As part of the ritual of examining local commerce and SMB Saas strategies, Localogy goes right to the source: SMBs themselves. And we recently entered a new chapter of this series, with highlights from the latest wave (8.0) of Modern Commerce Monitor. After examining the places where SaaS sales to SMBs can go wrong, we switch gears this week to take SMBs’ temperature on self-serve SaaS adoption. Are they comfortable with buying software online and without the help of a smooth-talking live rep? And how is that feeling trending over time?
Data Dive
– To recap last week’s findings, The top area where in-person SaaS sales reps go wrong is not being prepared (77 percent), not being knowledgeable (25 percent), and not listening (14 percent).
– These feelings would seem to push several SMBs towards self-serve SaaS adoption, and we’re certainly seeing that play out in terms of growth and trending.
– Specifically, the top sentiment from SMBs (43 percent) was that they prefer automated or self-serve SaaS procurement in some circumstances
– This was up from 39 percent in the previous survey wave and 31 percent in the wave before that.
– The second most popular answer (35 percent) was a preference for automated sales in all circumstances.
– Like this above answer, this grew from the last survey wave (in this case, 32 percent), however it’s down from the previous wave (40 percent).
– The latter result, occurring in January 2021, was likely pandemic-impacted as in-person interactions were largely shunned at the time.
– Lastly, SMBs who prefer to work with live salespeople in all circumstances represent 22 percent of respondents.
– This is down from 29 percent in each of the previous survey waves.
– Altogether, the desire for automation and self-service is trending up over a 3 year period (except for the Covid anomaly noted above), while preference towards in-person sales interactions is trending down.
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Long-Tail Opportunity
Stepping back, SMB online marketing – as well as operational and fintech tools – continues to grow rapidly. SMB SaaS startups and online service providers are correspondingly thriving as it continues to grow as a leading subsector of the broader SaaS universe. There’s a long-tail opportunity at play.
Meanwhile, new SMB SaaS users could represent permanent adopters – a concept that accelerated in the Covid era as SMBs were forced into digital transformation. This sent them into the arms of SaaS providers (where many have stayed) to accomplish a range of marketing and operational functions.
We’ll return in the next installment to go deeper into Localogy original survey research. That will include SMB goals and success factors. Let us know what additional insights jump out at you from the above data, and stay tuned for more breakdowns in our Benchmark Bytes series.
