Getting Your SaaS Business Off to a Great Start

Over the past decade, I have been consulting to and working for various SaaS (Software As A Service) businesses around the world. I have noticed that regardless of the SaaS service, there are some simple steps that businesses can take to ensure that their business launches with a great start.

With such an abundance of software programs available, showing value right immediately is critical. If you can’t solve a problem right away, potential customers will move your business emails into SPAM and simply look at your competitor. So how do you not fall into that SPAM folder?

Here are a few elements that will help:

Testing, Testing, Testing

This may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many companies I deal with whose software and app causes more issues than it solves. Your Saas business needs to have vigorously tested your software under various circumstances. Of course, while there is no way to completely eliminate all “unforeseen” issues, the software needs to show competence on day 1 and not fail at simple tasks such as registration.

Try Before You Pay

The ability to try something before you pay for it seems to be a great strategy, especially in the initial launch phase of a new SaaS business. It lowers the first objection of paying money to a company your potential client has never heard of before so being free gives that peace of mind of being able to try it and see the value.

If they do get a lot of value from the business, they will gladly pay.

Use Your Online Voice

According to HubSpot, B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads than the ones that don’t? Set up a blog and explain some of the features of your software. Don’t forget to add posts about the company, the people, the story behind the scenes of how the company came to be. All of these together gives the company a more human element which is how people connect.

You’ll also want to leverage your social media accounts and implement video marketing to humanize your brand and break the barrier between your customers and your software. Video is key to a successful marketing campaign and free video editors like Filmforth allow you to create videos that showcase your company’s tools and people. Who knows, you might have a viral video like the one done by dollar shave club?

Target Your Marketing

No matter how many new social media platforms launch, the one element that they all have in common is that you need an email address. This is still one of the best ways to communicate and target information about your new SaaS business. You’d be hard-pressed to find an employee that doesn’t check their e-mail multiple times a day, and that gives you plenty of opportunities to target your message to their needs.

Do. Not. Spam.

Send helpful tips, add loads of value and people will naturally want to find out more and therefore ensure that you are top-of-mind when they make a buying decision.

Maximize Your Analytics and Get Feedback

Learn to love thy numbers. Analytics can really unlock the pain points of your customers as your analytics will show which features are being used the most and which features are simply not used at all.  This info is vital. It helps you decide where to deploy your developers and resources so that you can continuously enhance the product based on your customer’s pain point. The more you can unlock potential opportunities in the areas they struggle, the more likely that the customers will stay with your business.

Use the Tech

Scale your SaaS business gradually. Prioritize what you need and scale accordingly. A big mistake business owners make, is investing too heavily in their hardware. This equipment can become stale, outdated and doesn’t stand up to rapid scaling. This is where the cloud comes in to ease the technical debt. According to Wavestone, using the cloud alleviates this issue as businesses can scale using cloud tech without owning the costly infrastructure underneath it.

When you’re starting any new business, it’s important to be as prepared as possible and make yourself invaluable to your customers. By taking a few key steps in the planning process to put consumers first, you’ll make yourself invaluable to their bottom line!