Facebook isn’t a viable option for SaaS marketing.
That’s what you might be hearing until now.
SaaS companies have a tendency to write off Facebook as a potential channel to generate leads. But that’s not entirely right.
While a few companies haven’t been able to run SaaS Facebook ads successfully, they have worked great for many companies. In fact, TouchBistro increased leads through Facebook by 200%.
So, if you want to venture into Facebook ads for SaaS, here’s your guide.
Are SaaS Facebook Ads Worth?
The answer is yes!
Here are a few reasons why Facebook ads for SaaS is a brilliant idea.
Wider Audience Reach
If you aren’t aware, Facebook has an estimated 2.96 billion monthly active users (as of 2022). Though everyone isn’t your target audience, you have an ocean of possibilities. You can reach a wider community and find your ideal buyers.
Increased Demand
SaaS Facebook ads enable you to create demand almost effortlessly. If companies scrolling through their feeds come across your SaaS ad and find it useful, they will engage and help your business grow. In fact, according to a Databox survey, companies said that more than 15% of their lead flow originates from Facebook. Moreover, 40% of companies believe that Facebook Ads is effective for lead generation.
Ad Variations
Another reason SaaS Facebook ads are worth is that the platform offers different ad types. You can create dynamic ads in images, videos, and several other engaging options to capture your audience’s attention. Check out the two examples.
LeadQuizzes
An online quiz maker for small businesses, LeadQuizzes’ Facebook ad grabs attention immediately with its bright colors. Also, the company uses case studies to sell its Facebook quizzes.
SaneBox
An email management software, SaneBox’s video ad on Facebook visually demonstrates how their product provides value.
Retargeting Ads
Even if it has been some time since you last visited a SaaS website, Facebook still shows software ads when you open your page. That’s how retargeting works.
Facebook Pixel tracks user behavior, and using that data, you can reach out to them with more personalized ads. Further, you can also optimize your SaaS Facebook ads by leveraging the gathered user data.
Now that you are convinced about the effectiveness of Facebook ads for SaaS let’s look into a few formulas to run SaaS Facebook ads.
Formulas to Run Facebook Ads for SaaS and Its Benefits
Did you know in 2022, Meta (formerly Facebook Inc.) earned over 113 billion U.S. dollars in ad revenues? This shows that businesses do trust the platform for its effective advertising features.
So, if you want to join the bandwagon, here are the formulas to run SaaS Facebook ads successfully. But before that, let’s talk about the audience.
As a SaaS company, you work with three audience types.
A cold audience is a group that does not know about your brand and isn’t interested in your product or service.
A lookalike audience is a group that isn’t aware of your services but shares common characteristics with your existing customers.
A warm audience group includes users who know your brand and have interacted with it in some way- visiting your website, downloading content, or signing up for a trial – but haven’t been converted into paying customers.
Now, let’s look at the best formulas for each audience type.
Benefits Ads ➡️Testimonial Ads ➡️Offer Ads
If you are;
✅a reputable brand reaching out to new users, and
✅retargeting free-trial sign-up leads who haven’t completed the subscription process; this approach of Facebook marketing for SaaS works great.
In your first round of running SaaS Facebook ads, choose benefit ads. These ads can position your product as the best solution to your audience’s pain points and communicate the product’s value to the audience.
Look at how Kissmetrics uses a carousel ad to showcase its multiple features that can help customers overcome major growth challenges.
In your second round of ads comes the user testimonials. You can create images with your existing client logos and positive reviews or share client testimonial videos. Here’s an example of how Robly Email Marketing used a short customer testimonial with a 5-star rating to communicate its product value and build credibility.
Then, share ads offering free trial sign-ups and demos in the roundup phase. Moreover, if you a relatively new brand or have revised your pricing plans, share the details with your audience. They will require more information on pricing before they sign up for your services.
Entertaining Ad ➡️ Educational Ad ➡️ Free Trial Ad
These SaaS Facebook ads work great when dealing with cold and lookalike audiences. These two groups of people either aren’t aware of your product at all or they know little (not much). So, educate them as much as possible to start associating on a positive note.
For example, Qminder, a queue management software, uses a simple and relevant graphic for their ad to draw attention. The ad focuses on explaining the product via a straightforward and clear copy.
