Growing a SaaS Company in a Competitive Market
SaaS is a highly competitive industry with a market size of nearly $143.77 billion in 2021. Still, it is expanding fast and is expected to grow by more than $750 billion at the end of 2028. This growth is excellent news for SaaS businesses, especially those looking to launch new products and add value to existing services. However, this also signals increased market competition and an urgency to adopt best practices to avoid business risk and grow sustainably in this industry. This article will discuss some of the best practices that SaaS businesses can adopt to compete in a challenging market.
Building a Client-Oriented SaaS Business
In today’s SaaS markets, client orientation is fundamental to attaining sustainable growth in a competitive environment. Businesses continually seek to gain invaluable insights into customers' preferences, expectations, and experiences for targeted value creation.
Customer satisfaction should therefore be a part of a SaaS company's vision and mission. A company must define its goals to solve specific problems associated with its clients. The business structure, culture, operations, products, and services should be engineered to build a comprehensive client-oriented SaaS service. Take the following measures to construct a client-oriented business successfully:
The most crucial measure is stakeholders mapping and management. One of the most popular models for stakeholder mapping is Mendelow’s Matrix. It analyses different stakeholders’ groups based on their power and interests. This model also directs businesses in effectively managing these stakeholders. This measure ensures that a company achieves its goals without conflicting with its stakeholders.
This step involves developing and delivering services that solve specific problems and customers' pain points.Customers' feedback is vital to addressing this issue.
Another critical step is adopting a proactive approach to adding new features to the company’s products.
A company must actively engage with its customers and build dedicated communication channels. For instance, it can regularly issue press releases to inform its clients about new updates.
The SaaS industry is continually evolving, and it is vital that a company reacts quickly and effectively to market changes and adapts to new market trends.
Running Targeted Marketing Campaigns
Most SaaS companies that operate as SMBs have limited resources at their disposal. Such businesses must employ intelligent technologies for cost-effective resource allocations. Targeted marketing is a popular trend among SaaS companies nowadays. It is the process of online advertising that involves the utilization of insightful data to target prospects through tailored and personalized ad content.
Targeted marketing involves segmenting its audiences into demographic, geographic, and social categories. The most common targeted marketing strategies are their benefits are listed below:
Targeted Email Marketing
Relevant and Reliable
Builds Customer Trust and Better Relationships
Drives Web Traffic and Generates Revenue
Increases Return On Investments
Collects Surveys and Feedback
Targeted SMS Marketing
Quick and Cost Effective
Direct and Accurate
Can be Easily Integrated With Other Marketing Channels
Increases Customer Engagement
Targeted Social Media Marketing
Increases Brand Awareness
Drives Web Traffic and Generates Revenue
Boosts Search Engine Rankings
Higher Conversion Rates
Improves Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty
Provides Valuable Market Insights
Cost Effective
PPC Targeted Marketing
Measurable and Traceable
Efficient and Effective
Provides Quick Entry
Provides Control
Can be Easily Integrated With Other Marketing Channels
Provides Valuable Market Insights
Adopting New Technologies
The SaaS industry has rapidly been expanding and growing in recent years. Most of this expansion is enabled thanks to the adoption of new business technologies. The most important benefits of integrating new technologies are listed below:
It improves operational efficiency and brings flexibility to existing workflows.
It enables business automation for repetitive operations, thus increasing the overall productivity of operations.
Technologies assist with better risk management and help to overcome urgent challenges.
Integrating new technologies saves capital and revenue expenditures, especially in the long term.
Growing a SaaS business and gaining a competitive edge in the market is impossible without integrating new technologies. Below we discuss some of the most popular business technologies a SaaS company must adopt to compete and grow sustainably.
Customer Relationship Management CRM Technologies
Customer Relationship Management CRM technology is used to develop, manage, and maintain customer relationships. It offers several unique services, including contact management, lead management, sales forecasting, email tracking, and integrations with other solutions.
Benefits of Using CRM Solutions:
Improved Customer Service
Increased Revenue Through Sales
Improved Customer Retention
Valuable Insights
Increased Efficiency and Productivity
Centralized Communication and Information
Accurate Sales Forecasts
Automated Reporting
The Most Popular CRM Solutions:
Communication and Collaboration Technologies
Both internal and external communications are critical success factors for any business, and SaaS businesses are no exception. Effective communication is essential to business growth, so communication technologies are becoming increasingly popular in the SaaS industry.
