Being a B2B in a prominent industry is not easy.
The drive to stand out from the competition is ever present,
No matter which type of audience you serve.
But when I look at the realm of B2B SaaS, an enigma presents itself every single time.
Selling a software solution isn’t the same as selling any other product.
Even though a SaaS solution is, at the end of the day, a product.
This enigma, as I figured, was an indicator of a major hurdle that plagues every SaaS offering
It’s the challenge of turning the intangible into tangible.
In this blog, I’ll provide a blueprint to overcome this challenge using explainer videos.
With actionable insights and examples to help your B2B hit the ground running with your SaaS offering.
Before we look at the nitty gritty,
You might be thinking: What is B2B SaaS anyway?
Unlike software solutions made for B2C consumption, where the audience consists of individual users.
B2B SaaS is all about making software offerings for other businesses based on the industry they are in.
It could be:
But the scope of B2B SaaS is far wider than what I have shown you here.
Which makes marketing in this dynamic field a bit of a hassle.
Let’s take a closer look at the marketing challenges (and solutions) in the next section.
The approach to B2B SaaS marketing changes when it comes to the industry in question.
Meaning, the tactics used to attract B2Bs from the fintech industry may not work for B2Bs in the healthcare industry.
As the requirements for SaaS solutions differ across both the industries I just mentioned.
Regardless of differences in requirements, the end goal in B2B SaaS marketing is the same.
Instead of blending in, SaaS brands need to stand out.
So any marketing campaign that helps B2B SaaS brands:
That campaign is essentially a successful one.
So how do you market yourself as a B2B SaaS?
By picking a visual medium that makes your marketing efforts feel unique, personalized, and relevant.
And the medium of choice I would recommend is explainer videos.
But don’t just take my word for it.
Let’s look at some compelling reasons so you can decide for yourself.
It’s easy to recommend explainer videos to B2Bs in the SaaS industry through word of mouth.
But I’ll do you one better.
I’ll show you the role of explainer videos in B2B SaaS from a more concrete perspective.
Starting with…
When I was researching for this blog, I came across Atlassian.
An industry leader in B2B SaaS in their own right, they offer a host of SaaS solutions.
One of their most popular offerings is Jira Work Management.
According to what I could gather on this software solution:
“Jira Work Management is an enterprise project management solution that provides a means to help B2B teams streamline and automate their project workflows”
Luckily, I also found a SaaS explainer video that talks about Jira Work Management in a different way.
After watching this video, I’m sure Atlassian’s software solution feels simpler to understand than the textual definition earlier.
Here’s the point I’m trying to make.
A majority of B2B SaaS products suffer from poor adoption rates simply because the end user doesn’t understand the solution to begin with.
Explainer videos act as a simplification tool that breaks down the working parts of your SaaS product in a way they can understand.
Moreover, they can be used internally to explain how to operate license tracking software or how to use certain tools to your employees.
This simplification then reflects across B2B SaaS metrics like conversion rates and customer acquisition costs.
Among the several metrics that B2Bs use to measure their SaaS marketing performance,
The churn rate is perhaps the most scary one.
According to insights gathered by Paddle on SaaS churn rates, they found the churn rate for this industry to be around 4.79%.
The average churn rates across major industries (Source: Paddle)
Paddle further elaborates on SaaS churn rates, stating:
“In SaaS, the average churn rate is around 5%, and a “good” churn rate is considered 3% or less.”
This clearly shows that higher churn rates are a major challenge for the SaaS industry.
But what causes this in the first place?
More often than not, it comes down to user comprehension.
It’s easy to get a business to try out your SaaS for themselves.
But if they don’t feel like they understand how to use your software for their needs,
They’ll ditch your offering and seek another SaaS product that’s much simpler.
Leading to higher churn rates and a negative impact on your bottom line.
Explainer videos can give your software demo a delivery mechanism that aids comprehension.