Educational ads, be it in image form or videos, can redirect customers to your website, blog post, or even some downloadable templates or checklists. Once the audience knows of your existence and finds your downloadable content useful, they can consider your brand to overcome their challenge. Just when they hint at some interest, target them and offer a free trial or demo.
Content Offer Ad ➡️ Lead Generation ➡️ Nurturing
This SaaS Facebook ads formula is all about targeting the audience with high-value content in the form of a lead magnet. But remember to offer something useful – a template, a list of action-oriented tips, a checklist, access to a recorded webinar, and more.
When users try accessing the lead magnets, ask for their minimum info like email address and company name in exchange for the content. Now you have the user’s email, send lead-nurturing personalized emails with embedded links to relevant blogs, industry updates, etc., and prompt them to try out your product, starting with a free trial.
Now, what if the lead does not convert on your website even after the content offer ad?
That’s when you need Facebook Retargeting.
As we mentioned, Facebook Pixel gathers behavioral data and remembers your visitors. So, use it to retarget visitors who have stayed on your website for some time and interacted with it.
Tip💡Before running retargeting SaaS Facebook ads, try using exit pop-ups on your website. They help convert at around 4-5%.
Create a Funnel with Facebook Marketing
If you’re thinking about how Facebook advertising works, here’s something you must know.
A successful SaaS Facebook ad campaign is like the tip of an iceberg. What lies beneath is a strong Facebook ads funnel. The funnel consists of the stages a potential customer goes through to finally convert into a paying customer. Here are the four Facebook ad funnel stages.
Awareness
Think from the user's perspective. Will you buy a product if you aren’t familiar with the brand?
No. That’s why we need brand building.
At this stage, brand awareness campaigns are a must. They build familiarity and credibility. However, no user is likely to sign up or buy your product the same day they hear about your brand. So, advertise and retarget users to build relationships over time.
Campaign Goal: To drive website or specific landing page traffic
Objective: Brand awareness
Target Audience: Lookalike audience from existing leads or customers with similar demographics and behavior.
Note: You can also create a new audience using the core audience feature in Facebook Ads Manager.
Interest
Highlight your product benefits to pique the interest of your audience. List the pain points your product can address and how it can help users solve their problems. At this stage, engaging the audience with valuable content and offers works great.
Campaign Goal: To retarget the warm audience from the above stage by offering them content downloads and other freebies.
Objective: Lead generation
Target Audience: Create a custom audience and target the ones who have visited your website and shown interest in your ads.
Evaluation
In the evaluation stage, the potential customer looks for solutions to their problem. They consider alternatives. Hence, this is your chance to attract potential customers through high-value offers.
Campaign Goal: To convert leads into prospects by offering them free access to webinars, case studies, eBooks, or consultations.
Objective: Lead generation
Target Audience: The audience who have interacted with your ads in the interest stage. Create a new custom audience for users who visit the “thank you” page of the previous lead generation offer.
This stage is similar to the interest stage. However, here you can offer case studies, eBooks, and webinars to offer more insightful content to the users.
Sale
The sale or decision stage is where the buyer has made the purchase decision. Here, they look for the little details before completing the purchase process. So, this is the ‘long-awaited’ stage of conversion.
Campaign Goal: To push the final sale through discounts or trial offers
Objective: Conversion
Target Audience: The audience who shows interest in the evaluation stage ads.
At this stage, all you need to do is nudge the prospects to make the final purchase decision. A solid discount or a limited free-trial period works best to get the prospects to convert.
10 Best SaaS Facebook Ads for Inspiration
Now that we have learned the theoretical stuff about Facebook ads for SaaS, it’s time to see a few real-world examples. Here are 10 excellent SaaS Facebook ads that can inspire you.
1. Capterra: Create Ads with Memes to Connect Better with The Audience
One of the best SaaS resources to go to, Capterra uses its funny side to connect with the audience. The SaaS resource platform used memes to engage the audience while highlighting how it addresses a specific problem.
In this ad, Capterra highlights how users can find the best CRM solution fast plus, it focuses on the target audience's emotions. All in all, meme marketing for SaaS Facebook ads seems like a great option after this example. No?
