Imagine watching hundreds of potential customers sign up for your free trial, only to see them churn out before they ever upgrade to a paid plan.
It’s a gut-wrenching feeling, isn’t it?
You’ve put so much time and effort into developing your SaaS product, and it’s killing you to see so many potential customers walk away.
The truth is, often SaaS founders are to blame when free signups do not convert into paid customers.
The biggest reason free signups do not convert into paid customers is because there’s a gap between what users expect and what the product offers.
Some other reasons are:
- The free version is restrictive and doesn’t allow users to explore full potential
- There’s too much friction in the onboarding experience
- Competitors have a better offer.
Good news is, if you’re the reason behind it, you can be the solution too.
If you could convert 10%, 20%, or even 30% of your free signups into paid customers you’d have
✅ more revenue,
✅ more customers,
✅ and more growth.
Today, I’m going to show you how you can tweak your visitor journey so that you have the highest conversion.
Let’s go
Step 1: Fix Your Communication
Your landing page and any other marketing content should clearly explain
➡️ What problem you are solving
➡️ Who’s it for
➡️ How exactly they can benefit from it
You don’t want people who are irrelevant to your product to sign up for the free trial.
You also shouldn’t give false hope and bait them into signing up.
You get nothing out of this.
So instead of saying “Become more productive as a writer”
Say “Save 2 hours everyday while doing topic research”
Instead of saying “Team collaboration redefined”
Say “Collaborate in real time and share feedback instantly”
Apart from the copy, you should also include:
- a video of how the tool works
- an FAQ section to address the common questions
- the option to chat with a support agent if visitors feel it’s necessary
Once visitors know exactly what they’re gonna get if they sign up, you’re likely to get users who are looking for the solution you’re offering
Step 2: Demonstrate Value
Every product or service we use adds some sort of value in our life.
SaaS is no different.
During the days of the free trial, it’s crucial for the users to understand the value of the tool.
Your tool should take your users through a transformational journey so that they realize where they could be using your tool.
For example, I’m terrible at design.
When I first started writing content on LinkedIn, I avoided adding anything visual to my content because I thought it would repel people.
I knew visual aids help content perform better.
I had to do something about it.
After doing some digging, I decided to give Canva a try.
I was amazed to find out how easy it is to create great designs with Canva.
As my contents started to perform better with the help of visual aids done using Canva, I decided to go for their paid plan.
Today, all the carousals, post designs, banners that I make are made using Canva.

Your SaaS may not be a design tool.
But you must offer something that makes your users a better version of who they used to be.
It could be:
✅ making something easy to do for them
✅ helping them get more organized
✅ making them more productive
During the trial, assist your users to realize the value. You’ll see your conversion rates soar.
Step 3: Form Habits
This is a crucial aspect most early SaaS founders miss out on.
Making an indispensable SaaS product is the key to converting free signups into paid users.
When users form habits around your product, they’re more likely to stick around.
They start to see your product as an essential part of their routine, something they can’t do without.
I’m going to highlight two things SaaS founders miss out on:
Simplifying the user experience:
The easier your product is to use, the more likely users are to form a habit around it. So invest in a clean, intuitive user interface and provide clear instructions for new users.
Reward loyalty:
Encourage habit formation by rewarding users who regularly use your product. This could be through discounts, exclusive features, or even just recognition within your user community.
Remember, forming habits takes time and patience.
If you’re planning to leverage this strategy, you need to have a free version of your tool that users can use for a prolonged period of time.
There’s a great book by Charles Duhigg called “The Power of Habit” (No, not an affiliate). This is a must-read for SaaS founders who are here for the long game.
Step 4: Incentivize Subscription
I would like to go back to the Canva example here.
The Canva free tier is good.
But the Paid version is awesome.
Canva has done a clever job showcasing what you get in the paid version.
You get access to premium resources and features which are not available in the free tier.
I used Canva 1 whole year before committing to the paid plan.
Interestingly, I’ve also been using Notion for a long time now.
But, I’m still on the free plan. The reason?
Right now, I don’t see any incentive to move on to a paid plan.
Sometimes the incentive is monetary and sometimes it’s non-monetary.
Whatever the type may be, it should be crystal clear for the user to understand.
One Last Tip: Difficulty in onboarding process, bug in the core feature-are some silly mistakes that ruin the impression for a free user during trial. Avoid these mistakes as much as possible.
Wrapping Up
The average conversion rate for SaaS industry is 5-15%.
This means, despite your best efforts, you’ll get a maximum of 15 paid customers out of 100 signups.
But it shouldn’t stop you from optimizing your visitor journey.
Don’t be the reason that’s preventing your trial users to commit.
Make it easy for users to convert. You now know how.
That’s it for today.
See you next week.
Whenever you’re stuck in your SaaS journey, there are 3 ways I can help you
➡️ 1:1 early SaaS founder consultation
➡️ Building a social media following of your ideal customers
➡️ Crafting a launch Strategy
You can find me here]