In the third webinar of our collaborative webinar series with Lighter Capital, we examined the ways you can build SaaS products that scale. So you’ve brought your product to market. How do you understand where you’re losing people, and what’s making your best customers come back? Dustin Bruzenak, Chip Pedersen, and Jim Moar share their expert opinion.
Prioritize the People
In this stage, remember: the first goal is not to make money. The first goal is learning. What are you doing right? What are you doing wrong? Who’s your customer?
Dustin says, “So many companies we work with have a techie as a founder, and sales isn’t their experience. Just be inquisitive, and ask open ended questions. Don’t be the one talking 80% of the time about your features and functions. Let the customer talk 80% of the time, and really see how they use the product you offer. Ask for testimonials, even if anonymous, with a focus on your value proposition.”
He continues,
“I know many founders who feel a sense of shyness about talking to their customers. Some are afraid that, in the process, they’ll reveal things about their product plans to competitors. That’s not a realistic worry. What will really spook you is finding out that consumers don’t like the product.”
Use Analytics To Your Advantage
Chip’s extensive experience working in the gaming industry has given him a strong appreciation for analytics. He tells us, “When I worked at a 25 person startup, we had people come in for free pizza to play the games. However, customers do lie. They tell you what you want to hear. That’s why analytics are so great. They tell you how many people log in, where they’re going, whether they stick around. I strongly encourage building analytics into whatever you do.”
Don’t Let Onboarding Be a Bottleneck
“We always track where people are dropping off in the funnel,” says Chip, “and we’ve concluded that the least amount of onboarding possible is best.”
Dustin agrees. “Shave off as much onboarding as possible. Every extra onboarding screen you throw up can drop retention by the double digits. The best onboarding: none at all.”
Free tiers can be an easy way to catch customers early. Ask yourself, “What is the moment that catches people, where they end up coming back?” Identify the moment, and reproduce it as early as possible in the app. Analytics will tell you when and where that happens.
Stay tuned for part 3 of our panel recap!