Content marketing has tons of value for SaaS companies as a driver of conversions and business growth.
You might be thinking…
Great, but where’s the proof?
Well, I’ve gathered a list of the most enlightening and up-to-date SaaS content marketing statistics that demonstrate:
- The value of content marketing for SaaS companies
- What types of content work for SaaS companies
- Effective content marketing strategies SaaS companies use to drive growth
To summarize the stats, I created an infographic, “SaaS Content Marketing 2020”:
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Here’s my take on these SaaS content marketing statistics…
1. SaaS companies that use content marketing see 30% higher growth rates and 5-10% better retention rates
You may find yourself wondering what content marketing can do for your brand.
Well, according to a ProfitWell study, SaaS companies that focus on content marketing see higher growth rates and retention rates.
Naturally, this indicates that content should be a major part of your overall strategy.
Content allows you to educate potential customers, prove that your product can solve their problems and gently guide them towards a demo or trial.
But, of course, the work doesn’t stop there.
As most SaaS brands offer a subscription model, it’s imperative that you create loyal customers that stick around.
As I’m sure you know, retention is tricky.
Yet, the data shows that content leads to higher retention rates for SaaS brands.
The thing being, customer acquisition shouldn’t be the sole focus of your content.
Use content to delight and support customers also, by showing them how to get the most out of your SaaS product.
2. Content marketing can generate an ROI of up to 647% for SaaS companies
We shouldn’t take case studies as gospel…
However, this data shows the realms of possibility when you invest in content marketing.
A case study from Nectafy shows how a client achieved $547,732 in sales over a period of 18 months through investing in content marketing.
The return on investment was a whopping 647%.
How did they achieve this result?
Nectafy first built client personas, then selected the most relevant and useful keywords based on those personas.
They then created content based on said keywords with input from expert commentators.
It can take a while before you see a return on your content marketing efforts, as is reflected in this case study:
But building a library of useful, expert content can really pay off for SaaS brands in the end.
3. On average, the fastest-growing SaaS companies receive 1700 organic search visits per month
Organic search is a reliable source of traffic.
But what’s really exciting is that it brings qualified traffic to your site.
If you provide a solution or answer a user’s question within your content they’re more likely to be interested in your product.
Emily Byford’s SaaS content marketing study for 2019 examined the differences between the top SaaS companies and the fastest-growing SaaS companies.
Top SaaS companies receive on average 1,800 organic search visits per month.
While the fastest-growing SaaS companies receive on average 1,700 organic search visits per month.
These figures are remarkably similar.
So, the good news is that the major players don’t have a monopoly on search traffic.
Content can provide a steady stream of qualified traffic for emerging SaaS companies, too.
4. 36% of the world’s biggest SaaS companies use their blogs to share educational content
Educational content is a necessity in SaaS marketing.
More and more SaaS providers are realizing this and so there has been a shift towards educational content over PR in the past few years.
But Emily Byford’s study shows that most of the top SaaS brands take a mixed approach.
Today providing value to the user is far more important than promoting your SaaS product.
Even PR content isn’t all “Sell, sell, sell!” nowadays.
It might simply comprise product updates, which are useful to existing customers.
At the end of the day, educational content showcases your expertise and presents you as an industry leader.
And don’t forget that you can still position your product as a solution to the user’s problem via educational content.
Or guide the user to the next step in the SaaS customer lifecycle depending on your strategy.
5. Outside of blog posts, the most popular types of SaaS content are webinars (65%) and case studies (62%)
A good SaaS content marketing strategy is varied.
Different types of content appeal to users at different stages of the customer lifecycle.
And you have to figure out what kind of content is most effective for your audience.
Generally, the most common types of content for SaaS companies, outside of blog posts, are webinars (65%) and case studies (62%).
When we know that something works, we tend to do more of it.
So, these figures could indicate that webinars and case studies are the most effective types of content for SaaS audiences (outside of blog content).
