Don't focus on the product
I've been reading Brennan Dunn interview on IndieHackers:
and this quote (italicized emphasis added by me):
I think the best thing I did was that I never focused on the product itself. I tried to meet someone (in this case, freelancers) exactly where they were right now. Were they complaining about clients, even though they actually had a client communication problem? That was fine. Over time I'd prepare them to become my ideal customer… but at first, I just wanted to come to them on their level, wherever they were currently struggling.
This was for a digital product / blog posts. I imagine this advice to be easier to apply for an info product vs. SaaS. It made me wonder though...how can we apply this advice to SaaS? How can we "don't focus on the product, instead, come on the customer level, wherever they are currently struggling, and TAKE THEM to the NEXT step?"
Let's say you own SaaS for A/B split testing. A segment of your customers are on the level of "I'm struggling to improve the conversion rate for my product". Maybe then doing an angle where you make a small tool called "10-day challenge on improving your conversion rate", where you not only implement your product, but ways to track progress, reminders etc, would be a great addition to "get them from where they are to the next step".
It seems a pretty common mistake to me.
I think the best way is to speak to your customers and find a way to improve their life. They don't care about software and their functionalities.
This is easier to say than to do.
Find your audience
Speak with them to understand how you can improve their life
I don't think a Saas is different from another product...
Yes indeed! We made this mistake many times. Startup founders jump into solution space too early and often without talking to customers to know what the real problems are.