It's key for startups and scaleups to constantly improve their processes.

And in 2023, some companies will optimize their workflow to gear up for fast growth, while others will make it a priority to reduce operational costs.  

Regardless of which camp you’re on, there are 5 SaaS trends you should keep an eye on. These up-and-coming tool categories will help you streamline your processes, reduce costs, and deliver better customer experiences.

In this post, we’ll cover: 

• Minimalist CRMs
• Vertical SaaS
• Interactive video tools
• AI copywriting tools
• Platform-specific social media marketing tools
• Startup programs

Without further ado, let’s get started! 

Our Top 2023 SaaS Trends 

Most of the tool categories we’ll cover in this post have been around for a couple of years. In fact, in 2021/2022, those categories:

• Became popular due to a technical breakthrough (as it’s the case for AI)
• Grew and became more distinct

In this section, we’ll explain how these types of tools will help you optimize your processes in the upcoming year. Plus, we’ll recommend our top picks for each category.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

Minimalist CRMs

In the last couple of years, CRM platforms became more full-featured and complex. But that complexity has also made them harder for teams to adopt. 

Some teams took a different approach and created simple, accessible, and cost-efficient CRMs.

Tools like Folk cover the bases of a good CRM, without too many features. You can centralize your contacts, send bulk emails, and track interactions, but that’s about it.

As teams strive to reduce unnecessary software costs and fight tool redundancy, these types of tools are worth taking a look at.  

Vertical SaaS

Vertical SaaS tools target the specific needs of a specific industry. For example, Toast and Owner are platforms designed to target the operational and marketing challenges of the restaurant industry. Rewardful, a tool to create and manage SaaS referral programs is another great example. 

According to stats compiled by G2, the number of active Vertical SaaS startups grew by 28% in 2022. And this is great news.

Vertical SaaS tools have some great advantages:

• They’re packed with features designed for a specific use case
• They can be customized in a way that’s highly relevant to the target user
• Users don’t have to “hack” the tool or use it unintuitively to get what they need

If you’re reconsidering your SaaS stack, using a “vertical” SaaS tool instead of a generic alternative could be the key to simpler and more efficient processes.

AI Copywriting Tools

Nowadays, it seems like short videos are every company’s favorite content format. In fact, in 2021 Statista found that 60% of content marketers were planning to increase their video budget in 2022. 

But written content isn’t going anywhere. According to SEMRush, 72% of companies increased their content marketing budget from 2021 to 2022.  

If you’re downscaling your operations, you may be tempted to tighten your blogging budget. And AI tools are a promising option to reduce content creation costs. 

Additionally, these tools can help you speed up your content creation process. In short, AI-powered copywriting tools can help you publish more content, at a low cost. However, AI copywriting tools have some caveats as well. 

In the last two years, there’s been a boom in AI copywriting tools. Most of these tools are based on OpenAI’s GPT-3 model. GPT-3 is perhaps the best tool to generate content automatically that there has ever been. But it can’t produce complex, unique content yet. 

So, we recommend you use AI copywriting tools to:

• Create rough first drafts
• Write product descriptions
• Produce microcopy and social copy

Automating these tasks may not be as exciting as fully automating your blog. But it will still save your team hours, especially in ideation. But remember, nothing replaces the human touch, so use these tools intelligently, and never fully rely on them.

Looking for an AI copywriting tool?

Check out:

• Jasper
• Hypotenuse
• AI Writer

Interactive Video Tools

Browser-based video recording tools (like Loom) are a great option to:

• Prevent non-essential meetings
• Enhance the way your team documents their processes
• Humanize marketing emails and user onboarding

But, what if you could make those short videos even more engaging? In the last two years, there’s been a slow but steady adoption of interactive video tools. 

And, as AI-generated content proliferates, these types of tools can help you add a human touch to your customer experience. 

Interactive video can especially help you to:

• Collect & qualify leads
• Direct your website visitors to relevant content
• Collect user feedback 

If you’re looking for an interactive video platform, we recommend you take a look at VideoAsk by Typeform. 

Platform-Specific Social Media Tools

Using dozens of different specialized tools, instead of a single all-in-one platform can have some downsides. Namely, it could:

• Make your SaaS spending hard to track
• Atomize your workflow and make it inefficient

But, in some cases, a specialized tool is far more effective than a generic solution. Is that the case for social media management software?

Platform-specific social media tools aren’t new. For instance, Instagram marketing tools have been around since the mid-2010s. Some of these tools focus on content scheduling. Others, focus on hashtag research or competitor intelligence.

What’s more, in the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of social media tools specifically designed for other platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. . It’s also worth mentioning that these tools usually target users with a very specific goal: Building a personal brand. 

We recommend taking a look at: 

• Twitter marketing tools
• LinkedIn-specific marketing tools such as Taplio

Startup programs

Software companies are often conscious of how expensive their software can be for startups. To help startups with those, they often have startup programs that one can benefit from. In fact, Cledara offers startup program at Cledara to help startups set take control of their software and set themselves up for success.

To help you locate those, we've put together a list of the the 18 startup programs we like the most. From Customer Service to Product Analytics, Billing and more.

How SaaS Management Tools Make a Difference

As startups scale, their software gets out of control and the best way to avoid that is to put something in place today. Cledara helps 1,000+ customers across 29 countries get visibility and control of their software early with the most complete SaaS management platform.