{"id":2716,"date":"2022-11-11T03:02:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T09:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonathanwold.com\/?p=2716"},"modified":"2022-11-28T11:52:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T17:52:31","slug":"growing-a-saas-in-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/growing-a-saas-in-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing a SaaS in WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business wanting to grow, the WordPress ecosystem, now powering more than 43%\u00b9 of the web, offers more opportunity than ever. Its decentralized nature\u00b2 presents a challenge, especially for those new to the ecosystem. It’s a challenge, though, readily solved through partnerships, presence, and contribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunities for Growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For a SaaS business serving customers with almost any kind of web presence, WordPress will come up sooner or later. Wix, for example, currently serves 2% of the CMS ecosystem\u00b3, and as of this writing enjoys a $4 billion dollar market cap. WordPress, by contrast, is more than 15 times larger and still growing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WooCommerce, an ecosystem plugin for WordPress, has more marketshare than Shopify, a company with a $45 billion dollar market cap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, I expect at least 30% of the customer base of a web connected SaaS to be using WordPress and it’s often more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, I see two clear opportunities for growth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Serve existing customers better<\/strong> – A significant portion of your customers are already on WordPress, and they’re likely using WordPress more than any other CMS. By focusing on WordPress with a good integration, you can create a better experience for the customers you’ve already won.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Reach new customers<\/strong> – The WordPress ecosystem represents the largest addressable market on the web. While its decentralized nature presents barriers for traditional growth strategies, those who work through the barriers can reach and retain new customers and do so efficiently and effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Evaluating ROI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For a SaaS considering an investment for growth in the WordPress ecosystem, there are three benefits to consider when evaluating ROI:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. Reducing Cost-of-Acquisition<\/strong> – WordPress’ decentralized nature, while more challenging to navigate upfront, is undervalued and offers more efficient paths to customer acquisition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Reducing Churn<\/strong> – For a SaaS with a large portion of their customers on WordPress, a strong WordPress integration improves the user experience, offers increased opportunity for value add, and, for most, has a positive impact on reducing churn.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Increasing Lifetime Value<\/strong> – A WordPress integration combined with value-aligned partnerships within the ecosystem, can create wins for all involved and increase the lifetime value of each customer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Obstacles to Growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      So what’s the catch? Because of its decentralized nature, gaining traction in the WordPress ecosystem is difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For a SaaS serving the ecommerce space, for example, investing in WooCommerce is a logical step. You have access to a larger addressable market with more opportunity for positive ROI without Shopify taking their cut, imposing restrictions, or building your functionality directly into the product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The trouble, though, is gaining access to the WooCommerce ecosystem. WooCommerce the business, a former employer of mine, does good work. They have a partnership program, a great marketing team, and the resources of Automattic<\/a> (their parent company) available to them. With all that, though, they have direct influence over less than 20% of the WooCommerce ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The rest is divided amongst hosting providers like GoDaddy, Hostinger, Bluehost, WP Engine, Dreamhost, etc., and the product companies building solutions for WooCommerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Today, then, for a SaaS wanting to tap into the WooCommerce ecosystem, they need to work with both WooCommerce the business, the hosting companies, and product companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      And the same is further true for WordPress broadly. To successfully gain marketshare in today’s environment, you have to work through multiple channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      SaaS Growth Strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      So how does a SaaS grow in the WordPress ecosystem? There are two key steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      1. Create a good WordPress integration<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Increase awareness of your offering<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Building The Foundation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        For a SaaS new to WordPress, creating a WordPress integration can be daunting. While discussing the ins and outs of a good integration is outside the scope of this piece, I created a tool called OpenRank<\/a> that may be a helpful starting point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        From there, the easiest shortcut is to work with a freelancer or agency who knows WordPress well who can either do it for you or support your engineering team. If you’re looking for a recommendation on the agency side, WordPress VIP’s agency partners<\/a> is a good starting point. For freelancers, try Codeable<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The objective is to have an integration that brings the value of your SaaS to your current customers on WordPress in a way that follows best practices and feels “native”. With that, you’re ready to start getting the word out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Increasing Awareness <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        In a decentralized ecosystem, the key challenge you’ll face, even with a great integration, is that folks don’t know you exist. Adding your plugin to the official repository<\/a>, for instance, is no guarantee you’ll get new installs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        That, then, is where the work comes in. To get the word out, there are three areas of focus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n