Due to these advantages, the industry has become highly competitive; according to Statista, there are around 17,000 SaaS companies in the US, with around 59 billion customers worldwide. That’s why, to win buyers’ attention, businesses should invest in an attractive and engaging design, among other things connected with web development.
Based on our experience, companies want a trendy design that stands out in a competitive market while reflecting the unique characteristics of their business models, streamlining the user experience, and optimizing functionality. That’s why this guide covers the top design trends and the best SaaS website examples.
When you decide to build a SaaS website, you should see how the best practices work in practice. Our Devox Software team provides that knowledge.
What Makes SaaS Websites Unique
In simple terms, SaaS websites are unique because they have a few key design elements that set them apart from other types of websites. But this isn’t easy to achieve, given how many SaaS designs already exist on the market.
These days, unique SaaS websites need to be sleek, modern, mobile-friendly, visually appealing, and focused on simplicity and ease of use. However, our experience shows that a unique design appearance is not an end in itself. Sometimes ease of use, intuitive navigation, and the ability to drive more conversions matter more than the client’s aesthetic preferences.
For example, when we designed ActivePlace, a health-related social media platform and marketplace, our primary task was to address the preferences of different user categories and guarantee a personalized experience for any visitor. In cases like these, a unique SaaS product design covers all customer needs, looks attractive, and incorporates best design practices.
7 SaaS Best Practices
So, how do you design a SaaS platform that meets your customers’ needs, drives conversions, and looks modern? We’ve collected the top 7 practices that can help you cover all these tasks at once.
Mobile-Friendly Design
Mobile devices are expected to reach 18.22 billion by 2025, and your website design should address this trend. Today, a website that looks great on both desktop and mobile is a must.
Easy Registration
To increase conversion rates, we recommend that SaaS businesses make the registration process easy for users. How can you do this? Reduce required fields, add social login options, and provide clear instructions.
This design practice is part of a user-friendly interface built with typical customer behavior in mind. Specifically, it lets users quickly find features without getting frustrated. To make your design intuitive, simplify your interface as much as possible and remove unnecessary elements.
Smooth Start
The user interface is the first thing your users will interact with, so it’s important to make a good impression. A smooth start means designing an interface that is both visually appealing and easy to use. Minimalistic design, large buttons, and clear labels are all key elements of a smooth start.
It should also be easy for users to start using your SaaS product. In design terms, that means simplifying your UI and improving navigation. Label your buttons and make headings big enough to eliminate any guesswork.
Create a design that even novice users can navigate without feeling lost or frustrated.
Smart Search
Search bars are essential parts of navigation, so design SaaS products with extra focus on how users find the information they need. Put a big search bar at the top of the homepage with a drop-down menu that lets users select the type of results they’re looking for. Also, add another search bar at the bottom of each page in case users forget what they were looking for and want to start over.
When designing search bars, keep them user-friendly. Make it possible to input different types of information, including text queries, images, and video or sound files (if applicable). But don’t overload it: users will get frustrated seeing many search options. Another mistake is offering nonsense or contradictory results, relying more on machine logic than human behavior.
Features with Great Accessibility
Easy navigation is another must-have feature of good SaaS design. These elements include shortcuts to all main features, minimalist yet comprehensive menus, and smart search bars that address customers’ questions before they even come to mind.
Also, your website should meet accessibility standards. Make all functionality available via keyboard, avoid content that can trigger seizures, and provide text versions or subtitles for audio content.
Informative Dashboards
The dashboard is the first thing users see when they log in, so it needs to be both informative and visually appealing. To achieve this, designers often use minimalist colors and easy-on-the-eyes fonts, including only essential information.
Data visualization, graphics, and illustrations are other great tools to improve your dashboard. Use them strategically—too many visual elements can clutter the screen, while too few might confuse your user. Remember, it’s all about balancing simplicity and functionality: try to “humanize” complex data with infographics or simple visuals, making it easier for people to understand.
Personalization
A successful SaaS product personalizes the user experience as much as possible. Here, you need to have as much information about customer behavior as possible. Therefore, use various analytics tools and all available channels to collect customer feedback at every stage of interaction with your product.
