2023 SaaS marketing predictions from a dedicated SaaS marketing team

What does 2023 have in store for us?

The economic situation means there is no doubt that budgets and resources across the board will be tight. Despite this there is a need for SaaS growth.

Explore our SaaS marketing predictions for the year ahead.

The economic situation means there is no doubt that budgets and resources across the board will be tight. We can’t go a week without seeing our LinkedIn feed filled with talented individuals seeking employment after another SaaS business has had to make layoffs, and the need for growth despite the cutbacks has created plenty of SaaS marketing challenges.

For SaaS businesses, particularly at the Seed and Series A stages, this year’s focus will be on managing the cash burn rate. As we’ve already seen, raising capital is hard, and it’s likely being reserved for Series B, plus businesses that have already been able to show VCs year-on-year (YOY) growth and a solid return on investment (ROI).

And since a marketer’s job is to understand the market trends and to market the product, these factors can’t be ignored. With that in mind, here are our SaaS marketing predictions for the year ahead:

Marketing budgets and spending will face tighter scrutiny amidst economic pressures

Given the current economic situation, every pound and dollar spent matters more. There will be a greater focus on burn rate to ensure SaaS businesses aren’t losing too much money, and marketing spend will need to prove an ROI to justify the activity.

In 2023, marketers will need to get savvy about their investments, as it could be some time before a new investment for their business. As Crunchbase reported in the final quarter of 2022, investments in North American startups fell 63% compared to the same period a year earlier, while KPMG reported that Europe was hardest hit with VC investment falling from $21.2 billion to only $12.9 billion in Q4’22.

Marketers will need to utilise data to make strategic decisions on where they will get the best pound for their buck, reduce the spending on less measurable marketing programmes like brand overhauls and brand awareness programmes, and focus more on revenue generation and ROI.

There will be a shift to metrics further down the funnel

As the marketers are managing their burn rate and budget in 2023, there will be a natural shift to focus on metrics further down the funnel: Conversion rates, close rates, time to close and average order value (AOV). Whilst all of these “should” already be a focus, all too often, the focus is on top of funnel and leading indicators rather than outputs.

Customer marketing will get the focus it deserves

For many SaaS businesses at Seed/Series A stage, the focus is on growth mainly from new logos. But with a reduction in spend impacting larger marketing programmes, this focus will shift towards customer marketing. That essentially means ”what we can do with what we already have”. We all know that it’s easier to retain than acquire new customers, but community and customer marketing programmes often are reserved for large SaaS businesses and get overlooked. However, in 2023 they will get the focus and attention they deserve.

This will also see an increased focus on customer experience, with SaaS companies prioritising creating seamless and personalised experiences for their customers to improve customer retention, create more land and expand opportunities, and upsell.

SaaS marketers will look to consolidate their tech stack

Businesses and marketers will look for quick ways to get more money to spend on revenue-generation activities, which means their tech stack will be reviewed. They will be looking to get rid of tech they aren’t using enough, negotiate plans and seats, and where possible, consolidate existing systems that support multiple use cases. Gone will be the days of throwing cash at new and ‘cool’ tools that have low usage.

Consolidating the tech stacks helps to streamline efficiencies and frees up budget for either use elsewhere or to improve the cost of customer acquisition (CAC). Marketers will need to audit what they currently have in their tech stack and then make informed decisions based on business needs, usage, costs and ROI.

The rise of freelancers and small agencies offers specialist support

As businesses are managing their way through the recession, there will be a large number of layoffs, which, unfortunately, we are already seeing. However, this doesn’t mean that businesses don’t still need support. Instead, we’ll see a rise in businesses looking for specialist support on a short-to-medium-term basis without the overhead costs of hiring a full-time employee. A specialist marketing agency for SaaS companies can help SaaS businesses maintain growth despite any under-resourcing, while we’ve already seen the boom in the ”gig economy” since the pandemic and good quality freelance support is readily available for content, digital, design and more.

SaaS businesses need to stay on top of the evolving B2B marketing landscape

These are just a few of the potential trends and predictions for SaaS marketing in 2023, and the landscape may change as technology and consumer behaviour evolve. Marketers will need to stay on top of the emergence of new technologies, such as extended reality (XR) and 5G, which will present new opportunities for SaaS marketing and customer engagement. While greater use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will enable SaaS marketers to leverage these capabilities to automate and optimise various aspects of their marketing strategies.

Additionally, there will remain an emphasis on data privacy and security, with increasing concern over data protection. SaaS businesses will need to prioritise protecting their customer’s data and ensure that their marketing practices align with regulations such as GDPR.

About Us

Codi is a dedicated B2B and B2C marketing agency for SaaS businesses. Codi provides fractional CMO expertise and execution services. Based in London, but serving clients around the world. We provide foundational, strategic and execution services for SaaS businesses to help them grow ARR.

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