3. Find alternative streams of revenue.

Most successful SaaS businesses have built a dynamic and focused personal, business-management or vertically focused CRM solution. Companies managing through and after COVID-19 have found, or will need to find, alternative revenue streams. Monetizing and embedding a payment solution within their controlled software experience is an outstanding way to drive additional ARR. – Robert Butler, Payrix

4. Know the roles of the users and buyers.

When you are launching a SaaS version of your product, it looks simple on the outside to just package the same capabilities and features that you may already have into software as a service offering, but what’s often overlooked is how the buyer and user dynamics change. If you are selling a product that’s used by a business (user) and used to be maintained by IT (buyer), you have to rethink their roles. – Ganesh Padmanabhan, Molecula Corp.

5. Enroll customers as design partners.

SaaS companies must provide ongoing value to retain customers. One of the best ways to achieve this is by enrolling superusers as design partners to help inform the product roadmap and test new features. This will create a healthy feedback loop and ensure the look, feel and functionality of the tech stays focused on solving customer pain points. – Evan Kohn, Pypestream

6. Remember that customer experience is key.

SaaS platforms are all about the customer experience. If customers have a bad experience, your product will struggle to gain traction. SaaS platforms require a well-thought-out plan for the infrastructure powering the apps behind the scene. Ensuring that you have adequate infrastructure and automation behind the scenes will ensure a successful launch and delivery of your platform. – Anthony Caiafa, SS&C Technologies, INC

7. Make sure it can scale to match demand.

Launching a successful SaaS product requires the ability to scale the underlying service infrastructure to meet demand. Spending time developing a dynamically scalable platform (using cloud-based computing services, for example) will allow you to match the level of resources required to handle your customers’ needs without spending any more than necessary on infrastructure. – Chris Kirby, Retired

8. Provide long-term value.

SaaS platforms have to solve a challenge, and the value of the product has to make sense over the long term. Too many SaaS companies offer value at below cost to fit a SaaS model, making unsustainable models for both themselves and the customers. SaaS should not be an accounting trick. – Abhinav Somani, Leverton, An MRI Software Company

9. Make constant improvements.

When you build your SaaS solution you must—yes, you must—constantly keep it updated and keep growing the solution. If you leave it stagnant you will lose the power it gives you. I learned this the hard way many years ago, but now our team has dedicated resources and listening parties of users to enact changes to help end-users and end-clients. Always be listening and doing. – Christopher Carter, Approyo

10. Collect and analyze the information you will soon have.

With SaaS, you have insight into every aspect of how your product is being used. Those who plan for this and have the tools to analyze this information will win in the end. Launch your SaaS with built-in measurement and analytics. Insights like feature popularity, frequency and time of use, and user information can transform how you design, deliver and market your offering. – Murli Thirumale, Portworx

11. Don’t compromise security for user experience.

In software, user experience is paramount, but so is security. The recent example of “Zoom bombing” has shown that striking a balance between securing user data and streamlining user experience is a constant struggle, but it doesn’t have to be a trade-off. Don’t let design decisions—even those intended to make it easier to use your software—expose your customers to potential privacy issues. – Danny Kibel, Idaptive

12. Don’t dumb down your product.

Is your product fit to be offered via a SaaS model—i.e., is your business model properly vetted? You shouldn’t be building the SaaS model with the mindset of offering an inferior version of the full-blown product. The self-serve benefits must meet your target audience’s needs. If the audience cannot correctly experience the benefit of your service in a remote format, SaaS may not be right for you. – Kumar Ritesh, CYFIRMA

13. Make it as customizable as possible.

Make sure your SaaS platform is fully customizable and can be easily connected and synchronized with any other system. This will help any possible third-party developers integrate your SaaS solutions into their own systems without having to do additional work. It will make any SaaS platform look more advantageous in the market. – Daria Leshchenko, SupportYourApp Inc.

14. Put customer success first.

You’re primarily building your SaaS product to help customers solve a problem or to fulfill a need, right? So don’t forget about them while you’re building it. Give them the tools and support they need to be successful with it right from the start. Develop a robust onboarding process and the content to help them use it. Hire a customer-success team to support them along their initial journey. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

15. Find the toughest pain point and solve it.

One of the most important things is to sift through customer feedback, identify their toughest pain points and solve them very, very well. Everyone can solve the easy problems. Solving the toughest problem will not only give customers the biggest value, but it will also make it difficult for any competitors to replace you, which is one of the essentials of staying successful in the SaaS business. – Ike Kavas, Ephesoft

16. Always keep adding features.

New features and upgrades are the keys to a successful product. The market evolves and people’s needs change—keeping that mind is very critical to ensuring continuity of the customer revenue stream. – Bhavna Juneja, Infinity, a Stamford Technology Company