Enhancing the usability of a SaaS platform or a SaaS product can be complex because of its software. But the goal should be to enhance the overall customer experience no matter the complexity. 

No matter the interface, quality SaaS UI design is one of the most important steps in gaining an audience; it could even be a turning point for the growth and development of your startup.

The Software as a Service model is gaining popularity for multiple reasons which is not at all surprising, as its features are revolutionary for the IT industry. This makes it clearly more superior to other delivery models. 

What are these features?

• Reduced space requirements
• Lower costs
• More flexibility
• Enhanced UX/UI 
• More intuitive interface

Some well known examples of SaaS platforms are, Google apps, Slack, Dropbox etc. 

As more industries enter the SaaS space, organisations will need to offer something truly special for their product to stand out. Besides unique and innovative ideas, a great SaaS product should also have a well thought out and attractive user interface design. 

Let’s understand the basics of good SaaS product design and look at some of the best practices and trends that you can implement to create a great product.

Basics of Designing a SaaS product

Design and intuitive user experience are among the most essential aspects of SaaS. Users have come to expect good design and the way that users balance functionality, performance, utility and value will determine your user experience. Ensuring that you adopt the best design practices from the start will help you build a more ethical and usable product that will get you closer to achieving your business goals. 

These are the common SaaS product design standards that guide the top most SaaS companies.

Landing Page

In a competitive market, SaaS companies are setting extremely high standards for their landing pages. Your landing page should not only tell your users everything about your business but also help convert them into customers. Users attention is extremely short lived, so a catchy headline that captures their attention is essential. A catchy headline grabs visitors attention and also encourages them to scroll further.

Site Structure

The structure of your website should be such that users find the information they are looking for and also find it interesting and informative. Your users may not want to read endless paragraphs of text, so ensure that you add images of your software, videos, animations etc. that give it a very creative and fresh look. 

SaaS companies also use different headings, bullets and other things that help make their text more readable. This is a good strategy for achieving customer success.

Colours and Themes

User’s tastes and preferences are bound to vary and you need to show your user base that you value their personal tastes and choices by offering them customisation choices. Give them options like offering different for sizes, dark and light themes etc.

Avoid using too many colours and make the design as accessible as possible. 

Layout

Pay extra attention to the layout. Design a layout that provides a great overview and allows users to find details of the data. Organise your layout in a way that displays the most important information right up front.

Presentation of Information

Users will not be able process too much information all at once. Ensure your information is simple enough that users can process it in an easy manner. Summarise and group information in a way that helps users quickly find what they need. In other words, reduce the amount of clutter.

Wireframes and Prototypes

Visualize the customer journey and review changes before you make the design live. You can use wireframes and prototypes to lower the margin of any mistakes being made during the testing and implementation phase.

10 Tips for Creating Great Design

1. Think of the audience you are building the product for. What are they looking for? How is your product beneficial to them?
2. Simplify things. Don’t create an overly complicated SaaS product that users don’t know how to use. Identify your user’s problems and pain points and then move on to finding solutions.
3. Keep the navigation easy to use. If your navigation is overly complicated, users could get lost and not know how to access the information that they need. Try and stick to standardised menus that users are familiar with.
4. Make the onboarding process easy
5. Provide support for customer queries
6. Ensure that your users know your value proposition right up front.
7. Constantly improve the product design
8. Optimise the dashboard
9. Make your call to action button clearly visible.
10. Ensure a great search functionality

Conclusion

A great SaaS website is the best way to lure in potential customers. Your user interface design is the only way to get users to open your app and website and get them to stay on it. Creating a great first impression is non negotiable. Think from your users perspective and design a user journey that helps meet their exception. Customers will appreciate this attention to detail and decide in your favour and become loyal customers of your product.