You may have seen a lot of case studies on your social media feeds flashing ABM as the new way that fixes everything wrong with B2B marketing in the last decade.
Far away from narratives, a mix of market shifts and marketing constraints have led to the ABM wave…
Account Based Marketing
The B2B Tech Marketing Landscape in 2024
ABM and SaaS go hand-in-hand and pretty much everything has been said about the SaaS funding winter already, just recapping the story here:
2020- Global SaaS Market secures $58.3 Billion in funds
2021- Investments rapidly shoot to $136 Billion (Woahh)
2022- The winter starts, SaaS raises $109 Billion globally
2023- Funding crunch, a drop of 33.3%, $72 Billion raised
On a similar trajectory,
2020- The Indian SaaS Market secures around $2.6 Billion in funds
2021- SaaS Investments climb to 170% with $4.5 Billion
2022- Registers all-time high bagging $6 Billion
2023- Investments take a steep drop of 68% to $1.3 Billion
Global SaaS vs Indian SaaS Revenue
Note, that SaaS revenues and valuations have still been predicted to grow steadily from 2025.
Why did I waste a minute to lay down the obvious?
So that we can clear this out right away:
There are exponentially more alternatives in any software category today
Marketers have less cash and time but need to ensure more bottom-line predictability
Complex Enterprise Digital Footprints
Enterprise Digital Footprints are becoming crazy (Yes, it’s more complicated than an eBook, Boss!)
While funds were skyrocketing during the pandemic, it is not alien to assume that people became increasingly active on different digital channels.
From Facebook and Twitter in 2019, most professionals acutely participate in professional communities, networks, and digital events and it is a core component of their decision-making.
A series of dozens of touchpoints, reviews, research, and interactions lead to an enterprise deal opening as opposed to being completely sales and brand-led like before.
Additionally, a big chunk of buyers are taking months longer to convert post the first sales touchpoint if we leave a minority share of ideal buyers aside.
Further on performance marketing, we have observed that scaling profitably is harder to achieve in 2024, thanks to increasing competition.
B2B Sales Cycle
Inferring from this:
Buying journeys are more complex, longer, and more spread out in 2024
Complex digital footprints have enabled buyers to go through a lot more touchpoints before they even open a sales conversation
This means the B2B Lead Generation practices that worked great in 2020 like:
Email Blasts and Nurtures
Content syndication
Blindly burning 6 to 7 figures on Google ads…do not cut it anymore!
We can also infer that since marketers need more predictability on bottom-line metrics…Content Marketing, SEO, and PR cannot be the sole contributors as they don’t provide the necessary proactivity on the “Who & How” of Enterprise B2B marketing.
Privacy Laws & Marketing Restrictions (Put on your Glasses for this one)
Among everything else, we are seeing:
Gmail and Yahoo imposed strict restrictions on mass emailing this February.
The consistent updates made by the iOS for user privacy.
Google’s announcement to phase off 3rd party cookies completely this year.
Making it hard for marketers to target, track, and test things at scale.
Hence, there is less room to perform hundreds of tests for months on end to crack a workable message without knowing the intent, fit, and priority of a prospective buyer.
All in all, the spray-and-pray approach is harder to execute in 2024 because of less data, increasing buying complexity, constrained budgets, and general unpredictability in the market.
Since we have covered the levers that have given rise to the ABM wave, let’s cover how you can get started with it under a scrappy budget.
You will need:
A Target Account List
An ABM Strategy
A Relevant Measurement Plan
A Workable Tech Stack
Getting Started with Target Account Lists
Any ABM program starts with a list. Here is how you create a list of high-intent and, ideal buyers.
Go to CRM, and look at the Closed Won deals in the last year.
Look at the Biggest converting deals last year.
Analyze the fastest converting deals in the last year.
Next, filter these deals/customers by,
Best Industries/Business Verticals
Deal Size
Tech Use Cases/Solution/Modules
Stakeholders Involved along with their role
One could also go out of their way to do qualitative interviews with best performing Account Executives in Sales to uncover:
If specific firmographics have been performing better or worse…why?
Finding common objections of the deals on Hold or Lost at different deal stages vs Closed Won Deals.
Are they observing any trends in the sales cycles of Closed Won vs Closed Lost Deals?
Are there any other recent trends to look out for?
When does a specific Stakeholder need to get involved in the buying process, and how to get them involved?
Now, after this exercise, you should know:
[ ] Tier-1 Accounts, priority for the next quarter
[ ] Tier-2 and Tier-3 Accounts, lower in priority…probably the next 2-4 quarters
Planning an ABM Strategy
There are a lot of complicated ABM methods out there, while I like to believe in simplicity.
Here is how I look at it:
Warmup
Accelerate
Close
Ideally, every account in your target list goes through these three steps before closing or expanding to your product/service.
Target List Steps
Ideally, an account would move from Tier-3 to Tier-1 as they engage with your marketing creatives.
Steps an account follows to move from Tier 3 to Tier 1
Let’s take a look at some examples of these campaigns.
Account Warmup Programs
Now for Step 1 of your marketing programs, we need to activate/reactivate accounts by increasing brand awareness and triggering intent to buy among champion stakeholders.
Personalized Value Propositions
Event and webinar invitations
Community Meetups
Resources to promote downloads
Account Warmup Programs
Pipeline Acceleration Programs
Let’s say you have some accounts warmed up. Now, let’s make sure we enhance buying intent among champion buyers, bring in other influencers-budget holders of the buying committee and accelerate deal velocity.
Personalized Social Proof for target accounts.
Objection handling campaigns.
Multi-threading campaigns to involve influencers early in the buying journey.
Competitor Comparisons and Positioning.
Campaigns to highlight ease of onboarding.
Pipeline Acceleration Programs
Relationship Building Programs
Marketing Programs to build further trust and relevance among decision-makers and key influencers.
This usually happens by inviting key stakeholders to participate in marketing activities like:
Podcast-Webinar Guest Invitations
LinkedIn Guest Invitations
Dedicated Product Walkthroughs and Social Proof
Relationship Building Programs
Creating a Relevant Measurement Plan
Creating an account-based marketing measurement plan enables you to manage and communicate short and long-term expectations.
North Star Metric- The core indicator of your ABM success, this could be…Closed Won Accounts, Qualified Pipeline Coverage, Average Deal Value.
L1 Metrics- Metrics that lead your progress towards the north star. These could be deal velocity, account penetration, and activation.
L2 Metrics- Metrics that you might have to start measuring week-by-week. These could be form submissions, event participants, or even target account impressions.
Account-Based Marketing Measurement Plan
A Workable Tech Stack
There exists a $100K ABM Tech Stack, we’ll not go into that…
Let’s find a scrappy tech stack from a first principal basis.
To execute account-based marketing successfully, you need tech for:
Account Research (To qualify accounts)
Data Enrichment (To enrich accounts with excessive data on an account and prospect level)
Data and Operations (To integrate multiple marketing channels seamlessly)
I have curated a list of tech that I love for all of these 4 purposes.
Tech List for Account Research, Data Enrichment, Personalization, Data and Operations
Where Can Things Get Messy?
We have talked a lot about being successful with ABM, let’s talk about what to look out for as Red Flags🚩
a) An Account Wishlist is not enough
The most common failure with ABM is that people stop targeting.
Let me explain, let’s say:
You did research on CRM to prepare target account lists, or,
You synced up with sales to get a ‘Wishlist of enterprise accounts’, and
You start pushing a bunch of campaigns to activate those accounts.
The distinction between targeted marketing and account-based marketing should be clear…they are not the same.
While preparing an account list does allow you to be more proactive, it does not guarantee better results.
An ABM team needs to ensure that target accounts are segmented into both Tiers & Segments to ensure personalized account-based experiences and relevant messaging.
The team also needs to ensure that only accounts with great buying intent and fit get included in ABM programs.
Buying Intent
b) Frequency in ABM is Critical
Marketing frequency is an essential element to define whether you have a solid ABM engine or not.
Frequency tells us if we are knocking on the door enough, it also gives benchmarks on the ideal time and budget for prospects to take a given action in the buying journey.
Most marketing teams have no idea of their frequency for a prospect over multiple channels, and how it impacts deal conversions.
Being aware of the winning ABM frequency is a superpower for any team!
ABM Frequency
c) Stress test ABM by Exploring New Marketing Channels
An ABM team should always be searching for personalized ways to reach potential buyers,
Limiting your ABM strategy to typical marketing channels like digital paid ads and emails could result in missed opportunities.
Laying down some phy-digital channels you could explore for ABM here:
Paid Search (Google, Bing)
Paid Social (LinkedIn, Meta)
Emails
Social Selling(Only for engaged accounts)
Gifting (Digital+Physical)
Direct Mail
Events and Roundups (Virtual+Physical)
Sponsorships and Promotional Partnerships(Podcasts, Newsletters, Communities)
PR Articles(Super targeted)
Programmatic and Display Ads
ABM Stress Test
Final Words
BM can be a lot of things, but it’s not a hoax and it’s not a bedtime fairy tale to tell your boss. It doesn’t need to cost $100K and could be executed under a scrappy budget if you know how to stitch the pieces together.
Every startup builds a business model that is viable and promises huge returns after a specific time frame. But for a business to sustain itself in this highly competitive ecosystem, earning revenue along with some investments is important. So, here are some of the revenue models for startups i.e. a channel through which a specific business earns to sustain and grow itself. The offerings could either be a B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumer).
A revenue model is a conceptual framework that determines and explains the revenue earning strategy of the business. A revenue model is a framework for generating financial income. It is the strategy of managing a company’s revenue streams and the resources required for each revenue stream. It includes the product or service of value, the revenue generation techniques, the revenue sources, and the target consumer of the product offered.
Revenue Models For Startups
Markup Revenue Model
Normally followed by middlemen. In simple words, earning profits by selling goods at a price that is higher than its actual price, this margin includes all the profits, commission-based revenue model, and additional costs. They buy the product from the manufacturer, before selling it to the consumer. E-Tailers, retailers follow this type of revenue model.
Commission Revenue Model
Charging a fee or a commission for providing a platform, to connect a provider with a consumer. They charge a commission based on service or item being sold. The commission may be fixed or maybe a percentage of the selling price. This commission-based revenue model is highly popular in generating a revenue stream, especially for various internet companies. Aggregators like Ola, Payments wallets like Paytm work on this business model.
Subscription Revenue Model
Charging a periodic fee for a specific service. Most common for OTT (Over the top) platforms and SaaS (Software as a service) providers to generate revenue. The periodicity can be weekly, monthly, or yearly, based on the service and its provider. A subscription for basic access in addition to some extra charge contingent upon use. An essential telephone utility pays a pre-decided expense for a month to month use yet may have additional charges for extra administrations, for example, significant distance calls, registry administrations, and pay-per-call administrations.
At the point when the essential help is offered for nothing out of pocket, this plan of action is frequently alluded to as freemium. This revenue model has a high recurring ratio i.e. a customer might come back to the platform if he likes the service and finds Return on Investment good enough. Netflix, Prime Video, Byju’sfollow this revenue model.
