Five Things SaaS Product Heads Should Look At

A must read for those getting into this sector

Data Collection:

A Saas Product company I know took up a project for a University. What they forgot to do was pick up previous years data, even the basics.
Say you are an application processing system and your metric is number of applicants for each stream. The first thing you should do is ask your clients what the previous years data is. Convince them that this would help them evaluate what you bring to the table.

Understand that when you are in the B2B domain your case studies matter. Mapping data helps you build a strong suite at the end of your project. You can then publish this data and help convince other potential clients. Otherwise you have nothing to measure up against. Previous years data helps you evaluate yourself and show your client how much you matter. Get that data in place before you start a project, and keep mapping it.

Communication:

If you cannot explain what your product does in 140 and 250 characters, you are in trouble. Brevity is the crux of communication and I have seen Heads struggle to explain what their product does. Sure the benefits and advantages can be explained during a conversation, but in order to begin it your customer must understand what is it that you do.

Put effort into creating your case studies. Create a mission and vision. They go a long way, even inspire your clients to work with you. Gather your testimonials. Use your customer care to mine for good comments. I’ve been able to gather plenty from there.

Social Media:

Not all social media platforms are for you. Twitter and LinkedIn should probably lead in connecting to your clients (businesses). Use your Facebook to reach out to your customers (individuals). Facebook now provides an extra call-to-action button. Title it “Contact Us” and use it as a customer care medium.

Better UX/UI Design:

Invest in it. While your product might be good functionally, it cannot go far without intuitive designing. Check out Salesforce . I could pick up on their product in a few days. They have hints, tips and comments correctly placed throughout the product. It helps a layman get through quickly.

Many people overlook this point. You want to make your product easy for any client to use. No one is asking you to make your product simple, just to use good UI/UX to help users navigate it better.

Customer Care:

Your customer care feed is full of rich, unmined data. It includes suggestions for a better product, better design and eventually an insight in to your final customer. It also helps you create a buyer’s profile. Where I was at previously, every single team member spent a few months on customer care. Irrespective of their role at the company. I know for a fact that Girish Mathrubootham, Founder of Freshdesk believes that every CEO must take out time for customer care. His website, CEO on Support swears by the fact that “Supporting customers gives CEOs a reality check”. He lists down reasons why spending time on customer care gives a CEO an edge. Read more about it here.