Webinars are, of course, very much representative of valuable, educational content.
So, there’s no surprise there.
And case studies are hugely popular among SaaS content creators and readers alike.
The reason being, they prove the value of a product with hard evidence.
6. There’s a potential high backlink opportunity gap for knowledge base and original research posts
Building links (the right way) can be a fruitful growth tactic.
Because Google still gives a lot of weight to links as a top ranking factor.
So, more links equal greater authority, higher rankings and more organic traffic.
SaaS marketer Ryan Berg analyzed over 15,000 pieces of SaaS content and found a potential backlink gap.
According to the study, content types that tend to receive the most backlinks are original research posts and help (knowledge base) articles.
Yet, in comparison to the average number of backlinks, SaaS brands don’t produce these types of content as frequently as others.
I mean we don’t all have the time and resources to produce in-depth original research posts every week.
But this type of post is certainly worth keeping in mind if you haven’t produced an original study or experiment in a while (or ever).
B2B SaaS audiences heart original data, so there’s huge potential for earning links.
7. The fastest-growing SaaS companies are 1.5x more likely to recommend related content and 2.5x more likely to offer a demo as their CTA
All of your efforts creating high-value blog posts will be no good if you don’t use them to drive business growth.
You need to think about what you want to achieve and make it the goal of your SaaS content strategy.
Recent content marketing trends show that the fastest-growing SaaS companies are 1.5x more likely to recommend content to readers.
And 2.5x more likely to offer a product demo as their CTA than the biggest SaaS companies.
While the biggest SaaS companies put greater emphasis on building subscriber lists.
These data sets indicate that demos are a successful lead generation tactic for up-and-coming SaaS brands.
While established brands focus on building a base of loyal customers and followers.
You could see these two tactics as short-term vs. long-term strategies for your SaaS company.
8. 73% of top SaaS companies gate at least some of their content
Gated content remains a common lead magnet.
Prospects that are in the research or consideration stages are more likely to engage with gated content.
73% of SaaS companies that have content other than blog posts on their site, gate at least some of their content.
This makes total sense when you look at the previous point.
It’s likely that top SaaS companies use gated content to build their subscriber lists…
And thereby long-term customer relationships.
Gated content these days doesn’t necessarily mean a massive e-book.
That might not be feasible for you if you’re a growing SaaS company.
You can offer items, such as content upgrades, i.e. templates, checklists and so on to draw in subscribers instead.
9. Historical optimization can 2x the number of SaaS leads
Like reusable water bottles, refreshing old content became trendy not so long ago.
But, undoubtedly, these are trends that are here to stay.
Because outdated, decaying content is of zero benefit to your brand.
When HubSpot started optimizing old posts they found that these posts generated twice as many leads.
Most of their views and leads came from old posts.
And a large segment of leads came from just the top 30 blog posts on their site.
With this information, HubSpot decided to optimize their highest-converting posts to generate even more traffic.
They also found their lowest-converting posts and gave them an update to boost traffic and conversions.
All while continuing to create new content.
This is a really smart content marketing strategy that you can imitate to increase conversions.
Final Word
The value of content marketing for SaaS companies has been proven.
These statistics show that content marketing generates a strong ROI and increases both growth and retention rates for SaaS companies.
It also leads to a decent flow of organic traffic, even if you’re not the top brass.
Regarding the types of content that work best for SaaS companies, educational content is a popular choice but most add some PR content to the mix too.
Outside of blog content, webinars and case studies are the main content types of choice.
And if you haven’t already, you should add more original research and knowledge base articles to your blog to increase backlinks.
In terms of SaaS content marketing strategies, fast-growing SaaS companies recommend related content and offer demos to drive business growth.
The top SaaS companies, on the other hand, use gated content to grow their subscriber lists and thereby encourage long-term customer relationships.
Finally, a key strategy you should incorporate is historical optimization to boost overall conversions.
Now it’s over to you to utilize this information to boost your SaaS content marketing efforts.