2. Clearbit: Showcase Social Proofs on your Ads to Build Trust
According to TrustPulse, online reviews about a specific product can increase conversion rates by a whopping 270%. So, why not attract customers with social proof?!
Clearbit, the marketing intelligence tool, leverages social proofs for its ads (and website) to attract new customers and to convince the middle-of-the-funnel audience.
Though Clearbit’s ad copy could be better with a question or statistics, the hero of the SaaS Facebook ad is the customer review. The short yet powerful review is perfect for retargeting the middle-of-the-funnel audience, and it also helps Clearbit build trust with new potential customers.
Not to miss out, Clearbit also brings back the user’s attention to the ad intent ‘rethink retargeting’ and adds a CTA to prompt action.
3. Slack: Highlight a Product Benefit in a Fun Way to Grab Attention
One of the best SaaS Facebook ads examples is from Slack, where the communication platform presents the most professional and practical product in a ‘fun’ and ‘colorful’ way.
Slack’s Facebook ad uses unicorns and rainbows to show how it feels to have fewer meetings as a result of communicating most of the stuff over Slack. Hence, the SaaS platform successfully showcases its product value. Also, the well-positioned CTA makes the overall SaaS Facebook ad impactful.
4. Asana: Offer Free Trials Through Illustrative Ads
Asana has always tried to create unique ads that are pretty illustrative, just like its website. The modern project management tool’s Facebook ad highlights the platform’s easy and effortless planning while offering a 30-day free trial with a ‘sign up’ CTA to prompt action.
The SaaS Facebook ad is perfect for generating leads with its illustrative and playful color contrasts drawing users’ attention and the action-oriented CTA to encourage clicks.
5. CoSchedule: Play on Simplicity to Convey your Message Effectively
SaaS ads can be simple too. Though the product may be slightly complex, you can convince your audience better if the messaging is simple. And that’s exactly what CoSchedule does.
The social media post-scheduling tool leverages simplicity in its SaaS Facebook ad to connect better with the audience. This ad highlights the ‘resharing’ feature while focusing on how it can address the user’s pain point in two sentences. In short, CoSchedule shows how resharing is simplified using the automation tool.
6. Drift: Offer Demo Ads to Address a Specific & Significant Pain Point
A B2B SaaS platform offering conversation marketing and sales services, Drift’s Facebook ad for SaaS highlights two things that marketers love –
🤒A major pain point(s)
🔢Insightful data (mostly statistics)
In their SaaS Facebook ad, Drift highlights the high costs and low returns for digital ads. Then, the company introduces its chatbot tool to address this specific pain point. Moreover, Drift also conveys that using the tool requires no coding knowledge (that’s a bonus!).
7. SurveyMonkey: Offer Incentives to Encourage User Action
A cloud-based survey tool, SurveyMonkey leverages incentives to get users to sign up.
This SaaS Facebook ad not only leverages incentives but also fun and excitement. With an incentive like a $300 PlayStation gift card, several users would be attracted to click on the CTA and take a chance at winning. Also, the use of bright colors and animation makes the ad eye-catching.
8. Wrike: Communicate Value Proposition to Build Awareness
The robust product management software Wrike uses motion graphics (or video) in its SaaS Facebook ad to explain its product value effectively.
The platform uses a clear and straightforward ad copy that explains what the product does and how it can help users. Plus, using motion graphics and a colorful background draws immediate user attention. Hence, the ad seems apt for building brand awareness.
9. Atlassian: Spark Curiosity to Attract Audience
Atlassian is a SaaS company that develops work management solutions (Jira, Trello, etc.) for project managers, software developers, and other development teams.
In this SaaS Facebook ad, Atlassian leverages simplicity and an eye-catching color for the ad's background. It focuses on arousing curiosity by not disclosing much about the platform. Also, the ad includes numbers that catch attention while proving Atlassian’s credibility.
10. Pipedrive: Promote Webinars to Generate Leads
Pipedrive is a CRM solution for marketers, and its SaaS Facebook ad promotes live webinars to generate leads.
The Facebook ad for SaaS targets Founders, CEOs, and CMOs – the key decision makers. It combines an engaging story, a clear description of the webinar, and the perfect CTA to encourage action.
Pipedrive uses its growth story to connect with the audience and thumbnail photos to add a ‘human touch’ to the ad. Overall, the ad campaign elements will likely build further brand credibility.
