If you are satisfying a real market need better than your competitors and people are showing a lot of interest in your product, you will eventually need to consider how you can take your business to the next level. Growth without purpose or forethought can not only hurt, but it can also sink a business. With that in mind, below are some of the important growth and expansion decisions that all SaaS businesses must make.
Hiring a/More QA(s)
If you don’t already have a QA on your team, one of the advantages of having one or more overseeing your development is that your projects and products get a new viewpoint from someone who understands what customers want. When your developers look at an app, they see views and features created by combining JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code. Many devs struggle to envision the end-user actually sitting in front of their screen looking at the finished product.
QAs have the advantage of seeing things through the eyes of your customers, ensuring that everything is useful and feasible. They are great at finding edge-cases and add value by asking questions such as “what if a user types an emoji inside the ‘Name’ field?”. These are the kinds of people you want on your team, and you further perfect your product and incorporate a greater amount of user feedback.
Increased Digital Marketing
The adage that you have to spend money to make money essentially defines marketing. In order to reach a wider audience and get your product in front of more potential users, you need to invest in the mediums of communication people use. Do you currently use any of the existing social media platforms? It’s critical that you use the ones you believe will be the most profitable for your company. Do you have the time to manage your social media marketing while you grow? If not, a dedicated social media marketer or automation-assisted posting software might be necessay.
What about your content marketing? New content, including video and text, should form the basis of your digital marketing if you’re a SaaS provider. Do you have the time or inclination to take this on yourself, or would you be better-served outsourcing? Do you have the equipment required to shoot and edit professional-looking video content like tutorials and demos? Video content in particular is of the utmost importance for SaaS companies.
Higher Labor Costs
Bringing on the right people is one of the most vital tasks of any business. Good hires will do a good job, come up with fresh ideas, and assist you in creating a positive business culture that can be passed on to new employees.
You don’t want to hire individuals who are only there to do the bare minimum, who don’t care about quality, or who don’t get along with other employees for your SaaS company. Hiring quality people that will help you expand your business takes time and money.
More Working Capital
Growth happens in stages. At different milestones, there are different capital needs. You might need more money to hire additional employees with specializations and experience your company currently lacks. Or, you may need to invest in new equipment, education for key employees, or perhaps start paying for physical office space. Maybe you are now at the point where it makes sense to outsource payroll or consider opening up another office in another state or region.
All of these moves are dependent on having enough working capital to make them a reality, and access to that capital is key. Unfortunately, your cash flow alone might not be enough to fund everything you need to do or buy to progress to the next stage. This is why knowing how and where you are going to secure new capital is one of the most important growth considerations.
Conclusion
As you onboard more and more users and your content and other marketing strategies start bringing an increasing number of new users into your sales funnel, converting them into paying customers, you will need to consider what must be done to grow effectively and sustainably. Haphazard growth is almost guaranteed to pose major problems. Keep the above growth decisions in mind and ensure that you expand your SaaS business with intent and vision.