It integrates visualization to bring your SaaS product to life, engaging users in a much better way.
There are many factors that influence SaaS adoption from the end user’s perspective.
But all those factors have one premise common across all contexts.
Trust is what makes a software user not only purchase your SaaS product but also stick with it long term.
And it is this retention that helps B2B SaaS brands keep their Customer Acquisition Costs low.
We have a dedicated blog on how SaaS explainer videos help B2Bs reduce CAC which you can check next.
Explainer videos take the authentic aspects of your software product and present it in an unadulterated way.
This transparency positions your B2B as a reliable authority software users can turn to without second thoughts.
As compared to B2B sales funnels in general, SaaS sales funnels are a bit different.
LearnWorlds gives us an overview as follows:
An overview of a B2B SaaS sales funnel (Source: LearnWorlds)
Among the various stages in the funnel, there’s a dedicated level for conversion.
But why is conversion important for SaaS?
That’s the stage where your prospect makes a decision.
The decision to become your customer or look for alternatives.
Explainer videos use their simplification to clear friction when it comes to purchasing from you.
And this manifests in the form of enhanced lead generation and subsequently more sales.
Here’s what a B2B sales cycle looks like, as shown by UserGems.
A visual overview of a B2B sales cycle (Source: UserGems)
But why rely on a sales cycle if you already have a sales funnel?
A sales cycle is a checklist of what you need to do in order to drive sales.
Your sales funnel is a visualization on how the buyer’s journey will turn out.
To make B2B SaaS marketing effective requires taking both very seriously.
In the sale cycle, in particular, B2B SaaS brands struggle with the first two steps: prospecting and making contact.
That’s where explainer videos open the gates to enhanced exposure by bringing the best out of your marketing channels.
SaaS explainer videos can be used in multiple ways.
One explainer video can be used as:
You get the point.
A continuation of this approach is something we like to call the Video-First Approach.
You can check out our dedicated video on this approach here to learn more.
Using an explainer video is the right move for B2B SaaS.
And we took a detailed look at the reasons in the previous section.
But there must be some aspects that make explainer videos so effective.
We’ll look at them in a comprehensive way in this section.
We begin our exploration with...
An effective explainer video must communicate its core message clearly and concisely.
And how it does that comes down to its video length.
There are explainer videos that are less than 60-seconds long.
An example could be this video from Meo, made by What a Story.
And there are also ones that are upwards of 2-minutes (or even higher).
Here’s an example from Salesforce to give you an idea
The sweet spot lies somewhere between 30-seconds and 90-seconds.
The major challenge in B2B SaaS is product complexity.
You need to distill information into its most essential points instead of drawing it out with no end in sight.
This keeps your video length in check while also making the most out of every second.
Let’s take a slight detour and play an exciting experiment.
Take a look at these statistics and the two ways they have been presented.
A practical demonstration on why visual storytelling works (Source: Wordtracker)
Now I ask you this: Which format feels more intuitive?
I’m sure you must have gone with the pie charts.
While this is a demonstration of how data visualization works,
Its essence is very much relevant to our discussion here.
Effective explainer videos for B2B SaaS use visualization to their advantage.
They weave together different visuals into one coherent video that anyone can consume and comprehend quickly.
In other words, effective explainer videos execute visual storytelling perfectly.
They use the medium of storytelling to illustrate key concepts, demonstrate software features, and show real-world applications.
All in a few seconds while making it fun to consume.
What if I told you that a majority of SaaS users don’t care about your software’s features?
Don't get me wrong.
Features are what give your SaaS product its unique utility.
But the reality is that most features aren't relevant to the audience you're targeting.
What I'm trying to say is that while features give your SaaS the ability to be useful in its primary functions, users will ultimately purchase your product if it solves their immediate needs.
It comes down to the age-old “benefits over features” argument.
A clear distinction between benefits and features when it comes to B2B SaaS (Source: Hubspot)
An explainer video may only speak on the benefits while not touching upon features at all.
