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SaaS Business Model: Learn How It Works and How to Measure If It Does

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Marie Liechman

With more than 15,529 SaaS companies registered on Crunchbase and 12 times growth rate since 2010, it's okay to say that SaaS is a business model of the 21st century. So, let's discover, why does everyone want to be a SaaS company? 

What is SaaS?

SaaS (Software as a Service) is software hosted on the cloud. It can be accessed via an internet browser, mobile application, or desktop app. SaaS is provided to users on a subscription basis, which means they have to pay a recurring fee monthly or annually. 

SaaS revenue streams
SaaS companies typically have a few revenue streams in addition to subscription. Let's look at all of them.

Subscription
Recurring payments are the main revenue-generating stream of SaaS businesses. This stream is fluctuating and varies from month to month (depending on your pricing model and customer satisfaction). People continue to use the app as long as it delivers value.

Upsell
You can upsell to existing customers offering them more storage, more data, additional features, or more accounts. 

Software setup
You may charge for software setup. This revenue stream not only adds to the profit of your SaaS but also enables a customer validation process. You need to approach setup fees carefully. It works better for enterprises (big clients) with a lot of data.

Customer support
You can develop different levels of customer support and charge for this service. Customer service is an important and expensive part of any business. And, we consider it to be part of the SaaS value proposition so it might also be included in the pricing model.

If you want to read some more about key metrics of SaaS businesses, you can check out this blog post here: https://www.eleken.co/blog-posts/saas-business-model-learn-how-it-works-and-how-to-measure-if-it-does.

Will every business evolve into a subscription business model?

In conclusion, software as a Service business model is a win/win for customers and businesses. For businesses, SaaS scales fast, generates recurring revenue, and gets managed easily. For customers, it offers convenience and reduced investments.

Customer demand is changing. They are more willing to pay for access to the product or service in smaller amounts rather than paying lump sums up-front. Customers enjoy not only lower costs but also constant upgrades of the software and easy access to new features and cutting-edge technologies.

There is a luring opportunity for every business to evolve into a subscription business model. If you want to keep your product viable and generate constant profit, regardless of where you are, you should start considering this option.

The transition may be expensive at first, but you can reap benefits very fast as soon as you choose the right pricing model and set up your metrics.

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Marie Liechman
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