15 Facebook Ad Ideas for B2B SaaS Business
Coming up with something fresh for your audience is effective and taxing at the same time. It is often difficult to create like never before SaaS Facebook ads. Here are a few cool Facebook ad ideas for SaaS companies that can inspire your next campaign.
1. Leverage Demos in SaaS Facebook Ads
SaaS companies rely on demos a great deal. In fact, for most B2B SaaS companies, demo close rates range between 20 to 50%. So, encouraging your audience to sign up for a demo is something you can achieve through your Facebook ad.
For example, Invision drives demo registrations with a playful SaaS Facebook ad. We love how the SaaS company used the ‘two workers collaboration’ to highlight the product features – design and collaborate.
Further, the ad copy positions Invision as an ‘enterprise-ready solution.’ Invision’s sign-up CTA also works well for this ad.
2. Offer Rewards or Freebies to Boost Product Usage
Everyone likes gifts or rather freebies when it comes to SaaS companies. As a SaaS business, offer freebies to attract more people to use your product. For example, HubSpot highlighted a 100% free tool in its Facebook ad to make the offer hard to let go of.
Instead of a free tool, you could also offer an Amazon gift card like G2 or even referral programs in your SaaS Facebook ads. This idea will help you reach a wider audience and boost your product usage.
3. Go for a New, Relevant, and Low-Risk CTA
By low-risk CTA, we mean the CTAs that indicate fewer actions on the user’s part. For instance, a ‘learn more’ CTA is vague. It hints at multiple user actions. However, a CTA like ‘sign-up’ is more straightforward and encourages user action. Similarly, ‘download’ is a much more direct CTA than ‘learn more.’
Here’s an example of Mangools, an SEO toolkit for agencies, affiliates, and bloggers that uses the CTA ‘subscribe’ and a 15% discount to get more conversions.
4. Offer a Sneak-Peek into your Product Dashboard
For the SaaS audience, seeing your product in action plays a significant role. It entices them to the product. So, several SaaS marketers use this psychology and offer their target audience a glimpse of how their product dashboard looks like.
Canva’s Facebook ad uses this tactic. In the SaaS Facebook ad below, Canva highlights a few of its features to boost sales. With this approach, the platform provides a sneak peek into what awaits if the audience uses this feature.
5. Book Sales Calls from Facebook Ads
Optimove made an interesting move by creating an innovative SaaS Facebook ad that uses the image and name of an actual employee. The ad’s ‘human touch’ sparked curiosity which, in turn, resulted in more clicks.
The best part of the ad is that as users clicked on the ‘learn more’ CTA, they were directed to a well-planned landing page.
Optimove’s main goal was to drive as many sales calls or demos as possible. Considering the originality of the ad, it seems to have worked great for the company. Also, using a real employee name and image makes users more likely to trust the brand.
6. Add Testimonials
As mentioned above, social proofs are powerful in generating leads and building brand credibility. So, displaying testimonials, reviews, and case studies in your Facebook ads will help you earn the trust of potential customers and get more leads. You can leverage customer reviews in your ad like Clearbit (as mentioned in the above section) or create video ads with customer testimonial videos.
Here's how Sleeknote shared a testimonial in its Facebook ad.
7. Promote Blogs
Content creation is one of the major activities of a SaaS business. So, utilize your content pieces and promote them via SaaS Facebook ads to inspire your audience, and drive traffic and awareness.
Facebook provides you with the perfect platform to share your content with a larger audience. Here’s an example from Hotjar.
The company uses an honest headline for its content piece and directs the audience to it with the goal of driving clicks from other SaaS stakeholders searching for heatmaps and retargeting software.
8. Share Case Studies
The intent behind sharing case studies in Facebook ads for SaaS is to highlight how you helped another business overcome challenges and grow. Also, mentioning another brand (your client) strengthens your brand credibility.
Here’s another example from Drift sharing a case study on how the platform helped Ipswitch generate a million dollar pipeline in three months of using Drift.
In addition to sharing the case, Drift also shows its creativity by using ‘test drive Drift’s Chatbot on your website’ instead of a simple ‘free trial’. Plus, the noticeable values - ‘a million dollars’ and ‘100,000+ businesses’ - work well to catch the audience’s attention.
