B2B SaaS Demand Generation
Previously, we wrote about B2B Demand Generation Marketing. B2B SaaS Demand Generation, specifically targets businesses that offer Software as a Service (SaaS). Some examples of well known companies that offer SaaS products are LinkedIn, DocuSign, HubSpot and Dropbox.
Best practices for B2B SaaS Demand Generation are generally similar to overall B2B demand generation strategies and inbound marketing efforts. You still want to clearly define your ICP and their pain points, optimize marketing strategy for your buyer persona at each level of the marketing funnel, and analyze your metrics consistently.
A traditional demand generation sales cycle can be used for lead generation, but B2B SaaS demand generation can also optimize product-led marketing. Product-led marketing puts the SaaS product at the center of marketing efforts. It draws together the marketing team, sales team, product team and customer service team for a demand generation strategy based on product adoption. While a strong sales-led win rate is 20% or higher, a strong product-led win rate is 10% or higher. A product-led strategy has a shorter time-to-value ratio.
SaaS startups may implement a product-led B2B marketing campaign measured by PQLs (Product Qualified Leads) rather than MQLs. PQLs skip the sales demo and go straight to user acquisition via activation of potential customers. PQLs define conversion readiness by measuring at what step of product engagement a prospect becomes a qualified lead.
SaaS Demand Generation Flywheel
A popular method for measuring the product-led buyer journey for SaaS businesses, is the SaaS flywheel. Traditional demand generation sales funnels will operate in a reverse pyramid formation, with brand awareness at the top of the funnel and purchase/adoption at the bottom. The SaaS Demand Generation flywheel functions as more of a self-fulfilling and never-ending loop, compounding product-led growth. High-quality leads are not just captured at the top of the funnel; they are generated continuously through a product usage cycle. It is heavily dependent upon high user satisfaction for increased advocacy.
There are four main buyer personas in a B2B SaaS demand generation flywheel.
The Evaluator is familiar with the product and will be exploring what it does, trying it out. At this stage it is critical for B2B SaaS marketing campaigns to activate the Evaluator. Your SaaS demand generation team should already know the pain points for this Evaluator, and have the messaging and CTAs in place to activate them into full-blown users of the product.
The Beginner will use the product and look for validation on value. This is where marketing and sales teams traditionally drop out of the funnel, and it is a critical error. Conversion rates should be measured beyond the initial acquisition of a new customer. If a hesitant new user is not happy with their experience, this tentative qualified lead conversion will really be a Closed-lost metric. This is where content marketing, sales, product and CS teams must align to communicate any friction or miscommunications and disappointments occurring between customer expectations and user experience. SaaS demand generation messaging should continuously adapt to close any disconnects.
A Beginner will ideally graduate into an Adopter. The Adopter is ripe for demand gen marketing assets like training opportunities, whitepapers, and newsletters about new products and features. They will be more receptive to email marketing value propositions. The Adopter is also a strong resource for case studies. The Adopter will have adopted your product into their workflow, and depends on it, but will also provide feedback on better product-market fit and ideas for product expansion.
A happy Adopter should transition into your brand Champion. Champions are where your marketing team will find their most highly qualified leads. Champions advocate for your product and will provide referrals to ideal customers for highly effective demand generation campaigns. They will do the work for you in many cases, as target audience members who reach out to fellow ICPs on their own. Champions should be seen and optimized as the very high-value demand gen resource that they are. At this juncture of the flywheel, Champions will bring in new Evaluators who already trust your brand, and the cycle can begin again.
