The best way to prepare for a strong future is to learn from the past. Looking back on 2024, several lessons stand out for B2B SaaS vendors that can be taken into 2025 and used to lay the groundwork for long-term, sustainable growth.
Today, we’ll break down some of the key takeaways from 2024 trends, and share our insights on how B2B SaaS vendors can take advantage of invoice financing, strong pricing strategies, and B2B buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platforms.
The landscape of the industry
Our annual Pulse of SaaS report for 2023 broke down the trends of prior years, and our Pulse of SaaS VI report will be out soon. Building on the patterns we saw in 2023 and 2024, here are a few key lessons SaaS vendors have learned this year:
- Establishing market demand and product-market fit is essential.
- A thoughtful pricing strategy can be the difference between success & failure.
- Shortening sales cycles can positively affect several important metrics.
- Investing in long-term customer relationships is key.
Lesson 1: Establishing market demand is essential
One of the primary reasons that startups fail is poor market demand and product-market fit. Founders this year were asking themselves two key questions:
- Does the product satisfy a strong market demand?
- Is the market willing to pay for your product?
Without market demand, the best-designed B2B SaaS products have nowhere to go. Common signs of lack of market demand include:
- Low or stagnant sales
- Poor customer feedback
- High churn and low renewal rates
To address poor market demand, Saas vendors can conduct market research, validate demand before scaling, and adjust product features and marketing strategies – but none of these fixes are free.
This year, SaaS vendors learned how to find essential market research.
Successful SaaS vendors in 2024 funded their market research with invoice financing, which essentially gives vendors cash advances on invoices that their own customers may be paying in installments. An invoice financing partner allows SaaS vendors to increase liquidity and invest cash in essential growth levers, such as market research demand validation, and product development.
Lesson 2: Your pricing strategy is key
A product is only as valuable as the highest price that a customer is willing to pay for it. A strong product-market fit is the first step to making sure your product has value in the market, and picking a strong pricing strategy goes hand-in-hand with your market research.
This year, SaaS vendors learned just how important pricing strategy is, how to pick the right pricing model for B2B SaaS, and how offering flexible payment terms can boost revenue.
The foundational elements of choosing a pricing strategy are:
- An understanding of your costs & margins
- Strong market research
- Understanding of your ideal customer
We broke down the details of how to choose a SaaS pricing model here, but your pricing model is only half of the equation. B2B payments are the other half.
This year, SaaS vendors found that streamlining B2B payments positively impacted the bottom line.
Whether your company opts for value-based pricing, flat rates, tiered pricing, or another pricing model, the B2B payment process must be as frictionless and accommodating as possible in order to maximize revenue.
The average SaaS discount is 17%, indicating that while customers see value in SaaS platforms, prices are simply too high to pay for a yearlong subscription upfront.
A B2B BNPL partner allows SaaS vendors to offer flexible payment terms. With B2B BNPL, customers can pay their subscription fee in installments, while the B2B BNPL partner pays the vendor full ACV upfront on Day 1. WIth cash in hand, vendors can then invest in growth, while the BNPL partner manages invoicing and collections behind the scenes.
Lesson 3: Shortening sales cycles can boost several metrics
In today’s market environment, sales cycles are longer than ever. Elongated sales cycles have a cascading effect across several metrics, increasing customer acquisition costs (CAC), lengthening CAC payback, increasing marketing spend, and more. Additionally, many Sales teams resort to offering steep discounts in order to push a deal through – affecting annual contract value (ACV).
This year, SaaS founders learned that the best way to push deals through is to offer customers flexible payment terms.
Flexible payment terms serve both vendors and buyers:
For vendors:
- Close faster and at higher ACV
- Get paid upfront
- Power growth with cash
- Hand off invoicing and collections
For buyers:
- Pay in manageable installments
- Easily access pricy SaaS platforms
- Maintain liquidity for growth investments
It’s easy to offer flexible payment terms with a B2B BNPL partner such as Capchase Pay, which seamlessly integrates into your checkout sequence and allows customers to choose the payment option that works for them.
Lesson 4: Invest in the customer relationship
This year SaaS vendors learned the importance of investing in the customer relationship.
We live in a digital world, but human connections still matter: customers value personal support and a custom approach to deal-closing.
B2B SaaS vendors that offer easily-accessible Customer Success teams, have responsive tech support, and flexible payment terms show customers that they matter. Investing in the comfort and satisfaction of your customers can increase renewals and retention while reducing churn.
With inflation, customers that have been able to afford annual payments in the past may now benefit from the option of monthly payments. Streamlined B2B payments not only serve your customers by offering a frictionless checkout, but also serve as invoice financing for vendors, allowing you to invest in future growth.
Choosing the right B2B BNPL partner
The world of B2B payments can be complicated, but the right B2B BNPL platform will be purpose-built for SaaS sales and meet the unique needs of your industry niche.
The right B2B BNPL partner will:
- Seamlessly integrate with your CRM
- Underwrite your customers for peace of mind
- Offer a streamlined checkout experience
- Work for new and existing customers alike
- Pay you 100% of ACV upfront on Day 1
- Manage billing & collections on your behalf
Capchase Pay uses a proprietary underwriting process that rapidly approves your customers for flexible payments, allowing you to meet your customer where they’re at while still getting cash in hand to power growth.
Ready to talk about how Capchase Pay’s B2B BNPL solution can help your company grow? Curious about invoice financing and how you can access cash sooner? Book a meeting here.