This revenue model works on the price difference of the same product in different markets. Currencies, bonds, commodities are traded in different markets and the profit generated through the trading results in cash flow. This revenue model of a startup is usually a low risk one but might result in heavy losses if a currency gets delisted due to heavy inflation. The arbitrage online system is a publicizing procedure that includes purchasing traffic from a site that coordinates to your webpage and selling promoting space on your site. Utilizing this basic method the potential for cash making is boundless.
Advertising Revenue Model
Money is generated by providing a platform for companies or individuals to display their advertisements. Social media platforms earn through this business model. This revenue model is highly profitable if successfully implemented. A provider might charge an advertiser based on duration and area, if present in an offline channel or based on clicks and views in the case on online channels. Facebook, Instagram, and various magazines and newspapers follow this model for generating cash flow. This revenue model is easy to adopt if you have a greater regular audience and you can easily earn more money.
Pay Per Use Revenue Model
Platforms charges a user commission, every time he uses their service. Rates might differ as per the service being provided and the amount. Credit card companies follow this revenue model of a startup.
Licensing Revenue Model
Most inventors and owners of any intellectual property earn by providing a license for their invention. People who have patented their inventions follow this revenue model. The license amount is dependent on time, region, and volume. Software providers like Microsoft follow these types of business models for startups to generate a revenue stream. A licensing revenue model allows technology producers to monetize their new technology products by licensing them to other companies so that they may be integrated into an end-product.
A revenue model is a strategy for managing a company’s revenue streams and the resources required for each revenue stream. A business model is the structure comprised of all aspects of a company, including revenue streams for startups, and describes how they all work together.
What are the types of Revenue Models?
Types of Revenue Models are as below:
Markup Revenue Model
Comission Revenue Model
Subscription Revenue Model
Arbitrage Revenue Model
Advertising Revenue Model
Pay per Use Revenue Model
Licensing Revenue Model
What is Commission Revenue Model?
Charging a fee or a commission for providing a platform, to connect a provider with a consumer. They charge a commission based on service or item being sold. The commission may be fixed or maybe a percentage of the selling price. This commission-based revenue model is highly popular in generating a revenue stream, especially for various internet companies.
The success of any organization relies heavily on customer satisfaction. To enhance customer engagement and satisfaction, it is crucial to promptly respond to and support any customer queries. This is where the help desk comes into play—a suite of software tools designed to provide information and assistance to customers regarding their concerns, complaints, or inquiries about products or services. The help desk serves as a centralized platform, integrating queries from various customer-facing support channels such as live chat, email integration, web contact forms, phone, mobile, and social media.
By employing help desk or support desk software, the time taken by support agents to resolve customer issues is significantly reduced. Instead of sifting through endless emails, voicemails, messages, texts, and posts, the software organizes tickets from different platforms into one easy-to-use system. This organized approach allows support agents to provide above-and-beyond customer service efficiently and effectively.
In this blog post, we will delve into the world of help desk software and explore the top contenders for the title of “Best Help Desk Software.” Whether you are a small business owner looking to provide stellar support or a large enterprise seeking to optimize your customer service infrastructure, this guide will serve as your compass in navigating through the multitude of options available.
How to Choose SaaS Help Desk Software?
It can be difficult to choose the best help desk software for your company when there is a plethora of options available. To help you make your choice, here are some features to consider when making your decision:
Ease of Ticketing: Most importantly, you’ll want to determine whether the process of creating, routing, adjusting and closing tickets is on par with what your business needs and expects. You should be able to create a ticket for a customer and route that ticket to the appropriate team or individual who can best address it. You should also be able to make modifications to the ticket as you gain more information on the customer’s situation. And, once the problem has been fully resolved, you should be able to close the ticket and save it in your records as a resource for future inquiries.
Variety of Channels: You could adopt a separate help desk for each support channel you use, but that would be incredibly inefficient, confusing, and wasteful of funds. Rather, you’ll want to find one software that can support all of your communication channels, including email, social media, SMS messaging, and VoIP.
Self-Service Portal: Some questions are so fundamental that customers waste time contacting your support team for an answer. This is where it’s helpful to have a self-service portal that gives users get quick answers to simple questions. And, a self-service portal doesn’t just help your customers. It can also be used as an internal help desk, offering agents step-by-step guides to complex inquiries that can be easily copied and sent to customers. Rather than spending time rewriting the same troubleshooting steps, your reps will have a canned response ready to go for almost every service request.
App Integrations: Help desk software that can integrate with other apps like scheduling, project management, and internal messaging, is significantly valuable to your organization. Information that’s gained through the help desk should be stored and available on every app that you use. Additionally, all data gained externally should be uploaded to your help desk so that your information is stored in one location.
Best Help Desk SaaS Platforms
Help desk software lets you manage customer queries, faster. Support is always a key to business success, and choosing the right helpdesk solution can turn frustration into happy customers. It leads to better customer satisfaction. It also helps your support team to handle issues, queries, and feedback promptly. Let’s explore the following available support desk solutions.
FreshDesk is a customer support solution to boost the productivity of your support team. Make your customer happy and satisfied by leveraging the benefits of Freshdesk. Some questions are repetitive and time-consuming, provide FAQs and a knowledge base to customers and empower them to solve their queries. Bots are assigned to manage the repetitive task and provide the appropriate articles from a knowledge base. Some queries may need discussion with the team. collaborate effectively with the team on any ticket and provide the accurate answer within the specified time.
Its intelligent ticket assignment system assigns the ticket to the agent based on their skill and workload. Also, whenever you make any reply to an open ticket, the software notifies the customer with an email.
Features of FreshDesk
Categorize and prioritize the tickets to the right agent and make the workflow smooth.
Track all the messages from different channels and manage them in one interface.
Agent collision detection to ensure every employee works on the unique ticket.
Its thank you detector prevents reopening the ticket when a customer says thank you.
Assign different customized statuses to the ticket based on their progress.
All types of businesses and Customer Experience Management
Zendesk – Best Support Desk Software
The customer support solution by Zendesk is dedicated to enhancing the experience of both the customer and thesupport team. Seamless connectivity of multiple channels of communication empowers customers to raise their queries and get help on any communication channel they are comfortable with.
Easy to create a dedicated help center with relevant FAQ questions and a community forum. This help center will significantly reduce the workload on an employee by answering the most asked questions. It helps to reduce the response time so that your customer doesn’t have to wait.
Features of ZenDesk
One workspace to manage queries from any communication channel.
Bots are available to answer basic queries and provide appropriate solutions from the knowledge base.
Make the conversation run fast by assigning the tickets to agents based on their workload and availability.
Automated questions to gather information about the query and push it to the appropriate agent.
Intercom is a comprehensive Customer Service solution that offers a smooth customer experience through automation and human support, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and cost reduction.
Intercom provides a customizable design that allows you to align your brand and business needs. It also helps engage customers in-context and encourages action throughout their journey in the Intercom Messenger. The ticketing system enables handling complex customer requests through asynchronous tickets designed for cross-functional collaboration.
Features of Intercom:
The system can quickly generate responses, summarize conversations for other agents, and produce new help articles.
Colleagues can collaborate easily to solve complex problems and customers can track progress in real time.
View all support conversations in a centralized location.
Collaborate effectively with colleagues in real time.
Increase productivity by utilizing live dashboards, reporting, work management tools, and other optimization techniques.
Spiceworks provides a cloud-based helpdesk solution that efficiently manages IT tickets and tasks. Because your help desk is stored in the cloud, there is no need to be concerned about server procurement, backups, or maintenance.
Using Spiceworks, agents are able to efficiently track IT incidents, respond to tickets, make private comments, and promptly close them. It is possible to create custom fields to track additional information that is relevant to your business. A customizable user portal has been created for employees and customers to track the progress of their tickets.
Spiceworks also offers inventory management functionality, allowing your team to access information about current orders. This helps the staff inform customers if their order will be shipped late.
Features of Spiceworks:
Tickets are assigned to agents automatically and progress is tracked.
Collaborate with your team members by sharing support tickets and resolving issues more efficiently.
You can generate reports and easily view team performance metrics.
Monitor new tickets and determine the time it takes for your initial response.
Customers have the opportunity to share questions and ideas with others on the Spiceworks community forum.
Pricing Plans
Spiceworks is available free of cost for all users.
HappyFox provides a centralized system for managing customer queries and issues from various channels, such as email, live chat, social media, and more. It incorporates a ticketing system that organizes customer requests, allowing support agents to efficiently track, prioritize, and resolve issues.
Happyfox is loaded with amazing ticketing features that make the task of resolving the ticket much easier. Prioritize the unresponded tickets in the list and ensure timely replies to make customers happy. SLA (service level agreement) is easy to create for your agents to ensure a timely reply and other objectives by setting targets.
SLA will help to maintain a consistent workflow with targets such as time to first response, time to reach, changing status, and many more conditions. The robust dashboard of Happyfox gives a quick insight into agent activity reports, performance reports, and inflow reports.
Features of Happyfox
Classification of tickets into predefined categories.
Solve the customer ticket through collaboration with a team.
pre-fill the required and essential information in the ticket with the ticket templates.
LiveAgent is a robust and versatile help desk software that empowers businesses to deliver exceptional customer support across multiple channels. It is a comprehensive customer service platform that integrates various communication channels into one centralized system, allowing organizations to effectively manage and respond to customer queries.
It empowers your support agent with its never-ending features. Omnichannel ticketing, SLA management, and custom fields are just a small portion of the features provided by this software.
It is Fully-focused software that caters to the needs of businesses in terms of providing the best support to its customers. The interface is easy to use and most of the things are customizable.
Features of LiveAgent
Enjoy flexibility with a cloud-based call centre feature.
200+ other tool integration and 130+ ticketing features.
Agent ranking feature to monitor the efficiency of agents, customers can easily rate the service provided by the agent.
Audit log that keeps a record of every activity undertaken by the agent.
Zoho Desk is a customer service software that delivers its services to help your support team and manage the queries of customers in a much more efficient way. The insightful dashboard of Zoho Desk gives proper insight into ticket traffic and customers’ happiness rating. By monitoring and analyzing the charts on the dashboard, you can easily predict the performance of your support team.
With Zoho Desk, users can easily make custom changes to various aspects of the system. They have the ability to rename tabs, create new departments, customize email templates, define business hours, and establish help folders, all of which contribute to a personalized and efficient support environment.
Features of Zoho Desk
Automatic assignment of support tickets to the right person in the right department to fast forward the process of solving a customer’s problem.
Jira Service Management, formerly recognized as Jira Service Desk, is an IT service management solution that leverages the renowned Jira platform. The Jira Service Management was introduced in 2013 by Atlassian that delivers its customer support services to businesses. In the year 2020 Jira service management was launched and merged Jira service desk into it. Now Jira Service Management has features of a service desk along with the additional capabilities of ITSM.
Ticketing, SLA, knowledge base, and help widgets are the common features, on top of that it provides more IT business-centric support. It is focused on delivering the best software for IT service management.
Features of Jira Service Desk
Empower the business team, Dev, and IT ops to deliver a smooth customer service experience.
