Development of SaaS Apps: A Comprehensive Guide

If you are preparing to construct a SaaS app, you have already taken the first step towards business growth. SaaS has evolved over the last several years from what it was a decade ago and has become a popular method of delivering software.

According to Statista’s most recent survey, the investment in the SaaS market was valued at 152.18 billion USD in 2021 and is anticipated to increase to almost 208.1 billion USD by 2023 at a CAGR of 6.46%.

At the same time, developing a SaaS software needs planning, research, and a thorough how-to manual. You will discover all the information required to build a successful SaaS application in this book. Let’s start from square one.

What is a SaaS Application?

Software as a service, or SaaS, is a web-based application that is very dissimilar from traditional applications. Due to its subscription-based functionality, you may use it on any web browser as long as you have an online connection without having to install it locally on your device.

Market Overview of the SaaS App

The proliferation of the SaaS model across the globe is indeed notable. About a decade ago, the concept of SaaS was not much appreciated and now it’s gaining traction and absorbing the market and how. Here are certain stats that are a testament to the same:

Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium are predicted to each produce between €1.6 billion and €4.1 billion by 2025, making them three of the top five SaaS European market revenue countries, according to a Statista analysis.
In 2023, the SaaS market in Japan is expected to be worth more than 1.5 billion.
By 2026, public cloud investment is expected to account for more than 45% of all commercial IT spending, according to Gartner.

Why is SaaS App the Key to Rapid Business Growth?

As you know, SaaS offers many reasons for businesses to have dedicated SaaS solutions. To put some more emphasis on it, we have listed a few benefits of developing a SaaS application for your business:

• Seamless availability
• Expand and integrate in accordance with your needs
• Enhanced Security
• Market Size

Learn How to Build a SaaS App Step-By-Step

1. Plan, Research, and Analyze

Well, the foundation of every new step taken to create anything new is planning and research. You should constantly provide your best effort because you want the results to be even greater, thus careful planning and research are required.

The essence of this essay is that the creation of SaaS apps always depends on cutting-edge technology like AI, ML, DL, and other new ones. Therefore, you need to keep an eye on technology for your app.

Additionally, you need to keep an eye on your rivals’ SaaS application development processes and the technology they employed. You will be skilled at coming up with original ideas during the discovery phase and during the competitive analysis. You can also improve your application’s results by examining the weak parts of your competitors.

2. Decide your App Monetization Model

Before starting the process of constructing your SaaS service, choosing your SaaS app’s monetization is crucial.

The architecture and functionalities of your app will ultimately be implemented by the revenue model. So selecting an app monetization strategy is really essential. You may choose the best income strategy by being aware of the needs of your audience. Here are 3 tried-and-true app models you need to be aware of:

• Selling fees and transaction fees
• the freemium design
• In-app advertising

3. Application Design

When it comes to SaaS apps, they are known for their flexible working model which only requires internet connectivity to be worked. But they should be designed in such a way that drives users to go through these apps. You need to think about the user interface and user experience which is UI and UX for better results.

SaaS applications work on both desktops and mobile devices, so the design has to be responsive so that the user conveniently explores the same, be it any device. All you need to do is to keep users’ convenience in mind and get the SaaS app designed accordingly.

4. Decide on a Cloud Infrastructure Provider

Your app needs a reliable cloud infrastructure provider in order to be accessible to users while protecting their data.

The foundation of your app is its cloud infrastructure, therefore do thorough research to find the finest provider. The effectiveness of your app depends on the effectiveness of its cloud infrastructure.

Choose the cloud service provider that delivers an A-1 level of scalability, stability, and performance and that is qualified to support third-party integrations because that is where your SaaS platform will run.

5. Select the App’s Technology Stack

The technology stack for the app should be chosen carefully; it should include backend, frontend, backend storage database, and an application server technologies.

Developers typically employ Ruby, Python, JavaScript, PHP, and the corresponding frameworks for server-side SaaS applications.

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript frameworks like VueJS and Angular are typically utilised in frontend SaaS apps.

SaaS software developers frequently employ databases like MySQL, MongoDB, or PostgreSQL for the backend language storage.

The scope of your project, the state of technology, and interconnections with external systems are the most crucial factors to consider when choosing the technology stack.

6. Create the MVP

The term “minimum viable product,” or “MVP,” refers to a SaaS application that is just a trial version with a few basic functionalities to show your audience how it functions.

When creating an MVP, you shouldn’t invest a lot of money. Since the goal of constructing it is to understand how the market is interacting and acting with your product, it should be constructed on a shoestring budget.

You can avoid later calibration by releasing the MVP of your product to the market first; if the response is somewhat different from what you anticipated, you still have time to adjust.

7. Begin the Process of Development

You are ready to begin app development as soon as you have heard from the T.G, which is the target audience. You can now alter your performance and improvise in order to match the tempo with the audience’s preference.

Maintaining regular communication with the development team will help to guarantee that you and they have the same understanding of the features and other aspects of the app.

