The Software as a service industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In fact, according to analysts, this sector is now worth $152 billion. This creates incredible opportunities for people wishing to enter the industry. The only drawback is the increasing competition. This means SaaS companies must have a robust plan of attack. In this article, we’ll discuss a few ways for improving your SaaS strategy
How To Create Your SaaS Development Strategy
1. Prepare Ahead Of Time
You cannot sell a product that no one wants. You will need an SaaS SEO strategy. That’s why the first step is deciding what you’re actually going to develop. This is where market research comes in. Ask yourself the following:
- What pain points does your product address?
- What’s your unique selling point?
- How are you different from the competition?
- Who are you targeting?
You also need to think about things like:
- Your competition
- Pricing strategy
- Budget
- Revenue projections
- Business model
- Business plan
2. Reduce Churn
Churn refers to your cancellation rate during a given period. Obviously the higher this number, the less profitable your software. High churn rates also reduce the overall lifetime value of your customers. This is why it’s critical that you set a target rate for churn, and develop a strategy for retaining customers. Some ways of doing this include:
– Predictive analytics
At which point do customers get ready to quit? Determine this and then address the issues.
– Soliciting feedback
Ask why customers left the platform. What would have made them stick around? How could you have done better? If they mention particular issues, then work to resolve these.
– Reaching out to old customers
Offer incentives for returning. Do you have new features or changes? If so, mention this.
3. Increase The Average Revenue Of Each Customer
Instead of only focusing on finding new clients, try to hold onto existing clients as long as possible. Remember, it’s easier to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one. Doing this also increases your average revenue per customer.
Along with this, you must raise prices from time to time. Unfortunately, you cannot simply do this. Price increases can only happen together with continual growth, improvement, and development of your product.
More ways of increasing average revenue include upselling and cross-selling. Charging for extra features is another great strategy. Most importantly, you want to increase usage. You want users to get to the point where they cannot live without your software. At that point, you can charge whatever you want.
4. Increase Users
It also goes without saying that more users equal more profits. To achieve this you must have a well thought out and optimized marketing strategy. Steps for achieving this include:
1. Develop your USP
What’s special and different about your platform? How does it benefit users and what do they stand to gain?
2. Test Everything
Start by testing landing pages and marketing materials. Also, test your pricing and sign-up page. The first thing you may want to experiment with is cheaper rates for monthly vs. yearly subscriptions or usage-based pricing.
3. PPC advertising
When running ads it’s critical that you understand your metrics. The most important of these is the lifetime value of each client. This determines how much you can spend on acquiring a new customer, and therefore how much you can spend on advertising.
4. Create lead magnets
Develop lead magnets, white papers, and test cases. These should explain your solution, and how it works, and show what others have achieved. When visitors download these, follow up with email marketing.
5. Testimonials
Actively solicit feedback, reviews, and testimonials. Display these on your website.
6. Social media
Develop your social media strategy. Get onto social media and communicate with users.
7. Videos
Fully explain how your product works with preview, explainer, and tutorial videos.
8. Offer a free trial
Just be careful when doing this. Keep free trials short and don’t give away too much.
9. Guarantees
Money-back guarantees may increase conversions.
10. Affiliates
You may also want to experiment with affiliate or referral programs.
5. Build Trust In Your Product
People only purchase from those they know, like, and trust. Before signing up, users must believe that your product is credible. Some ways of doing this include:
- Using real testimonials.
- Displaying the logos of companies that use your platform
- Making yourself available with telephone support, online chat, and chatbots.
Also, pay attention to your onboarding process. Does it build likability and trust in your platform?
6. Get Your Technology Right
Customers will not stick around if your platform doesn’t work. To this end, you should aim for zero downtime. Something else which prevents companies from implementing SaaS solutions is security concerns. This means you need to stay on top of things like data leakage and other security problems.
Conclusion
Successful SaaS companies can make tens or even hundreds of millions. But while the rewards for success are incredible, the competition is often overwhelming. This means you must have a clear strategy for development and success. Do this and you’re sure to reach the top.