Categorize the queries based on their department.
Focused support solution.
Dedicated templates to streamline legal, HR, Facilities, and General service management.
Kustomer is a customer service software solution that offers varieties of features in this domain. Connect with customers and solve their problems on any channel. The task of managing customer interaction is much easier with a timeline view. All the previous interaction is placed in chronological order to deliver the best customer experience.
AI chatbot is available to reduce the workload from support staff and knowledge base to answer the FAQs. Have a quick insight into the performance of your team and individual agents with the robust dashboard of Jira.
Features of Kustomer
Direct integration with social media such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter for instant replies to messages and comments.
Actionable data insights like order details, status, and more to serve the customer quickly.
Natural language processing detects the customer’s intent and suggests shortcuts to agents.
Gorgias is e-commerce-focused support software that helps to solve e-commerce-related problems. Communicate with the customer and solve their query by having all your customer data in front of your screen. Manage the orders, refunds, subscriptions, and many things without switching to different tabs.
As an e-commerce-centric software, it fetches your e-commerce data from your e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, or big commerce and integrates it with the helpdesk. Alignment of all the previous conversations from different channels at the same interface will help you to know the customer’s perspective more efficiently.
Features of Gorgias
80+ integration options are available to increase the software capabilities.
Each ticket is categorized properly based on the channel it comes from, Like email, live chat, social media, SMS, or voice.
Automatic response to common questions like order tracking, refund status, and cancellation.
Gauge customer satisfaction with feedback and rating.
Hiver is the firstGmail-based helpdesk that makes it unique from any helpdesk software. It brings simplicity to your business and promotes human-to-human conversation by eliminating chatbots. Focused on providing the user with the best problem-solving experience, it leverages the power of Gmail and its features.
Since live chat is used widely by customers to ask questions, Hiver has integrated it into Gmail to maintain a seamless workflow. Agents do not need to switch between tools to solve problems. Team collaboration is made easier with features like transcript sharing. It helps other agents know the chat history and context of the problem.
Help Scout helps to provide support to your customers by utilizing itsintuitive interface and features. Loaded with all the primary and essential features, it also offers some additional functionalities like instant notification on the browser, custom CSS, custom domain, article suggestions, and much more.
Providing customers with the best support experience is the primary focus of any help desk software, this tool offers all the essential features to hook the customer throughout the problem-solving journey. It suggests the knowledge base articles to users based on the page URL. In simple words, it offers all the features you need to provide the best customer experience.
Features of Help Scout
iOS and Android apps to manage queries on the go.
Search and insert the knowledge base article link without leaving the chat screen.
Organize your inbox and assign different tasks to different teams in their inbox.
Chat when your team is online and provide other options when they are not.
Effectively managing customer support is always a challenging task. However, with the assistance of a cloud-based helpdesk solution, achieving customer satisfaction becomes more attainable. In today’s market, numerous tools are available, making it overwhelming to find the right one. Instead of being swayed solely by the features of different tools, it is essential to focus on their functionalities and determine if they align with your specific needs.
To gain insights into a tool’s performance, reading user reviews and evaluating real-life scenarios can be immensely helpful. Additionally, taking advantage of free trials offered by vendors allows you to experience the tool firsthand before making a final decision. By following this approach, you can carefully select the perfect tool that suits your requirements and embark on a successful customer support journey.
FAQs
What is support desk software?
Support desk software is a software product that customer service and IT teams use to serve employees or customers. Its core functions are to help service teams systematically manage support requests, provide self-service options, track and report performance and more.
What are the best Support Desk Softwares?
The following are the Best Support Desk Software
Freshdesk
Zendesk
HappyFox
Intercom
SpiceWorks
LiveAgent
Zoho Desk
Jira Service Desk
Kustomer
Gorgias
Hiver
Help Scout
What are the benefits of Support desk software?
You can organize support requests, collaborate with customers and teammates, automate repetitive tasks, improve overall customer experience Customize and rebrand to suit your business.
Who can you Support Desk Software?
Support Desk Software can be used by both big organisations as well as small firms. Support Desk Software helps you to manage customers in one place and Manage your customers in one place.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by AppDirect.
These days, subscription commerce is on the rise. When it comes to business, subscriptions for B2B software and services are growing significantly. As per statistics, the market size for these ‘anything as a service product, like SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, and many other solutions, is expected to reach $344.3 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 24%.
B2B subscription commerce is known to cover all technology and business operations that power the sales of digital products repeatedly. AppDirect is a top-ranked US-based company offering a robust B2B subscription commerce platform.
This article discusses AppDirect’s startup story, founders, funding, investors, challenges, awards, and more.
AppDirect is a San Francisco-based company offering a B2B subscription commerce platform to bring together businesses, technology providers, and advisors for simplifying selling, buying, and managing recurring technology services.
Operating in North America, South America, Australia, Canada, India, Europe, and many other locations, the company currently serves over 1,000 providers, 10,000 advisors, and 5 million subscribers to power their innovation, growth, and success. AppDirect is trusted by leading brands, including Deutsche Telekom, Microsoft, ADP, Google, and Jaguar Land Rover.
AppDirect – Founders and Team
Nicolas Desmarais, Daniel Saks, and Andy Sen founded AppDirect in 2009.
Nicolas Desmarais
Nicolas Desmarais – Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of AppDirect.
Nicolas Desmarais completed a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Amherst College. He worked as an Intern and Associate Consultant at Bain & Company. Currently, he is the Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of AppDirect.
Daniel Saks
Daniel Saks – Co-founder, President, and Co-CEO of AppDirect
Daniel Saks attended McGill University for BA in Political Science and Harvard University for a Master of Liberal Arts in Management 9 Finance and Accounting). He co-founded AppDirect and has been its President and Co-CEO.
At present, aside from being the company’s President and Co-Founder, he is the Host of a new podcast- Decoding Digital.
Andy Sen
Andy Sen – Co-founder and CTO of AppDirect
Andy Sen completed BS in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology. He has diverse work experience as a Senior Engineer at Arc Worldwide, Senior Product Manager at Waltmart.com Global Initiative and Salesforce, and Director of Product Management at Serena Software.
He has been the full-time Co-founder and CTO of AppDirect Since March 2010.
AppDirect is a team of over 720 employees.
AppDirect – Startup Story
In 2009, Nicolas Desmarais and Daniel Saks spent the summer together and noticed a few trends. One trend that caught their attention was a shift to digital or software as a service that could change how people commence and manage their businesses. During that period, businesses were struggling because of the global recession.
So, Desmarais and Saks saw those macro trends and brainstormed how they could enable big and small businesses to access this new way of doing business. They established AppDirect in 2009 out of an apartment in San Francisco at the age of 23.
The company spent the first three years bringing an individual around that value proposition to the first customer, then selling and launching them. At present, AppDirect has millions of users.
AppDirect – Mission and Vision
AppDirect’s mission is to make technology universally accessible for every real business and individual to thrive in the digital economy.
AppDirect – Business Model
AppDirect offers access to a subscription commerce platform allowing companies to sell physical or digital products via any channel or platform as a service. The platform powers all direct or indirect sales while combining identity, mobile, data, and billing management for digital services.
Users can also sell their services and third—party services via AppDirect’s commerce platform. In addition, the platform allows enterprises to include add-ons, bundle services, customize prizes, and offer sales promotions.
AppDirect has three pricing plans– ‘AppDirect Starter,’ ‘AppDirect Professional,’ and ‘AppDirect Enterprise.’
The ‘AppDirect Starter’ price plan is offered for $799/month to mid-size companies with monetizing referral business. Mid-size companies selling technologies can access the ‘AppDirect Professional’ pricing plan for $1,499/ month + Transaction Fees. The ‘AppDirect Enterprise’ is offered at custom pricing to large companies selling technology.
Plan
Pricing
AppDirect Starter
$799 USD Per Month
AppDirect Professional
$1499 USD Per Month + Transaction Fees
AppDirect Enterprise
Custom Pricing
AppDirect – Products and Services
AppDirect’s platform offers the following mentioned services, categorized into Digital Monetization and Digital Procurement capabilities:
B2B Marketplace
Partner Relationship Management
Cloud Distribution
Subscription Billing
Device Application Management
Digital Engagement Capabilities
Proceurement Marketplace
Spend Management
Advisory Services
Workplace Identity & Data Management
Subscription Commerce 101 e-book
Moreover, the company offers multiple solutions, such as Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Managed Services, Third Party Digital Services, and Customer Support Services.
AppDirect – Challenges Faced
Initially, co-founders found it challenging to get big customers for the company as it takes around a year’s sales cycle to close them.
The Cloud Commerce Ecosystem: Challenges and Opportunities
AppDirect – Funding and Investors
AppDirect has raised approximately $474.5 million in a total of 8 funding rounds. Its latest funding round – Debt Financing, was conducted on March 19, 2021, and raised $54.8 million. Some leading company investors are Investissement Quebec, JP Morgan Chase, Mithril Capital Management, Inovia Capital, and more.
AppDirect has 13 registered patents with the ‘Computing; Calculating’ main category and 13 trademarks with ‘Scientific and Technological Services,’ the most popular class.
AppDirect – Growth
The estimated annual revenue of AppDirect in 2022 is $65 million ($89,779 revenue per employee), with its current valuation at $1.5 billion.
AppDirect – Partners
AppDirect has 64 partners, of which 45 are technology partners, and 19 are channel partners:
AppDirect is a San Francisco-based company offering a B2B subscription commerce platform to bring together businesses, technology providers, and advisors for simplifying selling, buying, and managing recurring technology services.
Who founded AppDirect?
Nicolas Desmarais, Daniel Saks, and Andy Sen founded AppDirect in 2009.
What are the pricing plans offered by AppDirect?
AppDirect has three pricing plans- AppDirect Starter, AppDirect Professional, and AppDirect Enterprise.
Whether you’re a startup or have a well-established online presence, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical for your SaaS company to stay ahead of the competition. You want to see a return on your digital marketing effort, regardless of how much you spend (ROI).
In comparison to other digital marketing techniques, SEO is a long-term strategy that necessitates ongoing commitment. Organic traffic, on the other hand, can account for more than 40% of your company’s revenue. According to studies, 93% of internet experiences begin with a search engine such as Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.
SEO for SaaS – Ranking Factors
SEO for SaaS improves Company’s website online visibility for it to be ranked better on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). If SEO is done correctly, then you are bound to experience improved organic traffic and keyword rankings, which would translate to an increase in sales or lead generation. It might sound like a simple task, but it is comprised of numerous elements, and it is supposed to be a long-term process.
Among the significant challenges faced by SaaS companies, it is important to decide whether to gate the content to generate leads, or leave it as open as it is for SEO purposes.
Lead generation and search engine optimization (SEO) are both important marketing strategies that can help businesses attract and convert potential customers.
Lead generation involves identifying and targeting potential customers and then finding ways to persuade them to take a specific action, such as filling out a form or signing up for a newsletter. This can be done through a variety of methods, including email marketing, social media advertising, and paid search advertising.
