B2B SaaS Go-To-Market Checklist for a Successful Launch

Up to 90% of B2B SaaS startups find scaling hard due to weak GTM strategies. Are you also facing this issue? Creating a winning go-to-market strategy is one of the biggest challenges for B2B SaaS startups. Even the most expert teams may find it challenging to understand the right ICP. Reducing long sales cycles and optimising pricing models are major hurdles for SaaS startups and the actual needs of their target audience.

On top of this, managing the sales funnel is a crisis of its own. The sales process in B2B SaaS demands careful decision-making. An effective GTM strategy guarantees product-market alignment, speeds up sales and promotes sustainable growth.

We’ve made this guide to help you analyse essential components of GTM strategy, covering all aspects from defining ICP to implementing sales execution and assisting you in scaling efficiently.

What Is A Go-To-Market Strategy?

A GTM strategy refers to the structured method companies often employ when launching a new product into the marketplace. It aligns marketing, sales, and customer success to increase revenue. A GTM strategy outlines how a company positions, promotes and sells its product to attain long-term success. 

The market could be directly targeted at customers, wholesalers, or retailers. This B2B SaaS growth strategy usually involves marketing, revenue growth management, and sales teams. In easy words, GTM (go-to-market) combines marketing, sales, and customer success. 

GTM strategies are focused on meeting different goals in each SaaS model. For example, in the B2C (Business to Customer) Model, the GTM strategy’s primary focus is mass marketing, paid ads and conversion-driven campaigns (take the Netflix subscription model as an example). However, in B2B, unlike the B2C model, the GTM strategies are more targeted towards relationship-building and engaging multi-stakeholders. Let’s talk about the Direct to Customers model, commonly known as D2C. The GTM strategy uses businesses’ direct e-commerce sites to reduce intermediaries (for instance, Warby Parker selling their eyewear directly to customers). What’s the purpose of a strong GTM strategy? It aims to boost customer acquisition costs, increase revenue growth and enhance market sustainability for your company’s product.

What Is B2B SaaS?

B2B SaaS is a cloud service intended to help businesses enhance and simplify operations, improve efficiency, and reduce initial costs. In contrast to conventional software that needs on-site setup and upkeep, SaaS applications enable companies to access software as needed through the cloud

These applications don’t require any initial licensing fees and can be used on a subscription basis. It is flexible software that can grow alongside the company’s demand and needs, allowing for simply adding or removing users and resources when required. They can be set up quickly and without much effort. This reduces the necessity of installing software on local devices. 

What Is An Example of B2B SaaS?

Slack is an effective communication platform designed for business collaboration. Slack is a B2B SaaS solution for corporate communication, enhancing cooperation efficiency. 

Next, we’ll reference Salesforce, a cloud-based CRM that helps companies manage their customer relationships, automate sales processes, and track performance. Companies can track and improve their operations, manage sales pipelines, and automate B2B SaaS marketing tasks through their CRM system. Slack facilitates internal communication, while Salesforce streamlines customer relationship management. 

What do these both softwares have in common? They’ve both nailed their B2B SaaS growth strategy. Both have succeeded by identifying a market need, refining their value proposition, and executing strong GTM strategies. But what exactly defines an effective B2B SaaS GTM strategy?

What Makes An Ideal GTM Strategy For B2B SaaS? 

An effective GTM strategy is what makes up for a successful B2B SaaS business launch. Although various frameworks are available for choosing, the most reliable and effective GTM strategies align with a company’s market, product, and customer needs. With its significance, there would be a clear, shared understanding or maybe even a standard framework for creating one. But there isn’t one. So, what is an ideal go-to-market strategy? There are three fundamental areas that an ideal GTM strategy must cover. 

1. Market Selection

First, where to play? Knowing which market to enter initially or for upscaling is crucial to your launch success. One must simply understand what market fits their product best. The key here is to define your ideal customer profile (ICP), which will enable you to find your target audience. This means that your sales and marketing teams don’t have to waste their time in useless segments and end up managing sound B2B SaaS lead generation. 

2. Product Positioning

What do you want to sell now that you know your target audience? Lay out your product’s unique value proposition (UVP), which includes its key benefits and what makes it unique. A good GTM strategy addresses the pain points of your product’s target audience.

