SaaS firms shift focus from product to billing for organic revenue growth
The SaaS industry is shifting its growth strategy from product-led approaches to billing-led methodologies, using innovative payment technologies to drive organic revenue growth through improved customer retention and subscription management.
For over a decade, Product-Led Growth (PLG) was the foundational strategy for SaaS companies, focusing on product quality and user experience to attract and retain customers. However, as the market matures, customer acquisition costs rise, and an exclusive focus on product can cause revenue leakage from existing clients.
The current shift towards Billing-Led Growth (BLG) leverages subscription billing platforms to minimise churn, increase customer lifetime value (LTV), and stabilise revenue streams by tightening subscription infrastructure. This approach focuses on maximising organic revenue rather than purely acquiring new users.
Over the years, SaaS firms have concentrated on product development as their main growth driver while simultaneously adopting advanced payment systems to reduce revenue loss and improve customer service, thereby increasing business stability in a competitive market.
Ultimately, the emphasis on billing and payment optimisation opens new avenues for sustainable long-term growth in SaaS, reducing reliance on continual customer acquisition and enhancing financial performance.
Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends, commented that the transition of SaaS from Product-Led to Billing-Led Growth is not a rejection of the product, but an evolution of business thinking. The market has matured, and today the key point of growth is not only functionality, but also the ability of a company to properly monetize existing value. Flexible billing, smart subscriptions, and minimizing payment losses directly affect LTV and business stability. We see that SaaS companies that invest in payment infrastructure as seriously as they do in their product gain a competitive advantage and more predictable revenue in the long run.
This trend is likely to strengthen the SaaS market’s position, attract more investment, and encourage the adoption of even more sophisticated payment technologies in the near future.
