Companies launching or moving their product to be delivered as a service via the public cloud require a unique set of marketing competencies that are distinct from traditional product, services, or solution marketing. See how as-a-service sales and marketing is different, and how marketers can address the challenges of micro-size deals and high churn, drive broader and deeper consumption, and leverage user data to impact key as-a-service metrics.
Global SaaS app revenue $11.8B in 2012 – $26.5B in 2016Fastest growth Segments (CAGR) Office Suites (40.7%)Digital Content Creation (32.2%) Business Intelligence applications (27.1%)
Unless you are selling infrastructure as a service (e.g. you’re with Cloudera or Amazon or similar) the Cloud is not the product, it’s a delivery mechanism. You still have to understand your market and your audiences, and demonstrate tangible, relevant, and unique value.
Unless you are selling infrastructure as a service (e.g. you’re with Cloudera or Amazon or similar) the Cloud is not the product, it’s a delivery mechanism. You still have to understand your market and your audiences, and demonstrate tangible, relevant, and unique value.
Unless you are selling infrastructure as a service (e.g. you’re with Cloudera or Amazon or similar) the Cloud is not the product, it’s a delivery mechanism. You still have to understand your market and your audiences, and demonstrate tangible, relevant, and unique value.
Granted, the delivery mechanism has to be up to the job. The exact requirements will depend on what markets you are selling into, but table stakes typically includeService level (availability, response times, uptime) – sometimes with SLAsSecurityDisaster recovery
Evaluation : Superiority of technology & featuresInteraction: Ability to solve problems Experience:Enable customer to solve problemsLinear - Marketing stops when customer enters sales funnel, Sales stops when purchase made, support stops when issue resolvedCircular - Marketing & Sales continue during engagement to id & sell follow-on Continuous – up-sell and cross-sell are integrated into product usage
I’ve seen multiple definitions of CAC – And of course it depends first and foremost on the sales model. - Direct sales model – sales rep cost + marketing cost / customers acquired - Indirect model, SaaS companies should target average payback of 1 year on sales and marketing costs. Bessemer surveyed a number of SaaS companies in 2008 and found an average CAC ratio of 0.6.Churn is the percent of customers who cancel each year. Ideally, a SaaS company should target a churn rate of less than 12% of CMRR.Cash flow is of course important for any company, software or SaaS or anything else. But because so many of the costs are front-loaded in the SaaS model, it is a critically important metric to track and manage.
Softletter’s 2012 SaaS Report 51% of SaaS companies report to use a direct sales force. It is still high but down from 60% last year. Indirect (zero touch) selling on the other hand jumped to 25%.
Softletter’s 2012 SaaS Report 51% of SaaS companies report to use a direct sales force. It is still high but down from 60% last year. Indirect (zero touch) selling on the other hand jumped to 25%.
Softletter’s 2012 SaaS Report 51% of SaaS companies report to use a direct sales force. It is still high but down from 60% last year. Indirect (zero touch) selling on the other hand jumped to 25%.
19% Average Percentage of New ACV from Upsells to Existing CustomersUpsell / Cross-Sell Focus Will Vary by Pricing Model:Number of SeatsUsage or TransactionsNumber of SitesAlso – total employees, database size, etc.
19% Average Percentage of New ACV from Upsells to Existing CustomersUpsell / Cross-Sell Focus Will Vary by Pricing Model:Number of SeatsUsage or TransactionsNumber of SitesAlso – total employees, database size, etc.
Low switching costprice Low Service Levels (response times, downtime, service and support) Product quality (missing features or bugs)From Dennis Howlett:Misalignment between cost and value deliveredInsufficient functionalityLack of individually required functionalityPerceived poor performancePerceived poor servicePerceived poor supportPerceived poor response timesUnacceptable downtimeSecurity breachesBilling problemsUnresolved software bugsUnexpected chargesUnexpected or unacceptable price risesGone out of businessService no longer requiredKeyStone On Demand, an online training application, analyzed the main reasons why customers cancel: low organization adoption, not enough customer stakeholders app is not utilized properly to gain full potential.
Low switching costprice Low Service Levels (response times, downtime, service and support) Product quality (missing features or bugs)From Dennis Howlett:Misalignment between cost and value deliveredInsufficient functionalityLack of individually required functionalityPerceived poor performancePerceived poor servicePerceived poor supportPerceived poor response timesUnacceptable downtimeSecurity breachesBilling problemsUnresolved software bugsUnexpected chargesUnexpected or unacceptable price risesGone out of businessService no longer requiredKeyStone On Demand, an online training application, analyzed the main reasons why customers cancel: low organization adoption, not enough customer stakeholders app is not utilized properly to gain full potential.
Low switching costprice Low Service Levels (response times, downtime, service and support) Product quality (missing features or bugs)From Dennis Howlett:Misalignment between cost and value deliveredInsufficient functionalityLack of individually required functionalityPerceived poor performancePerceived poor servicePerceived poor supportPerceived poor response timesUnacceptable downtimeSecurity breachesBilling problemsUnresolved software bugsUnexpected chargesUnexpected or unacceptable price risesGone out of businessService no longer requiredKeyStone On Demand, an online training application, analyzed the main reasons why customers cancel: low organization adoption, not enough customer stakeholders app is not utilized properly to gain full potential.