SaaS growth: 3 Simple Case Study Examples to Inspire You

A Guide to Testimonial Videos

As technology and digitization take global center stage, an increasing number of companies are turning to SaaS to help them be profitable, scalable, and competitive.

In this article, we will look at some inspiring SaaS growth case study examples and discuss how you can implement some of the strategies in your Software-as-a-service (SaaS) business to keep the competition at bay.

Table of Contents

What is SaaS?

SaaS, or software as a service, is a newer model of software delivery that allows users to access and use software over the internet. Because it is subscription-based, SaaS allows for rapid scaling and easy implementation, making it an attractive option for businesses of all sizes.

Because it is subscription-based, users only pay for the software they use, which makes it a more cost-effective option for businesses than traditional software.

A SaaS product is generally broken down into three tiers:

  • The first tier is the core application itself. This is the main functionality of the product and what the customer pays for.
  • The second tier is all the supporting services and tools that help support the core application.
  • The third tier is the user interface (UI). This part of the SaaS product is what the customer sees when they log into the application. The UI is often a web-based control panel that allows users to manage their accounts and other features.

In addition to the three tiers, a SaaS product is often called on-demand or self-service. This means that the customers can create and manage their accounts through an online interface.

What are the benefits of SaaS?

Before we look at some of the best SaaS growth case study examples, let us list the benefits of the SaaS, which is a great option for startups because you can offer software products and services to your customers without them worrying about upfront costs.

“As a SaaS business, you can focus on product development and marketing.”

The exponential growth of the SaaS industry is one of the best examples of the power of this business model. In the technology industry, startups are constantly on a mission to stay ahead of their competitors. Many success stories that demonstrate how startups can benefit from adopting SaaS:

  • It is a better business model than other traditional software models (such as “boxed” software). SaaS applications are generally easier to use than traditional software, and they provide benefits over the traditional software model.
  • It is a successful business model because it allows companies to reduce their IT investment and costs. Some SaaS applications are free for a certain time, and then they charge you for their premium features if you want to use them.

How do you Measure SaaS Growth?

SaaS is a type of cloud computing that allows users to access and use software over the internet. There are many different types of SaaS, each with its own benefits. Do SaaS growth case studies help you measure your success?

SaaS growth rates vary.

“Some SaaS companies see a 50% to 100% year-over-year growth rate, while others report growth rates closer to 20%”

There are several ways to measure SaaS growth:

  • One of the most popular methods is the churn rate, which is the percentage of users who cancel their subscriptions within a specified period.
  • Another way to measure SaaS growth is by calculating the number of paid subscribers over time. This method can be more accurate since subscription pricing is not affected by churn.

The main goal of running SaaS is to facilitate the growth of a company. To do so, it is important to understand how the success of a SaaS application depends on two factors: market reach and retention rate.

“Market reach is the ability of the application to attract new users. It is influenced by three factors: marketing, product, and price.”

Marketing allows a company to build awareness of their SaaS application, therefore increasing market reach.

Product allows a company to differentiate its SaaS application from other similar ones. Product differentiation is crucial to create a better user experience and therefore, increase market reach.

Pricing is one of the main factors that influence the retention rate of a SaaS application. SaaS pricing is best described as a pay-as-you-go model.

  • Paying for SaaS applications is based on usage, not time. The user pays per unit of use, and the amount differs from one application to another. Companies can choose to have a subscription model, which is most common, or an upfront payment model.
  • Many companies take a “freemium” approach, where the customer can use the software for free but has to pay for extra features.

“Customer retention rate is how many of your customers continue to buy from you after signing up.”

Why are SaaS Growth Case Studies Important?

In recent years, the software as a service (SaaS) market has grown tremendously. According to studies, the global SaaS market was worth $149.07 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $441.26 billion by 2027.

This rapid growth is being fueled by the increasing demand for cloud-based solutions and the growing number of startups entering the space.

In the business world, it is essential to continuously grow and evolve in order to stay ahead of the competition. This is especially true in the technology sector, where disruptive new companies can quickly take over a market if they are able to grow at a faster rate than their predecessors.

When it comes to SaaS growth, there are a few things more important than case studies. They are a fantastic way to learn how other businesses have achieved success with SaaS and to get ideas for your own business.

“Case studies are a great way to learn about what has worked for other companies in the past–and what hasn’t.”

That’s why we will look at some of the best SaaS growth case studies out there. This way, you can learn the best practices of SaaS companies, and find out what works for your own business.

How Videos can help Improve SaaS Growth

With the growth of SaaS businesses, the importance of video marketing has increased. In a survey by Brightcove, 65% of B2B marketers cited video as the main type of content marketing, while 82% of B2C marketers reported using video marketing.

The visual economy has overtaken the audio economy. Information that entertains, engages, and adds value has increasingly become the focus of our media habits. Video content marketing has gained significant traction, as more and more businesses experiment with Video Marketing.

Example Case Studies to Inspire You

Next, we will take a look at three best SaaS growth case study examples.

Case study 1: DirectIQ - How to reduce customer support tickets

In this case study, let’s see how DirectIQ uses videos as a growth strategy to reduce customer support tickets. The New York-based DirectIQ offers in-depth email marketing metrics. Using their easy-to-use email marketing interface, users can sign up for free and start their email marketing campaigns.