On the other hand, SEO is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When a website ranks higher in the SERPs, it becomes more visible to potential customers who are searching for relevant keywords. SEO involves optimizing various aspects of a website, such as its content, structure, and technical elements, to make it more attractive to search engines and improve its visibility in the SERPs.
Both lead generation and SEO can be effective ways to attract potential customers to a website and build a business’s online presence. However, they serve different purposes and can be used in different ways to achieve different goals. It’s important to understand the difference between the two and how they can be used effectively in a SaaS marketing strategy.
How to Select the Appropriate Keywords?
Since you already have in-depth knowledge about your audience, you can now come up with a checklist of technical as well as non-technical branded keywords that they are likely to search for whenever they would wish to look up your SaaS Company. On matters to do with the selection of keywords, you should focus much on the niche, which is referred to as long-tail keywords by those in the industry.
Tools such as Spyfu, SEMRush, and Google Keyword Planner will help you in keyword research work and will provide you with a list of keywords to determine the ones with the potential of generating significant traffic. With the curated keyword list in hand, you can begin to incorporate the keywords naturally all over your site to enhance the chances of being ranked high on SERPs for those specific sets of keywords. The choice of the relevant keywords and their incorporation all over the site is likely to alert more audience about your SaaS Company and improve conversion rates.
When choosing an SEO tool, there are several factors to consider:
Cost: Determine your budget and choose a tool that fits within your price range.
Features: Consider the features that are important to your business, such as keyword research, on-page optimization, backlink analysis, and website audits. Make sure the tool you choose offers the features you need.
Ease of use: Consider the usability of the tool and whether it will be easy for you or your team to use.
Compatibility: Make sure the tool is compatible with your website and other marketing tools you may be using.
Customer support: Look for a tool that offers good customer support, in case you have any questions or issues while using the tool.
Reputation: Look for a tool that has a good reputation in the industry and has received positive reviews from users.
It’s also a good idea to try out a few different tools to see which one works best for your business. Many SEO tools offer free trials or demos, which can be a good way to test out the tool before committing to a purchase.
Search Engine Optimization Tools You Need to Use
It seems like every month there is a new SEO tool being advertised and promotedon popular marketing blogs and Facebook. If you are in the search engine optimization industry you get targeted on social media by all kinds of SaaS tools, and there is no shortage of new options to try. The truth is that most of these new tools are pulling the same API data that the OG tools use — they just package them up in fancy dashboards and try to get you to sign up for a recurring subscription. It requires very little maintenance on their part and if their marketing and branding are solid, they will get plenty of SEO noobs to sign up.
No tool is going to replace the actual work required, but they can assist you and help you make calculated moves, and also help you with things like outreach. Not all of them cost an arm and a leg either; this line-up of tools is a must-have for anyone serious about SEO and invested in long-term success, whether as an agency offering services, or a company trying to increase organic website traffic. Get yourself familiar with all the popular SEO tools listed below if you haven’t yet.
Ahrefs is one of the most recommended SEO tools online. It’s only second to Google when it comes to being the largest website crawler. SEO experts can get enough of Ahref’s Site Audit feature as it’s the best SEO analysis tool around. The tool highlights what parts of your website require improvements to help you achieve higher rankings and improved traffic. From a competitor analysis perspective, you’ll likely use Ahrefs to determine your competitor’s backlinks to use them as a starting point for your own brand. You can also use this SEO tool to find the most linked content within your niche. This tool also helps you in finding the right keywords.
Features of Ahrefs
It tracks keyword ranking, organic search traffic, and other key metrics to improve the SEO of your website.
Helps to find profitable keywords and optimize the content to rank higher in search results.
Conducts a complete site audit to identify any broken link or duplicate page.
Rank tracker that helps you to track the ranking of your site on a specific keyword.
The facility to find out traffic from any country, this will help you to create a content strategy.
Provides an in-depth look at your own and competitor’s website performance, including top organic search keywords and referring domains.
Ahrefs webmaster tool helps to figure out SEO mistakes to improve your site health.
Pros:
Offers a lot of free SEO tools
Huge learning resources
Chrome extension is available
Keyword and competitor analysis
Excellent support
Shows historic data
Comprehensive backlink analysis
Cons:
Some users find the UI is complex
The rank tracker can be more robust
Pricing Plan:
Plans
Monthly Price
Yearly Price (Get 2 months Free)
Lite
$99 per month
$83 per month
Standard
$199 per month
$166 per month
Advanced
$399 per month
$333 per month
Enterprise
$999 per month
$833 per month
Google Search Console
Rating
4.6/5
Best For
Checking site’s Search traffic, CTR, Impression, Search Queries, and more
Google Search Console Tool
This is one of the best SEO tools, and guess what? It’s completely FREE to use and just takes 2 minutes to get it set up. Google Search Consoleis a set of tools and resources that allow you to analyze the technical performance of your website in the SERPs and see traffic stats — all of this free data can be used to optimize your campaign and effort. The best part? Google Search Console provides information and data directly from Google. There is no third-party “guessing” or random APIs pulling data that may or might not even matter.
It provides a range of tools and resources for website owners to use to optimize their website’s visibility and performance on Google search pages. One of the best uses of the Google Search Console is looking at the search queries section. This tells you what keywords, terms, and long-tail search queries triggered pages of your website to show up in the organic results. You can see how many impressions were received, the click-through rate, and what position it shows for.
Google Search Console also notifies you in case of any technical error that occurs on your website, whether it’s a broken URL, sitemap, core web vitals, or an outage. When you find any error in your GSC, you need to fix it right away. Google is hand-delivering you the data and info needed to move up in the SERPs.
Google Search Console Tutorial for Beginners
To use Google Search Console, you’ll need to add and verify your website with Google. This involves adding a piece of HTML code to your website’s homepage or using a Google Analytics account that is linked to your website. Once your website is verified, you can use Google Search Console to view and analyze data about your website’s performance in Google search.
Features of Google Search Console
Facility to check a specific URL for any issues that affect its ability to appear in Search results.
It checks if your website is mobile-friendly or not, and if there are any mobile usability issues it automatically detects them.
Sitemap submission to help Google discover new pages on your site, and see which pages have been indexed.
Provides insights into how a site is performing in terms of clicks, impressions, and click-through rate in the search results.
It helps to check if your website is eligible for Rich Results, which are enhanced search results that can include things like images, ratings, and prices.
You can check how many pages from your website are indexed by Google.
It helps you to see if Google is experiencing any issues crawling your site and identify and fix any crawl errors that may be impacting the site’s search performance.
Pros:
Free to use
Easily identify crawling errors
Mobile-friendly check
Google rich result check
Help articles are available
Sitemap submission
Cons:
Poor customer support
The interface is confusing for beginners
Pricing Plan:
Google Search Console is Free to use.
Moz: SEO Software
Rating
4.4/5
Best For
Site tracking, link building, competitor analysis, keyword research, inbound marketing
Moz Pro: SEO Software
Moz is a name that has really evolved over the years. It is one of the best SaaS SEO tools that experts actually use. Whether you’re looking for keyword recommendations or a site crawl, Moz is a full-service powerhouse tool. You can get great insights not only into how your website is performing but also into how to improve it. They also have a free MozBar toolbar that you can download, free version allows you to see your store’s metrics while browsing any page.
Free SEO Tools from Moz
Their tools have improved over the years, and they have totally revamped their link exploration tool and their golden metric. Domain Authority just went over a complete makeover as well. They have two main products, an SEO toolset, and a Local SEO listing audit and submission platform. This is something that can benefit beginner and advanced SEOs alike, but for those new to the game, the on-site optimization grader is handy and does a great job of teaching users what elements need to be changed on each page to achieve an optimal score.
Features of Moz
It helps to track search engine rankings for specific keywords over time.
Analyzes a website for technical SEO issues such as broken links, slow page load times, and duplicate content.
Provides information on the quality and quantity of a website’s backlinks, which are links from other websites to the user’s website.
It finds and targets the keywords that will help a website rank higher in search engine results pages.
Offers suggestions for improving the user’s website’s on-page SEO, such as optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags.
A browser extension that allows you to see Moz data for any website you visit, including Domain Authority, Page Authority, and Spam score.
Generates customizable reports that can be shared with clients or team members.
Pros:
Provides a guide to learn SEO from basics
Free trial is available
24/7 online support
Offers some free tools
Intuitive interface
Browser extension is available
Integration with web analytic tools
Cons:
Error tracking is sometimes misleading
Hard to navigate
Pricing Plan:
Moz Pro offers four pricing plans: Standard, Medium, Large and Premium Plan. 30-day free trial is available. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Yearly Price
Monthly Price
Standard
$67/month
$99/month
Medium
$125/month
$179/month
Large
$209/month
$299/month
Premium
$419/month
$599/month
Surfer SEO
Rating
4.8/5
Best For
SEO content creation and optimization, website audit
Surfer SEO – Best Digital Marketing Tool
Surfer SEO is a powerful SEO tool that specializes in providing digital marketing solutions to businesses of all sizes. This tool is designed to help you optimize your website for search engines and improve your online visibility. It has the ability to provide an in-depth analysis of a website’s on-page and off-page SEO. It can identify technical issues that may be preventing a website from ranking well in search results and provide recommendations on how to fix them.
It includes a keyword research tool that helps users find the best keywords to target for their website. This tool provides detailed data on search volume, CPC, and competition for a given keyword. This allows users to make informed decisions about which keywords to focus on. Additionally, it provides an analysis of the website’s backlink profile, including the number and quality of links pointing to the site, which can help users identify opportunities for link building.
Features of Surfer SEO
It provides a detailed analysis of the top-ranking pages for a given keyword, including metrics such as Domain Authority, Page Authority, and the number of backlinks.
The tool performs a site audit that checks for common technical SEO issues such as broken links, missing alt tags, and duplicate content.
It allows you to track and monitor your website’s ranking in search engine results.
Provides a keyword research tool that helps you find the best keywords to target for your website.
This tool provides detailed data on search volume, CPC, and competition for a given keyword.
Analysis of a website’s backlink profile, including the number and quality of links pointing to the site.
Detailed analysis of a website’s on-page and off-page SEO.
Pros:
NLP-based guidelines
optimization suggestions
Content Editor
User-friendly interface
Free SEO course and knowledge base
Excellent live chat customer support
Free outline generator
Cons:
No free plan is available
The keyword research tool is not as advanced as other
Pricing Plan:
Surfer SEO offers four pricing plans: Basic, Pro, Business and Enterprise Plan. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Yearly Price
Monthly Price
Basic
$49/month
$59/month
Pro
$99/month
$119/month
Business
$199/month
$239/month
Enterprise
Custom plans
Custom plans
Google Keyword Planner
Rating
4.3/5
Best For
Keyword research for SEO and PPC
Google Keyword Planner Tool
Google Keyword Planner is a powerful keyword research tool developed by Google LLC, the leading search engine and technology company. It is designed to assist businesses, marketers, and advertisers in identifying the most relevant and profitable keywords for their online campaigns. It has the ability to provide detailed information on keywords and phrases, including their search volume, competition, and estimated cost per click (CPC).