3. Engagement Strategy

Finally, how can you engage with them effectively after gaining insight into your target audience and recognising what your product can provide? As many stakeholders in B2B exist, your strategy should aim at making real connections. 

What Metrics Determine B2B SaaS Launch Success?

When measuring B2B SaaS success metrics, it’s important to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs). These should be driven by data insights to help optimise growth, boost customer retention, and maintain market stability.

B2B SaaS metrics should be:

•   Comprehendible: Easy for businesses to understand.
•   Actionable: Providing data-driven insights that enable informed decisions.
•   Comparative: Measurable against past performance or industry benchmarks.
•   Specific: Focused on key business objectives.

For instance, monitoring ‘Website Traffic’ alone is vague, but measuring ‘Conversion Rate from Trial to Paid Users’ directly impacts revenue growth. Here are some B2B metrics:

•   Customer Acquisition Cost: It evaluates the overall expenditure associated with marketing needed to gain new customers for your company. A lower CAC indicates improved customer acquisition efficiency, directly affecting profitability.
•   Monthly Recurring Revenue: It monitors revenue that recurs within a subscription framework. Upscaling monthly recurring revenue eventually leads to improved customer retention and revenue growth.
•   Customer Retention Rate: This indicates the number of customers that return to make another purchase from your business, which is a metric reflecting customer satisfaction and revenue increment, as well as a great sense of direction.
•   Customer Churn Rate: It indicates the proportion of subscribers that cancel their subscriptions to the service during a specified time frame. A reduced churn rate indicates improved customer retention and sustained revenue stability.
•   Customer Lifetime Value: It predicts the total amount a customer generates over their lifetime experience at your company. Greater CLV shows a high retention rate and revenue potential, ensuring long-term business sustainability.

B2B SaaS GTM Checklist

If you plan to launch your product successfully, creating a go-to-market (GTM) checklist is super helpful. This checklist keeps everything on track! From developing your SaaS product to B2B SaaS lead generation, all while ensuring you’re hitting your business goals. Here’s an easy checklist to help you nail your GTM strategy: 

1. Find Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

What happens when you aim to shoot without a target? You end up missing! Similarly, without a target audience, you’ll fail to market your product effectively. First, define who your target audience is. In this case, a target audience means a group of people interested in buying your product. This could include target industries, decision-makers, organisation sizes, pain points of your audience, and challenges. 

2. Nail Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Value proposition tells your prospects how they will benefit from your product. While Unique Value Proposition answers the question, “How does your solution line up with the average expectation of the person looking for a solution to the problem your product supposedly addresses?” It is what sets your product apart from rivals. 

3. Pricing Models

Before launching your product, you need to set the prices and packaging. This step includes determining which pricing model you will use. Consider these options to set up a price:

1. Subscription Model: Businesses like Netflix use a subscription-based model to set up prices. With this model, users can pay a recurring fee (usually weekly, monthly, and annually). This is an excellent model when your product or service offers ongoing value to its customers.
2. Freemium Model: This model provides a more basic version of any product for free, such as a trial version. If a customer likes the product and wants to explore more, there is an option to upgrade to a payment plan. (Slack is an example of this model).
3. Pay-Per-Click Model: This model enables users to pay based on usage and is often used for cloud services.

4. Sales And Marketing

For any B2B SaaS business to excel, a well-crafted sales and marketing plan is required. Your strategy should always include tactics involving B2B SaaS lead generation, B2B SaaS SEO, email marketing and campaigns, social media marketing, and content marketing.

5. Launch Campaign and Feedback

You wanna use strong campaigns to launch your B2B SaaS go-to-market checklist. Creating strong awareness on different channels can help, such as leveraging social platforms. Lastly, keep a close look at your customer reviews to track your campaign performance.

Why Choose A B2B SaaS Marketing Agency?

You might have realised that launching a successful B2B SaaS product in a competitive market isn’t a piece of cake. It requires businesses to define their ICP and understand how to execute sales properly. Achieving those success metrics feeling overwhelming, teaming up with a sound B2B SaaS marketing agency can make a difference.

For B2B SaaS, the goal should be exponentially growing revenue by improving customer experience, streamlining operations and providing data-driven insights. Alev Digital uses tailored solutions that are designed to drive significant business growth.