Strategy:

  • No credit card is required for sign-up.
  • Email marketers can choose from hundreds of modern email templates.
  • Marketers can create new templates using an easy-to-use drag and drop editor.
  • Other features include unlimited sends, A/B campaigns, and email automation.
  • Premium features include Spam Doctor and Inbox Premium.

Tagline: Create Beautiful Email Campaigns For Free | No Credit Card Needed

The ‘Free’ and ‘No Credit card required’ act like magic in drawing the users to try their service. That’s crossing the first hurdle in your SaaS journey!

Outreach:

DirectIQ wanted to:

  • Educate their customers about their product and improve product adoption.
  • Stand out in a crowded market and differentiate itself from other companies.
  • Create appealing content that gives their viewers a personalized experience about how easy to use the product.
  • Use a hands-on approach from top management. Have a look at the level of their commitment to customers, as exemplified by a quote from the CEO, Mr. Baris Ergin on their website:

“At DirectIQ, we created the easiest to use platform for email marketing for businesses of all sizes. We listen to our clients and add new features continuously. Send us a message and let’s talk! – Baris Ergin, Founder/CEO”

Takeaways:

  • The perfect solution to address the pain points was a series of refined and powerful videos because ‘How-to videos’ are the easiest way to deliver useful information about your product to a wide audience.
  • The company’s far-sightedness in using a series of training videos resulted in reducing customer support tickets and increasing user adoption.
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Case study 2: How SendOwl grew its user base

For growing a user base, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, let us look at the growth tactics used by SendOwl, who help businesses send and manage orders from their online store.

Strategy:

We can see that SendOwl relies on a combination of two simple strategies: Content marketing and SEO.

  • High-quality content that would appeal to their target audience: By creating helpful blog posts and articles that addressed the needs of small business owners, they are able to attract new users and convert them into paying customers.
  • SEO to rank their content for the keywords that were most important to their target audience: This allows them to get high-quality traffic and build a following that would become valuable in the future.

Tagline: The wise way to sell & deliver your digital goods

In western culture, the owl is associated with wisdom. Naturally, the wise, nocturnal bird finds a prominent place on their homepage. So, it is a clever synthesis of the company name and the tagline that effectively sums up the nature of their business.

Outreach:

SendOwl say that their focus is on making the customers happy, and that they have relied largely on word-of-mouth publicity for their growth.

However, they also make it clear that they have nothing against some good publicity!

They even invite journalists, bloggers, and tweeters to talk about the company. The best part is, they even provide a Press Pack.

Takeaways:

  • A customer-centric approach to business.
  • Clever use of digital and content marketing strategies to promote business.
  • Intelligent use of the power of the words to create the brand identity.

Case study 3: ChiroTouch - Transforming one-on-one Zoom training videos into effective How-to-videos

Continuing with our examples of SaaS growth case studies, we present ChiroTouch, a fully customizable chiropractic practice management software. In this case study, ChiroTouch uses videos as a growth strategy to improve the customer onboarding experience respectively.

Strategy:

  • Addressing customers’ pain points using simple and clear copy on their website.
  • Talking numbers in a convincing way – “Our easy-to-use software is loved, trusted, and enjoyed by 21,000 providers and 12,000 practices – for over twenty years.”

Tagline: Power your practice with ChiroTouch | It’s time to take your practice to the next level

Simple and direct. Who wouldn’t be enticed by the prospect of achieving GROWTH by being more productive?

Outreach:

  • ChiroTouch effectively conveys the message that it’s not a practitioner’s job to worry about keeping their practice organized. Instead, they can rely on ChiroTouch’s cloud standard in chiropractic software to do it.
  • Explaining to the customers that regardless of the current size of their practice, why the product is a perfect fit.

Takeaways:

They realized that well-made customer onboarding video training was the way forward.

The challenge, however, was that the videos had to appeal to a group of ‘not-necessarily-very-technical’ type of people.

Content Beta suggested a hybrid model of live training and pre-recorded video courses that the customers could refer to. Here is an example video from the series.

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Conclusion

You can find a number of good examples of SaaS growth case studies and analysis of their growth strategies.

Before we wrap up, we present a small list of case studies we found inspiring:

Sr. No. Company Growth Focus
1 BuzzSumo Annual revenue
2 Buffer Growing a startup
3 Slack Website visitors
4 Zapier Revenue
5 Squarespace User base

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

No. Choosing a growth case study for your business depends on your goals such as increasing revenue, customer base, profits, etc. So, before you pick a growth case study, make sure that you have a clear objective in mind that can benefit from the case study

The first is the cost, both in terms of money and time, of creating a case study. Moreover, a case study is not a research report, but just a small list of data points. It doesn’t really provide an in-depth analysis of a company’s operations.

Choosing a SaaS growth case study suitable for your business depends on your specific situation. For example, if you sell to small businesses, case studies from large enterprises may not be much help and vice versa.

Creating a case study for a SaaS business is an excellent idea because it showcases how the quality of their SaaS products is good. If you are a SaaS business owner, your case study should highlight the benefits of using your SaaS because more than 90% of customers base their purchase decision on a positive review.

SaaS growth metrics like Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Customer lifetime value (LTV), Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), and Churn rate can reliably tell you if your marketing and content strategy is working.

Content Beta