Last editedDec 20212 min read
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a business model that’s taking the world of tech-based start-ups by storm. Rather than simply selling your products outright, SaaS offers customers a subscription-based model that gives them quick and easy access to your product without huge upfront expense.
On paper, it’s a formula for success for ambitious but cash-strapped start-ups and their B2B clientele alike. You have a great product, a great team, and big dreams. Everything you need for a successful business.
But as the barriers to entry for SaaS get lower and lower, and competition becomes increasingly fierce, it becomes increasingly difficult to broach the matter of growth. Subscription numbers can plateau, poor reviews can tarnish your brand, and churn rates can start to creep up despite your best efforts. Emulating these characteristics of high-growth SaaS companies can help to put your business on the fast track to sustainable growth and ongoing success.
Defining value for your SaaS customers
In any competitive market, it’s essential that you understand the importance of adding value for your customer. In order to do this, successful SaaS companies take the time to define value in unambiguous terms. What do their customers value, and how does their product generate that value for them?
You can wax lyrical about what your product does all day long. But unless you can communicate how it adds value to their operations, your messaging will never be as effective as it could be.
Product-led growth
You already have a fantastic product. So build your growth strategy around that! Let its features (and, more importantly, its benefits) speak to your prospects more eloquently than any amount of marketing copy.
The SaaS market is fiercely competitive, and customers need to see the value in your product as soon as possible. So, why not show them, rather than tell them.
Using free trials or freemium models can eliminate barriers between prospects and your product, and give them a working understanding of how it can benefit their operations.
Cultivating successful partnerships
You have a great team who have done sterling work in bringing your product to market. But the skills required to bring a product to market are not the same as those required to help that product achieve market dominance. As such, many SaaS start-ups form relationships with channel partners to handle the logistics of marketing and selling their products.
It’s essential to find a channel partner whose brand and ideologies are aligned with your own, operating within the same market segment as you. Choose the right partner and you can expand your reach exponentially by introducing your product to a motivated new audience.
Willingness to refresh
It’s easy to get precious about the minutiae of your branding. But a successful SaaS company knows when to take stock, reassess and jettison what’s not working. Not so much a brand reinvention as a brand refresh.
The tech world moves at a breakneck pace, and unless you refresh your brand regularly you risk becoming perceived as outmoded and outdated.
A frictionless payment process
When it comes to ensuring customer success and boosting retention, choosing the right payment method is essential. Your customers and prospects are likely busy, time-poor, and grateful for anything that makes things quicker and easier. As such, SaaS companies need to use payment systems that are frictionless for the customer and the company alike.
GoCardless offers a payment solution that’s particularly well suited to the needs of SaaS companies. Our main product makes it easy to collect recurring payments, such as subscription payments. To complement regular payment collection, our Instant Bank Pay feature allows you to easily collect one-off amounts like set-up fees or payments for additional services and upgrades.
We can help
If you’re interested in finding out more about growing your SaaS company, then get in touch with our financial experts. Discover how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.
