Use Cases
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SaaS, or software as a service, is an ever-growing piece of the software market. As the demand for SaaS rises, you want to make sure that you’re getting a bigger piece of the pie. What do you need to consider before you scale your SaaS business? Read on to learn which factors you should keep in mind when you decide to expand your business.
1. A Strong and Focused Team of Developers
Your SaaS business is only as good as your developers, and if you’re not taking good care of these developers, it’s going to be impossible to scale your business to its maximum potential. A talented group of developers will take your business to the next level by improving your software. Whether they’re removing the bugs from your current offering or creating an exciting software that customers will clamor for, your developers can make or break your SaaS.
Pulling a developer to perform simple customer service duties is really not the best use of that particular resource. Why set them to work on your mile-long chargeback list when they’re being paid to improve and expand your software offerings? Instead, implement a full-stack e-commerce solution with strong back office services. This will ensure that the customer service tasks are handled (and handled well), freeing up your developers to do what they do best.
2. Sufficient and Competent Customer Support
Speaking of customer service, do you have the customer support staff required to scale your SaaS business? As your customer base grows, so will the customer support queue. If you don’t have a proper system in place to handle your customers’ issues, you’re going to lose customers faster than you gain them.
67% of customer churn is preventable if you have a customer support staff in place who are trained to handle the issue at the first point of engagement with the customer. Additionally, 11% of churn can be reversed if your customer service team simply reaches out to the customer to determine where things went wrong, and if the service makes an effort to make things right.
Failure to prepare for the inevitable upswing in customer support calls and emails is shortsighted. An e-commerce solution with the back office services will not only provide you with the customer service assistance you need, but it will also ensure that your e-commerce platform is functioning at its peak, reducing the number of calls you get related to the purchasing process.
3. Scale Your Marketing and Sales Staff
If you’re ready to scale your SaaS business, it’s important to bring your marketing and sales staff into the mix. Your marketing staff needs to be prepared to market to a new audience. They should be ready to embrace cutting-edge methods of marketing to tap a fresh market. Growth hacking is a non-traditional method that’s gaining traction among forward-thinking marketers, but marketers should not discount the classics, such as content marketing, SEO, and brand engagement.
As for your sales staff, you need to be sure that it’s amply staffed with people who are eager to sell your product to the public. Encourage them to reach out to industry influencers. Creating solid partnerships outside of the normal business community will not only expand their reach but also add additional value to your services. Also, never forget the value of cross-selling and up-selling to existing customers.
4. Focus on a Specific Industry and Grow Vertically
While your instinct might be to toss your net wide to catch as many customers in as many new industries as possible, consider growing vertically rather than horizontally. When you drill down into a particular industry, you’ll be part of a growing trend among SaaS industries. Vertical SaaS companies are growing far faster than their horizontal counterparts, due in large part to a high demand for industry-specific features.
Focusing on increasing the value and depth of your data will increase the number of problems you can solve, which will also establish yourself as a market leader as you enhance your partnership with your customers within the industry. You’ll be able to penetrate as much as 60% of the market if you focus on vertical growth — contrast that to the horizontal growth’s penetration of 5-10%, and the decision is a no-brainer.
Scaling your SaaS business is a challenge, but it can be done with the right tools. Incorporating a full-service e-commerce solution such as FastSpring will help you meet the challenges of scaling your SaaS business head on, allowing you to achieve your business’s maximum potential. Ready to see what FastSpring can do for yourself? Click here to request a free FastSpring demo today.