The information provided by this keyword research tool can be used to optimize website content, ad copy, and targeting options. This helps businesses to reach their target audience more effectively. Another important feature of Google Keyword Planner is its ability to suggest new keywords based on a user’s search query. This can be incredibly helpful for businesses that are looking to expand their reach and find new growth opportunities.
Features of Google Keyword Planner
The suggestion of new keywords based on a user’s search query.
Detailed information on keywords and phrases, including search volume, competition, and estimated cost per click (CPC).
Integration with Google Ads that allows for easy management of advertising campaigns.
Comparison of different keywords and phrases to determine the best options for a business.
Option to create custom keyword lists for specific campaigns.
Easy Integration with Google Search Console to track the performance of keywords and campaigns.
The tool provides an estimate of how much a user might expect to pay for a specific keyword or group of keywords.
Pros:
Multi-language support
Audience Insights
Customizable report
Seamless integration with Google ads and google search console
Free to use
Advanced analysis
Cons:
Difficult to get customer support
Pricing Plan:
Google Keyword Planner can be accessed free of charge. You just need a Google Ads account to use it.
Google Analytics
Rating
4.5/5
Best For
Tracking website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates
Google Analytics – Web Analytics Tool
Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool developed by Google LLC, one of the world’s leading technology companies. This tool allows businesses and organizations to track and analyze their website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. It can track the performance of a website, including pages viewed, time spent on the site, and bounce rate. This data can be used to identify which pages are performing well and which are not.
It also offers a wide range of customizable reports and data visualization tools. This makes it easy for businesses and organizations to gain insights and make data-driven decisions. The tool can be integrated with other Google products, such as Google AdWords and Google Search Console, to provide even more detailed and actionable data.
Features of Google Analytics
Provides reports on Audience segmentation, demographics, and interests, which makes it easy for you to target the right audience.
It helps measure user behavior on a website, including pages viewed, time spent on the site, and bounce rate.
It provides a mobile app to monitor the performance of the website anywhere, anytime.
Easy integration with other Google and third-party products, such as WordPress, Google AdWords, and Google Search Console.
Provide even more detailed and actionable data.
It measures the number of visitors to a website, as well as the sources of that traffic, such as search engines, social media, and referral sites.
Measure the effectiveness of various digital marketing campaigns, including email marketing, social media, and pay-per-click advertising.
Pros:
Wide integration option
Mobile app is available
Multi-language support
Detailed analytics and reporting
Free to use
Articles to help the user
Cons:
Difficult to get customer support
Need to learn to utilize its full benefit
Pricing Plan:
Google Analytics is Free to use.
Long Tail Pro
Rating
4.3/5
Best For
Discover keywords and calculate Keyword difficulty
Long Tail Pro – Top SEO Tool
Long Tail Pro is a keyword research tool that is designed to help digital marketers, SEO professionals, and content creators identify profitable long-tail keywords for their campaigns. It provides detailed metrics for each keyword, including search volume, CPC, and competition level. This makes it easy for users to evaluate the potential profitability of each keyword.
To enhance the research capabilities, it offers a range of features, such as a keyword tracking tool, which allows users to monitor their rankings for specific keywords over time. A link analysis tool, which provides information on the quality and quantity of links pointing to a particular website. Its ability to analyze the competition for each keyword provides valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of competitor’s campaigns.
Features of Long Tail Pro
It optimizes the campaigns and improves rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Helps to find out long-tail keywords with low competition and high search volume.
Show you the top keywords that a specific website is ranking for.
Potential to fetch the top 10 websites that are ranking on the specific keyword.
Competitor analysis to figure out why your competitors are ranking on a keyword.
You can track your website’s ranking for specific keywords in Google and Bing.
Provides suggestions for related keywords that users can use to expand their research.
You can save your projects and keywords list for future reference.
Pros:
Integration with Google Analytics and Google Search Console
Site audit and backlink analysis
Free training and trial
Rank tracker
In-depth site audit
Cons:
Limited features
Costly compared to other tools
Pricing Plan:
Plan
Pricing
Annual Starter
$297/Year
Annual Pro
$537/Year
Annual Agency
$1177/Year
Monthly Starter
$37/Month
Monthly Pro
$67/Month
Monthly Agency
$147/Month
Ubersuggest
Rating
4.2/5
Best For
keyword research, similar websites finder, keyword ranking
Ubersuggest SEO Tool
UberSuggest, developed by Neil Patel, is a keyword finder tool that helps you identify keywords and also the search intent behind them by showing the top-ranking SERPs for them.
From short to long-tail phrases, you can find the right terms to use on your website with hundreds of suggestions from this free great keyword tool. The metrics they include in their report are keyword volume, competition, CPC, and seasonal trends. Great for both organic SEO, and paid PPC teams, this tool can help determine if a keyword is worth targeting and how competitive it is.
The Definitive Guide to Ubersuggest for SEO and Content Marketing
Features of UberSuggest
Generates a list of blog post and article ideas based on a user-provided keyword.
Analyzes a website’s backlinks, organic search traffic, and top organic keywords.
Measures website’s overall performance and provides suggestions for improvement.
Provides the list of top-ranking pages for a specific keyword, along with data such as search volume, CPC, and competition level.
Shows how difficult it will be to rank for a specific keyword based on the competition.
Gives an overview of the website’s traffic, backlinks, and top organic keywords.
Analyzes the keyword density, readability, and other factors of a webpage’s content and gives suggestions for improvement.
You can track the search engine rankings of your website and individual pages for specific keywords.
Pros:
Easy to use
Knowledgeable blogs to learn
Provides lifetime plan
Cheaper than other SEO tools
Interactive dashboard
Chrome extension is available
Cons:
Lack of automated reports
Limited database
Pricing Plan:
UberSuggest offers three pricing plans: Individual, Business and Enterprise/ Agency. 7-day free trial is available. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Lifetime Price
Monthly Price
Individual
$120/Lifetime
$12/month
Business
$200/Lifetime
$20/month
Enterprise/Agency
$400/Lifetime
$40/month
Screaming Frog
Rating
4.6/5
Best For
SEO reports and technical audits
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Website Crawler
Experts love how much time they save by using this tool. Screaming Frog is a website crawler tool that allows you to crawl websites’ links, images, CSS, scripts, and apps from an SEO perspective. It is particularly useful for identifying technical SEO issues on a website, such as broken links, duplicate content, and chains and loops. The tool can also be used to extract data from websites and to analyze the on-page elements of a webpage, such as meta title tags, meta descriptions, and heading tags. SEO Spider’s other features include reviewing URLs blocked by robot.txt or tag directives. You can generate XML sitemaps, integrate with Google Analytics, Search Console, and Page Speed Insights APIs and fetch user and performance data. Screaming Frog is available as a desktop application for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The license fee is minimal, and it’s billed annually. It’s a very smart investment.
Features of Screaming Frog
You can schedule crawling on a regular basis.
It crawls a website just like a search engine and identifies all of the URLs, links, images, and other elements on the site.
Once a website has been crawled, it provides detailed information about each page, including the page title, meta description, headers, and more.
You can customize the crawl settings, such as setting the user agent and to apply custom filters to the data being collected.
You can limit the number of URLs that will be crawled, in order to save time and resources.
customize the crawling process with the ability to set up custom user agents, crawl specific sections of a website, and exclude certain pages or content.
It provides detailed, customizable reports that can be exported in various formats.
Pros:
Accurately identifies technical SEO issues
Free plan is available
Integration with Google Analytics, Pagespeed insights, and Google search console.
Sitemap generation
Scans all pages on a website
Also extracts metadata
Cons:
Limited learning resources
Non-user-friendly interface
Poor support
Pricing Plan:
Screaming Frog offers a Free version and a Paid version. Have a look at the pricing details of paid plan.
Google Trends is a free tool from Google that provides data and graphs on the popularity of specific searches on Google and YouTube. Google Search Trends helps you track timeless keywords for your pages, as well as hot trends that will pass. It’s an essential tool if you want to climb the rankings on Google and drive qualified traffic to your site.
The platform’s diagrams and data can help you in creating your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy and keep you current on in-demand keywordsin your line of work. The tool has sections for exploring your chosen terms, examining trending searches, and looking over a specific year’s leading search topic history — reaching back to 2001. From keyword research to content marketing, you have a unique window into the habits of searchers. You get to study the leading keywords on Google and apply them to your SEO optimization.
The Best SEO Tools
Features of Google Trends
Provides a list of search queries that have recently seen significant increases in popularity.
Compares the search volume of multiple terms over a specified time period.
The website can display data for specific regions and languages that allow users to compare search trends in different areas.
It provides data on search trends over a period that allows you to see how search queries have changed over the years.
You can compare the relative popularity of different search terms, which can be useful for keyword research and search engine optimization (SEO).
Provides data on search trends in real-time, so you can stay up-to-date on the latest search trends.
It also shows the related queries which are searched by people along with the main query.
Pros:
Search query trends for a different region
Data-driven insights into trending topics
Easy to use
Comparison chart
Google help articles
Shows historic trend
Cons:
Limited related keywords
Poor support
Pricing Plan:
Google Trends is Free to use.
Keywords Everywhere
Rating
4.6/5
Best For
Find long-tail phrases with search volume, CPC, and competition data.
Keywords Everywhere – Best SEO Tool to Find Keywords
Keywords Everywhere is a browser add-on that is used to find keywords and can be installed on either Firefox or Chrome. It is a tool that allows access to keyword metrics for any list of keywords and lets you download it in formats like Excel, PDF, or CSV. This tool saves you a lot of time that otherwise would have been invested in copying data from a website while finding search volume for another. Search volume is nothing but an average of the searches that people have performed for a particular keyword in a period of the last two months. This tool shows you monthly search volume, Cost-per-click, Adwords competition data, and trend data of multiple keywords on multiple websites.
Features of Keywords Everywhere
Provides search volume, CPC, and competition data for a variety of keywords on multiple websites.
The tool will provide you with a list of related keywords that you can use to expand your keyword research.
It allows you to create lists of keywords and save them for later use.
Integration with a variety of other SEO and marketing tools, such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz.
You can adjust settings such as the number of results to show and the currency to use for CPC data.
The ability to analyze the performance of a list of keywords over time.
Keyword research for organic and paid search.
Pros:
Browser extension for chrome and firefox
Multi-language support
Pay-as-you-go pricing plan
Provided API keys
Historic trend data from 2004
“People also search for” insights
Easy-to-use interface
Wide range of integration
Cons:
Features are basic
Limited to keyword research
Pricing Plan:
Keywords Everywhere is Free to use.
SEOquake
Rating
5/5
Best For
On-page SEO audit, keyword research, compare domains and URLs, examine internal and external links
SEOquake – Best SEO Tool
SEOquake is a free browser extension that allows you to check any webpage for numerous SEO parameters. It has some great features that help you optimize your website. SEOquake features include an SEO bar which is an interactive search bar that adjusts according to your needs while you are searching a webpage. The SEO dashboard, with the click of a button, opens a compact lightbox with an SEO brief overview including Page, Domain, and Backlinks details. You can also use keyword analysis by generating a detailed report of keywords found on the webpage. Also, you can create real-time SEO audits, examine internal and external links, compare domains and URLs in real time, and export all that data into a file.
