SaaS product management is the process of looking after a product that people use online. It begins with new ideas, creating the product, introducing it in the market for users, and then making it better with the passage of time.
The main objective is to grow the product and make it more beneficial for customers. The SaaS product manager is the one who leads the product team and takes care of everything about the product. Under the manager’s leadership, the team decides what the product should do, working with engineers and designers to build it, and making changes when required. The manager also ensures the product is doing well and suggests ways to improve it.
Many companies have more than one product manager who takes care of the product. Every manager has their responsibilities, some focus on user experience and features, while others focus on technical issues. In this way, every part of the product is managed well and is better for customers.
8 effective steps to follow for SaaS product management
Now, the question is how one can perform effective SaaS product management. SaaS product managers must follow the steps mentioned below.
1. Find out the customer requirements with market research
Every product intends to make users happy and satisfied. No matter how great your idea is, if it does not solve the user’s problem, it fails to work. Here is an easy way to find the user requirements:
- Watch industry trends: Check reports, go to trade shows, and read popular industry news to learn about new trends. This helps you improve your product and marketing.
- Look at competitors: Search what your competitors offer, how they serve the product to customers, and what users say about them. This helps you to make your product stand out in the market.
- Make conversation with the user: Arrange short meetings with the user to know about their feelings and what type of problems they suffer from. To get honest feedback, you should ask open questions to users.
- Use surveys in your app: Ask users quick questions while they use your product. Use their answers to find ways to improve.
2. Perform feature ideation
Brainstorming on new features that really users like and fulfill their needs. Share your ideas with the product team. Once you have many ideas, then put them in a single place and choose one that fulfills business needs. For instance, concentrate on features like Kanban boards and live chat within tasks if your software assists small, dynamic teams in managing their SaaS projects. For small teams, these are more helpful than thorough data reports, which are less crucial.
In this manner, you develop features that suit your users and effectively advance your company.
3. Develop the product roadmap
A product roadmap is the plan that highlights goals, steps, and progress of the product over a period. This plan discusses the product features, required resources, and how much time is needed to develop the product. It also includes the responsibilities of every team member, and when important features will be created and launched. However, it is essential to remain flexible so one can make changes when needed. This way, your product fulfills user needs and becomes good in quality.
4. Create user experience and start development
The next step is to develop the user experience. Start with quick hand-drawn sketches or outlines called wireframes to start the developers’ understanding of what you want. Once you have a wireframe that everyone is comfortable with, you want to work with the engineers to develop a working model of the solution, called a prototype.
You want to share this prototype with your key resources and a couple of users to validate the prototype and get immediate feedback. Once you have validated the prototype, you will use the validation results to once again validate and improve the prototype; only then do we want to develop the solution in its entirety. At this stage, you do not just want to leave, you also want to review the development process, as it is vitally important that the development honors back to your design, and more so hits the overall project target.
5. Help the user find and use features inside the app
Once a new feature has been created and added, make sure users are aware of it and understand how to utilise it.
To start, you’ll showcase messages directly in the application, such as banners, side panels, or even pop-up windows, which will capture the user’s attention immediately. Then, you want to include straightforward instructions that guide users on how to use the feature. By allowing users to experiment with the feature while learning, these aids increase comprehension. Users will feel prepared and secure enough to utilise the feature independently after the guide is finished. Users may easily find and make use of new features in this way.
6. Saw performance by analyzing data
The next step is to check whether your goals fulfill the user’s needs or not. Focus on the following points:
- User utilization: Track how many users use the feature, how often they use it, and how long they use it each time.
- Finding the feature: Monitor how easily users find the new feature and what they perceive it as doing.
- Action outcomes: If the feature is for users to do something you want them to do, like sign up or upgrade, observe the impacts it has on these actions.
- You should also use analytics reports to further assess how the features are performing. For example, if you look at time trends, you’ll be able to tell if important numbers are increasing or decreasing over time. This assists you in determining whether the feature is increasing or diminishing, and whether more users are, or perhaps fewer users are, getting value.
7. Collect user feedback and find out improvements
No, we conduct short surveys to know user feelings. These surveys help you to know whether your product is easy to use or not. User feedback also provides the problems they face during product usage. By knowing issues, you can fix them on time.
