Since more businesses are now going digital, the need for software to help them in their day-to-day operations is also increasing each year. From document and file management to customer service software, the demand for software as a service (SaaS) keeps on growing. This demand means a lot of possibilities to thrive as a SaaS business owner. However, because the competition is tough, you’ll have to come up with the right strategy if you want to experience significant growth.
Given that numerous individuals use the internet daily, online visibility should be your priority, and you have to learn how potential clients can find you. It’s advisable to start off by aiming to rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs) to ensure high visibility to prospective customers needing your service.
If you don’t know anything about search engine optimization (SEO) and how to rank on top of search engines, you might want to read a complete guide to SEO for SaaS businesses. You can find it here: https://www.bccinteractive.com/blog/guide-to-seo-for-saas-businesses/.
How To Grow Your SaaS Business
The SaaS market is expanding, with many different factors contributing to its success. It’s essential to know how you can maintain your company’s growth in this competitive market, so keep reading.
1. Build A Strong Brand
A strong brand is the foundation of a successful SaaS company. From design to tone, your branding should be cohesive across all channels. A consistent look and feel can help clients identify with you as an organization, establish value for what you offer, and set clear expectations about how customers will interact with your product or service in the future.
A strong brand can simplify your marketing efforts because you can establish a baseline level of trust with your customers by building on what they already know about you. In addition, strong branding will help your customers understand what to expect from your product or service and speed up the decision-making process.
2. Use Content Marketing And Social Media
To establish your SaaS business as an expert in the field, you have to know your audience and focus on providing them with content relevant to their interests. One way of doing this is by creating blog posts, videos, and podcasts, among others. The information found in those types of content can be used as a starting point for discussions and attract potential clients who might not have been aware of you before. They’ll also allow you to establish your company as a thought leader in the field, increasing trust and possibly leading to more conversions.
And don’t forget about social media. Social media is an excellent way of connecting with prospective clients because it gives them a chance to get involved in conversations related to their interests. It’s also the perfect way of introducing your company to a broader audience since most internet users are now in the habit of ‘following’ people or brands on social media.
3. Offer Special Pricing Packages
People might use your product in different ways. So if your product is subscription-based, offer special pricing packages, perhaps one for personal use and another for group memberships.
Those who are after your product for personal use may not want to pay the same price as someone who’ll use it for business. Offer them a lower price point to make them feel that they’re paying the right price. Knowing how to set the right price for your SaaS product will allow you to maximize your profits without sacrificing customer satisfaction and fair pricing.
4. Create A Strong Marketing Plan And Find The Right Marketing Channel
It can be easy for a SaaS business owner to focus on their product development and customer service strategy. But they forget how important it is to have a comprehensive plan for integrating their company into the marketplace via online and offline marketing channels. A strong SaaS business marketing plan should identify one’s marketing goals, their target users, and the marketing channels they’ll use to reach those clients.
To create a plan to help your business grow, you may start with determining your goals. What do you want to achieve, and when do you want it to happen? Then, establish a clear understanding of your target audience. What’s your typical user’s location? What’s the nature of their business? Ask those questions to yourself so you’ll be able to define and focus on people who surely need your service.
Lastly, be picky in choosing marketing channels to reach your audience. You don’t want to exert too much effort on channels that your target market doesn’t use. Find out where your future customers spend their time, and you’ll know how to reach them.
5. Come Up With Incentives For People To Sign Up
Signing up for a subscription service is often a difficult decision for customers. They may be hesitant to commit to the payment every month, or they might not know what they’re signing up for and want to try it first before committing.
Thus, it would be best to offer incentives or free trials in order for people to sign up and try the product first. This way, you’ll further introduce them to it and show them the value it can give. This move may attract more clients and increase your revenue in the long run.
Free trials can also make it easier for them to decide because even without shelling out money, they’ll be able to discover what they’re getting every month if they subscribe.
6. Offer User-Friendly Features And Design
Some factors that can help grow a company’s SaaS are user-friendly functionality and the software’s design. It’s essential to keep those two things in mind while creating new products or upgrading old ones because they may affect the number of people who want to use your product.
SaaS businesses shouldn’t focus only on the value of what their product is offering but also the user experience they’re providing. Therefore, it’s a must to ensure user-friendly functionality.
Design and aesthetics, which include the look and feel of the website or app, also impact the number of users. This is because when a person finds something visually pleasing, they naturally want to keep exploring it.
7. Keep Customers Happy And Satisfied
Both you and your customer will be much more successful in using SaaS as a tool if both parties know that it can work for the long term. For this reason, you should be focusing on ensuring your customer’s satisfaction in every interaction.
To have a customer sign up and make their first payment for the subscription shouldn’t be your only goal as a SaaS business owner. You want to retain those customers so they can experience the full benefits of your software and keep on paying the monthly fee. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to increase their retention rates.
Once your customer signs up, you want to make sure they have the information they need to navigate their first few months effectively and without any significant issues. To keep them happy, see to it that they have the best experience possible. This means responding quickly and efficiently whenever a customer requests help of any kind. You can also try following up with them to solve their problem as soon as it’s identified.
Make it a habit to continuously develop and improve your product and listen to your customers’ suggestions, too. Consider their feedback and apply what might work for them to your product. Don’t be afraid of change. Embrace it and make sure you’re constantly evolving with the changing needs in your industry.
8. Find Your Niche
Many SaaS businesses are starting to figure out their niche—what they specialize in and how they can get a competitive advantage. This is important because it would help reduce the competition and, ultimately, let your business grow more quickly without any hindrance. But be careful not to overextend yourself when doing this, or you might find yourself spread out too thin.
Some popular niches are education, business management, and manufacturing. If you’re unsure where to start with your niche, try looking at competitors and see if you can either do what they’re doing better or provide something new and different. You can also research to see what’s currently in demand or what you could provide that would add value for the consumer. For example, many people in the education niche try to find out what online teaching methods work best for their learners. You could find this competitive advantage by surveying your audience about how often they’d like a course taught live versus recorded (or vice versa).
It’s also crucial to stay updated on what’s happening by following the competition as well as new trends, innovations, changes, or improvements that other business leaders are making. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can spot an opportunity for improvement when it comes to something that’s already out. Remember that your niche should focus on something that solves problems that people are currently experiencing. This tip will ensure that your SaaS business will be able to provide a meaningful service.
Final Words
The demand for SaaS businesses is growing, but the competition gets more challenging as well. Therefore, if you want your business to stand out and grow, you need a robust strategy that includes finding your niche, building a brand, and developing an effective marketing plan with appropriate distribution channels.
Also, a successful SaaS company invests in content marketing and offers incentives to people who sign up. They should also constantly improve the features they offer and their software design so users will stay happy. If you take these measures, your customers will stick around even when new competitors enter the market.
