5 Reasons why SaaS products need feedback
SaaS ( Software as a service ) in the present-day digital world is the new-fashioned alternative way of accessing software, as opposed to traditional accessing methods like purchasing, loading it unto a device and running it. Saas is the top layer of delivery models of cloud computing. Whereas SaaS products do not require an installation of software on PC. It is platform independent. It offers On-demand network access to shared computing resources.
Saas is excellent for collaborative working attributing to the fact that it is universally accessible from any platform. Managing, storing, and processing data resources pooled together and accessed by multiple clients online via the internet. Examples of SaaS are Google, Microsoft office 365, HR & Helpdesk solutions, salesforce and so on.
It is safe to say that SaaS products are here to stay and the future of the products. But every product has the need to re-invent themselves to keep up the new customer needs and the evolving market. Here are the top five reasons why I think SaaS products need a solid feedback management system to navigate that process:
- For building the correct product roadmap for Saas:
The first strategy to build successful SaaS products is building a product roadmap fully aligned with customers feedback and accommodating new requirements when customer needs might change. Customer success is another main component that should be completely integrated and closely coupled to the SaaS roadmap architecture.
Prompting customers for feedback will contribute more information which can help in shaping the product roadmap. And roadmap should basically find the customer problems and difficulties which your product or product feature is going to solve or ease their pain points.
Developing and launching new SaaS products have become easier than ever before as many platforms like Product hunt, Siftery helps you with creating a market for any quality product. Though marketing is easy, it is crucial to be cautious in selecting your first few clients as they decide the course of your product roadmap for the next few months.
2. To get closest to the customers:
Interact more with your customers. Talk to them to know the clear picture of their requirements, difficulties and thought process. This will empower in building products that effectively meet customer needs and higher customer retention. Make this as a practice as researches have proved that customer retention by 5% can increase success by 25%-95%.
Partner with your first few customers before launching your product so that you can improvise your existing product, fix bugs and add features. Stay connected with your customers even after the sales is done.
Engaging with customers will help you know about their experience with the product so that you can improve the product features and you become more of a partner to your customer than a vendor.
3. Improve Customer experience:
One of the effective ways to improve the customer experience is bridging the gap between the product team and support team. Gather customer usage metrics and analytics to know better about customer experience which is crucial in SaaS customer feedback tool belt.
Act quickly as soon as possible to every feedback you receive. True development is when your customers develop along with you. Being open and transparent helps in gaining the customer’s trust which ultimately leads to better customer experience.
4. Managing Customer feedback contributes to success:
Have Customer feedback focused company culture. Entire company working Collaboratively laser-focused on feedback will eventually make you a successful company. Use the right scalable feedback management tool to effectively collect, organize and extract valuable insights.
Use pools, portals, FAQ’s, surveys and automated tools to make receiving feedback easy and effective. Prioritizing feedback is the most important step in developing a product. You can use features like the upvote to know which feature request or customer requirement needs immediate action and development.
5. To have a long-term relationship with your customers:
If your customers are successful in attaining their objective using your service or product, then they are more likely to have a long-term relationship with your products. Consistently delivering a good customer experience will help in the long run. Give your customers offers, free trials, and discount on your products.
Provide them value, appreciate your customers, thank them for their feedback and create your brand standard. This will help in deepening your connection with your customers and make them keep buying your products. Make your customers happy and that’s how your products and services succeed.
Even if you have less number of customers, effectively focus on their feedback, be responsive, treat them well and deliver high customer experience, as there is a principle called Pareto Principle which states that 80% of your company’s future revenue is based on the 20% of your current customers. So with active listening, caring and valuing your customers you can’t be an irreplaceable SaaS products vendor.
References:
https://www.accenture.com/us-en/new-applied-now
https://www.newvoicemedia.com/blog/the-62-billion-customer-service-scared-away-infographic
*US-based companies
