Building for success: UX design and SaaS solutions

SaaS usability affects everything from the login and onboarding experience to the way users perform tasks within the solution and how they access help. When developing SaaS solutions for the enterprise, successful deployment and adoption hinges on the experience delivered at each user touchpoint.

SaaS UX design strategies will differ depending upon the defined user base for the solution. With any user base of course, understanding the specific user journey for each audience is essential. But designing for enterprise (B2B and internal) users can be very different than designing for consumer users, and we’re going to take a look at that first.

For the enterprise:
Internal enterprise users – SaaS interface design for an internal audience is often easier to do, and easier to get right. Without the hurdles associated with UX design for external users, the process is easier to research and design. It’s also faster to get an internal-facing solution launched, because the usability studies are conducted with an enthusiastic audience that is invested in getting an efficient, effective solution in place.

B2B enterprise users – Designing B2B SaaS solutions is less about usability and more about the bottom line. The C-suite decision makers who approve purchases of B2B SaaS solutions do so because they want results and measurable ROI; design is not their primary consideration.

For consumers:
Consumer users – Consumer SaaS solutions, due to their “one-size-fits-most/one-size-fits- all” approach is by nature less complex than enterprise solutions. And if a consumer SaaS solution’s UI is unattractive or hard to use and master, they simply won’t use it.

The importance of UX for SaaS apps
Having a great UX is vital to the success of a SaaS app from a customer standpoint. It promotes better customer engagement through contextual dashboards and information, reduces churn, and eliminates user frustration, improves customer satisfaction by making their experience with your brand fast and easy. On the business side, a smart SaaS UX delivers invaluable information on user journey, and improved customer satisfaction builds bigger ROI and a better bottom line.
SaaS UX design mistakes
The best defense against SaaS UI design mistakes is knowing what they are, so let’s outline the key “gotchas.”

 

Pre-launch:

• Ignoring user feedback when designing your UX—or not collecting it at all
• Complicated password requirements that can frustrate users before they even get up and running
• Requiring too much input during setup
• Not including personalization, which makes onboarding more arduous
• Lacking UX analytics like heatmaps or click maps to provide important insight into the user journey
• Cluttered UI blasting new users with too much information
• Excess technical jargon that may confuse or intimidate users
• Long dropdown menus that make it difficult to navigate

Post-launch:

• No video tutorial to help users easily get up and running
• No map of user progress during signup or onboarding
• Including unavailable actions in dropdown and menus
• No mention of new features that help users get the most from the app
• Too much pushed content and notifications that can irritate users

CHECKLIST: Best practices to improve SaaS UX

To get the most out of your new SaaS app, keep the following in mind when designing your UX:

• Simplify everything, from the look and feel of the app to they way it works. Kick complexity and confusion to the curb
• Design for multi-platform use, to ensure that all users have the same great experience
• Make onboarding fast and easy so your customers won’t go elsewhere
• Test, adjust, and re-test information architecture to make sure users can easily find what they’re looking for
• Fine-tune the search experience to make sure it’s smooth, fast, and accurate
• Make it easy to get help so users can resolve problems and obtain answers quickly

Who’s doing SaaS UX design well?

There are a lot of great SaaS UX examples out there, but these are our current favorites:

• Dropbox gets points for its 2017 redesign, which simplified navigation, more intuitive toolbar, and at-a-glance information with thumbnails and collaboration status.

 

• Slack wins with bite-sized text, the use of images to replace unnecessary text, and its overall glance-ability.

• Canva is laser-focused on the user experience of their product, with a clean and easy-to-use interface, easy-to-navigate left-hand toolbar, and fast access to user designs.

Need help designing your SaaS UX?
Contact the UI/UX design experts at Pegasus One and we can help!