Maintaining effective marketing techniques also enables you to connect with your devoted users and share in the success of your SaaS software.

8. App Maintenance and Further Development

After the QA team has given its inputs and all the revisions have been done, the app is now all set to be launched. Remember, this is not where it comes to cease.

An app; be it SaaS or a traditional app, calls for regular maintenance and upgrades to take care of users’ convenience and to keep a check with current trends. You need to ensure to launch the regular updates of your apps to offer more value to your users.

Challenges you will face while developing your SaaS app

Here are the top challenges that businesses face frequently while the process of SaaS app development:

1. Custom third-party integration

Payment functionality is a pretty important aspect of every SaaS product. This very feature allows users to make subscription payments or perform monetization or pricing-related activities.

If we talk about the challenge in the payment functionality, the integration can be challenging, as technical requirements are quite complex.

General payment solutions that are integrated into SaaS platforms are Stripe, PayPal, QuickPay, Braintree, and Skrill. But as the complexity is the issue, each of those payment platforms has API documentation that helps users with the implementation process.

2. Maintaining the security of the database

SaaS apps offer you the simplicity of only need an internet connection and have access to a tonne of sensitive information almost from any device. This convenience alone could occasionally result in a loss due to hacking.

You can overcome this difficulty by using SSL and TLS, the industry-standard security protocols, to encrypt user-to-server and user-to-user connections. This still does not constitute a reliable security measure.

Many nations are beginning to enact regulations to regulate platform management and development procedures in order to provide 100% security. The best illustration is HIPAA compliance for software used in American healthcare.

3.  The issue of zero downtime deployment

Businesses should take care of updating regularly. As the drawback of not taking care of this aspect is the system might not be fully accessible to the user, is when a new system version is released.

Hiring an efficient development team can help you solve this issue. While the deployment process, the service is fully responsive and continues to be that way.

The previous version of the software is called the blue environment, while the newer version is the green environment. This is why the approach named as no-downtime strategy is a blue-green approach.

4. The system should be customized

The system’s customization is one of the most crucial factors to be taken into account. all the way up to the underpinning system layers, including the interface.

Customization is always carried out in accordance with client specifications or user preferences. Such needs could be tedious to handle, but if they are developed and managed in a lean and agile way, the system would ultimately benefit.

Mistakes to Avoid While Creating a SaaS App

Now that you have mastered the process of creating the SaaS app, you also need to learn more to make it more refined and logical. Here are certain mistakes you should avoid while SaaS app development:

1.  Randomly Deciding the Price of your SaaS App

Deciding on the price of your SaaS app is yet another toilsome step but pretty crucial. Deciding on the price requires the following things to be done:

• Analyzing relevant products
• Learn the drawbacks and advantages of the different SaaS pricing models
• Calculate the ROI of the customer value
• Determine your position in the market
• Select your pricing metrics
• Examine the customer journey and decide on their approx lifetime value

2. Not Paying Attention to Customers’ Feedback

In order to keep yourself on the top of the game, you need to be on the top of your customers’ list. After all, whom have you created this product for? Your customers, right? Working out on customers’ queries is something you should consider on a prior note.

If you want regular feedback from them, here are the tips you need to learn:

• Try to have a conversation often
• Use scalable and easy-to-use channels for effective communication
• Ask them to give you feedback and help them understand that you value them
• Leverage usage metrics and analytics
• Monitor your channels and keep a check on third-party review platforms, too

3. Not Rendering a Tutorial for Using your App

When you are creating the SaaS app, try to consider every facet of issues that customers are most likely to have. Many people could be interested in your product but they are not able to onboard them.

Helping them with tutorials in multiple formats like blogs, videos, and ebooks shows how much you value them and also saves you from using your valuable users.

Try to keep it simple and easy to understand so that customers do not find any trouble having onboarded.

4. Considering Referrals Frivolous

Marketing is more than merely carrying out the above-mentioned procedures; if you want to be your users’ first choice, get to know them inside and out. According to human psychology, we place greater weight on what the other person has said rather than providing concrete instances.

Therefore, you can actually beg your current customers to recommend your product in order to increase engagement.

The secret to having great user engagement on your app may lie in avoiding these blunders, therefore take care of it. This brings us to the guide’s conclusion.

How Much Does it Cost to Build a SaaS App?

It is time for us to dive into the budget guidance now that we have learned about the development process, the difficulties, and the mistakes you should avoid.

Well, there are a few things that will help you decide on the SaaS application’s budget clearly. You can plan the budget using the attributes of your application, selected SaaS technologies, and other services.

Additionally, the development team and the nation from which you hired them make a significant influence. Your budget is ultimately impacted by how all of these variables interact with one another.

Concluding Statement

Considering the popularity this particular concept is gaining, creating a SaaS application is a really promising idea for 2022 and the years to come. You can refer to this guide whenever you get stuck if you’re unsure whether to enter the SaaS industry.

Additionally, we would be honoured to support you in your endeavour by providing SaaS app development services. If you want to describe how successful you were working with us, we are prepared to do so.