An effective explainer video, however, gives preference to benefits but doesn’t eliminate critical features that clarify the USP of a SaaS offering.
It creates a balance between the two to make a strong case for the end user.
I want you to visit the website landing page of Avlino, a B2B SaaS company specializing in container terminal operations management.
The website landing page of a typical B2B SaaS brand (Source: Avlino)
What’s the first thing that catches your eye here?
I’m willing to bet that it’s the blue button with the “request a demo” text.
This is what we call a CTA button and SaaS websites use this diligently to drive conversions and supercharge their website's lead generation.
But when you include a CTA in your explainer videos, their effectiveness takes a new level.
The CTA not only grabs your attention but also shows you what to do next.
In the case for Avlino, that’s exactly what we did when they reached out to us for a SaaS explainer video.
We helped them boost their SaaS conversion rates and enhance their lead generation ROI using the power of animation.
Here’s the video we made for Avlino in case you’re wondering.
All in all, a clear CTA, in the form of:
Are important hallmarks of an effective explainer video.
As they say.
If you’re doing something anyway, why not do it right?
For explainer videos, this relates to their production quality.
As an example, take a look at this SaaS explainer video from Allotrac, made in collaboration with Vidico.
For just a 31-second explainer video, you might think the attention to visual design seems overkill.
But that is what gives this video an identity of its own and makes it stand out from Allotrac’s competitors in the B2B SaaS space.
What you just witnessed is the difference high production quality can make on your explainer videos.
High-quality visuals, clear audio, and smooth animations are essential to maintain the viewer’s attention and build credibility.
Investing in professional production ensures that the video not only communicates effectively but also reinforces the brand’s image as a reliable and competent provider.
Knowing the makings of an effective explainer video is just the beginning.
It will benefit our discussion if we also see some examples in action and explore how they were crucial in driving business growth.
In this section, I’ll take you through 5 powerful B2B SaaS case studies and what makes them unique.
Let’s begin with…
DigitalOcean is an industry leader in enterprise cloud infrastructure solutions.
An industry that will exceed a market cap of $440 billion by 2032 with an annual CAGR of 16.7% (Source)
Being in such a lucrative industry required going beyond just grabbing attention.
DigitalOcean wanted to cement their place in this industry as an authority.
How did they do it? With the help of B2B SaaS video marketing.
In one such instance, they wanted to establish the credibility of their App Platform.
It’s no surprise that their medium of choice to do this was a SaaS explainer video.
In collaboration with Vidico, they produced this animated video which is nothing short of a visual spectacle.
The use of several hues of blue and contrasting colors gave their video a unique look.
A still from DigitalOcean’s SaaS explainer video (Source: Vidico’s Case Study for DigitalOcean)
But the thing I loved most about this video was how they molded their message around their literal name.
Showing the protagonist discovering bits and pieces of their SaaS as she explores the ocean.
Finally putting together the pieces in the big reveal at the end.
A still from DigitalOcean’s SaaS explainer video (Source: Vidico’s Case Study for DigitalOcean)
This video got DigitalOcean over 3.7 million views with a 70% completion rate.
It also helped them significantly lower their Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), a feat only a few brands manage to achieve in B2B SaaS.
This next example comes from our client, SUSE.
They were on a mission to make open-source SaaS solutions accessible to more businesses.
But SaaS adoption was proving to be a challenge, especially among their diverse target audience.
So they decided to make their case using a SaaS explainer video.
And when they reached out to us, they decided to add animation into the mix as well.
The result was a visual experience that not only met SUSE’s expectations…
It exceeded them!
The overall visual design was minimalistic yet elegant.
A still from our SaaS explainer video for SUSE
It used a combination of 2.5D isometric animation and character animation to help SUSE cut through the noise.
A still from our SaaS explainer video for SUSE
They used the video in their promotional materials and across their website landing page and social media handles.
