There are various responsibilities associated with the role of a product manager. Some of which include but are not limited to: managing the product’s cost-benefit ratio, deciding on pricing factors and monetizing, analyzing return on investment (ROI), etc. Such factors determine the success or failure of a B2B product, especially in today’s time where customers can easily switch from one vendor to another for better features and services at lower rates.
Some of the SaaS product manager responsibilities are:
- Manage costs
- Determine pricing strategy
- Create and manage product roadmap
- Establishing measures for success/failure of the product
- Improve user experience
- Product development & marketing etc.
SaaS Product Manager Job Description, Career Path, and Salary A SaaS (Software as a Service) product manager is responsible for guiding his team to design and develop web-based applications that drive market share and revenue growth for the company across all channels – direct, indirect, and online marketing. This person is responsible for planning, managing, and directing software production by taking full control of prioritizing tasks as well as defining strategic goals to meet the business vision and targets.
SaaS product managers also provide support to sales, marketing, and public relations functions and help in developing partnerships with other companies that may benefit from the company’s products or services. They are expected to assist in LinkedIn recruiting team members as well as maintaining key relationships within the organization.
Typically, a SaaS product manager is directly responsible for all activities related to web-based applications such as strategy formation, new version releases (including prioritizing requirements), coordinating client presentations, market research, competitor analysis, etc.
He reports directly to the CEO/executive management of the company and his primary job responsibilities include:
- Define product features that help offer a competitive advantage by aligning them with the overall business strategy
- Ensure timely release of product features by managing teams involved – including technology, design, testing, and marketing – as well as meeting deadlines
- Address any business issues that may arise during development phases or after a new version has been launched
The way a product manager executes his tasks varies from company to company. In some companies, he will have full control over all aspects of product management while in others he will be responsible for certain departments only.
In addition to the above-mentioned responsibilities, a SaaS product manager is also responsible for:
- Managing existing customers for better retention rates
- Handling customer support when required
- Investigating the market to find any gaps that the product does not fill while determining how it can be filled
- Identifying new opportunities via competitor analysis, brainstorming sessions, etc.
- Working with internal teams on the next steps for the product development process
A SaaS product manager also has to work closely with other members of the team. This mainly involves close collaboration between design and marketing departments before launching a new version of an application. Communication is essential in this role as there are expectations from multiple parties involved. It’s important that these expectations are managed well by communicating clearly about plans, progress, and deadlines so that there are no frustrations later on in the project life cycle.
SaaS product managers always need to be open for feedback from internal teams, customers, and market research.
Product management skills are required to manage the software development process. The specific role of the product manager includes setting the strategic direction of an application with business goals. This involves initial research on customer needs, competitor analysis, and building a strategy around it.
SaaS product managers must also have good knowledge about user experience design, analytics tools, customer service expertise, and technical skills in order to interact with all internal teams involved in the SDLC process.
SaaS providers are often dependent on how well they are able to understand their target customers based on their demographics, psychographics profile, or online behavior patterns. Market research is carried out by SaaS product managers who use various methodologies to collect data that could be utilized by the business in making future business decisions.
SaaS product managers are responsible for end-to-end product inception, execution, and support throughout its life cycle. They must take care of building a strategy to roll out new features while still maintaining brand voice and value proposition. They must also plan marketing campaigns and grow their product through paid advertising.
SaaS Product Managers are only able to achieve these goals after gathering intelligence on its customer base, technology adoption trends in the industry, market opportunity, and competition.
According to this survey report by G2Crowd , SaaS product managers use a variety of third-party tools that help them gather all kinds of information about their customers both for pre-launch or post-launch phases. These tools are categorized into two broad categories – Tools that provide data collection capabilities, and Tools that provide analysis of collected data. Here are four popular platforms based on the tool category, along with company descriptions.
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