How should SaaS manufacturers operate their products?

I remember a book on operations once gave a definition that the ultimate goal of operations is to "better connect products and users." After breaking it down, it can be understood into two levels: "acquire users and convert them to payment" and "maintain users and continue interactive relationships."

Different product types have very different requirements for "operation" functions. The to C operation model cannot be applied to to B products in the enterprise service category. The former's operations responsibilities are more focused, providing content for users, planning activities, and continuously maintaining the attractiveness of the platform, and quantifying the results through PV/UV/DAU.

For the latter to B-type products, "operation" is a union, not just referring to a certain type of role function. It includes the growth team responsible for attracting customers, the pre-sales service team, and the after-sales customer maintenance team.

Therefore, under this organizational structure, operations are no longer just about producing content or planning activities, but have become a complete set of solutions formed around customers. Except for the sales link, the rest of the links are under the supervision of operations, pursuing low customer acquisition costs, high paid conversion rates, and high renewal rates to achieve the expected goals.

Now you can understand why SaaS vendors have a love-hate relationship with operations positions, because it is impossible to accurately define functional responsibilities. You can neither pursue PV/UV like conventional product operations , nor evaluate transaction volume like sales.

The organizational structure of each company is different. It is necessary to configure the operation team according to the needs of its own business and accurately define the work content of the operation position. Don't grope around blindly or slack off.

1. Operational function: focus on the cost of acquiring business opportunities

As a startup company, the money in our pockets always reminds us to be thrifty. Our definition of operations is relatively broad, and it is not simply user operations, content operations, or event operations.

We believe that the responsibilities of operations include the work content of traditional corporate marketing departments, such as obtaining business opportunities through low-cost investment. The investment method is not limited to a certain channel, and various methods and approaches can be tried online and offline.

It also assumes some of the responsibilities of a customer service position and is responsible for after-sales maintenance services, commonly known as the "Customer Success Department." In summary, the work of the operation team of a SaaS manufacturer is "traditional operation" + "pre-sales traffic generation" + "after-sales service", and their role identity is that of a generalist.

Before reinventing the wheel, you must understand the methods used by others in the market to reinvent the wheel. Currently, except for the medical track (resource-based) of enterprise service products, the promotion model of SaaS products in other industries is still very simple. The KA sales team's field promotion accounts for 80%, and the rest is mainly based on online advertising, old customers bringing in new customers, and concentrated sales meetings based on content, which together account for 20%.

Sales is the core force. In the early stages of development, there was no brand reputation and no successful cases, and valuable customers were acquired mainly through sales visits.

Once a certain level of brand awareness is achieved, the sales goal can be shifted to conquering benchmark customers. This is especially true when launching in new cities, as benchmark customers have a great influence. Small customers complete import conversion through complete promotional processes, technology and customer service support.

Therefore, after understanding the overall development trend of the industry, we will not be blindly optimistic and expect to completely replace KA's ground promotion through "operation" investment. This is unrealistic. If operations can replace traditional sales channels, it means that the average order value and decision-making costs of the product are constantly decreasing. In the future, it may no longer be a B2B product, but may degenerate into a C-end tool that serves specific functional positions.

Of course, when it comes to different customer contact and conversion channels, there are details that are worth magnifying and optimizing. For example, the operations side can use data to distinguish true and false conversion effects, whether to invest in site-wide SEO, which keywords are effective, which keywords are just for show, whether it is appropriate to place advertisements in forums, or to achieve higher conversion rates by producing professional content.

On our small track, the key KPI undertaken by Tiger Frog's operations team is to bring reliable business opportunity leads to the sales team with the most cost-effective investment.

2. Operational methods: Strategically leveraging the situation to help

I will not elaborate on the customer service attributes and traditional product operation attributes included in the operation identity here, as there is not much new. I will talk about the attributes based on promotion and what directions the operation team can think about in this big context.

