SaaS
PPC for SaaS: paying for customers, not sign-ups
PPC for SaaS works when campaigns are judged on customers and revenue rather than free trials. We run Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and LinkedIn for software companies with a cost per acquisition set from your payback period, and import trial-to-paid outcomes from your product or CRM so the platforms learn which sign-ups turn into paying accounts.
In short
- Targets from payback period
- Trial-to-paid data imported
- Competitor and alternative terms handled carefully
Not sure where to start? We review your account, tracking and landing pages first, in writing.
The SaaS measurement problem
A free trial is easy to win and often worth little. If the account optimises to trial sign-ups, Google will find the cheapest ones, and those are frequently people who will never pay. The answer is to send later outcomes back: activation, trial-to-paid and plan value. With a click ID stored against each account, those events can be imported as offline conversions so bidding learns from revenue.
Setting targets from unit economics
| Input | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Average revenue per account | What a customer is worth each month |
| Gross margin | How much of that revenue is left to pay for acquisition |
| Payback target | How many months of margin you will spend to win a customer |
| Trial-to-paid rate | How many trials it takes to make one customer |
From those four numbers comes the most you can pay for a customer, and from that the most you can pay for a trial or a demo. That is the target the campaigns run to, revised as conversion data improves.
Search terms that work for software
- Problem searches: what the buyer types before they know which product solves it.
- Category searches: the type of software, often with "for" a role or industry.
- Alternative and comparison searches: people looking for a replacement. Google does not stop you bidding on another company's brand name as a keyword, but it can restrict their trademark in your ad text if the owner complains, so ads talk about your product, not theirs.
- Brand searches: your own name, kept in a separate campaign so its cheap conversions do not hide the cost of the others.
Channels beyond Google
Microsoft Advertising reaches work desktops and can bid by LinkedIn profile data. LinkedIn's own ads target job titles and company size, at a higher cost per click; we use them for defined account lists and high-value plans. Remarketing to trial users who did not convert, through remarketing, is often the best-value spend in the account.
Related
Where this connects
B2B PPC
Paid search for long sales cycles, where one lead can be worth a year of clicks.
Microsoft Advertising
Bing, Edge and the Microsoft network: often cheaper clicks from an older, busier audience.
Analytics and tracking
GA4, Tag Manager, server-side tagging and enhanced conversions, set up so the numbers are true.
Remarketing and retargeting
Bringing back the visitors who almost bought, without following them round the internet.
Questions people ask us
What is a good cost per acquisition for SaaS?
One your payback period can carry. Work it out from revenue per account, gross margin and how many months you are willing to wait to recover the cost of a customer.
Can I bid on competitor brand names?
Google does not restrict a competitor's name as a keyword, but it can restrict their trademark in your ad text if the owner files a complaint, and some may take legal action. Keep the ad about what your product does.
Should SaaS PPC optimise to free trials?
Only at first, while there is not enough later-stage data. As soon as trial-to-paid outcomes can be imported, optimise to those, or the account will fill up with trials that never pay.
Is LinkedIn worth it for SaaS?
For defined audiences and higher-value plans, often yes. For low-price self-serve products, search and remarketing usually acquire customers more cheaply.
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