in 1999, in the US, by Jason Fried, Carlos Segura, and Ernest Kim. Originally a web design company they switched focus to the SaaS industry in 2004, launching Basecamp as its flagship product, alongside Backpack, Campfire, and Highrise (which are now defunct). From 2014 Basecamp became their main focus and the company is now estimated to be turning over $14.4M a year, or $145,000 per employee.
Basecamp’s home page has a great headline, but I find their tagline (below the headline) far too wordy. So much so, that I don’t read it. I think this might be the case for most.
I fear this is a missed opportunity.
So I’ve updated it using my framework: time, quality, difficulty and money.
(website home page image by Basecamp, rewritten copy by Sara Millis, freelance copywriter)
The text originally read:
Before Basecamp: Projects feel scattered, things slip, it’s tough to see where things stand, and people are stressed. After Basecamp: Everything’s organized in one place, you’re on top of things, progress is clear, and a sense of calm sets in.
My version reads:
Get your team set up in minutes, with simple workflows that deliver projects without stress, wherever your team is based. All for $99 a month for unlimited users!
Time = set up in minutes
Quality = simple workflows
Difficulty = deliver projects without stress - you could also add “wherever your team is based as a second difficulty proposition
Money = All for $99 a month for unlimited users!
My reasoning for the change
Ok so I get that the original copy was trying to be relatable, but it didn’t tell me what all the benefits to myself and my team would be if I subscribe.
And we all know that the customer wants to know what’s in it for them.
The biggest benefit that sets Basecamp apart from its competitors is price. Most competitors charge fees per user. This can rack up quickly if you have a larger team. When you drill down to what you get for $99 a month, it’s a GREAT deal. Worth a mention I say!
That deserves to be highlighted in bold.
Having used the software I know it is both easy to use and navigate, making it easy for me to self-manage my workload, plus keep an eye on the bigger picture of project management across a team.
I can sync it to plenty of integrated software and even better because it’s cloud-based I can get to my information quickly, even via my phone. This makes remote work possible.
The new homepage tagline
The copy is much clearer and more simplified, making it easy to digest in seconds (which is how long you have to impress site visitors). It also delivers a killer bonus, as if to say not only are we the best product for your team but we are also value for money.
Need help simplifying your SaaS copy?
If you need a copywriter to create compelling copy, someone who understands the customer journey, fill in the project brief form below!
This is an independent case study, where my views are my own. I have no affiliation with Basecamp… but if you know someone on the content team, send them my way, I’d love to show them how I can help them grow :)
