3 tips for picking profitable SaaS ideas

SaaS products—like software products in general—can only be successful when they solve problems. Solving problems doesn't guarantee success, but it's a requirement nonetheless.

With that in mind, the best way to come up with great scalable SaaS product ideas is by actively seeking out problems and thinking of solutions. These solutions are potential products—assuming you have the skills and resources necessary to build them.

So, how do you seek out problems?

There isn't a single, correct way to go about it. However, it helps to be systematic. That's why we've come up with three methods for identifying opportunities and unsolved problems in any industry.

1) Listen To The Market

Reviewers and review aggregators are your best friend when seeking out problems with a piece of software. Not only do they provide valuable insights about what people want and don't want from a product, but they also tend to be brutally honest.

There are tons of trustworthy review sites that feature SaaS products to choose from, including:

• Capterra
• G2
• TrustRadius

I recommend choosing a niche you'd like to explore (e.g., collaboration software) and having a look at a few of the most popular SaaS products that show up (e.g., Microsoft Teams). You'll find that while most popular products are highly-rated, they're not perfect.

Take Microsoft Teams, for example. The software scores an impressive
4.4/5 on Capterra, but many reviews still lodge fairly significant complaints about synching issues, missed notifications, and server lag. These are all problems a smart competitor will solve.

Tip: You don't need to jump straight to the one-star reviews to identify problems! In fact, you might be better off searching through the two- to four-star range. These reviews tend to be more balanced in their characterizations of strengths and weaknesses.

2) Read Industry News and Analysis

Staying up-to-date with your industry is important for a number of reasons, but it also provides an opportunity to identify problems that need solving.

When reading industry news, look for articles that discuss unsolved problems or new regulations or challenges that businesses in an industry will face. These can be potential starting points for new SaaS products.

Environmental regulation is a great example of this. The United Kingdom is one of many countries that has recently begun mandating that certain companies produce annual reports on their environmental impacts (i.e., greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, etc.).

These reports mean manual tracking and analysis for businesses who currently lack the software to automate the process. A SaaS product that solves this problem is poised for success.

3) Survey Your Target Market

This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you want to know what people want, ask them! However, it's important to keep a few things in mind when surveying your target market:

Make sure that your survey questions are clear and concise.
Avoid leading questions—these will skew your results.
Offer an incentive for taking the survey (e.g., a discount on your eventual product).
Make sure you actually listen to the feedback.
Who you survey will depend on the industry you're looking to enter with your product. If you have industry connections, utilizing your network has the highest chance of success. If you don't, sending out well-written cold-emails isn't a bad approach.

As a bonus, this method as functions as an extremely early marketing tactic for your product. Everyone you contact is a potential lead down the line!