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No, this isnât a post about feature creep. Itâs a post about the features youâll need to line up in order to make your Software as a Service (SaaS) business a success.
SaaS is becoming more competitive each year. As competitivity increases, it becomes harder to convert and retain customers. In 2018, successful products need to make these 3 features work to win:
1. The Differentiator
The differentiator is the feature that convinces customers to adopt your product; itâs your shoe-in. It moves the prospect from consideration to action.
To overcome the status quo and justify the time, money and attention investment spent on a new solution, your product needs to differentiate from the current technology being used and bring the promise of a 10X return on investment.
As marketing density continues to increase, freemium or some form of free trial is becoming the norm. It helps lessen the cost (or commitment) of trying something new. If your differentiator delivers value, the customer will adopt..
2. The Exciter
The exciter typically builds on some kind of limitation with your initial feature set. The exciter is the feature that drives that initial decision to âupgradeâ.
The reasons why customers buy are often different from the reasons why they stick around. The customer might have bought your chat solution because of its search functionalities, but ends up embedding the solution because of its ease of use or your amazing analytics. Exciters get you that initial conversion. They might not drive retention.
The Jobs to Be Done framework is really good at helping you figure out why people buy. Businesses or consumers, emotions always play their part.
3. The Expander
The expander is the feature that helps cement the customer relationship. Itâs what drives retention and gets the customer to switch from a one-time purchase to a multi-month (or multi-year) engagement with your product.
This feature can drive some form of lock-in through increased user engagement, growth in the number of user accounts or internal teams using the product. Itâs the feature that confirms and justifies the buying decision (e.g. a chat that integrates with all the other products used!); it solidifies the decision to commit long term.
What Your Product Needs
The same feature might play all 3 roles for your product. If thatâs the case, the path forward is pretty clear: continuously make your « core » offering better and integrate.
However, most businesses will have different features play the roles of the differentiator, the exciter and the expander.
- Without a differentiator, youâll have a hard time attracting customer interest.
- Without an exciter, youâll have a hard time convincing users to buy.
- Without an expander, youâll have a hard time expanding the duration or depth of the relationship.
Now, what features will play these roles for your product? Have you tested those assumptions?
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Originally published at leanb2bbook.com on February 28, 2018.
Your Product Needs These 3 Features was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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