SaaS app design principles

Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a highly profitable business model, with many technology companies developing highly advanced SaaS products to enable individuals and organizations to perform important functions quickly and conveniently.

If you want to venture into SaaS as a business model, you have to make your SaaS apps unique and friendly to the user.

One of the best ways to achieve this is to ensure that your SaaS apps follow the right principles of effective product design. The hardest part of investing in SaaS products is getting the designs correct–this is why most startups prefer to outsource SaaS design services from qualified web design experts and agencies like Merge Development.

Nonetheless, you have to familiarize yourself with these design principles to ensure that whatever you get from your app design expert or agency meets market standards. Here are the main SaaS app design principles:

Global navigation

Whether you’re designing a mobile app or a web-based app, you have to factor in its ease of navigation. Every user should be able to navigate your application easily from anywhere in the world; this includes creating a simple and easy-to-navigate dashboard that offers the best user experience.

Everything should be clearly indicated on the main menu and the main features and tools properly linked to the dashboard. The links will help you to keep your dashboard simple and less cluttered. Your UX/UI designer should advise you on the best type of menu for your SaaS app, and they’ll help you to choose the best vertical or horizontal menu bar for your dashboard.

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Seamless sign-up

Because new users will be required to sign up, you have to make the sign-up process simple and seamless. For instance, you should keep the sign-up form short and simple, allowing even the least educated users to sign up without assistance. Nobody has the time and patience to fill out a long and vague online form.

So, you have to make the process as simple and frictionless as possible for your users. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to gather as much data about your users as possible from the get-go. This will only make your sign-up process long and boring. Your sign-up form should only gather the most essential details about the user like the name, email address, and phone number; the rest of the details can be collected at a later stage.

Know your target users

How are you going to develop a user-friendly SaaS app if you don’t understand your target user? You should start by studying your target market to understand its needs and expectations. Once you understand what your target user needs, it’s easy to develop an app that offers them the best experience.

Your app designs should focus on your target user’s needs, ensuring that they’re friendly and unfailing. However, don’t confuse your target user with market segmentation. Although it’s possible to have a market segment like small businesses as your target user, you don’t necessarily have to confine your users into a single segment. The most important thing is to ensure that the design of your app focuses on the services it offers.

Simple UI design

Developing a simple and convenient UI design is one of the most important SaaS product design best practices. Because most SaaS applications are complex, their user interface designs end up being complex. So, you should avoid this pitfall by analyzing your app’s UI design thoroughly before the final launch. Make sure the complex technicalities of the app are hidden behind the product and its UI design so that they don’t frustrate your users.

Connecting with the buyer persona

It’s very important to create a buyer persona for your app. This will help you to visualize your target users and ensure that your app connects perfectly with your buyer persona.

If you’re not a professional web or software designer, you need to hire one for your SaaS products so that your users can enjoy the best user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designs. A professional designer can help you apply all the relevant SaaS app design principles for your business and will follow them strictly to create designs that surpass the current industry standards.