B2B SaaS – Examples of Successful Businesses
The growth of Software as a service or SaaS is undeniable, with more and more applications of companies becoming SaaS. Today, many businesses start to rely on software services purchased from other businesses, known as B2B SaaS.
May 14 2020 ● 5 min read
Table of Contents
- B2B SaaS Companies and SaaS Products
- What Are the Advantages of SaaS Products?
- What Is B2B SaaS?
- Differences Between a B2B SaaS and B2C SaaS Company
- The Best B2B SaaS Companies
- 1.HubSpot
- 2.Google
- 3.Troop Messenger
- 4.Adobe
- 5.Shopify
- 6.MailChimp
- 7.SurveyMonkey
- 8.Microsoft
- 9.PieSync
- 10.MathWorks
- Conclusion
The growth of the software as a service (SaaS) is beyond question: according to a recent survey, by the end of 2020, 80% of the applications used by businesses will be based on SaaS.
Why is the growth of this industry so rapid? Are SaaS products necessary for your companies to function effectively? Can investing in these products help with the growth of your business? In today’s article, you’ll learn what a B2B SaaS product is and whether you need one.
B2B SaaS Companies and SaaS Products
What is a SaaS-based company?
SaaS is a company that provides software for other enterprise companies to use. A SaaS company creates, hosts, develops, and updates the application or a product from one central location while customers access it remotely.
Also, SaaS companies maintain software, databases, and servers that allow the app to be accessed over web browsers from almost any device. Typically, people are required to pay a subscription fee in order to use SaaS products.
To explain further, SaaS is a product hosted by a central provider and accessed via a browser. In other words, people don’t need to download and install the application. The SaaS product provider can manage and update the service based on specific user needs. In addition, effective SaaS management is crucial for SaaS companies to efficiently oversee and maintain their software offerings, ensuring smooth operations and customer satisfaction.
SaaS tools can belong to both B2C and B2B categories. B2C is focused on individual customer needs, while B2B is dedicated to management teams or businesses.
What Are the Advantages of SaaS Products?
Here are the key benefits of using a SaaS product:
- Easy accessibility – Using any SaaS product requires small effort – all you need is a proper internet connection;
- Cost-effectiveness – There’s no need for an installation or downloading a copy of the application: you can get access to the SaaS product through a web browser. It may save the expenses of bug fixing, maintenance, and purchasing hardware;
- Payment flexibility – Instead of having to pay in advance, you’re allowed to pay monthly;
- Auto-updates – SaaS products are updated automatically from their providers without affecting user operations. This is especially beneficial for users seeking to reduce human resources.
What Is B2B SaaS?
Now that you’ve learned what SaaS products are let’s dig deep into the B2B SaaS area. First of all, B2B stands for Business to Business, and it’s a transaction between, you guessed it – two businesses.
A B2B SaaS company sells its service to other enterprise companies. B2B companies usually offer marketing, customer support, or sales solutions and help these departments achieve success.
A B2B SaaS company is usually focused on customer success. If their customers achieve better results, chances are they’ll stay loyal to the company.
The app development cost can vary depending on the tech stack, the number of features, and other factors. Creating a B2B SaaS product from scratch can cost you from $25,000 to $100,000 for MVP.
Differences Between a B2B SaaS and B2C SaaS Company
As you already know, B2B SaaS companies sell software services and products to other companies. Meanwhile, B2C companies offer solutions to individual users. Both B2B and B2C are based on subscriptions and track customer acquisition cost, churn rate, and lifetime value metrics.
However, their marketing approaches are different. Here’s how:
- B2B customers have experience and knowledge on a given topic. So, if you’re a B2B SaaS marketer, your SaaS marketing strategy can be more professional and thoughtful; for instance, you can use the industry jargon when communicating with the customer. The most commonly used social media by B2B marketers are LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and AngelList.
- On the other hand, B2C customers require simple language to understand the product better. The most common social media B2C marketers use to market their products are more entertaining platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
No matter if you’re a B2B or a B2C company, your marketing strategy and management should result in increased brand awareness. However, what makes B2C marketing strategies different is that these companies usually strive for customer retention. And, SaaS B2C sales process is shorter and less complicated than that of B2B.
The Best B2B SaaS Companies
Here’s a list of the strongest B2B SaaS companies, based on customer reviews, online sources, and social networks. The B2B SaaS companies are listed in no particular order.
1.HubSpot
The cloud-based inbound marketing and sales platform is used among customers that need to capture leads, manage customer relationships, and nurture prospects. This company offers tools focused on CRM, web analytics, content management, SEO, and social media channels.
- Rank in market presence – 74
- Rank in satisfaction – 95
- Overall score – 90
2.Google
The number of products focused on Internet-related services owned by this large SaaS company goes up to 137. The package includes a search engine, online advertising, document creation, digital analytics, and other services.
Those people that have Google accounts, you can use these services for free. However, many enterprise companies upgrade their accounts and pay a fee to get additional features, including 24/7 customer support or unlimited cloud storage.
- Rank in market presence – 92
- Rank in satisfaction – 94
- Overall score- 93
3.Troop Messenger
The SaaS-based workplace collaboration tool allows users to use the browser version on the internet to chat, call, meet, and initiate a conference and screen share with their teammates. Troop Messenger offers file sharing, attachment preview, audio and video messaging, end-to-end encryption, extensive data search filters, and many more work productivity features to ease an employee's workday.
- Rank in market presence – 89
- Rank in satisfaction – 91
- Overall score - 90
4.Adobe
Usually, Adobe is used by customers that need graphic and video production capabilities. This company offers more than 50 computer software products in digital marketing, digital media, printing, and publishing areas.
- Rank in market presence – 86
- Rank in satisfaction – 92
- Overall score – 91
5.Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce company that provides sales, hosting, shopping cart, storefront, and other important functionalities for e-commerce merchants. To use Shopify, you have to pay a monthly subscription and a transaction fee.
- Rank in market presence – 87
- Rank in satisfaction – 99
- Overall score – 94
6.MailChimp
The main product of this marketing software company is the cloud-based email marketing platform. This email platform allows you to send newsletters, manage mailing lists, and create email campaigns.
- Rank in market presence – 85
- Rank in satisfaction – 99
- Overall score – 94
7.SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a cloud-based, online survey development software. This company offers surveys, paid back-end programs, and helps with data analysis and representation.
- Rank in market presence – 64
- Rank in satisfaction – 100
- Overall score – 91
8.Microsoft
This software giant offers a hundred cloud products, including computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.
- Rank in market presence – 89
- Rank in satisfaction – 98
- Overall score – 94
9.PieSync
This app syncs data between applications to help quickly transfer information between sales, invoicing, CRM, and marketing applications.
- Rank in market presence – 48
- Rank in satisfaction – 91
- Overall score – 69
10.MathWorks
This great mathematical computing software is popular among product developers and engineers. Some of the MathWorks company products are SimEvents, Stateflow, ThingSpeak, Simulink, and the main one, called MATLAB.
- The rank of MATLAB in market presence – 85
- The rank of MATLAB in satisfaction – 99
- Overall score – 93
Conclusion
The reason behind such rapid growth in the number of B2B SaaS software products is customers and businesses looking to automate their processes and boost efficiency. Using a B2B SaaS product is beneficial for several reasons, like its easy accessibility, cost-effective nature, flexible payment options, and auto-updates from their providers.
Published on May 14 2020
WRITTEN BY
Gintaras BaltusevičiusGintaras is an experienced marketing professional who is always eager to explore the most up-to-date issues in data marketing. Having worked as an SEO manager at several companies, he's a valuable addition to the Whatagraph writers' pool.