SaaS Lead Generation: Building a Pipeline of Success

Struggling to generate leads for your SaaS business? Learn proven strategies to attract high-quality prospects, boost engagement and drive conversions effortlessly!
SaaS Lead Generation
SaaS Lead Generation
SaaS Lead Generation: Building a Pipeline of Success
Struggling to generate leads for your SaaS business? Learn proven strategies to attract high-quality prospects, boost engagement and drive conversions effortlessly!
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
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After creating a SaaS product, the huge concern that a business owner would have is filling the pipeline with qualified leads.

As the SaaS space is getting increasing competitive with thousands of similar products, differentiating your product from others is quite tough.

Of all, finding out who the real buyers are and who has purchasing power is the biggest challenge.

If you are a SaaS business owner, SaaS marketer or sales executive, you might feel like banging your head against the wall and spending time and resources on prospects that go nowhere.

This is where SaaS Lead generation taps your door. As per recent data, 50% of marketers prioritize generating quality leads through various lead-generation channels. But in this crowded market, when choosing the right platforms and standing out in the market, teams often feel at their wit’s end.

So, what exactly is SaaS lead generation and how can you stop spinning your wheels and start working on real results?

What is SaaS Lead Generation?

SaaS Lead generation is a process of attracting potential business clients and turning them into a prospect through strategic and targeted marketing efforts to purchase your software solution.

This includes understanding the online channels that most of your target clients engage with. 

Though the goal seems simple, figuring out the right formula for cracking the sale from the leads generated can feel like walking through a maze.

Some might be really interested in exploring the solution you provide and on the other side, some are still hesitant to make a decision where they’ll be standing at a crossroads whether to purchase your product or not.

And they never pull the trigger when it comes time to buy.

As a SaaS business owner, you must be smart enough to differentiate these cases so that you or your team never have control over the client’s purchase decision and still you have a scope to entice with your Unique Value proposition (UVP).  

Whether it’s through LinkedIn if you adopt Account-based marketing (ABM) strategies, email campaigns, paid ads, CRO in landing pages, and publishing industry-specific blogs on your website, you must show off your product anyhow and make them realize how the solution simplifies their job.

These leads are not limited to these sources alone. Even if a person provides their contact details to download resources from your website and a person is interacted to your company’s chatbot could gives you a sign of lead inflow for your SaaS product.

Because people never care until they feel valuable, that’s the law of marketing. That’s how every winning SaaS sales strategy are made.

What makes B2B SaaS Lead Generation different from others?

Just collecting the names and email addresses will never be a part anymore in B2B SaaS lead generation.

It is completely upon the precision-driven marketing strategy where the quality speaks more than quantity.

It often deals with the business model and the market size. 

Unlike B2C, B2B involves a prolonged sales cycle as the sales team must address the needs of multiple roles from the IT team of the customer in some cases. 

On the other hand, B2B SaaS leads are only interested if your software can deliver high ROI or make their operations smoother.

This type of lead generation highly fits with the SaaS product that has various pricing models like Enterprise pricing, flat rate subscription, Tiered pricing, Usage-based pricing, free trials, and freemium, where customers will stay rather than just make one-off purchases.

To drive them through the SaaS sales funnel, the SAAS marketing team intends to mix a multi-channel approach in their lead generation strategies which covers multiple touchpoints to ensure the leads are engaged at different levels of the funnel through all channels.

Many business owners today have an idea of sales templates and have a watertight SAAS sales plan in place once they get the lead but they struggle to acquire the people who are in need of the solution they offer in the first place.

Finding products for your customers ≠ Finding customers for your product. 

This must be the thumb rule you should know before planning digital marketing campaigns for lead generation.

One who understands this fact behind SaaS business can easily able to spot the next move.

How does SaaS Lead Generation work?

Beyond selling, SaaS lead generation is about building long-term and meaningful connections.

This starts with understanding the business pain points of target clients that keep them awake at night and intrigue them to engage the related discussions and contents online.

Simplifying this for you, if you’re at the beginning stage, there are two ways to find and categorize the thin line of leads to get a basic idea:

  • Finding the customer based on your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) characteristics.
  • Start creating content around the product and the solution you offer that addresses the customer’s bottlenecks. People who find it relevant to their needs will reflect.

This won’t stop just with paperwork. 

An effective SaaS lead generation method is not merely on acquiring leads if you understand the long game of Customer Lifetime Value(CLV).

You can build a pipeline of warm leads who see your solution as a valuable asset to invest in again and again. 

Also, In B2B SaaS, lead generation must align with high value targeting principles which is used in Account Based Marketing.

To understand how these strategies differ and when to use each, explore our blog Account Based Marketing vs Lead Generation.

Now, Let’s get into technical.

How to generate Leads for SaaS business?

Always remember, Before jumping into generating leads, you should know why you’re choosing certain methods and which brings a good SaaS conversion rates.