Which increased their demo requests and sales metrics while also playing a huge role in driving revenue.
You can read our full case study on SUSE’s success with explainer videos here.
In terms of market growth, B2B SaaS is seeing a positive future.
According to insights from Powered by Search,
B2B SaaS will see an average CAGR of 18.7% from 2023 to 2030.
In mathematical terms, the industry’s market will grow 0.187 times every year till 2030.
But there are some individual cases where the growth rate is astronomically higher.
Once such example comes from Dayta AI.
Its offering is a shopper analytics platform made for businesses in the retail clothing industry.
And such a highly specialized niche required an equally specialized way to make their presence known in their market.
So with the help of Yans Media, Dayta produced this character animation SaaS explainer video.
It set the tone by building a scenario where a clothing store used their SaaS to simplify their management.
A still from Dayta’s SaaS explainer video (Source: Yans Media’s Case Study of Dayta)
It also slides in a look into Dayta’s Cyclops dashboard while the visuals mesmerize you.
A still from Dayta’s SaaS explainer video (Source: Yans Media’s Case Study of Dayta)
The visual design was overall industrial yet maintained a look that felt personalized to the clothing businesses Dayta was trying to target
A still from Dayta’s SaaS explainer video (Source: Yans Media’s Case Study of Dayta)
The video changed the trajectory of Dayta forever.
Growing their startup from just 2-3 people to more than 50 employees.
It also garnered more than half a million views on YouTube and led to an 8x increase in business growth.
All in a span of just 2 years.
B2B SaaS is going through an interesting shift recently.
And that shift is AI.
Every industry (from fintech to healthcare) where B2Bs have a stronghold is also jumping on the bandwagon.
But for SaaS, this shift presents an opportunity to expand upon brand perception.
How can explainer videos help in this?
This example from Cloudera can give you some pointers.
Taking help from BUCK, they created this eye-catching animated video to show their software’s new journey into the realm of AI.
But the star of the show is the visual design they chose for the video.
The graphics were so versatile that they helped Cloudera integrate it into more traditional forms of marketing.
Here’s how they used the design language in one of their billboards
A look at how the explainer video influenced one of Cloudera's billboard marketing campaigns (Source: BUCK’s case study on Cloudera)
Here’s another example of one of their billboards.
A look at how the explainer video influenced one of Cloudera's billboard marketing campaigns (Source: BUCK’s case study on Cloudera)
One explainer video helped Cloudera not only announce their AI SaaS solution.
It also helped them grab attention through tried and tested marketing channels as well.
Such versatility is rare to find but worth the exploration.
We finish our journey with this example from Buffer.
In their own words: “Buffer is an all-in-one social media management tool to help you manage your social media channels”
Their USP sounds simple in words but there’s one problem.
It’s hard to discern what their solution looks like in action.
Buffer helps us out here with their SaaS explainer video.
It uses bright colors and cartoon inspired motion graphics to make their offering relatable
A still from Buffer’s SaaS explainer video
Swiftly moving into the most important benefits of using their SaaS platform.
But they don’t just leave you hanging with the voiceover.
They back up their claims by showing each feature in the form of modified screencast animations.
A still from Buffer’s SaaS explainer video
This video was influential as a forerunner in their already successful digital marketing strategy.
Which skyrocketed their yearly revenue by more than $5 million (Source)
Making it one of the fastest growing SaaS platforms in the social media management space.
As we saw across several examples,
Explainer videos aren’t just a medium B2B SaaS brands can use in their marketing efforts.
It’s one of the best tools in their arsenal.
Latest video marketing trends also point in the affirmative:
If you want to learn more about how explainer videos can help B2B SaaS brands land and expand,
We have a comprehensive ebook on it which you can download for FREE here.
But one thing is clear.
When used strategically, explainer videos can be a game changer in the B2B SaaS industry.
Helping your brand not only cut through the noise but also establish your voice as a reliable source that your audience always comes back to.
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