Change is hard and challenging. However, it brings out new possibilities all along.
One such drastic change was brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many suffered physically, mentally as well as economically. Along with the darkness of disease and suffering, new areas with business potential also sprang up.
What was not even considered as an idea in 2019 became a highly sought business in 2020. Along with fresh possibilities, business areas that were slowly developing saw a quick leap. And some fields like SaaS became even more popular.
Here are some of the SaaS product ideas that have future potential. If you are someone looking for new business ideas, this is for you.
Let’s begin.
Why SaaS and why now?
Software as a Service (SaaS) has been popular for quite some time now. There are several reasons why it has become a popular model. To mention a few,
- SaaS is scalable, and hence it is suitable for businesses ranging from startups to big corporations.
- The world is fast-paced, and so is time for the installation of SaaS.
- The subscription-based approach mitigates the risks associated with post-purchase disappointments as companies can unsubscribe from the service anytime.
- Upgrades are painless, quick, and just a click away.
- SaaS is accessible from anywhere.
Another question is why we should go for the SaaS business now.
Pandemic has brought changes to many things, mainly to our lifestyle. From a business perspective, it completely redefined the operational methods.
Now, we shall take the benefits mentioned above and apply them to the current condition. You’ll see how they perfectly fit in.
1. Remote work
Remote work is the need of the hour. Businesses are looking for ways to enable it. And SaaS is the readily available option as it is accessible from anywhere.
2. Economical flexibility
Pandemic has led to the loss of jobs. It turns out people opt-out of many services. Companies lose their customers. In the case of other models, it is difficult for businesses to cope up. But with SaaS, companies can scale down based on the requirements.
3. Unload operational burdens
SaaS reduces the costs of installing and maintaining the infrastructure. Pandemic brought the question of the need for workspace. In times of reduced revenue, the operational cost is a burden. SaaS removes this as well.
Now you know, SaaS is suitable for the ‘new normal’ and beyond.
Best SaaS product ideas with potential in 2021
Social media management
Why?
Social media is no more a place of just entertainment. It has turned into a powerful tool where businesses can make their presence visible. They can market in convincing ways as well.
According to Statistica, almost 4.3 billion people use social media. And they spend an average time of 2.5 hours a day. It brings more possibilities for businesses to make themselves relevant among customers.
There are multiple channels that the company needs to manage — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. With more channels, the range of the personas the businesses cover also increases.
For B2C businesses, the social media page has turned out to be the second customer service department. There is a huge need to address and respond to customer pleas while maintaining the brand voice and image. Also, to humanize brands, engaging with customers in the comment section is crucial.
“71% of people who had positive customer experiences with a brand on social media are more likely to recommend them to their friends.”
With all that said, the need for social media management is obvious, and it’s a perfect business opportunity.
The role of social media will only grow in the upcoming years. And so will the need for management tools.
CRM for freelancers
Why?
Freelancing provides you with different kinds of freedom— choosing whom to work with, exploring different niches, working from the comfort of homes, etc.
The trend of freelancing is not surprising, as was predicted earlier. However, the economic crisis during COVID-19 has led to layoffs. It resulted in the surge of freelancers in a short time. Also from a business perspective, there’s a need to cut off costs— resulting in hiring freelancers.
When it comes to freelancing, it’s the individuals’ responsibility to— find prospects, market, maintain a good relationship with clients.
These can hinder them from spending time on their actual work. CRM software can help solve this problem.
The market for freelancing will only expand in the coming years, and this business idea can be promising for aspiring ones.
Telemedicine
Why?
Amongst the changes COVID-19 has brought, the biggest is this— depriving us of the freedom to go out of our homes often. Going out now seems like a gift as well as a curse. Stepping safe back home without being infected is our biggest concern.
We don’t step out unless and until it’s of utmost need. Hospital visits are a terror now. It feels unnecessary to visit the hospitals for minor reasons.
Also, the pandemic has put out so much pressure on the medical system. Doctors and medical workers are so overworked.
Telemedicine now seems like the need of the hour. The ability to have doctor consultations online is for sure a blessing from the comfort of our homes.
The field is a neonate and holds a lot of opportunities for new features.
Team collaboration
Why?
In 2020, ‘social distancing’ and ‘work from home’ became a buzzword. People gathering at places turned out to be a threat to life. It put to question the assembling at the office space for work.
When it comes to collaboration, work from home makes it quite complicated. It brings up the need for tools that enable easy team collaboration.
It was the pandemic that gave rise to the work-from-home culture. However, even if the pandemic ends, some of the businesses are looking to take it forward. Also, researchers say that pandemics are inevitable and are likely to occur again in the future as well.
So, the need for digital communication tools that bring remote teams together to collaborate is the need of the hour.
Even with good tools in hand, there are different pain points users face. Also, the user needs keep increasing with the expectations of high efficiency. It makes the domain a goldmine of opportunities for new SaaS businesses.
Video editing & rendering
Why?
In almost every social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, video is a highly consumed form of content. We make videos for all sorts of purposes like entertainment, education, and many more.
Among these areas, video plays a crucial role in the marketing domain. Right from brand awareness to driving purchases, videos do a lot.
“As per Animoto, 93% of brands got new customers because of videos posted on social media.”
