Learn B2B SaaS Marketing

B2B SaaS Marketing Statistics, Studies, and Trends for 2024

by 

Lauren O'Bryan

Last updated: July 17th, 2024

As we step into 2024, you’re probably wondering what the year has in store for B2B SaaS. Reflecting on the past year’s data will give you these insights, helping you understand emerging trends and prepare for the shifts in the SaaS landscape.

In this article, we’ll run through some of the most important industry-wide SaaS statistics from 2023 and point you in the right direction for B2B marketing in 2024.

Whether you’re fine-tuning your existing marketing strategy or looking for new approaches, understanding these trends is essential to stay ahead in this ever-changing industry.

So, let’s summarize the general outline of the SaaS industry, the risks moving into 2024 and beyond, and the future growth predictions.

General SaaS Industry Stats

On average, SaaS companies invest about 15% of their annual budget into marketing efforts.

The amount SaaS businesses spend on marketing depends on their size and growth stage. An established SaaS can comfortably spend around 15%, while an early-stage SaaS may spend as much as 50% of its budget on marketing.

56% of SaaS marketing professionals use a combination of in-house and outsourced staff to achieve their marketing goals.

There are pros and cons to both hiring marketing staff in-house and outsourcing, and combining both options is what usually works for most SaaS businesses.

Email marketing (84%), social media advertising (75%), and content marketing (69%) are the three most popular marketing tactics used by SaaS marketers.

Interestingly, the top source of leads for B2B actually comes from referrals (65%), not email marketing (38%). Despite the virtual nature of SaaS, it seems that people still value a personal touch and connection when investing in software for their business

The three most popular types of content for SaaS marketing are ebooks (88%), “alternatives to” or comparison pages (72%), and roundup posts (66%).

Content that addresses customer pain points and builds brand awareness is favored in SaaS. In fact, we’ve found that pain points convert at a higher rate than other types of content.

A study completed by Uplift Content found that 49% of content marketers consider case studies to have the most significant impact on sales.

This marks an increase from the previous year’s survey, and despite the significant amount of time they take to produce, it highlights the effectiveness of quality content. The most popular types of case studies are use case stories and problem/solution case stories.

The social channels with the best ROI are Facebook (29%), Instagram (29%), YouTube (26%), and TikTok (24%).

Unsurprisingly, marketers invest the most heavily in these four social channels. Social media remains an excellent avenue for building brand awareness.

47% of users will view 3 to 5 pieces of content before seeking out a sales representative.

In fact, SaaS companies with blogs can get 67% more leads than those without a blog, so, blogs remain a beneficial part of digital marketing.

Having an active blog can result in 434% more indexed pages.

Having more indexed pages means better online visibility, more organic traffic, and a greater chance of acquiring new leads.

96% of companies use at least one SaaS product, and 72% plan to invest more in SaaS.

This stat highlights the widespread adoption and growing reliance on SaaS products in the global business arena, the major reasons being the lack of upfront capital required for a software investment and the flexibility of cloud-based software access.

A majority of tech leaders say that at least one-quarter of their business systems are SaaS-based.

But businesses aren’t stopping at just one SaaS product, they are investing in multiple products for different functionalities and areas of the company.

Marketers who use a CRM are 128% more likely to say their marketing strategy is effective.

A CRM acts as a single source of truth, storing all customer data in one place. It helps the marketing team collaborate better and allows customer data to be shared across both sales and marketing teams, which improves the overall customer experience.

86% of SaaS professionals agree that automation is crucial for more effective operations management.

Marketing automation offers a wealth of benefits to SaaS, including improved customer segmentation, lead engagement, and nurturing. It also reduces the number of repetitive tasks, allowing the marketing team to focus on more pressing tasks.

72% of marketers agree that AI automation can help them produce more personalized content for their target audience.

Personalized content not only enhances lead conversion but it also improves search engine rankings. Nonetheless, the creation of new, highly engaging content remains a significant challenge for most surveyed marketers

It’s estimated that by 2025, about 50% of the world’s data will be stored in the cloud.

There is a general global shift to the digital space, with SaaS cloud storage platforms rising in popularity. Naturally, there are issues surrounding sensitive data stored in the cloud but that doesn’t appear to be slowing the shift towards cloud-based products.

73% of businesses have seen a 20-40% increase in productivity as a result of incorporating SaaS products into their work.

And there’s a good reason for this – SaaS products can increase productivity by streamlining processes, making repetitive tasks faster and easier, and managing data more efficiently.

In 2023, over 74% of the SaaS companies surveyed by Userpilot offered a free trial, a significant increase from 43% in 2022.

Overall, customers seem to like the “try-before-you-buy” system. The key to developing an effective free trial is to give users enough time to test all the features fully before making a purchasing decision. In addition, 78% of companies do not require a credit card to sign up for a free trial.

