As a large enterprise, you likely know the tried-and-true techniques for nurturing relationships with your clients. In a sense, you have to treat them the same way membership organizations approach their subscribers and supporters. You have to make sure you’re always searching for new opportunities to add value for your customers and to improve their experiences.
This technique dovetails nicely with cross-selling and upselling strategies. When your clients truly appreciate that you’re trying to make their work easier, they’ll be interested in hearing about the new services, products and packages your company provides.
You have an opportunity to add value for your clients by offering them a customizable marketplace that facilitates access to products from reliable SaaS companies. Such a platform would make it easier for the businesses you service to research, discover and integrate Software-as-a-Service solutions into their operations.
What’s the end result for your enterprise? It’s stronger customer relationships and a new revenue stream for you. Here’s how offering a SaaS marketplace could be beneficial for you.
What Defines SaaS?
SaaS, or Software-as-a-Service, refers to technology solutions that are hosted remotely, usually in the cloud. Instead of purchasing the software and installing it locally on your machine or to a company server, you pay for a subscription-based license that allows you to access the service online.
SaaS examples range from online marketing platforms to website hosting, customer relationship management (CRM) tools and intra-office communication platforms.
With Software-as-a-Service, customers have instantaneous access to technology updates as they’re rolled out by the service provider.
What is a SaaS Marketplace?
Online marketplaces enable users to purchase SaaS products through a single, easy-to-use, integrated platform. Instead of the cumbersome and time-consuming process of researching, vetting, contacting and purchasing several different solutions and working through their integrations independently of each other, a SaaS marketplace simplifies the process. Users select what they need, whether it’s small business accounting software or a point-of-sale system, and they can access their solution through the same interface as other SaaS products.
What are the benefits of implementing a SaaS marketplace?
For an enterprise, offering a SaaS marketplace for your customers has many benefits for your business, including:
Revenue Sharing
Perhaps most importantly, providing your customers with access to a marketplace platform can serve as an additional revenue stream for you. By partnering with co-branded or white-labeled products like the marketplace SaaS solution available through the Company.com Dashboard, you can earn recurring revenue alongside the SaaS tool providers to which your customers subscribe.
Stronger Customer Relationships
Your customers will view you as a trusted partner once they begin to appreciate the simplicity, convenience and cost-effectiveness of using the marketplace you provide them for accessing SaaS solutions.
Why Has the SaaS Marketplace Industry Grown?
There are two primary reasons the SaaS marketplace industry has grown.
The first reason is that the market for SaaS products has grown in general. At the end of 2019, Gartner predicted that SaaS tools would expand their overall revenue totals to $116 billion in 2020. In this climate, you might expect any venue that sells this kind of software to grow, too, including marketplaces.
The second reason explains more directly why marketplaces for SaaS software are growing. This rising popularity may be at least partially attributable to the overall growth in digital sales. McKinsey pointed out that digital interactions have been an increasingly prominent component of sales processes for years. A report from the firm noted that COVID-19 has served as a further catalyst for this move. According to McKinsey’s research in April 2020, survey respondents said that before the pandemic, digital interactions were more important than traditional interactions just 48% of the time. After the pandemic hit, that number rose to 66%.
Additionally, marketplaces provide customers with access to SaaS solutions that are:
- Already vetted.
- Available a la carte.
- Scalable to meet their growing needs.
What Trends are Emerging in the SaaS Marketplace Industry?
SaaS marketplace platforms are becoming more sophisticated every day. In addition to simply facilitating access to SaaS applications, marketplace software like the offering available from Company.com can provide additional services for enterprise customers like you. The platform can help you gain insights about customer behavior based on how users interact with different services on the platform. Then, you can use that information to further improve your tailored sales and marketing strategies to most effectively reach your existing customers for cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
Learn more by requesting a demo today. We’re happy to share our insights with you.
