There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to developing a SaaS application. Things have to align just right for it to work out and take off the way that you expect it to. Yet, there are a lot of things that can go wrong even when you think you are doing everything right.
Not only do you need to have a solid plan when starting out, but you also need to see what can happen further down the line. This will help you avoid certain problems. There are some common mistakes that are made by SaaS developers so it’s important to understand them ahead of time. so in this article, we will discuss the mistakes of SaaS developers that you need to avoid.
Ignoring Security
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Trust is one of the biggest factors that a potential customer of your SaaS is going to be looking for. They need to see that due diligence was done to make sure that there are no vulnerabilities that they could end up signing up for unwittingly.
A savvy customer will be looking for things like the results from a Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ). This is an open-source type of audit that is available for anybody to see as long as the developer has signed up for it.
It’s information that they need to understand that the developer has taken the security of the cloud application seriously.
Without that or something similar then you will be losing out on potential business. Make sure to have the security worked out well ahead of the beta testing so that you aren’t scrambling to fix bugs later on.
Poor User Experience
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The entire reason to have a SaaS is to make something useful for people. If that isn’t the goal then you’re likely to come across problems with the UX. if it isn’t helpful or is too complicated to use then this is going to stall your sales early on and result in poor performance.
If your initial UX is bad, then fixing it may be able to help some. However, it is better to work those bugs out during the beta testing phase to avoid a bad roll out. Once you have the bugs worked out then you can roll out the SaaS with all the bells and whistles. It’s at this point that you can then add different price points since the basic model will be working and people will be more willing to upgrade if the UX was good.
Misunderstanding the Market
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There is an ideal customer out there for every type of SaaS on the market. It is very important to identify who it is so that you can figure out what is important to them. By not understanding the market you run the risk of creating a product that solves a non-existing problem for a nonexisting market.
Before you write any line of code, you have to do some research into who your customers are and what they need. This will not only benefit the users but will allow you to make much more money. Understanding the market allows you to have a higher user retention rate. It’s better for everybody if you can manage to keep a customer for life instead of always having to replace them.
Not only that but you will have a much more steady acquisition rate. Using the data about your audience will help you problem-solve and make sure that the product you are offering is in line with what your market needs so you can always be adding new users.
Poor Marketing Strategy
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Even if your product is extremely useful for a motivated public, if they can’t find it then it doesn’t sell. Your marketing strategy needs to be fine-tuned to be able to help the right audience find your product.
Make sure to put as much time into the marketing of your product as you had in the development of it. You should have a solid social media presence that resonates with your audience. Find out which platform they prefer and focus your efforts there. Always post useful and engaging content which your followers will enjoy.
In addition to that, you should be looking into other inbound marketing strategies like email, Pay Per Click advertising, and using influences. Help your target audience find you instead of looking for them. This way your marketing efforts can be highly targeted and result in a much better ROI.
