Your SaaS offer could need some work.

That might sound harsh, but there’s good news and bad news: you’re not alone.

SaaS creators everywhere sit in front of their computers, staring at a product page. 

Your offer has features your customers would love, but you can’t quite explain the benefits. It seems like it should be easy, though. The only thing you have to do is tell prospects why they should pick you over your competitors.

One problem: for some reason, the words escape you. 

• Copywriting can seem simple, but it’s not always easy.
• You might feel the temptation to brush it off and focus your efforts somewhere else.
• The problem is, without marketing, nothing will separate you from your competition. 

That means you get stuck with mediocre copy. Then your offer sounds less than appealing.

Don’t panic. Copywriting doesn’t have to take all your time and effort. With this method, you could create a first draft of copy in only 20 minutes. In the time it takes to watch an episode of your favorite sitcom, you can market your offer better than ever. 

In this article, you’ll get a refresher on what SaaS is, why it’s vital to your business, and a foolproof formula to tie it all together. To round things out, you’ll get some tips on using this formula for the biggest benefit to your business. 

So, here’s how to avoid mediocrity in your copy and to improve your SaaS conversion rates, and get your audience to convert.

What Exactly is SaaS Copywriting? 

SaaS is a software sales concept in which you provide usage of software on a subscription basis. In a product like this, you host the software online rather than on the consumer’s hard drive.  

SaaS is a unique and powerful model for many reasons. First, it provides an avenue for avoiding common issues like incompatibility and maintenance. These products can save time and money and are useful for small businesses. 

Through SaaS, upkeep and troubleshooting responsibility shift from the consumer to the vendor. These programs are also user-friendly and don’t require much training to grasp the basics. 

SaaS copywriting also helps sell these intuitive programs to businesses and individuals. 

Copywriting for these types of products can be especially difficult. It feels like there are only so many ways to say, “This will save you time and money.”

The formula outlined here will show you how to take your product from scraping by to excelling. You only need to know how to use it.

So What’s This SaaS Copywriting Formula? 

The copywriting formula that’s going to pull countless clients for you hinges on PSL. Not pumpkin spice lattes, though. It stands for Product-Led Storytelling. 

This is an effective form of marketing that aims to show a product’s value rather than tell. This method is exceptional for several reasons, but one main factor makes it stand out.

PLS satisfies a customer’s desire to see a product’s results before purchasing. 

The number one thing potential clients want to see before they buy is tangible results. That’s why you try on shoes in the store and hesitate to buy clothes online. That’s why there are whole channels dedicated to infomercials. 

That’s also why your new SaaS formula uses it. People can’t “try on” software. You don’t have an infomercial where you can slice a tomato with it. That doesn’t mean you can’t show your audience exactly what it can do for them. 

By using this formula, you leave them with no room for doubt. You can follow a pillar of copywriting — addressing objections before they arise. Your readers don’t have to ask themselves, “ok, but is this for me?” 

PSL means you show them it is for them and exactly why. 

Let’s get into the formula.

SaaS Copywriting Formula Step One: Research Your Product

First, you’re going to focus on your product and your product only. Don’t look at your inspiration, other products, or even your competitors. There’s time for that later. 

Right now, you need to have an in-depth understanding of your product. You need to be able to field any question. No one should know your product better than you when this is all done.

To start, try asking yourself the following questions:

• “What problem was this product built to solve?”

• “Why was this product created in the first place?”
• “What separates this product from others like it?”

Once you have answers to these, ask branching questions like:

• “How does it solve these problems?”

• “Why didn’t I/the creator use a different tool?”
• “What’s this product’s spark? Why do I believe in it?”

Keep asking “why” and “how” and get to the bottom line. You’ll know you’ve gotten there when the answer is a single core idea or motivation. Hang onto that. Let that guide your copy 100% of the time.

One more important thing about this: don’t only think about your answers, record them. They’ll be important in the next step. Once you finish the next step, you’ll want them handy so that you can refer to them with each new piece of copy. 

SaaS Copywriting Formula Step Two: Research Your Audience

The next step is researching your general audience. The best way to do this is to use your product knowledge. Who will this product benefit the most? 

For instance, let’s say your SaaS product is a Banana Freshness Identifier (BFI). Your general audience will be people who need to determine the freshness of bananas. 

