Completing a SaaS project is an amazing feeling because you know you have a product that you can use to launch your business. Even if you have validated the idea and know you will have clients lining up to purchase your software, your work will be for nothing if you do not know how to make money from your product and for new business. Fortunately, there are a few monetization options that make this possible. Here are three ways to generate revenue for your SaaS.
Free Trial
Free trials are very popular because they help customers get first-hand experience with the software while also seeing what it is capable of before becoming paid customers. These customers would like to see what the software can do before paying for it. Nothing is hidden from the customers, but they lose access to the software if they do not become paid customers within the given period.
Free trials are different from freemium models where some features are provided to the customer for free and others are hidden behind a paywall. Freemium models do not allow customers to explore the full capabilities of the software while the free trial model does.
Subscription Model
The subscription model is very popular for SaaS businesses because it works for both B2C and B2B businesses. It is also a very effective model as it generates revenue at predictable intervals, typically monthly or yearly.
Additionally, the subscriber model is very resilient because customers are happy to keep paying for your SaaS as long as you continue providing a good service. You can do this by providing regular improvements and updates, adding new features, and generally ensuring an improving customer experience so you can continue maximizing your revenue.
As for the payment options, most businesses accept debit and credit cards as well as ACH payments. ACH payments are particularly well suited for this model because of their low fees, reliability, and security.
Businesses can leverage solutions already built by other companies like the Yodlee ACH payment solutions that save businesses money, eliminate manual processes, and ensure safe and secure payments. The Yodlee ACH payment solutions also include account verification and ACH debit services so you never miss a payment.
Pay-as-you-grow Models
Pay as you grow is very popular for growing businesses that will need more services, access, features, and such as they become bigger. A good example is an email service that lets businesses send emails to 1000 subscribers for a small fee and then 5000 subscribers on the next tier for a higher fee.
Pay-as-you-grow models work like free trials, but the first tier can either be free or paid. Where the first tier is free, the business will monetize by providing enticing features on the higher models and then using a subscriber model for those.
Businesses that use the first, smaller tier end up being tied to the SaaS and find it harder to shift and this is what allows businesses to push them to a higher tier that suits their needs as they grow.
Ensuring your SaaS is generating adequate revenue is not only a great way of growing your business but also ensuring you can keep adding features to it and improving it. There are several monetization models to try out, and you can start with the three discussed above as they work for many SaaS businesses.