Decisions I make when choosing a SaaS
Something I've been thinking about this week is what matters to me when I sign up for a new SaaS, the thought came from a Tweet Jack Ellis, of Fathom Analytics put out earlier this week:
When you sign up for a SaaS, do you care if it's going to be around in the future? Do you look into the investors of the company? The amount of revenue vs employees? What it's focusing on? Desires to IPO, or be acquired by a big company, versus staying independent?
— Jack Ellis (@JackEllis) November 5, 2024
I'm a consumer of several SaaS products and my thought process is pretty simple when it comes to deciding whether to use it or not. I summarised my answer in a reply to Jack, but I figured it would make sense to elaborate in a post to try and help other folks make a decision:
Not really, if it solves the need I have at the time, then I'll throw it into the mix. A large part of me choosing a SaaS is whether I *know* people that have also used it. I'd rather ask them about their thoughts rather than relying on generic testimonials on a homepage.
— Jon Purvis (@JonPurvis_) November 5, 2024
There's really only 2 questions I ask myself whenever I'm looking to sign up for a SaaS. It needs to actually solve the problem I'm having and I need to know people that have used it and can vouch for it. Things such as pricing are relative, if the product is good and does what I need, then I'll pay for it. If the product doesn't do what I want, then I won't!
Does it solve the problem I'm having?
First things first, does the SaaS solve the problem I'm wanting to buy a SaaS for? If there's documentation, that's a good sign. For example, Oh Dear has fantastic documentation, so before buying in, I was able to scan the documentation for my use case and determine whether it would be a good fit.
I'm also a big fan of self serve product demos because then I'm not just relying on text, I can actually have a play around with the product and see if it fits my need. Fathom Analytics have a demo available via the homepage, which was a fantastic way of me seeing the dashboard and all of the data that I can see as a Fathom customer. Of course, not all SaaS products are in a position to offer an actual demo so if there's no demo available, then a trial period is always good too, providing there's an easy way to cancel it without me parting with any money.
Do I know people that have used it?
Thankfully, I'm connected with a lot of fantastic people on places such as Twitter, so if a SaaS is worth using, I'm likely going to know someone that can vouch for it or not. What's popular on a lot of homepages for SaaS products is a generic testimonial cloud, but I don't 100% trust them, unless I see someone on one that I know.
I would much rather reach out to someone that I know and have spoken to before and ask them for their direct thoughts on the product, how they are finding it, what problems it has and whether it actually solved the problem they bought it for. This way, my decision is made using information from someone that I know and trust, rather than a sentence on a homepage from someone I've never heard of.
The other benefit of asking someone you know, is they might be able to give you a demo or give you access to the product via their account so you can still have a play around with it.
If I mention a SaaS that I want to try out to a bunch of people and they've never heard of it, then I'm less likely to buy it. I want software that I can trust.
Hopefully by asking yourself those two questions, it will help you make decisions easier when signing up to a SaaS. I suspect you ask the first one already, but how often do you check with people you know whether they've used the same SaaS?