SaaS Industry Challenges and Risks

Online data security will become an even bigger industry considering that 82% of data breaches in 2023 involved data stored in the cloud.

SaaS is a growing industry but cyber security is growing in tandem to respond to the increasing threat of data privacy breaches. This data security threat is considered one of the largest stumbling blocks to adopting SaaS products in the workplace.

Around 22% of cyber security incidents are a result of a security policy violation by a non-IT staff member.

Almost half of organizations admit they have experienced security policy violations in 2023. Interestingly, the risk isn’t always malicious and external to the company. Many cyber security incidents are a result of accidents or simply misinformed, poorly onboarded staff.

59% of IT professionals say SaaS sprawl is becoming a new challenge.

Closely linked to app security is SaaS sprawl. Because companies are utilizing more than one SaaS product, this can cause confusion among employees and, in turn, lead to unintentional security policy breaches. Interestingly, 76% of companies say they’ll renew or subscribe to a platform that organizes and manages all their SaaS products in the future.

SaaS Growth Trends To Watch

The global SaaS industry is expected to grow in revenue from $197 billion in 2023 to $232 billion in 2024.

The SaaS market has been growing consistently and doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon. The global SaaS market statistics show an expected CAGR growth rate of 18.7% from 2023 to 2030.

2023 was a slow year for B2B SaaS growth, with year-over-year growth declining 21.9% from the previous year.

However, SaaS professionals agree that business will pick up in 2024 and continue on an upward trajectory.

Low-code or no-code platforms will triple in usage by 2025.

User-friendly platforms that require little or no coding knowledge will only continue to increase in popularity.

The market for collaboration software is continuing to increase at a CAGR of 13.95%.

Although there are many reports of companies returning to the office, the popularity of remote work remains unchanged, and with that, the need for collaboration software. Recent surveys indicate remote work is likely to stay in some form, with over 68% of US workers indicating they prefer the remote work model.

50% of US government agencies are using the cloud.

It’s not just private enterprises getting in on the SaaS market. Cloud-based SaaS brings many benefits, like enhanced customer service and accessibility, which is why some governments, including the US government, are moving more and more of their services online.

82% of SaaS companies have invested in AI tech for their products.

AI is another thing that’s here to stay, with the AI tech industry predicted to grow to over $100 billion by 2025. This technology provides room for even more growth and technological advancement in the SaaS industry. By harnessing AI, SaaS products can process data faster than before, personalize services, and make more efficient use of automation systems.

The Future of SaaS Marketing

9 out of 10 large SaaS companies use blogs as part of their content marketing strategy.

Blogs are already well utilized by the top SaaS companies and will continue to provide an affordable marketing solution. They give these companies a platform to build a connection with their audience, educate, and integrate calls-to-action that encourage lead progression.

Marketing and sales costs currently amount to around 50% of total SaaS company expenditure.

Marketing and sales will likely remain the highest expense of SaaS companies. SaaS industry statistics show continued growth and, as a result, increased competition, so marketers will need to work harder to keep up.

26% of marketers expect to invest more in short-form video than in other forms of content marketing in 2024 and in the future.

Video has become increasingly popular as a content marketing channel. In particular, short-form video that will hold a user’s attention long enough to get crucial product information across.

By 2025, an estimated 80% of B2B SaaS sales will take place entirely online.

With the entire marketing and sales pipeline online, marketing and sales teams need to maintain a high standard to keep leads engaged.

It’s estimated that by 2025, about 50% of the world’s data will be stored in the cloud.

There is a general global shift to the digital space, with SaaS cloud storage platforms rising in popularity. Naturally, there are issues surrounding sensitive data stored in the cloud, but that doesn’t appear to be slowing the shift toward cloud-based products.

A Marketing Strategy Fit for 2024

All the SaaS stats are pointing to continuing growth, but also more competition and tighter marketing budgets. This kind of pressure will send you back to the drawing board to redevelop your marketing strategy for the upcoming year.

Enter the 4 futures model, a marketing model that describes four possible future scenarios depending on the current actions you take. This model categorizes your SaaS business’s trajectory into four states: stalling, sustaining, scaling, or soaring. You won’t see short-term success with this model but rather a predictable steady growth over time.

In the long term, if you get your marketing strategy right, you’ll end up with a demand generation flywheel that will make your SaaS unstoppable. A demand generation flywheel will ensure you don’t see a plateau in lead generation but instead get a steady flow of leads that seem to self-generate, which, ultimately, is every marketer’s goal.

In Summary

Overall, these B2B SaaS marketing insights show a positive outlook for 2024. The industry has been growing steadily over the years and will continue to grow at a healthy rate.

There are, of course, some challenges posed by the increased adoption of SaaS products and security concerns around data privacy in the cloud. But one thing is certain – SaaS will not lose popularity despite the possible risks.

Considering all this, now is the perfect time to scale your SaaS! Take our SaaS scalability score self-assessment today to find out the current potential of your business.