Building An SaaS Product

How to build a SaaS product

Product development process:

A SaaS product is online software that users with a license can access. It is based on the needs of customers, product, market, target audience, user personas, statistics, and competitors. These are mapped out, the objectives of the product, the vision of the company have to be understood.The product development process has to include various stages includingResearch, validating, design, finalisation, development, and launch.

Research

The research stage includes market research andcustomer feedback, productmanagers need to define the requirements and features of the product. This willform a plan and communicate it with higher-level teams for internal planning.A SaaS product manager looks for opportunities for a new product or toimprove an existing one. He searches for the latest trends, recent data in order tohave a better understanding of the market. A strategy has to be developed for the launch of new products.Customer understanding is a key to product success. It’s based on comparingsimilar products, studying the competition, and checking target groups. Mostcompanies expect software producers to know and understand their needscompletely. SaaS makers need to understand customers to create user personas,identify customer needs as per quality, choice, price, and convenience. Themain objective of market research isto ensure that they are using the most productive and cost-efficient product. Market research involves secondary and primary research on the overall industry, along with its changes, trends, targetmarket, and key actors— the competitors of a business.

Validating idea

Once the research is complete, a product plan is made. A good plan has to includegoals, objectives, etc, and is presented to key stakeholders. This process involvesmany teams and people at various levels. The plan has to be long-term and a visionand scope for the project. The product plan has to reach the crux of what acustomer wants.An idea validation should find out if the problem is real, is there a need for asolution, if the number of customers who need the solution is adequate for profitability, cost of development etc.

To find real users, companies can research by using Google Adwords, usingkeywords search, live chat software.

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Facebook ads can be used to find user interests and prepare an ad for thetarget audience. Prepare a landing page and get their emails for futurecontacts.

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Reddit is a platform of users grouped by interests. Shopify subreddit hasmany members who can be sent messages for your idea validation.

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One can join Facebook groups that have similar interests.

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Try to find niche markets where people with similar interests hang out onTwitter, Linkedin, Quora, etc.

A product strategy is created to maintain the product plan. Aspecific productstrategy defines the goals, milestones, and plan for the product. It defines themain features of the product with their users andkey performanceindicators(KPIs) mentioned. The strategy is a roadmap that involves productfeatures, market and user needs, and business goals. A product strategy is a

visual guideline for product managers and companies to know the workingtimeline.The different stages in designing a SaaS product is:

Predesign stage:

A product design can be created by knowing the context, the end-to-endusers and presenting it with an accurate hierarchy.

Interview:

Interview with the customer which includes Goal setting,Questionnaire preparation, Contacting people, Conducting Interviews. The interviewswill help understand the user’s thought processes and test their ideas inthe run-up to design a SaaS product.

Creating a minimum viable product (MVP):

After knowing the customers’ wants a viable solution can be created. Itwill be better to be affirmative about what you are making. A minimumviable product can be created. Producers can use tools like Facebook campaign builder, surveys, building landing pages, selecting samplegroups of 10 people, and paying them a price for their discussions andfeedback.Focussing on user journeys: Various touchpoints where customersinteract can be focussed on. The various touchpoints should describe thesolutions the software will provide. The most common touchpoints arewebsite design, Live chats, chatbots, social media, customer reviews.

DesignUX Design:

UX design determines the user’s interaction with the software.

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Smooth onboarding:It should be easier for consumers to get started on. Consumers have little time toexplore new products. So products have to make a good first impression assoftware products do not get a second chance.That precious first impressionrelies on an efficient onboarding experience. A well-developed onboarding process helps users familiarize themselves with your product.

Information architecture:

It’s all about arranging content to make customers understand it without problems. It enables a user to explore a software product’s value proposition. So it has to be minimal and understandable. It should enableusers to find information without wasting time.

Listening to customers:

A well-designed content-rich help and support system leads totrustworthiness. All software products give easy and all-around access tohelp and support. Users expect to receive help via email, discussionforums, and live chat rather than talking to someone on the phone.

Offering free services:

Consumers like free gifts, cashback, etc. to retain old users and attractnew users. The Freemium model can be used to provide freesubscriptions and generate a buzz. After having a good user experience,consumers will be happy to pay for a premium subscription.Present users can be asked for referrals and they can be rewarded bygiving a loyalty bonus.

Use of microcopy:

It is a text and is a part of the digital experience which helps usersachieve their goals when using a product by guiding them as they interactwith its calls to action, onboarding journey, navigation, and more. It is part of a user transaction that helps smooth user interaction.E.g. informing a user what will happen and what will not happen when he presses a button will reduce user anxiety and increase comfort whileusing the software.

UI Design

A good UI increases the attractiveness and engagement of software. Theanimation should be simple but should enhance product interactivity.Theanimation should guide users around the interface, alert users of a change,influence users' decisions, and indicate a relationship between elements.

Simple Navigation:

The first thing to consider is making easy and intuitive navigation. Thefront page should display the most relevant links to the product'sinformation, so the user won't waste time searching for the desiredinformation.

