As part of the ritual of examining local commerce and SMB Saas strategies, Localogy goes right to the source: SMBs themselves. How do they feel about marketing and operational software? What features do they want? And how has their hunger changed in a pandemic? This is all a moving target.
Localogy’s Modern Commerce Monitor (MCM) answers these and other questions across the SMB SaaS product set, which we preview in this Benchmark Bytes series. And we recently entered a new chapter of this series, with highlights from the latest wave (8.0) of Modern Commerce Monitor.
After examining SMBs’ biggest drivers and considerations for SaaS adoption last week, we switch gears this week to examine the ways they find new SaaS products. Are they hearing about them from friends, reading online reviews, or other means of discovery? These are key factors for SaaS vendors to examine.
Data Dive
– Diving in, the leading source of SaaS referrals to SMBs (22 percent) is online ratings and reviews.
– This isn’t terribly surprising, given that online reviews have become a trusted format for getting a sense of new products – from Yelp to Amazon.
– SMBs are also tuned into the advantages and dynamics of online reviews as they themselves utilize reviews in their own marketing.
– Following closely behind at 19 percent of SMB responses was discovering SaaS products through a freelancer or consultant.
– This involves professionals that SMBs hire for specific jobs, which can lead to new discoveries about software for a given bespoke function.
– This is an underrated channel for SMB SaaS vendors as explored in a recent report.
– Next on the list is “media or ad salesperson” at 19 percent of SMB responses.
– This broad category contains vendor marketing as well as direct sales, making it logical as a leading source of SMB SaaS discovery.
– Other means of SMB SaaS discovery include family and friends (17 percent), Digital agencies (12 percent), and social media (9 percent).
– Given all the above, SMB SaaS vendors should take note and place their chips accordingly when deciding how to get in front of potential SMB buyers.
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Long-Tail Opportunity
Stepping back, SMB online marketing – as well as operational and fintech tools – continues to grow rapidly. SMB SaaS startups and online services providers are correspondingly thriving as it continues to grow as a leading subsector of the broader SaaS universe. There’s a long-tail opportunity at play.
Meanwhile, new SMB SaaS users could represent permanent adopters – a concept that accelerated in the Covid era as SMBs were forced into digital transformation. This sent them into the arms of SaaS providers (where many have stayed) to accomplish a range of marketing and operational functions.
We’ll return in the next installment to go deeper into Localogy original survey research. That will include SMB goals and success factors. Let us know what additional insights jump out at you from the above data, and stay tuned for more breakdowns in our Benchmark Bytes series.
