Are you thrilled by the idea of revenue increasing proportionally to the number of users joining your service? Then, you should seriously consider building a SaaS product as it’s precisely how it works.
So, what is a SaaS model? In plain terms, it can be any web-based service that you can use in exchange for paying the monthly subscription fee. Think of Netflix, Shopify, or Google Analytics to come up with SaaS application examples quickly. Though they’re worlds apart in terms of what they sell, they share the same business model, which nowadays claims its status due to cost-effectiveness, flexibility, quick setup, and easy updates.
To prove the popularity of SaaS product development, have a look at the recent Statista findings:
As you can see from the diagram, the SaaS market is steadily growing from year to year, with the expectation of earning $232 billion in 2024. Considering this, SaaS is a great business model that allows generating revenue by giving users online access to the cloud-hosted product. Today, we’ll talk about how to build a SaaS business from scratch, so get ready and read further.
Types of SaaS products
Well, now you have an idea of what is a SaaS product, but it’s time to dive deeper. The table below will help you to see the difference and visualize which type of SaaS you need to reach the end customers.
Do you have a clue what type of SaaS you’re interested in? Hope, yes, as we suggest moving forward to the SaaS implementation process.
Build a SaaS product step-by-step
When you think of how to build software from scratch, it’s natural that you need an expert’s guidance to move through the development stages with confidence. But worry not, as we’ve prepared a step-by-step guide for you to follow. Check it out!
Market research
To create a SaaS product, the first thing you need to do is a grounded investigation of the market. It includes understanding your major competitors, comparing their products with yours, identifying current trends and the uncovered needs of the target audience. Stop on the latter separately, digging into the end users’ pains through surveys and reviews and realizing how to solve them with your software.
Business plan
Before developing a SaaS application, you also need to take time for well-structured business planning. Your efforts will end up with the document that features the company’s mission, vision, values, and the product’s features. Moreover, your business plan should include financial projections (funding and profitability estimates), a clear marketing strategy (content production, SEO, sales channels), and a risk analysis (with a plan to overcome the possible interventions).
UI/UX design: Wireframes and prototyping
After you’ve clarified the idea of the future software, you can move to the SaaS product design stage, which means engaging UI and UX designers to translate your idea into the visual format. Usually, the primary version of the SaaS application design finds its embodiment in wireframes—a schematic description of the software structure you’re building. It also shows the essential functions and actions to be taken by the user. After that, comes prototyping—a seamless user journey on different devices. This visualization allows checking your expectations before the development starts.
Architecture design
To create a SaaS application, you’re to consider SaaS architecture carefully. This choice will influence the number of users your platform will be able to host and serve. The more voluminous the user base is, the more significant architecture becomes, especially if you don’t want your product to be interrupted with bugs or slowdowns, and wish to prevent losing your customers. As SaaS solutions are cloud-based, your choice will likely vary between Amazon Web Services, Azure, or Oracle.
Development & testing
If you diligently come through the previous SaaS software development stages, you’re finally ready to build a SaaS product. Our suggestion is to create an MVP first, test the waters, and then add more features to the product. This steady development will safeguard your investments and will drive you to the right business choice after the user feedback is collected and analyzed. Besides, the QA team will do their bit by polishing the product performance after manual and automated testing. All in all, this approach will ensure your product is built per documentation and meets compliance standards.
Deployment & release
After your product is well-tested and some issues are fixed if needed, it’s time to move to deployment—installing the software product on a hosted environment before it gets available to the end users (release). It’s usually done by a third-party SaaS provider, so your part is to check the application performance, monitor the first sales, collect feedback from the first users, and then launch massive sales.
Rely on Patternica's expertise in building SaaS product
Now, after reading our article, it should be crystal clear how to create a SaaS product stage-by-stage. Implement our tips and hire professional SaaS application developers to have your product idea a go. Our team can solve this hiring task for you as we’ve got dedicated teams to build your SaaS solution from A to Z. Contact us to discuss your project!