5 Ways to Increase The Business Value of Your SaaS Platform

The software as a service (SaaS) sector is thriving, with SaaS spend seeing a 33% surge from 2021 to 2023 alone.¹  However, this has also made the industry highly competitive. In fact, the US market is now home to around 17,000 SaaS brands.²  

To stand out and succeed in the marketplace, SaaS platforms can focus on two primary avenues: attracting new customers and maximizing value for existing ones. 

Consider these five strategies to elevate your SaaS platform's value, ensuring heightened customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and consistent growth.

#1 Understand Your Customer’s Pain Points 

Every SaaS platform aims to solve a problem. Understanding and addressing the intricacies of these problems—i.e., customer pain points—can benefit the brand and its customers in several ways:

• Customer-centric solutions – As customers see their needs addressed, satisfaction and retention rates follow, building more predictable revenue streams.

• Strengthened brand image – Resolving industry challenges cements a brand's reputation as responsive and customer-centric, boosting customer acquisition and retention.

• Improved user experience – Understanding and leveraging customer feedback informs product improvement, building platform value through data-driven decisions. 

For example, if your customers find it inconvenient to leave your platform just to register a domain, you might consider integrating domain reselling directly into your service. This integration transforms your platform into a one-stop solution that caters to customer needs from inception to completion.

#2 Differentiate Your Product Through Customization

Personalized touchpoints empower customers to shape their experience, separating your SaaS platform from the crowd. Customization options might include:

• On-brand themes
• Adaptive layouts
• Relevant dashboards
• Role-specific customizations

Continuing with the domain reselling example, integrating a custom API can enable your platform to offer a configurable user interface. This integration simplifies the domain registration process and taps into a registrar's backend services, forming a cohesive experience.

#3 Develop a Comprehensive Pricing Strategy

To unlock your platform’s full potential, delve into these critical considerations for devising an all-encompassing pricing strategy.

Market Research and Analysis

Solid pricing strategies are best anchored in equally solid data. Consider a three-step approach to market research:

1. Perform a competitive analysis – Delve into competitors' pricing to identify industry benchmarks and trends.

2. Segmentate your customers – Categorize your customer base to discern needs and payment capacities.

3. Calculate value-based pricing – Utilizing the previous two data points, determine the perceived value of your SaaS across customer segments.

A systematic approach facilitates informed decisions, establishing a foundation for versatile payment models.

Tiered Pricing Models

To effectively engage specific customer segments, many brands utilize distinct tiers for features and services.

When developing tiered pricing models, ensure tier features are: 

1. Clearly defined
2. Easily upgradeable or customizable

This enables customers to choose components that best match their needs—appealing to a broader spectrum of your target audience.

Subscription Models and Billing Cycles

Subscriptions are the lifeblood of SaaS, ensuring customer variety and consistent revenue for brands. 

Subscription models generally fall under two categories: 

• Time-based – Subscriptions renew at regular intervals, be it monthly, annually, or otherwise.

• Usage-based – Subscription prices are based on the usage or consumption of the service.

Optimizing revenue from these models requires a range of offerings to meet the varied needs of your customer base. Integrating promotions, discounts, and exclusive deals can act as a catalyst, encouraging commitment to longer subscription durations.

Free Trials and Freemium Models

A trial offer often leads to a full-course commitment, a strategy generally accomplished through two methods:

• Free trials, which grant prospects a limited-time experience of your product's full range of offerings.

• Freemium models, which present a basic free version of your services, setting the stage to upsell enriched premium versions.

Consider again the integration of domain reselling by many SaaS platforms. By packaging domains with premium features, free users are more likely to transition into paying members—enhancing both user value and revenue streams.

#4 Invest in Content Creation

Content serves as the link between your platform and your customers, and there are key ways you can craft this powerful connection. A few examples include: 

Create High Quality Content 

Develop insightful, value-driven content that aligns with customer needs, such as:

• Blog articles
• How-to guides
• Whitepapers
• Videos
• Infographics 

Consistent, high-quality content fortifies trust, positioning you as a long-term partner in your customer’s journey. 

Such content can also inform and train customers, boosting engagement and potentially reducing brand-harmful negative customer experiences.

Promote Content via Various Channels

From emails to paid and organic social, diversifying content distribution channels can accelerate your platform’s growth.

In addition to implementing cross-channel strategies, consider partnering with channel leads to amplify your content’s reach and resonance. Gauge success using metrics like: 

• Assisted revenue
• Click-through rates
• User engagement

Insights gained can then be used to refine future promotional strategies.

#5 Implement a Customer Retention Strategy

New customers boost short-term revenue, but retaining them encourages long-term growth.

Here’s a roadmap to fortifying your retention strategy: 

• Anticipate – Stay ahead by anticipating—and swiftly addressing—customer challenges. 

• Analyze – Monitor retention metrics, churn risks, and the effectiveness of your strategic initiatives.

• Refine – Leverage analytical insights to drive product enhancements and improve customer experiences.

• Communicate – Foster brand loyalty via genuine, consistent communication.

Integrating services such as domain registration, web hosting, or email hosting allows your platform to become a more comprehensive solution, enhancing overall customer value. These enriched experiences command a premium, with customers statistically willing to pay 13% to 18% more for superior service.³

Moreover, this integration positions you in front of 60 million potential domain shoppers every month—capturing maximum deal momentum and making customers less inclined to explore alternatives.⁴

Amplify Your SaaS Platform with Domain Reselling

Domain reselling isn't just a potential revenue boost. It's a strategic enhancement that complements each of these five strategies. 

Choosing to become a Domain Reseller via Name.com, an Identity Digital company, paves the way to bolster your brand's value proposition—amplifying the power of your SaaS platform in three key areas.

Diversified Revenue Streams

Partnering with Name.com as a domain reseller introduces a lucrative revenue channel. Benefit from commissions on both domain sales and renewals.

Service Value

Offering domain registration and management within your SaaS platform boosts its intrinsic value. This convenience also differentiates you from competitors, attracts new customers, and helps to retain current ones.

Brand Integration

Integrating domain registration seamlessly into your platform ensures a consistent and branded customer journey. Then, you can further simplify domain management tasks with Name.com’s intuitive tools and interface, facilitating effortless registration, transfers, and renewals.

Seize the Future of SaaS

As SaaS evolves, so does the need for value-driven solutions to sharpen your competitive edge, retain customer loyalty, and develop forward-thinking expansion. Fortunately, by adopting customer-centric strategies, strong SaaS platforms need not simply survive—they can truly thrive.

If you’re interested in elevating your SaaS platform and seeing your brand thrive, contact the team at Name.com, an Identity Digital company, to learn more about the value and power of domain reselling.

‍

Sources: 

₁ Gartner. Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud End-User Spending to Reach Nearly $600 Billion in 2023. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-10-31-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-end-user-spending-to-reach-nearly-600-billion-in-2023 

² Cake.com. Future of SaaS: Key trends and predictions from industry experts. https://cake.com/empowered-team/future-of-saas-key-trends-and-predictions-from-industry-experts/ 

³ G2. 50+ Customer Data Statistics for Successful Marketing Plans. https://www.g2.com/articles/customer-data-statistics 

⁴ Comscore Media Metrix Data May, June and July 2023