Features of SEOquake
Keyword density analysis helps to check the density of specific keywords on the webpage, which can help identify areas where the website’s content may need to be optimized.
Provides a detailed analysis of the webpage, including information about the page’s title and meta tags, headings, and images.
SEO-related metrics for any website, including Google PageRank, the number of indexed pages, and the number of backlinks.
Helps to check the number of internal and external links on a webpage, as well as the anchor text and nofollow status of each link.
Facility to export the data you’ve collected in a variety of formats.
Conducts SEO audits to identify potential technical issues that might affect the website’s performance.
AnswerThePublic is a “Make Life Better Tool” built by the people behind CoverageBook. It is a keyword tool that imagines suggestions of autocomplete sentences on google and creates useful phrases and questions that people are asking regarding a keyword. It has categories that answer questions with the 5 Ws and the “How”,” can”,” which”, and “will”. It is a treasure of consumer insight for creating fresh and ultra-useful content, products, and services. Imagine having something like this and it could mean that we could actually be reading customers’ minds and determining what they actually want.
Features of Answer The Public
Search for questions and keywords in specific locations, which can be useful for local SEO or targeting specific regions.
A visual representation of questions and keywords organized by question word (e.g. “what,” “how,” “why,” etc.)
The ability to see the most common questions being asked about a particular topic or keyword.
Provide the data in the form of questions, prepositions, and comparisons.
Provides related keywords and phrases that can be used for content creation, SEO, and keyword research.
It supports several languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch.
The ability to download the data in CSV or Excel format.
Pros:
Lifetime plan pricing plan
Free trial is available
Automated search alert
Downloadable images
Huge learning resources
Cons:
Features are limited to keyword ideas
Customer Support is limited to email
Pricing Plan:
AnswerThePublic offers three pricing plans: Individual, Pro and Expert. 7-day free trial is available. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Lifetime Price
Monthly Price
Individual
$99/Lifetime
$9/month
Pro
$70/Lifetime
$99/month
Expert
$149/Lifetime
$199/month
SEMrush
Rating
4.6/5
Best For
keyword research, tracks competitor keyword strategy, SEO audit, backlinking opportunities, and lots more.
SEMrush – Top SEO Tool
SEMrush is a one-stop shop for all your SEO needs. It is a tool that provides you with the most accurate data on your competitors and allows you to analyze their top-ranking content. Another feature that’ll be of great help is the organic keyword finder which allows you to review the topmost organic keywords for your website to help you strategize your SEO plans. SEMrush helps you with measurable results from online marketing for SEO, content marketing, PPC, and social media marketing.
Features of SEMrush
Site audit tool that checks for technical SEO issues and provides recommendations for improving a website’s search engine visibility.
Reporting and export functionality to create custom reports and export data for further analysis.
Tools for analyzing the performance of paid advertising campaigns, including data on ad copy and landing pages.
Competitor analysis tools that enable you to see the keywords, ads, and backlinks of your competitors.
Comprehensive keyword research and analysis, including keyword difficulty scores and CPC data.
Helps to research keywords and find the best ones to target for your website and content.
It crawls the pages of your website and helps to optimize it for ranking.
Pros:
Historic data since 2014
Easy-to-use interface
Free account to utilize limited features
Demo is available
Content outline builder
Integration with web analytics tools
Knowledgeable Help Center
Cons:
Some users reported higher pricing
Limited support
Pricing Plan:
SemRush offers three pricing plans: Pro, Guru and Business. You can also use it for Free, but with limited access. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Yearly Price
Monthly Price
Pro
$99.95/month
$119.95/month
Guru
$191.62/month
$229.95/month
Business
$374.95/month
$449.95/month
Bing Webmaster
Rating
4.0/5
Best For
Monitor the overall health of your website and helps you see how your customers are finding your site
Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tool
Microsoft Bing Webmaster is an SEO tool that helps you get deeper insights into your website. Planning to increase the traffic on your channel? Bing Webmaster fetches your site’s performance data and helps you optimize page rankings. The tools let you analyze your site activity, and backlinks, manage keywords and improve your site’s personality. In addition, it contains SEO reports and an on-demand site tool that checks for common SEO glitches.
Features of Bing Webmaster
Submit a sitemap of the website to Bing, which can help Bing discover and crawl new pages on the site.
It shows the top keywords that people are using to find a website on Bing.
Provides information on how many of a website’s pages are indexed by Bing and any issues that may be preventing Bing from indexing certain pages.
Shows details such as when Bing last crawled your site, and any crawl errors that occurred.
Details such as how website pages are displayed in the search results, including the title and description that Bing is using.
The number of websites linking to a website and the anchor text used in the links.
Allows website owners to specify the geographic location where they want their site to be displayed in Bing’s search results.
Pros:
Free to use
Monitors the ranking of the site
Helps to optimize the content
Sitemap submission
Detailed analytics
Easy to use
Cons:
Limited data compared to google search console
Pricing Plan:
Microsoft Bing Webmaster is Free to use.
Majestic
Rating
4.3/5
Best For
Backlink Analysis, Competitor research, Compare sites, Business profile checker
Majestic SEO Tool
Majestic.com is all about backlinks. It boasts itself as one of the best SEO backlink checkers that optimizes your link intelligence data. Its features include a site explorer summary that provides you with an overview of a website’s link profile, a Topics Report where you find out everything about a website, and a list of metrics including Trust Flow, Citation Flow, Topical Trust Flow, External Backlinks, Referring Domains, Referring IP Addresses, Crawled URLs, Indexed URLs and more. Majestic has launched a new feature called Link context which is a paid feature (rest is free) that helps you find and audit backlinks. With this feature, you can browse and filter a link search more effectively.
Features of Majestic
Shows the results in a variety of formats, including a graph, table, or CSV file.
Domain comparison feature to help users to compare the backlink profile of two or more websites.
Explores a website’s backlink profile, including the number of links, referring domains, and top anchor text.
You can request to crawl a specific website or page, which can be useful for troubleshooting backlink issues or for tracking the progress of a new website.
You can check multiple websites backlinks at once using the Bulk backlink checker feature.
Provides detailed information on the number and quality of backlinks pointing to a website, including the top linking domains and the anchor text used in those links.
The Fresh Index shows the latest backlinks to a website.
Pros:
Provides API access
Custom report
Browser plugins are available
Wholly dedicated to link analysis
Help articles are available
Cons:
Poor customer support
High price for only backlink analysis
Not intuitive interface
Pricing Plan:
Majestic offers three pricing plans: Lite, Pro and API. You can also use it for Free, but with limited access. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Keyworddit is a free SEO tool that extracts keywords from subreddits. Subreddits are threads to conversations on Reddit. Keyworddit works by searching for a specific subreddit or multiple subreddits and extracting the most frequently used words and phrases from the discussions and comments within those subreddits. The tool then organizes the extracted keywords into a list, which can be used for keyword research and optimization purposes. You can extract up to 500 keywords with search volumes.
Features of Keyworddit
It allows you to enter a subreddit and generate a list of keywords related to that topic.
Option to filter the generated list of keywords by word count, relevance, and more.
Helps you to optimize your website content for the keywords you select.
Offers suggestions for related keywords that users might not have thought of.
It helps to find out low competition keywords that eventually lead to a high chance of ranking.
Keyword volume insights that come from a huge database of grepwords.
Pros:
Free to use
Easy to export the keywords
Provide search volume
Finds low-competition keywords
Enhance the capability of Reddit
Auto-suggestion
Cons:
Subreddits with less than 10,000 subscriber doesn’t come in auto-suggest
No support
Pricing Plan:
Keyworddit is Free to use.
Optimizely
Rating
4.2/5
Best For
Content marketing, A/B testing and monitor websites in real-time
Optimizely – Digital Experience Platform
Optimizely is a digital experience platform that helps developers build and run A/B tests on websites. Optimizely Full Stack is another feature that helps you improve your deep-end coding requirements for websites, mobile apps, business logic, and voice bots. The platform offers products like- rollouts, full-stack, web experimentation, optimization-as-a-service, and much more. It also has expert solutions for marketing, engineering, product, and data teams. Industries like media, travel, finance, tech, and retail can also avail of these solutions.
Features of Optimizely
Empower businesses to test different variations of their website or app to see which performs better through the A/B test.
Helps to optimize mobile apps to improve user engagement and conversion rates.
You can create and run tests without any coding knowledge, making it easy for anyone to use.
Provides detailed data and insights on test results, conversion rates, and user behavior.
Helps to create personalized experiences for different segments of the audience.
It targets specific audiences based on factors such as location, device, or behavior.
Allows businesses to make data-driven decisions on which changes to make to their website or app to improve performance.
Pros:
User-friendly dashboard
Detailed data and insights
Customizable targeting
Seamless integration with other tools
Learning resources are available
Best for A/B testing
Advanced Targeting
Cons:
Pricing is not disclosed
Limited support
Pricing Plan:
Optimizely offers custom pricing plan, contact vendor to get a quote.
KWFinder
Rating
4.5/5
Best For
Keyword research and content marketing
KWFinder – Keyword Research Tool
KWFinder is yet another keyword tool that finds thousands of hidden long-tail keywords using Google’s autocomplete API. It allows users to enter a seed keyword and receive a list of related keywords, as well as information about their search volume, cost-per-click (CPC), and ranking difficulty. KWFinder also provides a feature called “Questions” that generates a list of questions that people are asking about a specific topic on the internet.
It is commonly used for search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing purposes. By identifying the most relevant and popular keywords for a specific topic or industry, users can optimize their website content and marketing strategies to attract more visitors and potential customers.SEO experts, PPC professionals, online marketers, and content creators can easily optimize their keyword searches using this tool.
KWFinder Tutorial: Easy Keyword Research Guide for Beginners (KGR Technique & Autocomplete)
Features of KWFinder
Provides a difficulty score for each keyword, which takes into account factors such as the strength of the top 10 results and the number of backlinks required to rank for that keyword.
Gives the top results for a keyword and analyzes the backlinks, social signals, and other data for each website.
KWfinder will provide a list of related keywords with search volume, CPC, and other metrics.
Just enter a website or a keyword and KWfinder will show the top keywords that website is ranking for.
It allows users to research keywords in different countries and languages and provides localized search volume data.
Suggests new keywords by analyzing the questions that people are asking on search engines.
Pros:
10-day free trial
Historic data
Localized search volume
User-friendly interface
Multi-language support
Keyword difficulty score
Comprehensive keyword data
Cons:
Does not currently offer integration with other SEO tools such as Ahrefs or SEMrush.
Free plan is not available
Pricing Plan:
KWFinder offers three pricing plans: Mangools Basic, Mangools Premium and Mangools Agency. 10-day free trial available. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Yearly Price
Monthly Price
Mangools Basic
$29.90/month
$49.00/month
Mangools Premium
$44.90/month
$69.00/month
Mangools Agency
$89.90/month
$129.00/month
Spyfu
Rating
4.6/5
Best For
Keyword research and competitive intelligence
Spyfu SEO Tool
Spyfu, originally GoogSpy, is an analytics company that specializes in research of keywords, PPC, and SEO. It also gives you the ad history and keyword search by your competitors which can be extremely useful in marketing campaigns. A special feature Kombat, helps you analyze how to level up with a competitor, which area of marketing are they putting their money in, and what are their common and unique keywords. Overall, Spyfu helps you increase your website traffic, track keyword rankings, and make better connections.
