Everyone knows Facebook advertising is great for B2C businesses.
But what about SaaS companies?
Traditionally, SaaS marketing strategies looked like content marketing, paid search, and referral.
Rarely was PPC advertising considered a good SaaS business idea.
Until now.
SaaS Facebook ads are incredibly effective at driving leads and making customer acquisition more profitable.
Often, they are the first touchpoint for customers.
Therefore, successful Facebook ads for SaaS are intended to educate and spread brand awareness instead of getting people to convert right away.
In this article, we’re going to look into examples of SaaS facebook ads and why they work.
We’ll highlight the best practices that are employed and how you can leverage them for your own success.
Get ready: you’re on your way to becoming a SaaS Facebook ads master.
Why Facebook Ads Work for SaaS Companies
There are few platforms that compete with Facebook when it comes to knowing its users.
Gathering data on everything from third-party app usage to every status post (ever) means there’s plenty of information advertisers can use to their advantage.
What this translates to for SaaS companies is innumerable targeting opportunities.
Considering 63% of B2B marketers identify lead generation as their greatest obstacle, having a huge pool of potential customers at your disposal is invaluable.
However, this means that knowing your audience is key.
The Facebook ads that work for SaaS organizations are those that are specifically targeted to a relevant, motivated audience.
Luckily, those people are easy to find among Facebook’s 1.59 billion daily active users.
There are a few additional reasons why SaaS Facebook ads work so well.
And, they all have to do with the nature of the product.
Software as a service is conducted primarily online.
Thus, digital marketing – such as Facebook advertising – is intuitive and seamless.
Plus, SaaS products have a seemingly limitless quantity.
There’s no limit to users (at a certain scale, depending on your business), which makes offering free samples or trials a low-cost and effective option.
Lastly, the sale of an SaaS product is instant.
All it takes to convert a customer is often a few simple clicks, and (maybe) an onboarding process.
These characteristics of SaaS companies all translate to Facebook ads that work exceptionally well for lead generation and customer acquisition.
Facebook SaaS Example #1: Design Pickle
In this SaaS example, Design Pickle offered a free custom design in their Facebook ad.
The offer led to a long-form signup in order to eliminate customers that didn’t have the potential to convert.
SaaS Facebook Ads That Work Follow the Funnel and Offer Value
With this offer, Design Pickle emulates two major best practices when it comes to SaaS Facebook ads.
The first is to match ads with audiences in the correct stage of the conversion funnel.
In this case, Design Pickle is targeting customers at the Prospecting stage.
Here, Facebook ads that work include offers for free trials, gated content, product demos, and similar enticements.
The second best practice this Facebook ad example demonstrates is offering something of value.
A free custom design is enough to entice people to click through without cutting into valuable company revenue.
Taking Success to the Next Level With Facebook Retargeting Ads
Design Pickle didn’t just run a successful Facebook ad prospecting campaign.
They also ran retargeting ads.
To do this, they targeted people that had clicked on the ad but had not filled in the form.
By targeting people that had already expressed interest in the brand, the campaign went on to achieve even greater results.
In fact, 50% of their new customers from the Facebook campaign came from retargeting.
Overall, the SaaS Facebook ad campaign resulted in $5800 recurring revenue and 496 total leads.
This entire SaaS example goes to show the power of understanding the marketing funnel and offering something of value.
Additionally, it proves that successful Facebook ads for SaaS involve creating a sales funnel and harnessing retargeting.
SaaS Facebook Ad Example #2: Ahrefs
Just like Design Pickle, Ahrefs followed the SaaS business idea of offering something of value in their ads.
In this case, they didn’t offer a free trial or demo.
Example of a SaaS Company Establishing Credibility
Instead, Ahrefs created a piece of custom content for their audience of digital marketers.
The intent of creating this valuable piece of content was to position themselves as industry experts.
In a field like SaaS where new tools and techniques are actually sold as products, establishing your brand as an industry expert is key.
And this is where SaaS Facebook ads come in handy.
In a time where 80% of customers prefer to learn about an organization by reading custom content, Facebook lets brands do so as easily and as widely as possible.
Though customers may not convert directly after reading the content, they are now familiar with your brand, trust it more, and are excellent audiences for retargeting campaigns.
Applying This to Your Own SaaS Campaign Management Strategy
This example of a SaaS brand establishing credibility through Facebook can easily be emulated by others.
The two key features to remember when crafting custom content for an SaaS Facebook ad are:
- Ensuring it’s relevant to your target audience
- Creating something both original and high-quality enough to solidify your brand as an expert
Again, successful Facebook ads for SaaS aren’t based on immediate conversions.
Instead, understand that you’re targeting mostly the top-of-funnel customers.
Then, you can turn this brand awareness into conversions with retargeting, content marketing, etc.
Example #3 of SaaS Facebook Ads: Robly Email Marketing
Robly proves you don’t need to say much to still have an effective PPC strategy.
What their SaaS example proves is that all you need is an effective ad image, compelling offer, and the right type of content that speaks to your audience.
Creating Successful Facebook Ads Using Customer Reviews
Customer testimonials are one of the best ways to establish credibility and promote consumer trust in your SaaS brand.
And there’s proof to back that up.
According to a recent study by TrustRadius, over half of B2B buyers rely on reviews when making a purchasing decision – up 13% YoY.
The only more compelling source of buyer information: free product demos.
In this Facebook ad example, Robly Email Marketing leverages customer reviews and a free trial offer to make their campaign as tempting as possible.
Plus, they included a clear and compelling ad image of 5 stars.
This is important because Facebook ads that work well can attribute 75% – 90% of their performance to images.
All of this goes a long way in creating trust with your audience while establishing yourself as an industry leader.
Putting These SaaS Business Ideas Into Practice
So, you’ve seen the successful Facebook ad examples.
We explained why these work and how they apply SaaS campaign management best practices.
Now, it’s time to execute on these ideas.
Keep in mind that you’ll probably find that the SaaS Facebook ads that work for your business require some tweaking and optimizing.
Like we mentioned above, some key points to keep in mind are:
- Know what part of the customer funnel you are targeting (you should probably keep it TOFU for now!)
- Don’t forget to run retargeting ads
- Make sure to offer something compelling and original
- Establish credibility
These SaaS examples prove the effectiveness of Facebook ads for this industry.
Take a page out of their book and launch your campaign today!
