Dogfooding: How Using Your Own SaaS Product Drives Growth

Dogfooding, commonly used in the tech industry, refers to the practice of a company using its own product to test its effectiveness and improve its offerings.

Dogfooding involves utilizing one's own product within the organization to identify bugs, enhance user experience, and showcase genuine confidence in the product's value. In B2B SaaS, this is pivotal for aligning product development with user needs, ensuring greater effectiveness when released to the wider market.

A prominent example is when a SaaS company uses its own CRM platform internally to manage customer relationships and monitors its performance and usability. This real-world use by the company's own team can highlight potential improvements and fixes before the software reaches external customers.

Dogfooding is crucial because it encourages empathetic product development, ensuring that the company's product is practical and user-friendly. It helps developers and marketers become real users of their own product, helping refine features and promoting a culture of continuous improvement. This can lead to enhanced product quality, greater customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive business growth.

To effectively dogfood, SaaS companies should integrate the practice into their development cycle, encourage honest feedback, and iterate on product adjustments. It's vital to involve cross-functional teams to gain diverse insights and ensure thorough testing across various use cases.