Features of Spyfu
It provides detailed information on a business’s competitors, including their top organic and paid search keywords.
You can see the ad copy and landing pages used by your competitors, which can provide insights into what strategies are working well.
Detailed overview of any domain name, including organic and paid keywords, backlinks, organic and paid visibility, and paid search ads.
Keyword research tool that provides the estimated search volume, CPC, and competition for those keywords.
Set up alerts to get notified when your competitors make changes to their online advertising campaigns.
Allows you to see the ads that their competitors are running on Google and Bing.
Rank tracking feature to track the rank of your website and pages over time.
Pros:
Backlink builder
Excellent support
More focused on competitor analysis
Competitors paid campaign tracking
Keyword ranking history
Mini video tutorial to learn the tool
Custom branded reporting
Cons:
No free trial and no free plan
Advertising spend is not always accurate
Pricing Plan:
Spyfu offers three pricing plans: Basic, Professional and Team. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Yearly Price
Monthly Price
Basic
$16/month
$39/month
Professional
$36/month
$39/month
Team
$149/month
$299/month
Woorank
Rating
4.3/5
Best For
Link Building, Keyword Research, and SERP Rank Tracking
Woorank – digital marketing tool
Woorank is an all-in-one digital marketing tool that provides users with in-depth insights into their website’s performance. With Woorank, users can analyze their website’s SEO, mobile compatibility, social media presence, and overall performance. The tool also provides information on the website’s traffic, backlinks, and keywords, as well as its competition.
Features of Woorank
It checks a website’s backlinks and provides information on the quality and relevance of those links.
Analyzes a website’s content, including its quality and relevance, and provides recommendations for improvement.
Provides stats including load time, mobile responsiveness, and accessibility.
Detailed reports on various aspects of a website, including technical issues, content, and link building.
Allows you to compare your website’s performance to that of your competitors.
You can choose which sections of the report you want to generate and customize the appearance of the report.
Advanced keyword research and tracking tool that helps
Pros:
14-day free trial
Excellent support
Modern and user-friendly interface
Knowledge resources
Browser extension is available
Offers complete digital marketing solution
Cons:
Doesn’t offer any free plan
The monthly plan is little bit expensive
Pricing Plan:
Woorank offers three pricing plans: Pro, Premium and Enterprise. Have a look at the pricing details of each package.
Plan
Yearly Price
Monthly Price
Pro
$$53.25/month
$79.99/month
Premium
$133.25/month
$199.99/month
Enterprise
Custom Price
Custom Price
Siteliner
Rating
3.4/5
Best For
SEO audit, find duplicate content and broken links
Siteliner – Free SEO Tool
Siteliner is a free tool that lets you explore your website, pointing out issues that affect your site’s quality and search engine rankings. It also helps you discover duplicate content and broken links. It identifies pages that form a pattern and crawl through your site to give you prominent search engines. Siteliner also provides a standard XML sitemap for your site with a detailed Siteliner Report.
Features of Siteliner
Checks for duplicate content on the website to improve the ranking.
It helps to identify broken links on the website and provides a list of all the broken links found.
Overview of the internal link structure of the site including the number of internal links per page and the most linked-to pages.
It shows the number of pages indexed by search engines and the percentage of the website that has been indexed.
Gives recommendations for optimization and improvement, including suggestions for fixing duplicate content, broken links, and other technical issues.
Benefits of Using SEO Tools For B2B SaaS Businesses
Using SEO tools can provide many benefits for B2B SaaS businesses, including:
Improved search engine rankings: By identifying and fixing issues on your website, SEO tools can help improve your search engine rankings and increase the visibility of your website in search results.
Increased website traffic: Higher search engine rankings can lead to increased website traffic from potential customers who are searching for relevant keywords.
Enhanced user experience: SEO tools can help improve the overall user experience on your website by identifying and fixing issues such as broken links, slow page loading times, and duplicate content.
Increased conversions: By improving the visibility and user experience of your website, SEO tools can help increase conversions, such as sales or sign-ups.
Competitive advantage: By using SEO tools to optimize your website and improve its visibility in search results, you can gain a competitive advantage over other businesses in your industry.
Overall, using SEO tools can help B2B SaaS businesses improve their online presence and reach, attract more qualified traffic, and drive more conversions.
Conclusion
SEO for a SaaS Company encompasses strategizing on your target audience, your site usage, and its online visibility. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)is a long-term process that sometimes tends to be challenging. Every tool is meant for various needs like link building, keyword research, content optimizations, and technical SEO. However, you don’t have to be overwhelmed by dozens of SEO tools and SaaS subscriptions to see great results. All the tools mentioned above will help you hit the right nail on the head and achieve higher rankings on the SERPs.
So, you can choose any tool as per your business needs.
FAQs
Which are the best tools for SEO?
Some of the best SEO tools are listed below:
Ahrefs
Google Search Console
Moz
Ubersuggest
Screaming Frog
Keywords Everywhere
SEOquake
Answer The Public
SEMrush
Google Trends
How do SEO tools work?
SEO tools work by analyzing various aspects of a website and its presence on the internet and providing recommendations for how to improve its search engine rankings.
What is SaaS SEO?
SaaS SEO is the practice of increasing the quantity of organic traffic for a Software as a Service company website. It helps in improving ranking on the SERPs for a list of relevant keywords.
How to determine the cost of SEO service?
It’s difficult to provide a specific cost for SEO, as it will vary depending on the specific needs and goals of the business. It’s important for businesses to carefully consider their budget and the potential return on investment (ROI) when deciding how much to invest in SEO.
What are Google SEO tools?
Google SEO tools are listed below:
Google Search console
Google Analytics
Google Webmaster
Google Trends
How important is SEO for SaaS businesses?
SEO is an important part of any SaaS business’s marketing strategy, as it can help to drive organic traffic and increase visibility in search results. It’s worth investing time and effort into implementing effective SEO strategies to help ensure the long-term success of the business.
Chatbots are a useful and convenient tool for businesses and organizations to communicate with their customers or users. They allow for efficient and immediate responses to inquiries and can even handle tasks and transactions automatically. Chatbots have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their ability to provide quick and efficient customer service, assist with tasks, and improve overall user experience.
Smart companies are integrating intelligent and interactive chatbots into their inbound marketing strategies. The artificial intelligence of interactive chatbots is revolutionizing the customer service experience. With interactive chatbots, companies can give quick responses to their customers. By adding a chatbot to your website or on Facebook, you can provide information to customers whenever they need it.
Chatbot marketing can be daunting, but with the help of chatbot platform tools, building and deploying a chatbot on your website and messaging applications are now quick and simple. In this blog, we will introduce some of the top AI chatbot tools available and discuss their key features, pricing, and limitations. Whether you’re a small business owner looking to improve customer service or a huge enterprise seeking to supercharge your marketing, there is a tool on this list for you.
Chatbots are, essentially, intelligent programs that are capable of having conversations with humans. They can help to steer your online prospects through the sales funnel with ease, right from initial discussions to final conversions. You can find these interactive chatbots in apps, online messaging platforms, and on websites.
Chatbots are created using a series of if-then statements programmed into a chatbot builder. It is not necessary to be a coding expert to build even the most complex chatbots.
How do Chatbot works?
Chatbots work by using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to understand and respond to user input. They are programmed with a set of rules and responses that allow them to understand and respond to specific keywords or phrases.
How chatbot works
When a user interacts with a chatbot, the bot will first analyze the user’s input to determine the intent behind the message. It will then match the intent with a predefined set of rules and responses, and provide a suitable response to the user. Whenever you customize a chatbot, there is a proper flow you build which is much similar to A/B testing.
The chatbot also uses machine learning to learn from user interactions and improve its understanding of language over time. It also accesses external data sources to provide more accurate responses to users.
10 Most Popular AI Chatbot Saas Tools
Here is a list of the most popular AI chatbot programs for your website and other platforms:
Chatfuel
Rating
4.3/5
Best for
Chatbot Platform for Messenger
Pricing Model
Per Feature
Free
Free Trial and Free Version
Chatfuel – Chatbot Platform for Facebook
Chatfuel was founded in 2015 to make bot-building easy for anyone. Today, it is the leading platform for building bots on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and websites. In fact, it is one of the most popular chatbot software brands around the globe. Chatfuel enables businesses to boost sales, craft personalized marketing campaigns, and automate customer support. Chatfuel’s clients range from small and medium businesses to the world’s most recognizable brands. Some of its largest customers include Adidas, TechCrunch, T-Mobile, LEGO, Golden State Warriors, and many others.
Features:
It is powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which allows you to automatically provide the answers to the most commonly asked questions by your customers.
You can hand over the conversation to a human agent in case your online bot isn’t able to answer the question appropriately.
It ensures that you never miss a chat with your customers and you can continue to provide them with the support they need.
In case you don’t have the time to create your online chatbot using Chatfuel’s software solution, their agency can help you create it too.
Pros:
Free templates
Free plan is available
Video tutorials are available
Integration with zapier, calendly, and stripe
Captures feedback
Analytics
Customizable chat widget
Cons:
Mobile app is not available
Poor documentation
Pricing:
This popular intelligent AI chatbot platform has a Trial Plan which is FREE for companies that are just starting. If you’re looking for advanced features, then their paid plans i.e. Entrepreneur, Startup, Small Business plan might be more suitable for you. Look at the pricing details of each plan below:
ChatBot helps you to create stunning chatbots with a drag-and-drop interface or apply a template and customize it as needed. You can design smooth conversational experiences to build better relationships with your customers and grow your business. With easy one-click integration, ChatBot can be used on various platforms and channels such as Facebook Messenger, Slack, LiveChat, WordPress, and more. This is also a useful tool for sending automated replies that will motivate people to talk and engage.
Features:
Delight your customers with intuitive menus, clickable elements, images, GIFs, and much more.
Segment users, validate answers, and organize data behind the scenes.
Customize the look and feel to match your brand style and website design.
Flexibly connect with third-party apps using webhooks and a fully open API.
Connect with more people across channels and platforms. Integrate with apps you use and love.
Keep chats natural with AI context management – chatbots will stay on topic and go with the flow of the conversation.
ChatBot Demo
Pros:
14-day free trial
Ready-to-use templates
Visual editor
Wide range of integration
Huge learning resources
Customizable chat widget
Reports and analytics
Cons:
Free plan is not available
Mobile app is available
Pricing:
ChatBot provides you with four pricing options – Starter, Team, Business, and Enterprise. Look at the pricing details of each plan below.