Let’s shift our focus to the pandemic situation and the post-pandemic world. During the times of lockdown, we can safely say that videos were what made people sane. YouTube, the video streaming platform, saw a surge in subscribers.
But it’s not just the subscribers/viewer base that has increased, but also the creators. Many people started exploring the area of creating video content creation.
And video editing and rendering are the unavoidable parts of this process. And so are the tools. The tools differ based on the level of expertise, quality of work, and many other factors. So there are several options here for SaaS business ventures.
The craze for videos is not ending anytime soon. And it’s one of the potential options to pursue.
Content planning
Why?
With the prevalence of social media marketing, businesses have adopted more marketing techniques in recent years. One among them is Content marketing.
Content marketing is a method of planning, creating, and sharing content across social media channels for the target users. Its ultimate goal is increased brand awareness, reach, and conversions.
The simple ads no longer convince the customers. Their behavior has changed, and now they make mindful purchases. The reason why companies should make people feel relevant to their products. Here is where content comes into play.
According to Demand Metric, content marketing generates 3x more leads when compared to traditional marketing, where the cost lesser by 62%. Also, 71% of B2B customers read an organization’s blog before purchase.
But regularly planning for relevant content is where the difficulty lies. Content planning tools can be of great help here.
Content planning is an area around which many SaaS business ideas can bloom. As people start relying on the content, there’s no going back.
Appointment management
Why?
The life of a 21st-century working individual is filled with meetings.
Be it personal or professional life: appointments have become crucial. You have to collaborate with teammates, conduct inter-team meetings, schedule doctor meetings, and many more.
When it comes to businesses, appointments range from connecting with customers, service calls, meetings with clients, etc.
Also, the emphasis on every single meeting has grown big, and missing them can bring you high consequences. It’s necessary to be quick, be responsible, and more than anything to be punctual.
Forgetfulness is human nature. There are chances where you might schedule meetings that overlap. Putting all of this information together and schedule calls manually is very hard and chaotic.
Appointment management tools are in great need now, more than ever, with agility in business operations and fast-paced life. This software takes out the burden of processing and managing multiple events added to the actual work we do.
Another area where this is helpful is bookings for movies, health services, saloons, etc.
Performance tracker
Why?
Though passion births businesses, they aim at profit and success as well. And for that, continuous improvement is necessary. You can improve only when you know how you are doing right now.
Here is where you need performance analysis. Performance monitoring is done by setting goals associated with success. Businesses use KPIs and OKRs for this purpose. The difficulty lies in tracking them.
The manual tracking process takes a lot of time. Also, the issue is the need to track in regular intervals. And, as part of this, data analysis and report generation are time-consuming tasks. The tools can save you from these toils.
Many businesses are being born every other day. And this brings hope to the potential of this SaaS venture idea.
Virtual Assistant
Why?
A virtual assistant is someone who provides support service to a business from a remote location. Artificial intelligence virtual assistants can interact with customers in human language.
Customer service is an integral part of businesses. It is also a big influencer of customer experience.
Customer behavior has changed over the years. Users expect immediate attention to their issues. With a lot of competition budding around in every other field, satisfying customers is crucial. If not, they are ready to switch. And they also have many options in their hand.
Also, with digital transformation, most businesses have a website. They have visitors who are potential customers. Not every visitor puts effort into the call and interrogates the services. Having an AI virtual assistant makes it easy for them to get to know what the business offers in a better way.
Instant attention and immediate response are what AI virtual assistants can offer.
The field is new, exciting, and filled with possibilities. And with digitization, the needs will only grow.
E-education
Why?
With the internet came along the lifestyle changes. It also gave birth to so many new professions and areas of business. A new career path meant fresh pursuers. It brought the need to teach and guide amateurs and aspiring people.
These unconventional career paths didn’t have regular university courses. That’s how e-learning courses sprang up. E-courses and their certifications are valuable in job-seeking platforms.
Now with the pandemic, e-learning has started to cover younger age groups as well. The condition of panic keeps parents from sending their children to school physically. And e-learning is a way they can ensure the education part is not left behind.
The field is vast and the functions offered are widespread.
Personalization is the new trend in this field. Now that there’s a broader target audience, this is a potential area for SaaS business enthusiasts.
Why is niche focus important?
All of these SaaS business ideas have higher potential as well as a larger market. With a larger market, there will be many segments of customers. Instead of focusing on the entire user base, it’s better to concentrate on a specific niche.
Here are a few reasons why niche focus is good.
- Customers are more inclined towards businesses that are specialized in a particular area. They believe specialized providers have high expertise and can provide the best products & services.
- With different sections and a broader range of users, the marketing efforts are less effective. Focused campaigns resonate more with target customers.
- Niche focus makes you more prevalent among your target users. In a larger market, there are more competitors, and it becomes difficult to be visible.
Endnote
Observing the market and user problems can give the right business ideas. You should consider the trends in the SaaS field as well.
Research, analysis, and future vision are vital before you plunge into building a business/product.
That having said, just because a field is potential doesn’t mean your idea related to it can succeed. Jumping straight away into implementation can be risky.
Validating your business idea is how you should start. Also, building SaaS products is quite complicated. There are several areas where you could get stuck.
If you need assistance with turning your idea into a product, many digital product agencies are present. And you can seek help from them.
Add comment