SaaS products are all the craze now. The popularity of services like Netflix, Google Workspace, and SalesForce can attest to that. It also means SaaS designers are in great demand. But what is SaaS Product design?
The process starts with target audience research and setting SaaS design goals accordingly. Then the designer implements a Tech Stack and Design Architecture specific to their goals. Next is UI design, and finally, testing the application.
Thinking about becoming a SaaS designer? Wondering how it is different from designing normal software? Find answers to all those queries.
What Is a SaaS Product?
SaaS means Software as a Service. Traditionally, companies that use software have to buy and own it. In contrast, the SaaS model doesn’t require buying or owning the software. Instead, you become its subscriber.
The SaaS provider hosts the applications. And the subscribers can access and use them via the internet. As a result, the users don’t have to bother with things like hardware and infrastructure maintenance.
If it weren’t for SaaS, most companies couldn’t use the numerous business applications that increase their workplace productivity.
Only the wealthiest companies might have been able to afford business applications. However, they would have to dedicate large budgets and manpower for the upkeeping of the software and its tech infrastructure.
What Is SaaS Product Design and What are the Challenges?
Designing a SaaS product is far more difficult than developing a simple mobile app. The app developer’s job mostly ends once enough people have downloaded the software on their phones.
Meanwhile, acquiring many subscriptions is only the beginning for the SaaS provider. If your service isn’t good, you will likely lose your business in the next month.
A SaaS product designer has to encounter some major challenges –
- Highly complex and specialized cloud management
- Heightened data security measures due to SaaS products’ multi-tenancy nature.
- Ensuring the integration with third-party software.
- Consistent innovation to fulfill the constant new demands of users and the corporate world.
- Ensuring ease of use and addition of complex features simultaneously.
- A robust expensive tech infrastructure that can handle the demands of a growing subscriber base and recover from disasters.
How to Design Your SaaS Product in 4 Simple Steps?
The secret to designing a successful SaaS Product design is taking a disciplined and step-by-step approach.
It starts with doing market research to set your design goals. Next comes deciding on the tech stack, designing a friendly interface and testing the product. Let’s explore the steps in more detail –
Step 1: Research Your Users and Competitors
You are designing a SaaS product because you believe in two things. Firstly, there is a group of people who need the product. That’s your target audience. Secondly, you will be offering something that no one else can.
Creating SaaS User Personas
Try to learn as much as possible about the people who need your SaaS product.
Don’t just speculate on the needs of this target audience. Instead, use secondary data sources and surveys to determine their specific demands.
Once you learn about your audience, create SaaS user personas and user stories. This will help you to see your SaaS product through the eyes of your audience and ensure user-friendliness.
Creating Unique Value
Find out how many of the SaaS audience’s needs your competitors or existing products are fulfilling. Do a web search and spend some time on the SaaS review websites to get some ideas.
You will find there are recurring demands, suggestions and complaints from reviewers and readers about your competitors’ products. Those are the solutions your SaaS product should provide.
Step 2: Deciding on Tech Stack and Architecture
You will choose the tech stack and architecture for your SaaS design depending on your design goals. Your budget for the SaaS product is also a crucial factor here.
SaaS Tech Stack
The Tech Stack is a collection of coding languages, frameworks, databases and libraries that help you build and run the complex functionalities of the SaaS product.
Meanwhile, the architecture defines how the components of the tech stack interact with one another.
Some common tech stacks used in SaaS are MEAN, LAMP, Python-Django, etc. Among them, Python-Django is preferred by most SaaS designers who need to build a product with complex functionalities.
Architecture for SaaS Design
For SaaS architecture, there are three options- Monolithic, Microserver and Serverless.
Monolithic architecture binds all the components into one single directory. Therefore, it limits your ability to update the SaaS product frequently.
The preferable architecture for complex SaaS products is Microservice. All the components of this architecture are independently deployable. Thus, it permits greater scalability and flexibility.
However, you would need Serverless architecture if you are designing a SaaS product that would deal with unpredictable workloads.
This is a cloud-based model which requires no direct contact with an underlying server to design and run the applications.
Step 3: Design UX/UI Optimized User Interface
Designing the User Interface of a SaaS product is tricky. You can’t compromise the simplicity of the interface despite the complex functionalities you will keep adding.
Simplicity and Consistency
Remember that your product’s success depends mainly on the quality of the User Interface. If the subscribers don’t find the interface easy and interactive, they will start looking for other services.
The User Interface needs to be coherent and consistent. You must also ensure that it properly fits with the screen width of different devices. There are UI wizards and mock-up tools that can help you with the process.
