Top 9 SaaS design principles to improve product experience

What do first-time visitors expect from a SaaS website? Of course, they need simplicity and clarity regarding what they see and what they have to do. According to the best SaaS design principles, the UI must be uncluttered and clean, the color scheme minimalistic, and the user journey tractable. At the same time, you should bear in mind your chief goal—to carefully guide people to signing up for a product demo or free trial.

The sign-up process should be straightforward and foolproof to the maximum as well. Why? Because no one likes to fill out elaborate forms with multiple (often unnecessary) details that raise questions about data privacy. So, make sure your form asks only for essential data points (name, email, password). Also, it is very convenient for potential clients if they can register via social media or email accounts, which spares them the headache of remembering a new username and password.

A good idea is to create a sign-up progress bar with specific milestones that will tell people how close they are to completion and keep them motivated to see the procedure through.

Check out how MagicBell does it.

The brand utilizes a limited color palette and accented call-to-action buttons, with navigation kept to a minimum so that users swiftly understand what to do.

After signing up, your customers are supposed to start using your SaaS app. You should manifest the functionality of the product and showcase the value it ushers in. As a rule, this is done by offering them a product tour where all its features are exposed.

The inclusion of an interactive tutorial is among the bread-and-butter SaaS design principles to increase product adoption. It should contain animated walkthroughs, actionable tips, and even gamified experiences to let people learn the ropes of employing the solution. After the tutorial is completed, it is recommended that the user be congratulated on doing it with funny GIFs or welcome emails.

Notion offers a tour of its collaborative app on its Getting Started page, where the product’s essential functions are explained, encouraging users to explore solutions.

It would help if you leveraged these SaaS design principles to improve the usability of your software piece. Even if your app has a rich functionality roster, its users shouldn’t get lost among numerous features. To streamline navigation, you should strategically arrange page content with more important information at the top of the page. Opt for a vertical or horizontal navigation pattern and add scrolling if the menu includes multiple items (like it is done in the best SaaS pricing page examples).

Other SaaS design principles for intuitive product design include contextual tooltips (they may be short videos as well), different layouts for extra data, usability testing, and in-app micro-surveys as feedback collection techniques.

A SaaS ad campaign management platform offered by Hootsuite employs a navigation sidebar to show functionalities, whereas features are presented via icons expanded with labels.

With such SaaS design principles, the UX of users is smooth and enjoyable, where the arrangement allows them to quickly find what they need without being overwhelmed.

SaaS design principles for UI/UX envisage the usage of a SaaS product across multiple devices (desktops, tablets, smartphones, etc.) with varying screen sizes. This means that the product should be responsive, provide optimal viewing, and ensure robust interaction on all of them. According to the best SaaS design principles, the interface should contain accessible elements, high-contrast themes, and proper-sized buttons and menus to avoid accidental tapping. The progressive disclosure method works exceptionally well in revealing additional details to viewers.

Google Workspace is a perfect example of a SaaS platform that is highly adaptable and can be accessed from various devices while providing consistent UX to users.

While leveraging data-driven apps, people can quickly get lost among the plethora of records, indices, KPIs, and other metrics presented in the textual format. But when the insights are arranged on dashboards in the form of well-designed graphs, charts, histograms, and other visuals, it is easy for viewers to make head or tail of them. You can elevate data analytics to a new level by making dashboards interactive and enabling users to sort, filter, and delve into specific data points, thus obtaining a 360-degree view of a particular static picture or dynamic trend.

The dashboard system leveraged by Mixpanel allows app owners to analyze user activities related to their products.

You can see all user engagement parameters (number of followers, conversion rate, social media posts, retention indices, and more), enabling entrepreneurs to make data-driven strategic decisions.

In employing SaaS design principles, flows of human thought and user behavior patterns should be prioritized. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel and come up with offbeat navigation systems when the tried-and-true approaches work perfectly. The time-proven design standards provide users with a sense of familiarity where navigation is intuitive and doesn’t require a long learning curve to master.

Established page design conventions include a hamburger menu icon in the top left corner, search bars at the top of the page, visual shortcuts, and consistent design elements across the entire user journey. All of these are applied in multiple websites, becoming universal tools for operating them, so it makes perfect sense to stick to them in your design efforts as well.

On the Dovetail page, the sidebar menu is placed vertically, while navigation items have a horizontal arrangement.

Relying on these universal principles, users can easily find their way around the page and accomplish their tasks efficiently.

No matter how carefully you have designed your product and the web page that markets it, users will always have questions. That is why providing robust and responsive customer support is a must for SaaS vendors.

This section should offer users an option of communicating with the support team directly (via a live chat, phone call, or email) or allow them to seek self-help. The latter can come in the form of an AI-powered chatbot, customer portal, extensive knowledge base (containing troubleshooting tips, common bottlenecks, how-to guides, and the like), and a FAQ list.

This is how Userpilot tackles customer support.

Its resource center prioritizes customer self-help and encourages users to leave feedback, enabling the vendor to improve its product and customer service.

Any software product can bring maximum value only if it plays well with other elements of the digital ecosystem. To guarantee such synergy, you should offer easy-to-install integrations that are accessible even to non-tech users. Besides, you should allow more knowledgeable customers to harness third-party APIs, enabling them to tailor your SaaS product to their unique needs, operational requirements, and use cases.

GitHub not only enables multiple APIs but also provides detailed documentation on its site concerning the nitty-gritty of their harnessing and functioning.

Trying to meet your customers halfway, you should go to all lengths to let them customize your SaaS solution in numerous aspects. You can allow them to remove or add UI features, turn some options on or off, and move on to more advanced functionalities as they enhance their competencies in using your solution.

Another SaaS personalization is related to empty states—product experience points that are still vacant because the user hasn’t filled out all relevant fields in their account. But even if there is nothing to display yet, you should leave these states really empty. Populate them with instructional content, leveraging such spaces as additional opportunities for converting and onboarding users.

Look how ClickUp handles customization.

Its users have the freedom to tailor custom fields, comment reactions, and other user-facing elements, making the most of the site’s customer experience.

As you see, there are a lot of nuances in implementing SaaS UI/UX design best practices. A layperson will hardly be able to employ them on an appropriate level and receive a high-quality product as an outcome. What should be done to maximize the power of design for your SaaS product?

We are a seasoned IT company whose vetted staff has vast theoretical knowledge and multiple hands-on skills in delivering top-notch design services for digitally powered businesses across various verticals. While working on SaaS design projects, we are very particular about details and never compromise the quality of the end product.

Contact us to revolutionize your SaaS product and boost the customer experience of your clientele.

What are the SaaS design principles of a good product? Foolproof in onboarding and navigation, an intuitive architecture based on thinking patterns and hierarchical content arrangement, responsiveness on all devices and screen sizes, interactive dashboards to visualize data, robust customer support, and the option for multiple third-party integrations.

The vital SaaS design principles adoption and partnering with seasoned design experts to implement them allow your brand to attract and retain consumers, improve customer engagement, boost their loyalty, and get a sharp competitive edge over your rivals in the niche.