The creation of new SaaS startups challenging in a brutal market. However, if executed correctly, the end result may be rewarded. However, in this process, we make mistakes and miscalculations are almost zero tolerance. This article will explain when and how to expand SaaS start, while avoiding common pitfalls.
Do not expand too early
When you're not ready, do not expand prematurely. If you are still in any of the following stage, stop immediately. Before you consider expansion, go back to work and get top ten customers. Let's look at these preparatory stages:
· Market Validation: You find a niche solution for the problem. You have to share their own ideas, and people are willing to pay for your solution. awesome! You've verified your market, so it is time to build up your MVP.
· MVP complete: you have built a minimum viable product for your solution. Now get testers, feedback and paying customers right away. Find your marketing channels, and run your initial marketing campaign to get testers.
· Paying customers: You need at least ten paying customers are using your software. Now you can begin to consider ways to improve and expand your SaaS product.
If you have completed these stages, congratulations! You can now start the initial SaaS expansion process. Otherwise, you need to personally complete all of the above operations, including customer support, application deployment, billing. You need to continue to do these things until you verify your market and get paying customers.
Gradually expanded
to SaaS start-up companies, we will expand as a gradual process is essential. I witnessed a lot of start-up companies in the fantasy life, hope their software will be as diffuse as the virus overnight. They devoted time and resources for their "important moment" to prepare, but that moment never happen, even in magic or special circumstances, it will not meet your expectations. I was in the rough only aware of it.
Extended process is gradual. Do not immediately extended to your entire business, unless it is time that you really need. Each expansion phase will cost you time and resources, it is best to prioritize your needs and expand accordingly.
In ServiceBot, when we are seeking to expand SaaS business, we usually for three, billing, customer relationship and cloud infrastructures. And every respect to different features of your SaaS business goal. You decide to extend the order depends on your current customer feedback and operational channels, depending on your current needs, your customers may talk to you more than others. Let's look at these aspects.
Extended Settlement: automatic billing and get paid faster
most companies use SaaS subscription billing model. If you take the time to send handwritten invoices and reminders to customers, if you manually track free trial, and did not provide a layered SaaS product, you may need to start expansion billing system.
Extended settlement process depends on your billing structure. However, any SaaS services can implement some of the same improvements to expand the scale of its accounting:
* Tiered pricing: You may have started using single-product (a good way to get started). But with the growth of the customer base, you will find that you need to provide a greater variety of software. Further comprising a tiered pricing function with additional pricing at checkout.
Automatic Settlement: each billing cycle automatically charged to the customer. This will save you the monthly accounting team effort. Automatic billing and your goal is to provide customers with fast, efficient and transparent payment processes.
* Free Trial: One of the most common methods SaaS company is to attract customers through a free trial. This feature is more complicated than it looks. Your free trial system should notify the user when the trial period is about to expire, automatically charge customers after the end of the trial period. If the customer decides not to extend the trial period, the software is automatically deactivated.
Other functions such as providing customers with refunds and credits, which can also result in additional costs of running software, and provide customers with the power to approve payment.
Extended CRM: closer to your customers
You may have already started using customer relationship management system to manage all customers. But further than CRM customer management. Your relationship with customers from the next day they log on to your site will set down. If you do not collect enough data user, then you will lose customers.
After ready to expand customer relations system, we need to consider some common features:
· User Management: Your customer data may be scattered across multiple applications. For example, the customer personal data, billing information and interaction history. To expand the customer management system, first consider access to all user data from a central platform.
· Instant Support: You do not want to let your customers waiting for an answer. Customers have become accustomed to immediate answers, they also have business on your same expectations. This feature real-time chat system into your SaaS platform. Therefore, your customers can contact you from any location of your product.
· Knowledge: With the growth of customer base, you will receive more questions about the product usage guidelines. Expand the knowledge base system allows you to create a central repository for documents, you can use it when there is a problem to redirect customers. With the expansion of company size, the preparation of the document is always a good practice.
Extend your CRM system can help you increase your conversion rate.
Scale deployment: automatic deployment
Extended deployment requires proper planning and architecture. At this stage, you will add automatically deploy the system. Customers do not need any manual operation can immediately access your software.
To automate the deployment and expansion of the system, you should consider the following steps:
· Container of application: You might start thinking about application deployment. But you must make sure your software is containerized. Docker is the industry standard containerized applications.
· Cloud Management: Once your application is containerized, you can use cloud management software. For example, Kubernetes. This will automate your deployment, automatically stretch / shrink and manage your cloud resources.
· CI / CD: CI / CD is a continuous integration / acronym sustained deployment. CI / CD is a modern strategy, your client software can continue to develop, repair, test and release new versions. With your extension, CI / CD will become the core of your SaaS process. Large companies do so can minimize maintenance and maximize innovation and increase revenue.
Conclusions
until you have collected all the needs and understanding of the full range of SaaS-scale process, please do not start to expand. You need to give yourself enough time to expand, because when developing a hurry, no software can work, and to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure before development.
Original author: Shar Darafsheh
original link: The best way to scale and deliver your SaaS startup
Translator: MadPecker
I venture team product MadPecker, mainly to do BUG management, test management, application distribution a friend in need are welcome to try, to experience!
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