Why My SAAS Is Not Selling?

Even after working with over 50+ SAAS companies, It still breaks my heart when a founder asks this question. SAAS is a great business model, but it is not easy to build a successful SAAS company. Founders like you put their heart and soul into building a product that solves a real problem. But, when you launch your product, you don’t get the traction you expected. You are not alone. Many SAAS companies fail to get the traction they expected.

Here are some of the reasons why your SAAS is not selling. This blog is written as a checklist so you can go through it and find out if you are making any of these mistakes. The article starts with the most obvious reasons and ends with the most subtle ones. So, go through the list in sequence and find out if you are making any of these mistakes.

The Problem You Are Solving Does Not Exist

I know this sounds harsh, but it is true. Many SAAS founders build a product that solves a problem that does not exist. Sometimes, if you have a problem that no one else has, it might just mean that you are doing something wrong.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if you are solving a real problem:

Have I faced this problem myself? If yes, how many times?

Can I find at least 10 people who have the same problem?

Do I have competitors who are solving the same problem? If not, why?

The Problem You Are Solving Is Not Important

Even if you are solving a real problem, it might not be important enough for people to pay for it. Problems like this are called “nice to have” problems. Even if the volume of people who have this problem is high, nobody is willing to pay for it Or it's not big enough to build a business around it.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if you are solving an important problem:

Can I find at least 10 people who are willing to pay for this problem?

Is the solution I am building offered as a free tool by my competitors?

Is the solution offered as a part of a bigger product by a lot of competitors?

Your Product Is Not Good Enough

Congratulations! You have found a real problem that people are willing to pay for. But, your product is not good or complete enough to solve the problem. This is very common with early-stage SAAS companies. and frankly speaking there is nothing wrong with it as long as you are aware of it.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if your product is good enough:

Does my product solve the core problem completely?

Is my product saves time/money for my customers?

Is my product that better that people will shift from their current solution to my product?

Your UI/UX Sucks

Now, your product solves a real problem and do it well, but people are still not using it. It might be because your UI/UX sucks.

Frankly speaking, It doesn't takes a lot of effort to build a good UI/UX.. It takes a lot of effort to build a great UI/UX but not a good one. There are a lot of good themes and templates available online you can use. IMO, Bad UI/UX is a sign of a lazy founder.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if your UI/UX sucks:

Is my product too slow?

Can I look/use my product for a long time without getting bored?

Are there repetitive tasks that I have to do over and over again? Can I automate them?

Your Product Is Not Easy To Use

Good UI is not enough. Your product should also be easy to use. UX is about the intuitiveness of your product and technical ease of use is a part of UX but this problem is too big to be generalized. More often than not, this problem is caused by a bad product design, over-engineering, or lack of familiarity of the founder with the problem domain.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if your product is not easy to use:

Can people use my product without any training?

What are the most common questions our customer support team gets?

Are there clear instructions and labels for all functions and features?

Pro Tip: A very easy way to find out if your product is not easy to use is to onboard new/initial users over a video call. Ask them to use your product and see if they can use it without any training. If they are not able to use it, then you have a problem.

Your Can Not Define Your Target Audience

If you find yourself using a lot of "and"s in your target audience definition, then you are doing it wrong. You should be able to define your target audience in a single sentence. If you can't, then you are not clear about who you are building your product for.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if you can not define your target audience:

Can I define my target audience without using "and"s?

Can you write at least 5 common characteristics of your target audience?

Can you write at least 5 common problems of your target audience?

Your Pricing Is Wrong

Pricing A SAAS product is not easy. You have to find the right balance between the price and the value you are offering. If you price your product too high, you will lose a lot of customers. If you price your product too low, you will not be able to make enough money to sustain your business.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if your pricing is wrong:

Is my pricing is too different(low/high) from my competitors?

Are my pricing plans too different from my competitors?

Are my pricing plans too complex?

Your Free Tier Is Not Good Enough Or Too Good

The free tier is a great way to get new users. But, if your free tier is not good enough, then you will not be able to convert free users into paid users. If your free tier is too good, then nobody will pay for your product and keep using your free tier.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if your free tier is not good enough or too good:

Does my free tier solve all the problems of my target audience? If yes, then why should they pay for my product?

Is there enough incentive for people to upgrade to paid plans?

Are the majority of my customers using my free tier?

You Are Getting the Wrong Kind of Traffic

Blog posts, social media, and email marketing are great ways to get traffic. But, not all traffic was created equal. If you are getting a lot of traffic but not getting any conversions, then you are getting the wrong kind of traffic and you need to change your strategy.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if you are getting the wrong kind of traffic:

Are most of my traffic coming from Top of funnel sources?

Do I have no conversions from the Bottom of the funnel sources?

You have a small Marketing Qualified Lead(MQL) to Sales Qualified Lead(SQL) ratio?

Your Product Is Too Slow

If your product is too slow, people will just abandon it. Trust me, I have seen this happen a lot of times. You will experience a lot of Rage Clicks and Rage Exists. Always use some kind of performance monitoring tool to find out if your product is too slow.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if your product is too slow:

Are there too many Rage Clicks and Rage Exists?

Are users doing a lot of refreshes and resubmitting?

Are there too many support tickets containing the word "stuck"?

Your Product Have Too Many Bugs

The only worst thing than having a slow product is having a buggy product. Why? Because people will not even give you a chance to fix the bugs. They will just abandon your product. Always use some kind of bug tracking tool (like Sentry) to find out if your product has too many bugs. I understand for Non-Technical founders it is hard to find it out. So ask yourself these questions.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself to find out if your product have too many bugs:

Is my console always red? Press ctrl+shift+i to open the console and see if there are any errors.

Are there too many support tickets with the phrase "I don't know what happened"?

Are there too many support tickets with the phrase "but nothing happened"?

That's it for now. Trust me this is just the tip of the iceberg but I think this is enough to get you started. If you have any questions, feel free to book a call with me. I will be happy to help you out. Happy Building!