It’s not necessary that you must delve into all the lead generation methods out there and leave hopeless for not getting leads and scatter your efforts on the channels that might not work for your specific audience.

Instead, you should set clear goals on what you’re going to achieve using these approaches.

Not much, ask yourself these 4 questions:

1.Who is my target audience?

2.What pain points are they trying to solve?

3.Which channels do they use frequently?

4.Is the lead worth the effort I invest?

Once you’re confident with the answers, you can prioritize the best option to achieve the outcome.

SaaS Lead Generation How to generate leads for SaaS Business

1.Content Marketing

  • Create content that your target client listens to.
  • This is one of the golden piece that fits any SaaS business that step their foot in the aggressive market.
  • 91% of B2B marketers claim that content marketing generates leads more than the traditional marketing methods and 67% of marketers prefer this for Marketing Qualified leads (MQL).
  • This includes blogs, case studies, eBooks, whitepapers and explainer videos focused on the how-to format in the website.
  • The estimated leads from website traffic can be 5-10% with SEO-friendly content.
  • Beyond this, repurpose the content across various channels like social media and email campaigns to increase the reach.

2.Email Marketing

  • When comes to nurturing the leads, email marketing is never overlooked.
  • This approach will help you in hand if you do things right in content marketing by collecting email lists through opt-ins, gated content and newsletter sign-ups.
  • There is a high possibility of an increased open rate and email click-through rate (CTR) if users receive any updates or discounts for your product, where they may not purchase your product today, but are likely to do so in the future.
  • In this approach, to attain a favorable result, never be afraid or postpone doing A/B testing for subject lines and content.
  • Set up an automated email drip campaign to nurture leads consistently.

3.Social Media Marketing

  • When comes to promotion activities, branding and educating your audience, social media will be the top of the SaaS marketing funnel which has been used to share valuable content and build brand visibility.
  • As an initial efforts, create a social media calendar and choose topics that positions your SaaS product as a trusted solution.
  • Your social pages is one of the proofs to say how your business providing values which, many of the business clients prefer before making a purchase decision.
  • Based on the engagement and the followers, the conversion rates can range from 5-8% depending on the content strategy you made.

4.Virtual Events and Webinars

  • Hosting webinars, product demos and conducting industry events has a great impact on the branding for the product and increases the authority of the business owner on his expertise behind the solution he provides.
  • This typically generate 20-30% attendee-to-lead conversion rate which will be more if you create a follow-up sequences after the event like email campaigns and personal outreach.
  • The event can be either online or offline, and the marketing and sales team should analyze the registration categories.
  • The more ‘cash cows‘ there are, the more rewarding it will be.

5.Paid Advertising

  • If you prioritize an immediate lead generation engine, then opt to PPC (Google ads), LinkedIn ads, and other paid channels to reach your target audience with specific messaging and lead magnets.
  • This can be through an aesthetic graphic or a video addressing the client’s needs.
  • It can generate up to 3-6% of traffic as leads which spontaneously increases your followers’ growth in social channels.
  • The privilege you have with paid ads is retargeting where there’s high a possibility of those warm leads getting converted once we optimize ad copy, CROs and landing pages.
  • There is no going back until they convert.

6.Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

  • To bolster your marketing goal of obtaining quality leads, Account-based marketing could be one of the most effective strategies you can adopt.
  • Aligning your efforts with the Benefits of Account-Based Marketing will help to attract and convert key decision-makers.
  • This approach is completely personalized where you’ll treat the high-value accounts as a unique market in its own right.
  • Though it is a long-term process, the connection you build through industry leadership content, personalized outreach and strategic engagement with the same person across multiple channels makes the person trust you like a good old friend.
  • This can be highly focused by the SaaS business owners for partnership and referrals which bring the concept of no more sales pitches.
  • If the second person heard about you by him, it’s a win.

7.Product Trials and Freemium Models

  • The notion of “free” never leaves any business.
  • Since the SaaS market evolved, the clever use of the freemium model not only encouraged sign-ups but also created a community of users who were eager to share the service with others.
  • From startup to becoming an industry giant, companies like  Mailchimp and Canva have adopted the concept of “try before you buy” which has built a loyal user base and positioned them as an established leader in the SaaS space on their respective services.

8.Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  • SaaS SEO is the basic. For a SaaS company, the first and foremost item on the marketing checklist is having a website.
  • In a month, around 12.52 billion people visit Google to search online where 38% of people are engaging with a company’s website that has valuable content and is mobile-friendly.
  • To compete with 17,000+ SaaS websites across different industries across the world, start optimizing your website and content with more relevant and quality keywords that attract organic traffic in SERP.
  • According to the Forbes report, 62% of the business use the website as their sales channel.
  • Focus on long-tail keywords that reflect buyer intent and optimize technical SEO efforts to acquire 10-20% organic traffic as leads over time.

