Top 15 Lead Generation Ideas and Strategies for Software Companies

Introduction

For a software business to continue on living, lead generation and creativity are a must. Why is that? Because B2B lead generation helps you gain more customers and helps you grow your software business. And creativity is the backbone of your software.

But coming up with a whole bunch of lead generation ideas can be quite hard especially in the software industry. It takes a lot of work, money, effort, and brainstorming. And now, since we’re in the era of research-driven, data-driven industries. It can be very hard to create software marketing strategies.

So to help you with your lead generation journey, this article combines 15 actionable B2B SaaS lead generation ideas. These ideas will bring results and raise your conversion rates.

This way you’ll be sure that every penny invested is worth it, you don’t need to overanalyze it, all you need is to trust these ideas and give them time.

#1. Help Videos

Potential customers always face problems that they wish to be solved. So if you want to leave a positive impression on them that will turn them to loyal customers you’ll have to offer help even if it’s for free. How? Help videos can be a start. Help videos serve as a way to promote your business and help potential customers become loyal ones.

An example of that is Wistia, a video-hosting company that offers numerous help videos for its customers and also potential customers. Its videos serve as a valuable learning center, and because of that, Wistia is able to generate value for potential customers and even people that are not familiar with the brand. 

#2. Quizzes

I’m sure you know by now how many people are now taking Facebook quizzes to determine which fruit they are. People find quizzes fun and love spending a couple of minutes on them for the sake of engagement. So, imagine putting a quiz out there that promotes your software? People may attempt the quiz for fun, but in the course might actually discover the potential challenges that your software can solve. And a quick purchase thereafter doesn’t sound so much like a distant idea now.

To give you an example of this, here’s this quiz made by the Eastern International College.

The quiz helps student make important selection by providing valuable information in a very unique way.

The answers provided by students are then analyzed by the college to help in their counseling. If you’re thinking about a way to create a quiz and generate leads the same way, then Quizbox is a great free tool to do it.

Source: EI College

Before buying a product everyone would’ve wished if there was a free trial to try it. Why? Because everyone is skeptical and wouldn’t want to waste their money on software they won’t use. If you’re confident about your software and know it provides great value, then a free trial of 3 days or 7 days wouldn’t do you any harm.

#4. An Email Course

Free information is always welcomed and will always get you a long way. Creating an email course that provides valuable information that will help your followers and email list will help you attract more people. A free email course will help attract more subscribers to your website, who then will be interested in your services. With a little bit of email marketing, they will turn to loyal customers in no time.

#5. Giveaways

Giveaways are one of the most successful forms that is employed by lead generation companies. However, a giveaway can also lead to a bunch of junk leads and waste your time if not done in a logical way.

The trick? Make sure what you’re giving away is something people actually want.

An example of this is eWebDesign, it has put together a giveaway  for its software which is has been very useful to its target demographic.

#6. Contact us Form

In this kind of industry, your customers are probably small business owners and larger ones, if that is the case, then your software will either be implemented in a legacy system, or it will need a little bit of customization.

That is why you’ll have to give your client the option to contact you as soon as possible by filling out a form so you can discuss their needs.

#7. Worksheet

Worksheets are amazing for time planning and for strategy creation. But if they’re living, breathing worksheets then it’s much better. This way, the customer can interact with the worksheet and edit it as much as they want. If it’s not interactive then at least it should be downloadable.

Heinz Marketing also made a spreadsheet available for its users in exchange of an opt-in. Another example of this is GoDaddy, it provided a template for its users so you can review your website easily.

#8. Chat Boxes

Chat boxes are getting more popular on websites. Most websites now offer chat boxes as a way to give their customers a way to be heard. This option can generate a lead from the first day. It helps you find out what your customers want from your business or their recurrent questions that need answers. It’s very easy to set up and it’s worth every penny. Being a software company, this means that customers are most likely to have more questions for you. And that’s where chat boxes come in the picture.

Source: Bitrix24

#9. Testimonies

Testimonies and real-life examples are a great way to make your company look trustworthy. Including in your homepage, examples and testimonies from real customers will make potential customers more-likely buy your products. So make sure you look for real customers that are ready to testify their experience with your software, how it helped them, and if they had any problems and how they overcame them.

#10. A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Tough questions are always out there, but it’s rare to find good answers that will truly help customers. So, offering a step by step tutorial that breaks down every burning question people have will help you generate a lot of leads. Companies that are able to answer questions and help people online are most likely to be the one that appears on the first page of search engines. And, this way it’ll be the one to win more leads.

#11. Pricing

Although this lead generation will bring more leads, it will also get rid of a lot of junk deals. How? If you put a pricing page on your website, customers that are only looking for the cheapest prices won’t bother your sales team. And people who are looking for the whole package and for everything included will be the one to buy your product.

#12. Testing Your Software

To prove the bold claims of your software, putting to the test is a must. If you want people to believe what you’re saying, ask a third party to run the test on your software in exchange for an unbiased opinion. If everything you’re claiming is true, then the test results should be positive and it will help you with your conversion rate.

#13. Comparing Products

If you compare your software to other ones and state the difference and how it is more helpful, then you can actually generate more leads. When people are looking for buying a product, an honest review in which it is stated what different about every product and how each one is better always helps customers make rational decisions.

#14. A Blog

High-quality blog content will always be one of the most successful lead generation forms. It helps people perceive the quality of your product, helps them find answers to their questions, and trust your brand.

Source: Atlassian

Guides are a great way to attract leads, 10 to 20-page guides that are completely downloadable in exchange for an opt-in will help you gather more email subscribers. These email subscribers will most likely be interested in your products and with a little push they might end up buying your software.

These are the 15 lead generation ideas for software companies to implement to help with their conversion rates. They won’t take that much money but they will bring as much help as they can.