Benefits of Using Communication Tools:
Improved Teamwork and Productivity
Increased Employees Engagement
Decrease in Conflicts
Increased Interactions and Collaborations
Increased Innovation
Better Workplace Culture
The Most Popular Communication Tools:
Project Management Solutions
Project Management Solutions are widespread across various industries. Project managers and team members use them to plan, organize, manage, and track projects, tasks, and schedules.
Benefits of Using Project Management Solutions:
Improved Project Planning
Improved Project Tracking and Analysis
Better Resources Allocation
Better Scheduling and Time Management
Easy Documentation
Improved Communications and Collaborations
The Most Popular Project Management Solutions:
Cloud Solutions
Cloud computing refers to several services provided through the internet, including servers, storage, databases, networking, and software solutions. Cloud servicing is extremely popular today as it plays a vital role in a business’s growth.
Benefits of Using Cloud Solutions:
Reduced IT Costs
More Growth and Scalability
Little or No Maintenance
More Flexibility, Sustainability, and Security
Automatic Updates
Improved Collaborations and Communications
The Most Popular Cloud Solutions:
Financial Management Tools
SaaS businesses can deploy Financial Management Tools to intelligently manage their income, expenses, assets, and liabilities. These tools record all business transactions according to international accounting and reporting standards.
Benefits of Using Financial Management Tools:
Reduction in Errors
Better Financial Management and Analysis
Improved Compliance
Automation of Financial and Accounting Operations
Improved Productivity
More Transparency
Better Planning and Strategy
The Most Popular Financial Management Tools:
Building Invaluable Strategic Partnerships
This article shows that several operations and processes act as critical success factors (CSF) for a SaaS business. Growing in-house capabilities to learn and perform these operations takes a lot of time and effort; that start-ups can’t afford. Partnerships and External collaborations are a great business strategy to reduce risk and scale business growth. Below, we discuss some benefits of building strategic partnerships:
A partnership enables two businesses to share knowledge and expertise. This information sharing allows a company to grow without taking uncertain risks. It also provides a business with an instant competitive advantage in its market.
Building collaborations with other businesses help in growing the customer base. Companies support each other in a partnership through a direct contract or shared revenue.
Building partnerships build trust among internal and external stakeholders and signals a commitment among two businesses for shared growth and productivity. This is excellent news for companies, especially those competing in a competitive environment.
Marketing and Distribution Partnerships
Marketing and distribution partnerships are formed when one business uses the resources of another business to advertise and sell its products. SaaS companies partner up to gain a mutually beneficial competitive advantage. These B2B SaaS partnerships provide an extended network, amplified growth, better brand association, and enhanced product portfolio.
SaaS Recruitment Partnerships
SaaS Recruitment Agencies are expert recruiters responsible for hiring and staffing services. They are the industry experts and have access to a vast pool of quality SaaS talent. The SaaS industry has an extremely short supply of talented individuals and it can take Business 8-14 weeks to find a candidate and hire them. This wasted time is not worth the compromise. That's why SaaS recruitment agencies are the best way to grow your hyperproductive team.
One of the leading agencies in SaaS recruitment is SaaS Talents. It is a group of expert SaaS recruiters and executives who have built successful SaaS companies and know what kind of people in which positions can ensure success in the SaaS industry. So instead of wasting time hiring the wrong person, you should always use a recruitment agency like this to grow your SaaS team.
Setting Up Affiliates and Referrals Programs
Affiliate marketing and Referral programs are becoming increasingly popular among SaaS businesses for growth and scalability reasons. The fundamental difference between the two is that affiliates are third part brand advocates that get a fixed reward for new subscriptions. On the other hand, referrals are created by existing customers to invite new subscribers. Some benefits of setting up an affiliate and referral program are listed below:
Additional Revenue Stream
Becoming Part of a Like-Minded Affiliate Network
Exposure to Broad Audiences
Extensive Market Reach
Increase Conversion and Retention Rate
Conclusion
The success of a SaaS company relies on implementing several strategic choices, each of which creates unique value. Most of these choices produce organic results, meaning their impact is gradually realized over the long term. The leadership within a SaaS company must be emotionally intelligent and have technical skills and experience for effective decision-making. Managers should strive to provide transformational leadership instead of transactional management. Only then can a company successfully implement all of the strategies mentioned above.