This article originally appeared at Forbes.com.

Undeniably, vertical SaaS is having a moment. Companies across industries have achieved unicorn valuations with cloud-based, industry-specific software expertly tailored to their customers’ unique needs. The team at Bain Capital does an excellent job explaining why the current climate is the perfect time for vertical SaaS to shine.

However, while the future might look bright for these companies, growth isn’t cheap. Customer acquisition costs are some of the largest growth expenses any tech company will face. This is compounded by the fact that vertical SaaS companies have an inherently smaller total market than their horizontal counterparts who work with a variety of industries regardless of vertical.

That’s why, instead of hunting down new customers, the smartest move for vertical SaaS companies right now is to extract more value from existing customers. How? By going multi-product.

What does it mean for a company to go multi-product?

A multi-product strategy is exactly what it sounds like: a business strategy that revolves around multiple complementary products. These products are tailored to the customer’s particular industry and typically meet a need that would otherwise have been met by a more generic, horizontal piece of software.

What are the benefits of a strong multi-product strategy?

One reason why a vertical SaaS company might start offering multiple products is pretty obvious—revenue. It is meaningfully cheaper to extract additional revenue from existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. However, there are many more benefits than just that.

Multiple integrated products create a form of "ecosystem" effect that can increase customer retention and drive loyalty. That’s because integrated software offers an inherently better experience, especially for business owners. Having all of your data available and one less piece of software to manage, when executed well, drives efficiency in a way that businesses really value.

There’s evidence to back this up, too. Research shows that organizations retain just 30% of their small- and medium-sized business clients over the course of two years when they offer a single product. However, expanding to just one additional product can increase that retention rate by nearly 20%, while expanding to four products delivers a retention rate of 80%.

When packaged well, multiple products can also help you acquire new customers. Your core product may not have offered all of the features these holdouts needed before, but now, with additional products, you can meet and even exceed their needs in an enticing way.

How can you develop your own multi-product strategy?

A strong multi-product strategy begins with your core software. The best candidates for going multi-product are companies whose software acts as the "control point" or "source of truth" for a particular business. This can look different across a variety of industries, but the most important piece is always the same—the data.

For a restaurant, the control point may be the order management system. In real estate, that could be the property management system. For gyms, that could be a member management system. The theme here is that this software aggregates an extremely important piece of data that you can leverage across additional products in a complementary way.

Going back to our earlier example of websites, the gym SaaS company may create a website builder that integrates directly with their software. This website would allow individuals to manage their membership, join the gym and even register for classes. All of this would be available without any development from the business owner.

You can probably see how this is a superior experience for the business owner than an off-the-shelf website builder. By leveraging your customer’s data and your knowledge of their particular vertical, you can create high-quality experiences that impress your customers and grow your business.

However, like all things, going multi-product is easier said than done. Sometimes, building software in-house will make the most sense. You can do it easily with minimal additional hires and a reasonable amount of ongoing expense. Other times, you simply can’t create something competitive in an otherwise saturated market.

That doesn’t mean you have to give up, though! There are plenty of opportunities for vertical SaaS companies to thrive in a competitive market.

Acquire another company.

This is a pretty expensive option, but not always a bad one. The benefit is that you can absorb a competent team and a quality product very quickly, severely reducing your go-to-market time. However, you still have to maintain this product in the long run. Additionally, you now need to bring in enough profit from this product to pay ongoing costs and recover purchase costs. For those two reasons alone, this is a very strategic decision that should be made with the utmost care.

Partner with another company.

A good partnership can give you all of the benefits of a purchase (a speedy go-to-market, a high-quality product and an expert team at your fingertips) without the downsides (high costs and maintenance responsibilities).

However, these relationships are only beneficial when your partner is on your team. Their software should be high-quality, white-label and easy to integrate. In fact, your customers should have no idea they’re even using another company’s software.

Are you ready to ship a new product this year?

Now is the perfect time to grow your company with a strong portfolio of complementary products. It might start simple with payments or websites, but before long, you’ll have a comprehensive ecosystem that your customers will love. Who knows, with enough effort, your platform may become the only software your customers use.