February 29, 2024
Product Metrics: What Do They Mean?
Good data is the foundation for good decisions. Let's break down the 13 most commonly used product metrics today and how to use them.
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The biggest growth hack for SaaS companies is choosing the right technology that helps them grow faster than their competitors without using any hacks.
While your competitors are scrambling to find the latest and greatest new "tactic" - you can just defeat them in easy mode.
How?
By investing 2/3 of your development budget in tried and tested methods that work: content creation and advertising.
Wait, 2/3?!
Then how can your SaaS app be built using only 1/3 of the budget?
The answer is low-code technology.
Low code enables 3X more cost-effective development with JavaScript developers while requiring no more than 1-2 days of learning.
With a value proposition so high and the barrier to entry so low, it is impossible to ignore. Companies that choose not to use low code will be outcompeted by those that do. In short, this technology will completely define this decade in terms of how SaaS applications are built.
Let's start with how it's even possible to achieve 3X higher productivity. Because it sounds a little too good to be true.
Plus, even if it's true, you'd expect there are some drawbacks in terms of flexibility and customization of the SaaS apps built with low-code technology.
But luckily, this is not the case.
The biggest bulk of productivity is achieved through automating all the boring, repetitive tasks every developer must do, like boilerplate code, etc.
For example, on the backend it is enough to define the data model by creating database tables, and you're done. All the basic APIs are automatically created, as well as filtering, pagination, etc.
This means:
And anyone who has ever tried to set up a production backend will know this feature alone results in more than a 3X increase in productivity.
The frontend is equally impressive with its reusable drag-and-drop components. They allow you to quickly build responsive user interfaces, connect them to any database, and much more.
While all of this sounds impressive, how is it possible to learn all of this within 1-2 days? The answer is simple - there is not much to learn.
Low-code technology simply enables developers to use their old familiar technology in a new, more productive way.
It is built on top of widely used technologies like JavaScript, MySQL, GraphQL, and AWS. This means it is immediately usable by 17+ million JS developers.
So switching to low code feels more like switching to a new low-code IDE. There is a slight adjustment period but nothing major like learning a new language or framework.
Everything inside the low code platform looks and feels familiar, especially if you've used frameworks like React, Vue, etc. And at this point, almost every JS developer has.
With all these pre-made components and optimizations, the next logical question is how customizable is low code? What are the trade-offs when using this technology?
Because you may have seen some no-code platforms or app builders that give you the ability to create the first version very quickly. But after that, it's almost impossible to change anything.
Low-code technology is built differently. The main goal from the very beginning was to never limit developers' abilities to customize and modify any part of the SaaS app.
Even though many standard features come with low code, all of them can be modified to serve the project's specific needs.
For example, backend API uses GraphQL, but REST can also be easily created. Also, adding custom filters and role-based access control is easily doable.
On frontend, besides many component customization options available through low-code UI, you can add custom CSS code. This gives you full control over the look and feel of your application.
You can also add any external frontend library, while handlebar notation lets you dynamically set any component attribute or value.
In short, low code apps are completely customizable.
Aside from reducing development time, low code technology allows you to reduce infrastructure costs as well.
There is more info in related articles, but essentially, SaaS apps built with low-code technology are automatically scalable and don't require a DevOps team to manage the architecture.
This all translates into more budget for your growth strategy.
While your competitors are spending time trying to invent a revolutionary marketing strategy that diverts their focus from their main SaaS product, you can simply do what already works.
Becoming the best in the world at one thing is hard enough. Trying to simultaneously become the best at marketing is nearly impossible.
But if you choose to build your SaaS app with low-code technology, then you're sitting on 2/3 of your development budget unused.
This budget can be set towards promotion, which would be much more than your competitors can afford. So you win by default.
You already know what works best to attract new customers: quality content and advertising. Depending on your SaaS product, this can include blog posts, videos, images, etc.
And now you're in a situation where:
That is why this SaaS growth strategy is an absolute growth hack fortress that cannot be taken down by any traditional programming method.
Low code is taking over the market.
Development costs are the biggest factor in creating a SaaS product. By significantly reducing these costs, a huge part of the development budget can be diverted into tried and tested marketing strategies.
Low-code technology provides 3X more cost-effective development, an extremely easy onboarding process, and almost no learning curve.
Therefore, the biggest growth hack is using the right technology to outcompete everybody else.
We're excited about helping you achieve amazing results.