Powerful Search:

Efficient filtering options make a huge difference in the SaaS platform. If you want to engage your customers with your content and let them findmore, provide the most relevant information. Also, a well-functioningsearch can enable finding the app's function a user currently needs.Don't force your users to browse through hundreds of pages aimlessly.Ensure a well-adjusted refined search for your customers, so they willinstantly find what they are looking for.

Easy Sign-up:

The sign-up process makes the first impression of your SaaS product.Make sure clients won't waste time on multiple registration forms. Placethe sign-up button right on the front page and make the process as easy as possible. You can allow your users to enter the app with their socialmedia, Google account, or email. Ask only the most essential informationduring the registration and collect other data later, when needed.

Short Onboarding Time:

Onboarding aims to establish an emotional connection between yourservice and the customers in the shortest time possible. Users shouldinstantly understand how the product can relieve their problems.

Convenient Access to Support:

SaaS apps are quite complex. Clients often need help to troubleshoot theuse of the platform. Let them avoid time-consuming and inconvenientcalls to support with relevant UX solutions.Replace phone calls with email help, chat assistance, and acomprehensive FAQ page. It will reduce users' frustration and deliver

information about the issues they face. Later, you can use it for customer service improvement.

Video Tutorials:

If a brief onboarding is not enough to learn how your SaaS productworks, don't create long-read guides for your customers. Instead, provideyour customers with an entertaining and informative video tutorial.

Development:

Product development begins with understanding technical specifications,making mock-up design, creating prototypes, and more. The following are theoptions for product development:

Choice of the technical stack

The technology stack is a list of the programming languages, frameworks, andtools used in software development.That is why the question of how to build a SaaS product and determine asolution stack is not an easy one. Yet another issue depends on the particular demands of your business.The following are the options commonly used:

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Frontend

Front-end development is responsible for everything users see on the screens.For these purposes, you will need modern JavaScript frameworks that meetSaaS requirements – React, Angular, or Vue.js. The apps should be light andeasy to maintain.

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Backend

Back-end development is in charge of the server-side. Invisible to users, it builds the core functionality of your SaaS product and formulates itsresponsiveness. In this regard, you need to use a reliable framework, suchasRuby on Rails, Node.js, or Django.

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Database

Databases keep the necessary information for your applications. PostgreSQL,MySQL, or NoSQL are commonly used.

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SaaS hosting provider

To handle SaaS requirements, any reliable cloud provider will do, such asAmazon (AWS), Google, Microsoft, or Heroku.

Launch:Know your competition:

A SaaS product company should understand the competitive landscape. Thecompany needs to start small by asking its current and prospective customerswhich alternatives they have tried and considered and what they like incompetitors’ products.

Always deliver value:

Resist the temptation of earning money and re-frame your mission in terms of creating value for a million customers instead. Start small by creating real valuefor your first few customers and then move on. The quality of your productswill bring in more customers and money will flow.

You will need a launch strategy

As there is a lot of competition in the SaaS space, a lot of behind the scene work has to be done for a successful launch from conducting market research and building relationships with influencers in the SaaS space to preparing pressassets and refining your product UI and UX.

Get traction

Customer acquisition channels like Blog Posts to PR to offline events can beused to get traction and create a successful product launch.

Challenges of SaaS Development:

The SaaS business concept is to sell digital services and not products but someusers feel that buying a program on physical media without any source of updates is useless. But the SaaS approach is a good alternative for bothdevelopers and users.It is convenient for users as they can access it from cloud services and use itonline and offline without having to purchase additional hardware resources. ASaaS developer has to find ways to keep the service sustainable and performing

competitively, store data securely, and reduce the risk of system failures thatcould lead to client data corruption.Some challenges for a software developer are:

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Scalability:

The Company’s tech stake has to be scalable which willhelp it grow. It is applicable for both the startups (affects performanceas clients increase) and the clients (will no longer be able to operate dueto overloads and shutdowns as the business grows).Vertical development will work but it still depends on the size of thetarget audience. A niche product might not recover the cost of operationsof the company.

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Security:

A guarantee of data privacy is important for customers. Muchimportant information like bank information, personal data, commercialsecrets, and much more may leak because of poor cloud service security.

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Reliability:

The AWS SaaS architecture is considered to be the mostreliable platform but the system operates with physical servers located indifferent geographical areas which might shut down due to non-maintenance. AWS takes care of hardware and backup and preventswebsites and products from being shut down.SaaS tools lack trust factor as there is a reduced sense of security becausethe clients store their data elsewhere. By establishing a brand andworking on a positive reputation, you may gain a lot of customers. But itis difficult for startups to gain customer trust.

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Monetization concerns:

SaaS products are cost-effective and businessesdo not have the resources to build a custom digital service. SaaS helpscustomers in reducing costs in areas where typical solutions areapplicable. Here, product pricing becomes important as the productshould be affordable and the software upgrades and maintenance shouldcome within the user’s bill.