Next, you can create custom dashboards for each user and tailor the interfaces to their specific needs. Using analytics will also guide future design decisions and help you maintain a truly personalized experience.
If you need more information on best practices, check out the best web design trends in 2022 to further improve your SaaS design.
Design Thinking Methodology
Design thinking is a methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is often used in designing new products or services and can also solve business problems. In this section, we’ll show the key steps in design thinking.
Step 1: Empathize
To design a new product, you need to understand your users’ needs. That’s the aim of the empathize step in design thinking: put yourself in your user’s shoes and try to understand their needs and motivations. Commonly, you will collect real feedback through interviews and observation of your target audience’s behavior.
Step 2: Determine
The goal here is to map out your solution, be that a new product or service or something as simple as a problem statement. This step helps you ensure you aren’t creating an arbitrary design, but defining an approach that leads to solving a problem. The result is a Point of View (POV): a clear problem formulation linked to users’ needs.
Step 3: Generate an Idea
After you’ve created a vision of what your final solution will look like, your next step is to generate ideas. This is where brainstorming and creativity come into play. It helps to involve as many people as possible in generating ideas, since anyone can contribute insight from their personal experiences.
Step 4: Make a Prototype
After you’ve generated a range of ideas, it’s time to determine which are feasible. Many tools can help you assess your options and find a solution that aligns with your strategy and meets your users’ needs. In this regard, prototyping lets you create models of potential solutions and evaluate each one’s viability to choose the best fit.
Step 5: Test
The testing step lets you put your prototype in front of users and get their feedback. Remember, usability testing is never finished—you should always be able to improve your product based on real user insights. Through continuing iteration, you can ensure that your solution resonates with your audience.
7 Best Examples of SaaS Websites
By 2028, the SaaS market is expected to reach more than $344 billion in value, so it’s no surprise that demand for best design practices is rising. Here are seven examples of SaaS website best practices you can use as references for your winning SaaS design.
#1 Shopify
Shopify has several strong design elements worth noting. From the top of the page, the website invites users to start a free trial and shows how future product cards will look on the marketplace. Then, it depicts category examples and describes the advantages of using Shopify. By the end, you see a globe animation that demonstrates the platform’s popularity and capabilities. The navigation is straightforward and user-friendly, divided by “Start,” “Sell,” “Market,” and “Manage” menus.
The Shopify website shows a strong example of integrating different design elements to demonstrate your SaaS product’s competitive advantages.
#2 Dropbox
Like Shopify, Dropbox, a cloud backup and file-sharing platform, starts with a CTA button and offers an easy-to-use, intuitive customer-facing experience. The home page also features numerous colorful images, encouraging visitors to share files through the platform. A key part is listing partner integrations with popular services like Trello, Google Workspace, and Zoom to highlight the platform’s usability. By the end of the page, Dropbox publishes customer stories to increase credibility.
This website design is a good example of how to rely on visual elements and existing integrations to promote your product.
#3 Asana
Asana’s design is remarkable for having personality and humor. Despite the numerous screens on the homepage, the smart use of animations, minimalist design, and well-thought-out flow don’t overwhelm users. The navigation menu includes typical “Why us?,” “Features,” “Resources,” “Pricing,” and “Contact Sales” pages, which is a good idea for a user-friendly, intuitive design.
On Asana’s home page, you can find project management functionality (both described and visualized), case studies (with details both described and visualized), integrations (with a great design decision that makes it feel endless), and customization options.
It’s a great website example of how to fit a lot of information on one page.
#4 Slack
Slack’s SaaS design on the first screen contains several CTA buttons and the “digital HQ” motto. This is a good way to encourage users to try your product; however, pay attention to the number and appearance of buttons to avoid a messy design, as shown in this website example.
Compared to the other websites mentioned here, Slack’s homepage is short, featuring only partnership information, animated feature descriptions, illustrative stats, and a customer stories section. At the same time, the navigation menus hide the rest of the information, letting you dive deeper into sections on the homepage or explore product capabilities, possible solutions, enterprise cooperation, and pricing plans.
