Discussion of SAAS Products Priced At What They're Worth...

[Steve Brownlie]

... Not what they reasonably would cost to provide + some markup.

I think an interesting trend lately I've seen is a bunch of SAAS products when I think 'oh that's pretty cool' then check the pricing and think meh that costs them 'not much'/could be replicated so the end user wouldn't notice pretty cheaply anyway.

I would hypothesise that they're succeeding by aiming at people with suitable budgets and pricing at a level where it's 'clearly worth' it to them to just pay it and get it up immediately vs rolling their own and if it's enterprise waiting several months.

I'll get us started sharing a few we come across!

https://useproof.com/pricing

As you can see the effective starter is $79/month (probably not even that probably the top tier for most stores) since nobody selling stuff sends less than 1,000 visitors/month (you can send 100s a day on FB for 'not much'). But it has a free trial so if you stuck it on your store and got a 10% uplift or something you'd probably never take it down. Seems like a solid idea.

I'd love to see some of the simple implementations you guys have come across over the months and years that seem like 'wow that's a simple idea' but at the same time have the power to lock people in and get them to happily keep paying a couple thousand dollars a year because it's 'worth it' in results if not in a cost+ type thinking.

ps This might be a little basic discussion for the experienced SAASers among us but for me just getting started researching SAAS providers and what they're all up to things like this - https://blog.chartmogul.com/saas-pricing-pages-2017/ - have also been a great read.

 

[CCarter]

For my own experience Intercom's has great pricing for what they offer. If you've dealth with communicating with customers through email or some customized system and trying to debug problems with screenshots or videos - after 5 or 10 of those you'll start wondering if there is a better system. After 100 discussions and attempting to not go crazy while providing exceptional customer service you'll beg for a better solution.

@eliquid actually introduced me to Intercom about a year before we implemented it, but me being "stubborn" and thinking "oh I can create a customer version of that for us and not need to pay money" - that's didn't work out. Nothing got coded and I was left stuck with a very archiac feedback system. Eventually I re-evaluated what I was spending the most time on and it was the back and forth with different communication tools - and I realized it was stupid to re-invent a wheel where another SAAS dedicated their whole time and energy to continuously perfect.

I'm not here to compete with Intercom, so we tried it, and WOW. Communication with customers was 1000% more easily, we can send screenshots, send them links, and it's simple integration into our interface already. It works like it's suppose to work and cut down our response time to mere minutes and seconds (with pre-defined replies) instead of about 10-15 minutes per user reply.

Then I jumped on the mobile APP - and I can be on the road responding to users as soon as I get a notification. If it requires more intense conversations and screenshot I can simple wait till I get back to my laptop. But it's probably the #1 tool I cannot live without - and it's a godsend if you are really looking bring your customer service level beyond exceptional.

Intercom starts off at $53 for 250 users, there is a sliding scale situation where you can input your user amount and it'll show you what you'll get billed. Honestly the system is so easy I'd easily pay 4x what we are currently pay for a month without blinking.

Intercom definitely falls into the category of "shouldn't roll our own, just go with a superior version". As programmers we want to flex our programming capabilities but if you are spending time re-inventing wheels instead of moving forward features for your customers you are doing a dis-service to your customers of your SAAS.

I think what really sold me were the videos that showed how to set things up and get started and how easy the experience can be.

They have a new "Educate" feature that acts as a knowledge base for your users for your SAAS, I haven't gotten it yet, but I think it'll help SAAS owners that don't know the best format to create a knowledge base that's actually helpful.

It's interesting the way Intercom does it's customer service for it's own customers and continues to improve themselves with feedback and an improved experience while at the same time their product is to help SAAS owners improve their own customer's experience in their SAAS.

I definitely recommend staying on top of their blog as well. They give out great ideas and resources to help SAAS owners and at the same time is an exceptional example of what YOU as a SAAS owner can do (creating great content) to help your own customers.