Still struggling? That’s ok, you have options. You can look at your past customers to find a common thread. Reach out to them through email, social media, or even in real life. Ask them what about your product appeals to them. 

You can also research competitors’ customers to figure out who their primary audience is. Then you can borrow that idea in your research. How? 

Well, go back to the BFI. If you can’t figure out what kind of person needs to determine the freshness of bananas, look around. Is there a key competitor who measures other produce freshness? What does their audience look like, and how could you start reaching them?

Knowing your audience will give you one signpost on your way to greater conversions. The next step is another important signpost.

Here's how to persuade any audience and boost conversions.

SaaS Copywriting Formula Step Three: Understand Your Customer

In this step, you’ll use your knowledge of your audience to group them into specialized segments. This will allow you to combine the customers in each segment and create a customer persona. 

That is, a specific person with whom you’re speaking. Give them a name, age, and birthplace. You want to create a realistic person to talk to so you can narrow down your target. Then, you’ll match their traits to your product’s benefits to decide which features to emphasize.

It’s tempting to skip this step, especially after the last one. DO NOT. I can't stress this enough — don’t do it. You’ll only be hurting yourself. Here’s why.

It’s called a “target” audience, right? Well, anyone who has tried to throw anything at a target knows one thing for sure. You need to aim for the bullseye. The bullseye is usually pretty small, especially compared to the rest of the target.

The thing is, if you don’t aim for the bullseye, you won’t even hit the target. When you aim for that little spot in the middle of the bullseye, you might not hit it. You’ll for sure hit the target, though. 

You need to discover your specific customer because you need to aim for that little bullseye. If you don’t, someone else will.

Learn about your prospect's stage of awareness here.

SaaS Copywriting Formula Step Four: Know Your Competition

That’s why you need Step Four. It’s the old adage. Know your enemy — I mean, competition. 

You need to know how your competition portrays themselves. Are they the fun brand? The serious brand? The professional yet friendly brand? You also need to know how they portray their offers. Are they offering a cure-all? A niche solution? Something easy to make, but with loads of personality?

With this knowledge, you can differentiate yourself. You can find the holes in the market. Create a list or spreadsheet to keep track of questions about different competitors. If you have a big question no one else can answer, you have a clear angle to work.

That clear angle helps you to create a unique and memorable message. You can say, “I help with x and y” when your competition only says “we help with x”. Depending on the type of copy, you can leverage this with great success. 

If the “y” is something crucial, use it. You could build a whole campaign off of “what about y?” Using this is going to make your readers say, “Yeah! What about y?” That’s a golden ticket to conversions as soon as people find you.

SaaS Copywriting Formula Step Five: Learn Your Traffic Sources

The big question is, how do people find you? That’s Step Five. There are a few reasons to know your traffic sources. 

First, it allows you to get into consumers’ heads. This means you can determine what they want based on how they found you. For example, a customer who found you on Google won’t be in the same mindset as someone who came from an ad on social media. 

In the first case, they’re looking for something. You need to pitch against your competitors because they’re right there, too. In the second, they happened to see you and think you were worth knowing. You need to pitch for them to take time out of their day to look at your site.

You need to think like your audience. That means knowing where they come from and where they go. 

Find an analytical tool that matches your different placement of copy. It might be something to track email clicks, social platform tools, or a survey asking, “How did you hear about us?”

Review that data often so you know where your primary audience is finding you and polish up your copy there. 

Second, it'll maximize conversions. You know what your readers are looking for, so you can give them that. You’ll have a unique edge because rather than copy and pasting everywhere, you’ll tailor each piece of copy. 

Where do you get the time to tailor copy? You’ll find it in the next step.  

SaaS Copywriting Formula Step Six: Create Your Template

To get polished, tailored copy, you have to have a draft, right? That’s the last step (and the second half of this post). 

This is where the magic happens. Time to combine everything you’ve learned into a cohesive piece of copy. You start by coming up with a template. A template is going to be a list of steps and ideas into which you can plug copy.

Your template will follow a natural flow. It’ll keep readers engaged and curious about what you have to say. 

You can also use your template again and again. You can adjust it for different kinds of copy. You can use it to pump out copy so you can spend the bulk of your energy fine-tuning.

This template consists of four different sections to maximize your homepage conversion. It’s a universal template, so you can use it for any type of copy. When all’s said and done, the most you’ll need are a few tweaks here and there.

