The SaaS (software as a service) industry has created many successful
businesses. Each new startup has drawn the attention of those with an
entrepreneurial mind looking for their big break into the field.
While it may seem simple at first to become an SaaS owner, there are many
common pitfalls the uninitiated fall into. These mistakes could not only impede
your business growth but potentially cause your startup to fail before it
begins.
Keep reading for the top mistakes SaaS companies make when getting off
the ground to know what to avoid as you begin your journey.
1. Not Having a Strategy
In the SaaS industry, “strategy” can take on many meanings. Generally
speaking, the most important is identifying the cost to run, market, and acquire
customers for your business while not letting it flounder and sink in the early
stages.
Here, most people repeat a common mistake: they treat their SaaS
company like any other small business startup.
While this might seem unimportant, software companies follow a different
growth trajectory when compared to other businesses that are selling a
physical product. These companies are not only in a position where they have
to attract a client to make a purchase, they need to retain that clients on a
month to month basis. Furthermore, in the land of tiered and monthly
subscriptions, the cost to acquire new clients is often far more demanding in
the early stages of the business model when compared to other industries.
Thus, when these elements are not taken into consideration, first-time SaaS
founders can find themselves in a difficult position where their growth is
inhibited by their financial capacity or they have run their business under
water.
2. Finding Your Market After Developing a Product
One of the biggest mistakes new SaaS entrepreneurs can make is to start
developing a product without first identifying their audience.
Why is early identification important in SaaS? Convenience.
You are selling a product that is going to help your clients do something. How
can you best develop that software if you don’t know their workflow needs?
How will you ensure their customer success without knowledge of their
specific industry pain points? Will they benefit from a cloud-based service?
Without knowing your audience ahead of time, you won’t be able to answer
these questions. The result is that you might have amazing software, but it
won’t quite be what any single group is looking for– losing you customers to
more well thought competitors.
3. Poor Timing
In many ways, this mistake is often heavily influenced by the above two
points. Without a good business plan, growth strategy, or understanding
about your market, it’s going to be very difficult to accurately assess when it’s
the right time to launch your product.
Launch is an important time for startups because without a robust launch,
your business will not have enough revenue to continue past the initial startup phase.
4. Overlooking the Power of Content Marketing
In the early days of content marketing, business owners used the material for
the sole purpose of selling their product and boosting visibility. The role
of content marketing has now changed.
On the internet, corporations are personified. Customers expect and desire to
interact with the businesses they support and look for that same level of
presence on the internet. Use this to your advantage by maintaining social
media pages where consumers can interact with you, where you interact back
with them, and a blog which doesn’t pedal a product, but shows you are a
knowledgeable industry leader.
5. Being Unoriginal
While Zebras are exotic creatures, in a pack, their individual uniqueness is
lost in the similar patterns of their herd. In many ways, the way you present
your startup to the world is the same way.
When you are starting up, no one knows your company, why you’re great, or
why they should use your service. The issue is, many companies use the
same techniques to seem exciting and innovative when, in reality, you blend
into the (albeit brightly colored) background.
6. Poor Customer Service
This one is huge for SaaS businesses and SaaS products.
Think about it– if you are trying to sell a product that runs off a software, there
will undoubtedly be many technical moving parts that your average consumer
won’t understand. This means that when there is a problem, whether its a
software bug or a user error, your clients will likely have few tools to fix the
issue themselves.
In situations like these, your customer base is fully reliant on you to have the
best customer support possible. This is especially true if you are marketing
your software to businesses who could lose precious time troubleshooting an
issue that impacts the workflow of their entire staff.
SaaS Funding Experts
Many times what gets in the way of a SaaS company reaching their full growth
potential is not having the funds to function at that initial negative profit while
leads and sales are being discovered.
At RevTek, we take qualifying companies and help them reach their
expansion goals by giving them the financial support where it’s most needed.
With a full staff of experienced entrepreneurs, we can help businesses assess
their strengths, weaknesses, and help them refine and achieve their goals.
To begin the conversation about how to take your business to the next
level, contact us at (480) 332-0399 to schedule an appointment.
……………………………………………………
4 Common SaaS Marketing
Mistakes (And How to
Avoid Them)
April 20, 2020 / scott.p / Comments Offon 4 Common SaaS Marketing Mistakes (And How to
Avoid Them)
When growing your SaaS company, many founders are concerned with
ROI, CAC, and other financial metrics that dictate whether your company
sinks or swims. However, ensuring good metrics is dependent on accurate
and compelling marketing.
With marketing, time is of the essence. As such, we put together this quick
and simple guide on the SaaS industry’s most common marketing mistakes
and what you can do to avoid them.
Mistake 1: Your Web Design Is Terrible
You’re a business selling a product that is promising to make your client’s
life easier. If your prospective clients can’t get around your site, if your
information and writing isn’t clear, or if it’s simply ugly, you will likely lose their
faith and their business. Having such a bad experience before they even try
your product is an automatic red flag.
The Fix: Get A Stellar Designer
Yes, designers cost money, but business lost from a poorly designed website
with terrible UX can cost you far more. Over time, losing this many clients will
end up costing you more than a web designer.
Mistake 2: You Don’t Have a Blog
Along with social media, this type of content marketing is the main source of
organic site traffic and lead generation. As such, not having a blog will make
even your best marketing efforts less effective.
This is because if clients have a problem your product can fix, they will search
for a solution. When the internet brings them to your site, they are already in a
position to buy.
Furthermore, these visits will give you data points and metrics, helping you
learn more about your audience, where they are coming from, and what kinds
of content appeals to them most.
The Fix: Start One
For an SaaS business, there are many topics that can draw potential
customers to your site. This includes blog posts where you outline growth
hacks in your industry, how-to information, or even updates on the latest
news that interests your niche.
Mistake 3: Your Audience is Too Broad
Know your target audience. Individuals on the market for SaaS
solutions have specific pain points they are trying to solve, whether it’s
finding a system to help manage tasks for their company or simply organize
their daily work flow. These needs are fairly specific, so if you try to market to
everyone all at once, or try to make a product that does everything, it’s a
guarantee that it won’t do anything well.
The Fix: Make Client Personas
The only way to know your niche is to make client personas of who you
expect needs your product. Know their pain points, know why they need your
product, and build your marketing materials with that in mind.
Mistake 4: Changing Too Much At Once
Launching a campaign is a complicated task with many moving parts. When
something doesn’t perform the way you anticipated, it’s tempting to start from
the ground up.
Changing email content, subject lines, and offers simultaneously is like taking
another shot in the dark. This method is often counterproductive as it
consumes a large amount of time and resources most SaaS companies
simply don’t have to spare.
The Fix: Take Baby Steps
If you’re not sure why your last campaign failed, you won’t know which
problems to fix in the future.
That said, on your next marketing campaign, make some materials and stick
to them. When running A/B testing, only change one thing at a time such as
the button color, the CTA, or the subject line– but never multiple things at
once.
By isolating information like this, you will see exactly what works for your
audience and can go straight to using those methods the next time you
launch.
What To Do Next
Whether it’s due to a lack of resources, a marketing automation error, or even
lack of experience, we have all made the mistakes listed above at some point
or another. This is why in the course of growing your business, you will rework
your marketing strategies time and again.
At RevTek, we help give customers the tools to make these changes happen
and are proud of our long list of customer success stories. Want to know
how we can help you? Contact us at (480) 332-0399 to schedule an
appointment.