In this identity attribute, "operation" plays the role of "marketing". Marketing is not sales, but a strategy to amplify sales results. Sales is a 1v1 game, where you negotiate with the customer alone and ultimately achieve a win-win situation with the customer by signing the order.

Operations represent "playing style", which is a sales model that can be connected in series. For example, in the early stages of development, when the product is not well-known, the company needs a sales team to visit each store one by one to sign contracts. When it has a certain reputation among customers and uses the benchmark effect of major customers, operations can use exhibitions, salons, targeted cooperation portals and other methods to gain exposure and sign contracts in batches on the spot. This is the playing style.

The essence of marketing is to match the transaction intentions of buyers and sellers with the lowest cost and most reliable path.

The user characteristics of enterprise service SaaS products are vertical audiences and small circles. Content operation is an effective way to quickly establish trust relationships. In addition to "increasing revenue" or "reducing costs", enterprises also need "consciousness growth". Content can help customers solve the universal needs of "consciousness growth" and the flow of talent in the industry.

Of course, the content operation of SaaS products cannot be like traditional new media operations. It follows hot topics and organizes activities. It is usually to highlight the value of the product and establish a professional image, forming a closed loop of content production → multi-channel distribution → content sedimentation.

The most common practice is for company founders or executives to attend industry summits, share their experiences, and then do advertising in person. The content range includes product dynamics, industry news, and experience case sharing, and the dissemination of pure technical content is relatively weak.

In addition to content operations, planning offline activities has high conversion rate value, such as sharing salons, which provide case studies around product usage effects. The issues discussed on-site are more focused and can easily help the business team to optimize and improve.

For other general types, such as participating in large-scale industry exhibitions, industry sharing, advertising exposure within the visible range of target customers, etc., you need to choose the appropriate conversion path based on the business model.

3. Operational value: screening long-tail customer groups

The clients we serve are human resources companies. According to common understanding, the focus should be on increasing user stickiness to platform products. However, due to the particularity of the business, the operating model in the B2B industry is not completely applicable to us.

Isn't this ruining the business? You are doing SaaS business, but you say that the B2B operating model is not suitable for you.

Of course, the operational indicators we pay attention to within the company also include user usage frequency, login duration, and click-through rate of key functions. This is the current basis, because considering the development cycle of the industry, we always insist on investing in things that have long-term value.

According to the current user level of the product, those who directly interact with us are various roles in the client company (administrators, recruitment consultants, finance, administration, on-site administrators, etc.). After removing the first layer of directly related user roles, we noticed three groups in the second layer of indirect relationships: "labor brokers", "job seekers" and "employers".

The role of "labor broker" is very special. In a scattered state, they become market-oriented foremen, and in a clustered state, they form labor companies. Therefore, when choosing the operating object, we believe that "labor broker" is the key.

If we can learn from Beike's platform model, allow labor brokers to work in a centralized manner, and realize market-oriented dispatch of labor, it will be comparable to the national strategic project "West-East Gas Transmission".

After meeting the needs of some local employers in the impoverished areas of the Northwest, the other part of the labor force is used through the platform's systematic scheduling to solve the labor gap needed for coastal industrial production and achieve talent sharing in a larger physical space.

As a technical service provider itself, from the perspective of solving the seasonal labor surplus and shortage adjustment for the society, in the future it still needs to consider realizing information matching and transaction closed loops through bilateral platforms. It cannot only rely on helping human resources intermediaries upgrade their equipment and upgrade from "bamboo fences" to "concrete walls". This does not actually solve the widespread labor shortage problem in society.

In the 2G era, we talked about exposure rate; in the 3G era, we talked about UV, PV, and conversion rate; in the 4G era, we talked about private domain fission, live broadcast, interaction, and brand-effect integration.

Whether it is To B, ToC or ToG, it is ultimately To Human. The responsibility of operations is to provide precise services at every point of contact between customers and products, turning it into marketing, making every customer contact feel like a "heartbeat", turning it into a conversion, and turning it into a business opportunity.

Author: Mr. Dajinggai

Source: Eight Forty