Cloud computing brings a lot of benefits to consumers and businesses alike, whether it’s in the form of instant access to data, improved mobility, easy upgrades, or low costs. That is why more and more enterprises are entering the field these days to grow their business and reach their maximum potential. However, the competition in the SaaS market is so tight that it’s almost impossible for a newcomer to stay competitive in the arena. Besides, big names in the field, such as Google, Amazon, and Oracle, are always on the roll to improve their products and services which has taken the standards of design and user experience of cloud-based services to the next level. All this makes it very important to know how to manage your SaaS business so that you can reap the best possible revenue.
The scope of the SaaS market is so massive that every small organization and startup entering the segment can benefit from it in one way or the other. Yet again, most of the newcomers make a few common mistakes that eventually lead to their fall. Below is a quick look at some of such mistakes that many businesses in the SaaS market make, which you should steer clear of to stay competitive in the segment.
Not having a strategic Lean Plan
This is the basic requirement of starting any business venture. You should always have a solid lean plan and work according to it to move towards your goals. The main advantage of entering the SaaS market is its limitless flexibility. You might not need to invest in a big team or any added infrastructure to get started. Therefore, you should have a good plan detailing what essentials you would need to achieve your objectives. Focus on what your actual requirements are and educate yourself on the possible snags that you might hit down the road. This would surely improve your odds of succeeding in the market.
Not focusing on your MVP
All SaaS businesses should have their MVP or minimum viable product in mind when entering the market. Most of the time, the core idea of the business would grow into a complex product. Yet you should focus on how you can develop the core function to its maximum potential and develop it to deal with the problems of your target audience. Promoting such a product would give you an idea of how customers react to your problem-solving approach, which would motivate you to find better solutions for their needs. This way, you can also review the feedbacks of your initial customers to develop your SaaS application, take it to new directions, or prioritize its most essential features.
Not Collecting Quantitative Feedback
Feedbacks from customers can be a great tool to understand the good and bad of your product or service. So as soon as you have created a prototype of the product or launched a test version of the service, collect as much quality feedback as possible. You can also create surveys to ask users how they liked a specific feature in the product or service. Then you can use the customer ratings to learn where you need to develop and where you should stop working. You can also measure the growth of your business with the help of periodical customer surveys. This would in turn help improve company morale and make sure that you strive for betterment.
Not Focusing on User Experience
One of the silliest mistakes made by SaaS businesses is to ignore user experience in favor of adding more design elements. While it is important to make the product or service very appealing, it would not be of any use if the end-users find it too complicated to use. Therefore, you should work towards achieving a balance of great design and a simple user interface, which would enhance the experience of your customers. You should always hire a skilled designer to build an appealing as well as user-friendly SaaS application, so that it defines your brand in the best way possible.
Not Hiring the Right Developer
You should also partner with the right developer who can understand your business requirements and can relate to your ideas and concepts for the SaaS application. This would make sure that the final result meets with your expectations and would serve the purpose of achieving your business goals in the best way. When short-listing the developers for the job, see how experienced they are in the field, how soon they can deliver the product, and how they charge for developing a SaaS application. You should also check the references provided by the developer to ensure that he/she can offer the most excellent service to you.
Not Marketing the SaaS Application Well
Building a SaaS application to penetrate the market is just the start; you should also promote it to your intended target audience by using the most appropriate strategies. In fact, you do not have to be an expert in marketing today to advertise your product or service these days. There are a lot of simple channels that can help you with that. However, in order to market your SaaS application to your preferred audience and demographics, you might need to hire a digital marketing service provider. They can easily help you reach your maximum potential by creating a great brand reputation for your business. Besides, they would also create all the content necessary to promote your SaaS application through various digital networks.
Not Setting the Right Pace
The most amazing benefit of entering the SaaS market is that you can move very quickly. As soon as you have developed the product or launched the service, you can start collecting user responses to make it better. By implementing quick changes and issuing the upgrades as expected by the users, you can build a strong relationship with your customers. This in turn would work to avoid customer-retention problems early on, which is key to succeed in the arena. You can also make use of the analytical solutions to monitor your customer traffic, which would help to set the pace of your business and manage it accordingly.