The best surveys include two different types of questions: Yes/no or rating questions, and open questions where the user can shed light on their thoughts. You may ask, “How easy and helpful was the product introduction?”Then focus on follow-up questions such as, How were your feelings when you first used the new feature? Was everything easy to understand or not?
These types of questions provide you with more detailed ideas and clear answers. So, you can improve your product.
8. Improving products using A/B testing
Managing a SaaS product is all about continuously experimenting with new things and tweaking things to make users happy. A/B testing allows you to verify what changes are best. It allows you to refine your product one step at a time and beat the competition. There are three most common A/B test types:
- Simple A/B Test: This tests the original version of a feature against a new version with one alteration, showing which one users prefer more.
- Head-to-Head Test: This tests two new versions against each other to see which is better.
- Multivariate Test: This tests lots of changes to a page at the same time to find the best-performing combination of changes.
By employing A/B testing, you make intelligent decisions and produce a superior product for your users.
Key differences between SaaS and non-SaaS product management
SaaS products can often be updated quickly, allowing managers to improve the product and add improvements at any time.
- Customer alternatives: SaaS customers pay for the service monthly or yearly, so they regularly think about staying or going. That means SaaS managers have to stay on top of customer value so they keep the solution working well for customers to prevent cancellations.
- Feedback: SaaS companies typically get user feedback and data as early and quickly as possible. This allows companies to address issues and implement valuable features quickly.
- Support: In traditional software companies, support mainly fixes an issue once the software is launched. In SaaS companies, support is more about helping customers to be successful and happy using the product over time.
What are the responsibilities of a SaaS product manager?
Effective product management is important to achieve success. Every team member has their distinct responsibilities. However, the main role is played by the product manager. Below, we have mentioned the top 10 responsibilities of a SaaS product manager.
1. Generate a product strategy
The key to the success of any product is a strong plan, and a product manager usually leads this. They write their plans, share them with other team members, execute them into reality, and use these plans to help customers. The plan may be executed in various steps, depending on what the product is and how big the plan is. The manager’s job is to finish each step and add new features on time and as planned.
2. Perform market research
The B2B SaaS model requires extensive market research and talking to customers to succeed. The need for customers continues to change, and customer fit varies. Most of the time, there will be a lot of research points and trends listed by managers and products positioned at product leads or data teams to look at. Researchers, strategists, and product managers should do their best to study the market to set product features. Some companies place PMs with a skill for analysis so that they can take time to look at data and industry information. If we can be of assistance in developing these skills, check us out in product management!
3. Generate product ideas
Ideas may come before or during the development of the product. Some managers present their ideas early in the product creation process. These managers collaborate with people who belong to different departments and do market research with them to create new ideas. Furthermore, they may improve the already existing idea to make the product better and useful for customers.
4. Monitor product development and design
SaaS product managers don’t code or design things themselves, but they are essential to building the product. Product managers team with engineers to confirm that ideas can be created and built with technology. They also help the design team make a useful and pleasant product screen that is based on user needs. Product managers ensure that new features are completed and delivered on time. Product managers help the entire team keep the focus on the user experience with the product, and make it as it should be.
5. Collaborate with the product team to launch plan
Collaborate with the product marketing team to develop an action plan for a product launch. This action plan will detail how to bring the product to market: finding the right customers, articulating the product’s positioning, deciding how to sell the product, and finally, planning promotions.
Product Managers add value here because they know the product and what types of customers would use the product the most. They work with marketing to build a plan that targets and attracts more potential users, in order to get them interested and to start using the product.
6. Collect customer feedback
Product managers conduct various surveys to know users’ thoughts on new features. They collect customer feedback and analyze answers, find issues, and try to resolve them.
Besides surveys inside the app, managers also read support messages and talk with important customers to understand how people feel about the product.
In a nutshell, SaaS product management navigates software from conception to delivery and continued improvement, aligning products with user needs and business objectives. It encompasses product strategy, user or market research, prioritizing product features, and analyzing customer feedback. For anybody serious about mastering the craft, the Oxford Training Centre is offering product management courses, which ensure you will learn critical skills and you will be well on your way to furthering your ambitions in the field.