9. Leverage Video Ads
According to data, the global average for video consumption is 84 minutes a day, and online videos have an audience reach of 92% worldwide. That’s why leveraging videos in your ads is significant to your business growth.
Especially for SaaS companies, videos are a creative way to introduce and promote their products. Webflow uses a video ad to build awareness and communicate its product value.
In this SaaS Facebook ad, the video demonstrates how the product works. Thus, it is apt to drive clicks. Also, Webflow’s ad copy clearly communicates what the product is all about and how it can help users to ‘manage, update, and redesign websites, without relying on developers.’
10. Promote Online and Offline Events
Want more people to attend your events? Share them on Facebook. Leverage your SaaS Facebook ads to share the events. Several companies like HubSpot and ActiveCampaign promote their live workshop, and online summits, across Facebook.
Here’s an example from AdStage where they promote a webinar that includes influencers to increase brand credibility.
Apart from online webinars, you can also use geo-targeting to promote offline events in specific locations. These SaaS Facebook ads are region-specific and they help you reach to the people in that region who can attend the event. Here, WordPress promotes an offline event with dates and location to help people build and grow their websites.
11. Share Guides, eBooks, Research Findings, and Whitepapers
As much as content creation is vital, proper distribution and promotion of the content is also significant. So, spend time promoting in-depth guides, eBooks, and whitepapers via SaaS Facebook ads.
Just like sharing blog posts, case studies, and research findings, promote your other content assets. Also, if your company spends hours researching, share the findings with your audience. Such highly insightful information not only educates the audience but also help you establish your brand as a thought leader in the industry.
Here’s a SaaS Facebook ad by Marketo. It’s a Facebook lead ad that directs users to a comprehensive guide on social media marketing.
12. Offer A Course
If you have an educational course for your audience, sell that via SaaS Facebook ads. Facebook can be your go-to channel to promote such courses and aim for an increase in the number of registrations.
Unbounce, in its SaaS Facebook ad, encourages users to sign up for their course teaches how to increase conversions. Interestingly, the brand hints that it can help you drive more conversions in just 5 steps. Further, Unbounce uses 5 icons to indicate the steps, making the ad simple yet effective.
13. Showcase Feature Integrations
SaaS integration is one of the most critical aspects that users look for. In fact, APIs/ partner integrations make your product more valuable and provide you with an entirely new audience. Hence, you should highlight important software integrations. Let your audience know if you add a new integration to your list via Facebook ads. For example, Clearbit’s Facebook ad highlights its integration with Salesforce. It mentions the same in its ad copy and highlights the benefit of this integration.
14. Promote an Upcoming or Newly Released Podcast
Why should you care about podcasts? Because 77% of users listen to podcasts for more than 7 hours a week. Podcasts are accessible from any device and people find them intellectually stimulating. So, they are a great idea for SaaS companies.
If you plan to release a podcast, don’t forget to promote it before and after the release through Facebook ads for SaaS. It gives you a wider reach and you can also find new audiences.
Omniconvert’s SaaS Facebook Ad is an example of podcast promotion ahd blog promotion. Ideally, companies just offer any one resource, but they took an extra step ahead and shared two resources for their audience.
15. Target Audience on the Basis of Their Location
One of the best SaaS Facebook ad ideas is to create ads using geo-targeting. While you can promote your offline location-specific events, you can also use geo-targeting to inform your audience about your expansion. It establishes your brand as a trustworthy source and builds awareness as well.
Salesforce used Facebook’s dynamic ad feature and created an ad specifically for its audience in Canada. Since the ad is directed toward a specific audience, it is more personalized and effective.
Final Note
If you have started digging into SaaS marketing, you’ll realize how fascinating it is!
SaaS Facebook ads may not be the first thing you want to invest in, but it is definitely one of the most popular channels people use.
So, getting your brand to reach a wider audience is possible through Facebook ads for SaaS. All you need is a solid plan to go ahead with your Facebook marketing, and who’s better to reach out to than TripleDart?!
TripleDart’s SaaS marketing services can help you reach your targeted audience. Our tailored strategy can drive results and ensure sustainable growth.
Want to learn more about us? Book an intro call now!