Sketching and Prototyping
Wireframes or sketches are an excellent way to visualize your SaaS interface. They help define the possible hierarchy and flow of content in the final product. It also helps you communicate your ideas to your team.
Meanwhile, mock-ups can help you define UI details like icons, typography, color scheme, etc.
Finally, create Prototypes for the user interface and the SaaS user persona to evaluate it. You can also use social media to bring in real users to test the prototypes.
Step 4: Testing Your SaaS Product
To ensure you are launching a valid product, you must conduct several tests before the launch. You will test the functionality of each component, security, integration, etc.
Plus, you should do unit testing to check how the components (units of code) perform in isolation. Some designers prefer to do it manually. However, tools like TestNG and JUnit can automate the process.
Next, you must confirm that the components also work well when in combination. This is integration testing. The interaction between the components of your SaaS product needs to be consistent.
Lastly, there’s security testing. This is of utmost importance since SaaS is always at greater risk for data breaches due to the participation of multiple users.
Encryption testing and vulnerability scanning can help you evaluate the security of your SaaS application.
How to Successfully Launch a SaaS Product?
Once you are done building your SaaS product, you enter another complicated phase- the launch.
Every day new SaaS solutions are entering the scene. Not only do they have innovative designs, but they are also pretty aggressive with their marketing.
Therefore, you must start with a well-defined Go-To-Market strategy. Next, create a buzz about your product and prepare for onboarding.
Step 1: Go to Market Strategy
You should have a comprehensive plan that defines every step of the marketing journey. It’s known as the Go-To-Market strategy. This planning helps you keep everything disciplined in the chaotic launch phase.
The first thing is to create a unique value proposition. In other words, a simple and direct explanation of what the SaaS product offers the target customers that existing services don’t.
Your value proposition answers the question, ‘Why would someone buy your SaaS product.’ And it will be the recurring theme of all your ads, social media posts, website landing pages, etc.
Next, determine the pricing and distribution strategy. Be ready to communicate the reasons for the service charges. Especially if your service costs are higher than your competitors.
Step 2: Design a UI/UX Optimized Landing Page
Your landing page is the equivalent of a shop where people subscribe to SaaS subscriptions. An interactive and user-friendly service page will turn a greater percentage of visitors into paying customers.
Use attractive and prominent fonts to create headlines and text describing your product. Crafting a compelling copy is mandatory in this case. Be persuasive and to the point.
Images and other visual elements can greatly increase the appeal of the landing page. Good loading speed, screen compatibility, and easy navigation are mandatory.
The most crucial elements of your SaaS landing page are the call-to-action buttons. Such as ‘Sign up,’ ‘Register,’ ‘Start Your Free Trial’ or ‘Request Demo.’ They should be eye-catching and responsive.
Step 3: Select Marketing Channels
You can develop new and innovative ways to market the SaaS product. Still, there are a few marketing staples you can’t avoid.
The first one is your website. This is where most people will reach your product’s landing page. So, create an attractive SEO-optimized website. Enrich your website with informative content on SaaS.
You can’t imagine marketing a product these days without social media engagement. So, share your web content on social media platforms to drive the online crowd toward your website.
Your primary focus should be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), Youtube, and Instagram. Use posts, pages, videos, and ads to engage people.
Lastly, list your SaaS product on Startup Discovery Platforms. Examples include Beta List, Product Hunt, Alternative To, etc. The comments and upvotes of these platforms’ users are valuable and helpful feedback.
Tips for On-Boarding and Retaining SaaS Customers
Retaining your SaaS subscribers for the long term is quite difficult. Therefore, you must ensure smooth onboarding. Here are a few tips to do it –
- Use simple forms and social login options to make the sign-up process as simple as possible.
- Implement user groups (based on their experience with SaaS products and their goals) to create a segmented onboarding process.
- Create tutorials, checklists, and videos for the onboarding process.
- Gamify the activities so users have fun learning to use the SaaS application.
- Use interactive walkthrough guides to educate the user on the main features and functionalities of the product. Don’t bombard the client with information.
- Add tips and explanations for essential and unfamiliar elements.
- Offer loyalty rewards to increase retention.
- Collect ratings, reviews, and other feedback to make constant improvements.
- Use analytic tools to create reports on customer behavior and generate insights.
- Have a responsive 24/7 support service.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you now understand what is SaaS product design. The process is challenging and demands proper planning and research.
However, designing a SaaS product can be very rewarding for you. Forecasts say the SaaS industry will grow by 20% in 2023, become a $591 billion industry, and maintain a steady rate up to 2030. That’s all for this discussion. Share the knowledge with the world to help other aspiring SaaS developers. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get more content like this.