Overall, this homepage design is a brilliant example of only depicting the essential information about your SaaS product.
#5 HubSpot
Throughout the website, HubSpot uses a strict tile- and table-like design, creating unified branding and demonstrating an ability to maintain a straight-to-the-point approach.
Minimalist, short content doesn’t mean less value; it means more focus on what matters to users. Each block in HubSpot design includes only the important information: clear headings, descriptions, and CTA buttons. Live chat is a key element here, letting the service answer questions as they come up.
If you’re a fan of short pages with minimalistic design, HubSpot is your reference.
#6 Figma
The company that created one of the main design tools has a strong SaaS design. Its SaaS homepage feels like you’re already using the product. Even more, Figma contains several engaging animations, divided by “Brainstorm,” “Design,” and “Build” sections. The navigation menu, in addition to the typical “Products,” “Enterprise,” and “Pricing” submenu, offers a way to browse the Community resources to get started with the product more easily.
If you have an opportunity to introduce unique design elements, you can use the Figma website example for reference and inspiration.
#7 DocuSign
The electronic signature service uses a design where each block contains product keywords, such as “agreement,” “contact,” and “eSignature.” Like the other websites mentioned here, DocuSign’s home page includes a CTA at the top, functionality descriptions and visualizations, a list of possible integrations, and customer feedback. At the same time, the brand includes extra blocks for brand partnerships and stats to build trust.
Since DocuSign is the youngest service among the brands we’ve listed in this section, its home page structure can serve as a strong example for SaaS startup websites.
How Much Does It Cost to Design a SaaS Product?
The cost of designing a SaaS product varies based on the product’s features and complexity. A minimal design project may cost up to $5,000, while an enterprise-level design project could cost $30,000-$50,000 or more.
The basic SaaS app requires spending on
- Research: On average, a SaaS app has 100 screens, and competitor research, user flows, and other artifacts can take up to 2 weeks. If you decide to collect in-depth user interviews, it may take another week.
- Prototype (layout and actual prototyping): This step usually takes around a month, with one screen taking around 2 hours of work.
- Visual design: Another month of work on the UI of your SaaS product.
- Polishing the design: It’s good practice to allow three weeks for changes and communication throughout the project.
Since a small SaaS project takes around three months and a skilled designer’s average rate is $35-$45 per hour, the design will cost around $16,800-$21,600.
Besides, it is worth noting that many factors impact the final price, including:
- The design team size requested,
- The amount of content that needs to be designed,
- The visual complexity of the design requested (the presence of icons, illustrations, or animation),
- The need for UX research for your product,
- Your particular needs not covered by the average SaaS design cost.
Collecting all this information allows a design agency to estimate your software project’s exact cost.
How We Do It
Devox Software is a custom web application development company delivering software development with a personal touch. Our UI/UX expertise focuses on creating eye-catching, user-friendly designs that increase SaaS conversion rates. To see the quality of our work, check out our portfolio.
What you’ll get from Devox Software:
- Cost estimation for your project
- Personalized design for various devices (including mobile)
- Wireframes, prototypes, and mockups
- Visual UI design
- Guidance through the design process according to design thinking methodology
- Custom design that applies best practices described in this guide
- UI/UX consultations
- Maintenance services
With flexibility, facilitation, a well-planned development process, and people as our main assets, we are ready to take full responsibility for complex UI/UX tasks. By applying the design thinking methodology, Devox Software designers are ready to conduct research, turn your idea into a prototype that solves users’ problems, and create a full-fledged responsive design with engaging elements.
Next Steps
As you can see, the world of SaaS design is constantly evolving. To stay ahead of the curve and design the best solutions, it’s vital to stay up to date on industry changes. The best designers can imagine what is possible with today’s technology and design, yet create a product that serves your business and your customers’ needs.
Contact us if you’re interested in a SaaS product with exceptional design. At Devox Software, we offer complex UI/UX and web app development services, including user interface design, user experience improvements, custom web and mobile design, responsive design, and SaaS CRM design. We can work on projects of any complexity, as our portfolio shows.
Contact us so we can discuss how to incorporate these best SaaS design practices into your project.
