Selling software as a service (SaaS) can be tricky – you often need to convince experts that your product is the best. This form of marketing is about making your brand known, highlighting your products, and attracting new customers who will pay for your services. SaaS has the advantage of being flexible, adaptable, and able to grow with a business. 

Because of SaaS’s flexibility, adaptability, and scalability, it has no geographical limitations. This may seem lucrative, but global presence has its complications. The most difficult one to navigate has to be compliance challenges in SaaS marketing. During the first quarter of 2023, more than 6 million data records were exposed worldwide through data breaches. So, adherence to compliance procedures is the only way you prevent confidential data breaches and also not get tangled in legal complications to end up spending a majority of your revenue on legal fines.

Let’s dive deeper into some industry-relevant compliance frameworks and how to stay up-to-date with them!

Understanding SaaS Marketing Compliance

To be compliant, you have to identify your industry-relevant accreditations. The following are the key regulatory bodies and standards you need to take care of:

SOC 2 Compliance: Certain SaaS startups collect a massive amount of personal data and information from their customers. Startups such as this have to be SOC 2 (Service Organisation Control 2) compliant. SOC 2 is a regulatory body that checks whether your organization can maintain data security and privacy. There are five parameters of security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy that your organization should be able to uphold to be SOC 2 compliant. 

PCI DSS Certification: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a set of guidelines that the credit card industry has to adhere to so that the payment information of their target audience is safe. Being PCI DSS certified also means that your organization is capable of preventing data leaks, and sensitive information always stays secure.

ISO 27001 Certification: Since data privacy in SaaS marketing is non-negotiable, ISO 27001 accreditation is a must for any organization that houses and runs information security management systems (ISMS) and protects sensitive data.

ASC 606: The Accounting Standards Codification 606 is a set of rules that enforces a standardized way financial transactions should be done in any industry to maintain fairness and transparency. 

Common Challenges in SaaS Marketing Compliance

You’re wrong if you think you can tiptoe around compliance regulations in SaaS marketing. Here are some common compliance challenges in SaaS marketing:

Data Privacy and Security: SaaS being a cloud-based platform, is a data mine. Businesses availing SaaS services are continuously dealing with a massive influx of confidential information, but to have an ironclad hold on it and prevent any data breaches is difficult. There might be configuration lapses in the cloud, unvetted third-party access, accidental data leaks, or data theft. If any of these scenarios occur, GDPR compliance for SaaS marketers is overlooked and violated, which can make your organization liable for hefty fines. 

International Laws and Regulations: Of course, SaaS services are used globally, and a global audience accesses them. However, a global data repository has its complications. Data regulations in different parts of the world pose legal risks in SaaS marketing. Intercontinental data transactions have to be compliant with international laws and regulations. Your organization must know territorial compliance standards when expanding your SaaS services to avoid non-compliance risks.

Intellectual Property Rights: Securing your IP rights is a major compliance challenge in SaaS marketing. Your intellectual property in SaaS includes the software code, some marketing and branding elements, etc. Protecting your software script with copyright law, trademarking marketing, and branding elements prevents intellectual property infringement and helps you preserve your USP. This makes being compliant easier as there is no more confusion between purchasing the services of the software and duplicating the programming logic on which the software runs.

Best Practices for Navigating Compliance Challenges

Enforcing compliance is a hard nut to crack, and having a bit of know-how on the following ​​SaaS Compliance Best Practices might make it easier to traverse those rocky shores!

Regular Compliance Training: SaaS marketing legal compliance takes work to maintain. You must train your employees on compliance procedures and, by extension, also train your users to foster a compliant environment. 

Implementing Robust Security Measures: One of the best ways to avoid SaaS marketing compliance issues is to ensure that there are no data leaks or thefts on your watch. Encrypting data, scheduling frequent security updates, and asking users to enable multi-factor authentication enables you to handle data security challenges comprehensively.

Keeping Abreast of Changes in Regulation: To continuously maintain regulatory compliance for SaaS, it is important to stay updated on any changes in regulatory guidelines and to incorporate them in your data governance policies effectively. 

Importance of Legal Consultation: In SaaS, any business decision you take shouldn’t overstep the boundaries of established legal frameworks or compliance standards. So, it is important to regularly collaborate with your legal team and run all your decisions past them.

Conclusion

Instead of searching every nook and corner for compliance evidence at the last minute of audit season, being continuously compliant guarantees year-round data security and is cost-effective. It helps you maintain an upstanding reputation in front of your customers. 

Since not every potential customer has a natural calling for compliance, we at Marketboats can help! We assure you no GDPR compliance regulations bypass us! With our advanced encryption technologies and secure data collection processes, we protect you from any potential security risks. 

We can balance keeping your trust and generating high-quality leads. CALS, our cloud-based platform, generates leads that are thoroughly cleansed, standardized, and enriched. So, what are you waiting for? 

Contact us now!