Learn how to effectively use copywriting frameworks and templates here.

SaaS Copywriting Template Part One: The Header  

Your header is the first thing your customer sees, and it can make or break your conversion rate. When was the last time you clicked on an article with a dull headline? Never, most likely. Your customers are the same.

Your header should make your customer the promise of a benefit for hearing you out. In many ways, your header is the most crucial part of your copy. After all, even the world’s best copy can’t convert with a headline that sucks. A bad header means people wouldn’t read the good parts. 

Whenever you sit down to write copy, start by putting a header down. Don’t overthink it. Remember, the point of this template is to get the first draft. Put down the first halfway decent header you can think of and then come back to edit later. 

Even better, you can come up with as many headers as you can. Aim for 3-5, but give yourself plenty of space for ideas. This way, you don’t spend too much time staring at a blank screen, and you have content to work with when you go to edit. 

The most important thing is not to let a header scare you. Get started so you have something to work with and can move on. You might find a perfect header while working on a different part of your copy. You’ll never know if you don’t move on, though, will you?

SaaS Copywriting Template Part Two: Establishing Trust And Building Interest

Ok, so you have your readers’ attention. You need to do two things with it. You need to establish trust and build some tension.

This section is perfect for a product testimonial or logo bar. Social proof is an excellent way of building trust. If a reader can see a real person, they relax a bit. If they see you’ve worked with someone of acclaim, they relax even more. 

You could also add a scenario, real or fictional. The scenario makes your reader start imagining themselves with your product. That imagination is powerful. Even if the scenario doesn’t harp on the product benefits, readers will take notice. 

They start to wonder what your product does and how it could help them. That moves readers on to the next section, which is what you want.

SaaS Copywriting Template Part Three: Matching Benefits To Problems

Time to put it all together. Remember your product research and personas from earlier? Combine them. This makes your reader feel like you made your product for them. It shows how you’re a perfect fit for their needs.

Introduce the benefits in clear subheadings to keep your customer’s interest. Most people don’t read things all the way through, they scan them. So make sure your copy is scan-friendly. No one should have to go hunting for a benefit or FAQ in your copy.

This also helps with getting a draft up. You can start up with vague ideas as the subheadings and then refine them as you go.

There’s no limit to the number of sections you can include in this part of your copy. Around three is an excellent place to start, and you can add more if you have more to say. Why three? You don’t want to be too vague, and three is a good number for getting people engaged and still getting to the point.

Getting to the point is essential, too. You don’t want to bore your reader. If you have more than three sections, make sure you aren’t repeating yourself anywhere. 

SaaS Copywriting Template Part Four: Conversion

You made it. Everything builds to this. This is the end goal of all the blood, sweat, tears, and research. It’s time for conversion. 

In this last section of your template, you can include more testimonials. Offering a lead magnet or introducing a sales funnel are other options. This point should convince your reader, so keep it brief. Again, don’t ramble. 

Your reader will get bored. Boredom causes people to leave, and you don’t want to choke at the end. 

The last sentence in this section should be a CTA that tells your reader what to do next. It could be a request to follow you on social media, join an email list, or hit “Add To Cart”. Whatever it is, this should be your most powerful and impactful CTA.

This is also the part of your template that you might find you can copy and paste the most often. You won't need to change much for different kinds of copy, so fine-tune this one, and it’ll be smooth sailing. 

Remember These To Improve Your SaaS Conversion Rates

The subscription-based system is lucrative, but you still need to convince people to buy. After all, if you don’t have subscribers, your service won’t be around for long. That means you need to keep a few things in mind.

First, don’t forget that this formula works by demonstration. You’re showing, not telling. Your readers get a clear picture of your offer and they can see how it helps them. This drives up your sales because, in a sea of SaaS companies, you stand out. It creates a business foundation you can build on by giving you a brand and a target. 

This is a tried and true technique that can get you paying customers for free. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Even if you’re the “no such thing as a free meal” type, spending time doesn’t cut into your bottom line. At least, not as much as spending hundreds or thousands on ineffective ad campaigns.

Luckily, this formula doesn’t need that. All you need to do to get the conversions you want is follow the steps outlined in this article. It'll take time and practice, but soon enough you’ll take less and less time to finish a draft. Keep working at it, and you can have a draft in 20 minutes or less.

The best part of all is that the rough draft will still be better than your current copy.

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