SaaS Website Design: 7 Examples of Strategic Elements

There are no set rules regarding SaaS web design. Still, there are strategic elements you’ll need to include to ensure successful SaaS website design.

For SaaS companies, so much of your business hinges on the quality of your web design. Any website requires a well thought out design that’s built to serve the needs of its customers. But for SaaS companies that offer products and services that are abstract and intangible, it’s even harder to create a beautifully designed website that satisfies your customers’ needs while fully explaining your product.

It becomes even harder for companies to differentiate themselves since SaaS website design is such a competitive space. Customers expect SaaS companies to have an incredible looking website that’s easy to use and intuitive. Since that’s easier to do than ever for companies of all sizes, it’s difficult to differentiate yourself as having one of the best SaaS website designs.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding SaaS design. Still, there are plenty of practices you can put into play to ensure your web page is attractive, concise, and provides users with the important information they need quickly. Today, we’re going to discuss the strategic elements you’ll need to include to ensure successful SaaS website design.

The Strategic Elements All SaaS Companies Should Include

To design the most effective site possible, certain elements are critical to include on your site. These elements will help prospective customers immediately understand who you are, what you do, and what you can do to help them. You’ll find great examples of these elements on all the best SaaS websites.

A Captivating Headline

Literally, every SaaS company relies on a captivating and descriptive headline that should clearly convey your value proposition to prospects. When crafting a headline, consider your ideal customer’s pain points and needs. For the heading, your goal should be to combine what your business does with the problem it solves.

A Hero Element That Demands Attention

Whatever your hero element is, it needs to capture the attention of your visitors immediately. Whether it’s an image carousel, a static image, or a video, it needs to inspire an emotional response from people viewing your page.

The hero element should allow viewers to understand your brand while reinforcing your headline instantly. Videos are an especially popular element since they can clearly convey your message in an entertaining way in much less time than it would take you to explain your product with words and photos.

Since it’s incredibly important for people to interact with these hero elements, they should be designed to encourage users to click on the content and pay attention to it. Place hero content above the fold and make sure any buttons or navigation bars are clear.

Most video hosts provide analytics on your videos, so you can also analyze how visitors are interacting with your content. If you’re having issues with interaction, you can always swap out your hero element for something that may pique your visitors’ interest.

Social Proof

Countless studies have proven that people are much more likely to believe the information they receive from trusted sources rather than advertising. Social proof is the most effective way to lend your business some authority and trust in the marketplace; one of the most important things a SaaS company needs to achieve success.

Social proof can come in many forms. Some companies prefer to add testimonials or social media posts as social proof, while others include the logos of authority publications they’ve appeared in or any major customers they’ve worked with.

Project management software that integrates multiple other platforms can benefit from including the logos of the platforms their software can help integrate.

Video testimonials, statistics, and case studies are also proven and effective ways to position yourself as an industry leader with smart solutions.

Whatever form it takes, most SaaS businesses include social proof as an easy way to instantly lend authority to your page and put visitors at ease.

Call to Action

A call to action is arguably the most important element of SaaS web design elements. Every software website’s goal is to lead visitors to the next step in the sales funnel, and doing so requires some level of buy-in from visitors.

Your call to action should be clear and direct, and it should highlight the benefit the user will receive once they complete the necessary action. If you’re offering a white paper in exchange for the visitor’s email address, a CTA like “claim your white paper now” will be more effective than something more generic, like “download.”

In the past, the initial CTA would send users to a separate page where they’d have to fill out a form. Forms generate friction, and it’s common for most users to give up and bounce from your page. Today, more companies are asking for an initial buy-in (like an email address) at the same time the customer clicks the CTA.

Structuring your CTA in this manner will likely be less effective than requiring no buy-in when the CTA is clicked. It also ensures that users who make it to the next step in your funnel are less likely to bounce once they get to the form.

At worst, you still have a point of contact for the visitors who bounce before completing the entire process. These visitors may not have been ready at that moment, but they’re relatively qualified leads, and you can reach out to them later on.

User Privacy

One way to increase your CTA’s effectiveness is to include a link to your privacy policy, along with a short sentence or two that instills confidence in how your company handles personal information.

Internet users are especially protective of the information they provide in forms, and for a good reason. Spam and promotional emails dominate large chunks of our inbox, and the last thing anyone needs is more clutter; they aren’t interested in reading.

Plus, major companies mishandle user data on a seemingly daily basis, so most users are on high alert regarding the information they’ll share with a company like yours. Providing information about your privacy policy will help put visitors at ease and increase your CTA’s conversion rate.

Live Chat

Since the world of SaaS can be a bit nebulous and difficult to quantify, the majority of your prospective customers are going to have questions about what you’re offering. A virtual representative is a great way to open a line of communication with prospects in real-time.

Many of the questions users would have during their first contact with your site will be easy enough for a chatbot to answer. They can help set a standard that your business values customer service and open communication.

Try to keep your chat function as unobtrusive as possible. Some companies have large and cumbersome chat boxes that pop up without solicitation, which results in a negative experience for the user.

Navigation Bar

A navigation bar is critical, whether you’re dealing with your homepage, a subpage, or a landing page

you’ve created for your digital marketing efforts. This element allows users to navigate away to other areas of your site, such as your pricing page, our team page, or contact page. Always providing a navigation bar is an example of great design that many SaaS companies leverage.

Especially when it comes to landing pages, you may not want users to navigate away from where they are, but providing them with an opportunity to do so improves user experience.

Final Word

When it comes to SaaS website design, you must add value with each of the elements on the page. Each of the seven elements we’ve discussed above are perfect ways for you to tell your story in a way that users are going to be receptive to.

Consider adding these strategic elements to your website, and you should be well on your way to generating more qualified leads and closing more deals.