9.Outbound Sales and Cold Outreach

  • It’s the Sales team that reaches out to the potential customers directly rather than waiting for them to come to the business.
  • This includes various channels like cold calls, direct emails, and social media outreach through LinkedIn in mails and DMs.
  • The goal you have here is to generate interest in customers about your SaaS product or SaaS service, qualify them as Sales-qualified leads (SQL) and make them buy your solution.
  • This model also covers ICP criteria and custom messages that specify different client needs.
  • Before kickstarting this, make sure to rely on the sales team and executives who have thorough research skills, strong communication and are capable enough to build relationships quickly to drive conversions.

What are the different types of Leads?

When it comes to the sales funnel, before categorizing leads into different buckets, it’s important to understand the basis on which they are intended to be categorized. 

You might have a queue of leads by implementing the approaches discussed above. Each lead must cross the touchpoints you set up throughout the funnel. 

It can be from:

  • Email sign-ups
  • Company’s chatbot
  • Filling out forms for resources
    Contacting the customer service team
  • Social media engagement
  • Online webinars and event registrations
  • Product demo requests

After getting the leads, you end up feeling critical to converting them as each has different level of understanding about your product and how it’s going bring the solution to them. 

As a well-versed SaaS marketing agency, we have listed five main types of leads who prefer to hear more from you about the product.

SaaS Lead Generation - What are the different types of leads?

1.Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)

  • A lead who has shown interest in a company’s products or services through marketing efforts but is not ready for a direct sales pitch falls under Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL).
  • One best example we can say is downloading a resource from a company website.
  • It can be either while engaging with your blog or directly downloading the resource by just searching in search engines, as they are already interested in the brand.
  • This type of lead are usually generated at the TOFU stage, where potential customers are first introduced to your brand.
  • They show their interest in every aspect that your company offers but to make them purchase your product, they need to get qualified for SQL.
  • This can be achieved by nurturing the lead continuously.

2.Product Qualified Leads (PQLs)

  • Product-qualified leads come right before the SQLs.
  • They explore more solutions like yours and experience a product or service firsthand typically with free trials or freemium models.
  • These types of leads are particularly valuable in SaaS businesses, where hands-on experience can lead to higher conversion rates and often increases cross-selling opportunities.

3.Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)

  • SQLs typically move into the MOFU section, where the leads have a strong intent to purchase from you.
  • Some activities of these leads like requesting a demo, and asking pricing questions tell the sales team that the lead is deemed ready for direct sales engagement.

4.Inbound Leads

  • Inbound leads are those who come through organic marketing efforts rather than direct outreach.
  • They generally initiate their genuine interest by giving their contact information in lead magnets.
  • These types of leads are often considered warmer leads where they enter both the TOFU and MOFU stages.
  • They may interact with marketing content and then show interest in specific offerings moving into the MOFU.
  • Here, in this case, the sales effort is quite easier which leads to higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles.

5.Outbound Leads

  • Outbound leads are in contrast to the inbound leads.
  • This involves more cold calls, email outreach and networking.
  • The Sales team used to reach customers who may not be aware of their offerings.
  • For this, a strong sales strategy and convincing skill is crucial for the internal team.
  • These leads fall under MOFU and BOFU which include upsell leads and negotiation stage leads.

To Sum up with…

Hopefully, this will be a huge learning for you today !

As a SaaS business owner, ideating and creating a thoughtful solution to care for and serve people is appreciable but learning how to market your product and generate leads are some crucial studies that you must be aware of.

SaaS lead generation is never a number game that thankfully, you’ve gone through the proper approaches here in an easier way. 

So go ahead, and implement these learnings to generate quality leads for your SaaS product and provide solutions for those who struggling to increase their annual recurring revenue (ARR).

If you find it difficult to figure out the right approach for your SaaS lead generation, 7 Eagles are beside you.

Founder of 7 Eagles, Growth Marketer & SEO Expert

Ashkar Gomez is the Founder of 7 Eagles (a Growth Marketing & SEO Company). Ashkar started his career as a Sales Rep in 2013 and later shifted his career to SEO in 2014. He is one of the leading SEO experts in the industry with 8+ years of experience. He has worked on 200+ projects across 20+ industries in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, UAE, Australia, South Africa, and India. Besides SEO and Digital Marketing, he is passionate about Data Analytics, Personal Financial Planning, and Content Writing.
Discover How 7 Eagles Help Your Business

Founder of 7Eagles, Growth Marketer & SEO Expert

Ashkar Gomez is the Founder of 7 Eagles (a Growth Marketing & SEO Company). Ashkar started his career as a Sales Rep in 2013 and later shifted his career to SEO in 2014. He is one of the leading SEO experts in the industry with 8+ years of experience. He has worked on 200+ projects across 20+ industries in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, UAE, Australia, South Africa, and India. Besides SEO and Digital Marketing, he is passionate about Data Analytics, Personal Financial Planning, and Content Writing.
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