As part of the ritual of examining local commerce and SMB Saas strategies, Localogy goes right to the source: SMBs themselves. How do they feel about marketing and operational software? What features do they want? And how has their hunger changed in a post-pandemic world? This is all a moving target.
Localogy’s Modern Commerce Monitor (MCM) answers these and other questions across the SMB SaaS product set, which we preview in this Benchmark Bytes series. And we recently entered a new chapter of this series, with highlights from the latest wave (8.0) of Modern Commerce Monitor.
After examining SMBs’ attitudes on self-serve SaaS adoption, we drill down this week into the conditions under which SMBs are inclined to self-serve. When do they want to just check out quickly versus high-touch interactions with sales reps? The answers can help SMB SaaS vendors plan accordingly.
Data Dive
– To recap last week’s findings, The top SMB sentiment (43 percent) towards self-serve SaaS procurement is that they want to do it some of the time.
– That begs the question of what conditions constitute “some of the time.”
– The top answer is (63 percent)if the product isn’t too complicated.
– This stands to reason as technical complexity is one of the biggest value-adds for physical sales reps… otherwise they can just get in the way.
– The second highest condition (47 percent) for choosing a self-serve buying process if SMBs can be assured that they have the option to connect with a live salesperson if questions arise.
– This provides a bit of a security blanket for SMBs who engage with self-serve SaaS procurement. It’s the best of both worlds as they can check out quickly, but have reps available on demand if needed.
– The third highest condition (39 percent) is if the product isn’t too expensive.
– This makes sense as the stakes are low, and so too are the consequences of choosing the wrong product.
– Next on the list at 30 percent of SMB responses is “if I know I will have access to live customer support after the purchase.”
– This is similar to the “security blanket” appeal noted above, except in this case, it applies to live sales and support interactions after the software has been procured.
– Last on the list at 29 percent is the condition that the SMB already understands the product and knows what they need, so they just need to complete the sale.
– Altogether, the biggest takeaway for SMB SaaS vendors is to prioritize low-touch self-serve sales, but offer support options for SMBs who may need it in certain scenarios.
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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.