Plan
Pricing
Starter
$52/month billed annually or $65 month-to-month
Team
$142/month billed annually or $169 month-to-month
Business
$424/month billed annually or $499 month-to-month
Enterprise
Custom plans
IntelliTicks
Rating
4.6/5
Best for
AI-Powered Live Chat platform
Pricing Model
Per User
Free
Free Trial and Free Plan
IntelliTicks – AI-Powered Chatbot Saas Tools
Intelliticks is a powerful chatbot that offers businesses unparalleled insights into customer behavior. It has the ability to provide personalized recommendations to customers based on their individual preferences. It offers a wide range of analytics tools that allow businesses to track customer engagement over time. This includes detailed reports on customer behavior, as well as real-time analytics that provide a snapshot of customer engagement at any given moment.
Features:
Talk to your website visitors 24×7 even when your agents are sleeping.
Monitor automated chats and overtake if needed or if it is a HOT lead.
Let AI answer repeated queries from prospects.
Lead Prioritization by identifying who is a hot, warm, or cold lead in the live traffic.
Peek into the lead’s mind.
Easy to understand lead insights.
Integrate with your CRM – Get all your Leads & Conversation data directly in your favorite tools.
Analyze & Optimize – Get a detailed report on what converts visitors to leads.
Pros:
Free plan is available
Community support
Free trial plan on paid plan
Pre-built templates
Easy integration with CRM and zapier
Documentation and help center
Mobile app is available
Cons:
Limited customization
Multi-language support is not available
Pricing:
IntelliTicks has one Free Forever plan and three pricing options with advanced features including– Starter, Standard, and Plus. Look at the pricing details of each plan below.
Plan
Pricing
Free
$0 free forever
Starter
$20 per month, billed yearly or $25 per month, billed monthly
Standard
$80 per month, billed yearly or $99 per month, billed monthly
Plus
$240 per month, billed yearly or $299 per month, billed monthly
Zendesk Chat is a live chat platform that lets businesses provide real-time customer support across web, mobile, and messaging channels. Zendesk Chat includes live chat, conversation history, quantitative visitor tracking, analytics, and real-time data analysis. Reduce customer wait times by using skills-based routing to bring the right agent to the customer and allow chatbots to tackle common questions immediately. Use proactive triggers to rescue lost customers and increase conversions on your website. Automatically create tickets from each chat interaction by enabling chat with its help desk solution today.
Zendesk Chat can be integrated into any content management system, including WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Wix, and more. Zendesk Chat allows you to generate tickets automatically from every conversation.
Features:
Anticipate customer questions and offer help when—and where—they need it most with chat support.
Send targeted and behavior-based messages to customers.
Use pre-chat forms to ask visitors for their contact information before starting a chat, or offline forms to ensure customers can contact you even while you’re away.
Use chat ratings to gather feedback and continue to improve your performance.
Share any file with your customer—a screenshot, a product guide, even an animated GIF—and solve problems faster.
Integrate AI-powered bots into Chat using API.
Introduction to Zendesk Chat (for beginners)
Pros:
Free trial is available
Flow builder
Widget customization
Mobile app is available
Huge integration option
Advanced analytics and reporting
Community forum
Learning resources
Cons:
Same color code for all chats
Quite expensive
Pricing:
Zendesk chat offers a Free plan and three pricing plans including – Team, Professional, and Enterprise. Look at the pricing details of each plan below.
Plan
Annual Subscription
Monthly Subscription
Lite
$0
$0
Team
$14 per agent per month
$19 per agent per month
Professional
$29 per agent per month
$35 per agent per month
Enterprise
$59 per agent per month
$70 per agent per month
Botsify
Rating
4.4/5
Best For
AI-Enabled Live Chat Software
Pricing Model
Per Feature
Free
Book a Demo & Get a Free Trial
Botsify – Chatbot Saas Tools
Botsify is an AI-powered live chat system for businesses, allowing them to provide excellent customer service and boost sales. It supports text, audio, video, AR, and VR on all major messaging platforms. Botsify is a popular online AI chatbot platform that helps you create intelligent chatbots for your website as well as popular messaging channels like Facebook Messenger and Slack, without having to spend your time and effort in coding. The drag-and-drop interface makes it simple to design templates for your chatbot. Apple and Shazam are among the many big companies that use Botsify to create their chatbots.
Features:
Has an easy-to-use drag-and-drop UI.
Powered by AI and machine learning.
It allows you to seamlessly transfer the conversation from a bot to a human agent in situations where the bot might not be suitably equipped to help the customer.
Introduces conversation forms using which you can collect information about your leads through chatbot conversations.
Botsify offers multiple plugins to help you integrate it with your RSS Feed, Google Sheets, Shopify store, or Google search.
Pros:
100+ integration option
Multi-language support
14-day free trial is available
Chatbot builder
Lead Generation Conversational Forms
Omnichannel platform
Cons:
Free plan is not available
Poor support
Pricing:
Botsify offers three pricing plans including – “Do it yourself” plan, the “Done for you” plan, and the “Custom” plan. Look at the pricing details of each plan below.
ManyChat is a robust communication tool that helps businesses to automate conversations with customers.
It is a valuable tool for customer service, sales, and marketing. With its automation capabilities, targeted messaging, lead capture, e-commerce integration, and tracking features, it can be used for a variety of purposes. Its omnichannel nature will help to connect this tool with popular social media sites and e-commerce platforms.
Features:
Respond to buyers instantly on their phones, show them the products that fit them best, and get them to buy—all inside of Facebook Messenger or on your website.
Guide product selection and complete sales transactions, all within Messenger.
Connect with Shopify and recover lost sales.
Leverage social media conversations and customer responses to promote products and send coupons.
Use the E-commerce dashboard, which automatically pulls metrics from Shopify, to understand what converts best, and track earnings, average revenue, purchases per buyer, and unique buyers.
Intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
Pros:
Free plan is available
Integration with Hubspot, MailChimp, Shopify, and more
Easy to use
Video tutorials are available
Flow builder
Provide free training
Cons:
Lack of better documentation
Poor customer support
Pricing:
ManyChat offers two plans – Free and Pro Plan. Look at the pricing details of the Pro plan below.
Plan
Pricing
Free
$0 per month
Pro
$15 per month
Tawk.to
Rating
4.6/5
Best For
Free Live Chat Tool
Free
Completely Free
Tawk.to – Chatbot Saas Tools
Tawk.to is a free live chat app that lets you monitor and chat with visitors on your website or from a free customizable page. More than 250000 companies use this chatbot tool to provide real-time support and service to their customers. Tawk.to is the most popular chat tool in the world and holds an impressive 98% customer satisfaction rating. Keep in contact with customers through live chat, track incidents with a built-in ticketing system, and put together an easy-to-use help center – all at no cost. Never lose another lead or sale again, with Tawk.to you can monitor and chat with your website visitors when they need it most.
How to install and get started with Live Chat App Tawk.to
Features:
Real-Time Monitoring
Native Mobile Apps
Automated Triggers
Customizable Widgets
Ticketing Built-in
Remove Branding
Canned Shortcuts
100+ Integrations
Pros:
Knowledge base is available
45+ language supported
Detailed analytic and reporting
Easy to set up
Free forever
Mobile app is available
User-friendly interface
Cons:
Notifications are inconsistent
Pricing:
The Tawk.to app iscompletely free.
Freshchat
Rating
4.4/5
Best For
AI-Powered Live Chat Software
Pricing Model
Flat Rate
Free
Free Trial and Free Version
Freshchat Analytics
Freshchat is the customer engagement tool offered by one of the most popular helpdesk service providers. Bringing together artificial and human intelligence across messaging channels, this is a powerful chatbot that is already used by more than 50,000 businesses worldwide. Businesses are leveraging the power of this chatbot to streamline their workflow and provide satisfactory customer experience. It empowers businesses to easily access customer information and provide personalized support, regardless of the channel or device being used.
Features offered by Freshchat
Chatbot is easy to build without any prior knowledge of coding.
Customers can resolve their issues on their own by leveraging the chatbot AI.
Pre-built templates are available to fast-forward the process of powerful bot creation.
You can customize the appearance and behavior of the chat widgets to match your brand and website.
Mobile-first approach makes it easy for businesses to connect with customers on the go.
It seamlessly integrates with a wide range of business tools, such as CRM systems, help desks, and e-commerce platforms.
Detailed analytics on customer engagement, such as conversation history, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
Pros:
21-day free trial
Mobile app is available to chat with customers anywhere, anytime
User-friendly interface
Excellent customer support
Multilingual support in 54 languages
Easy integration
Email and push notifications
Cons:
Extra features at additional cost
Slow response time
Pricing:
Freshchat offers one Free plan and three pricing plans including – the “Growth” plan, the “Pro” plan, and the “Enterprise” plan. Look at the pricing details of each plan below.
Plan
Annual Plan Price
Monthly Plan Price
Growth
₹999/agent/month, billed annually
₹1199/agent/month, billed monthly
Pro
₹2799/agent/month, billed annually
₹3399/agent/month, billed monthly
Enterprise
₹4999/agent/month, billed annually
₹5999/agent/month, billed monthly
Intercom
Rating
4.5/5
Best For
Custom Chatbot for for Quick Responses
Pricing Model
Per Feature
Free
Free Trial
Intercom – Best Chatbot Software
Intercom is a customer communication platform that allows businesses to connect with their customers through various channels, including email, live chat, and social media. It is developed and maintained by Intercom Inc, a San Francisco-based company founded in 2011. More than 25,000 businesses are using this tool to manage and support customers. Hostinger, one of the most reputed hosting providers uses this tool to serve its customers.
Features offered by Intercom
Businesses can create personalized, automated messages that are triggered by specific events or customer behaviors.
Its live chat and messaging feature allow businesses to connect with customers in real-time.
Lead generation tools help businesses to capture lead information from their website, such as name and email address, and automatically add them to their contact list.
It helps to gather valuable insights about their customers’ experiences and preferences.
It seamlessly integrates with a wide range of popular tools, such as Salesforce, Slack, and Mailchimp. This allows businesses to streamline their workflow.
Easy to customize the bot that asks the right questions at the right place.
Help Center articles that help the customers with repetitive questions and significantly reduce the workload from your employee.
Pros:
Free trial for small businesses
Interactive interface
Mobile app is available
Wide range of integration options
Huge Learning resources are available
Account-based marketing
Good customer support
Cons:
Price is not disclosed for the business plan
Initial setup is complex
Pricing:
Intercom offers custom pricing plans, you can contact the vendor for details.
Tidio
Rating
4.8/5
Best For
Easiest To Use in Chatbots software
Pricing Model
Flat Rate
Free
Free Trial and Free Version
Tidio – Easy-to-Use Chatbot Software
Tidio is a powerful communication tool that offers you a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution for connecting with your customers and audience. It seamlessly integrates with a wide range of popular platforms, including WordPress, Shopify, and Magento. You can easily connect with your customers and audience via live chat, email, or messenger, without leaving the platform. It provides you with detailed insights into your customer behavior and preferences. These insights will help you to improve your marketing and sales strategies.
Features offered by Tidio
Chat widget that allows businesses to connect with their customers and audience in real-time.
Automated responses to common customer queries that reduce response time and improve efficiency.
Easy to customize the appearance of the live chat widget to match the brand identity.
chatbot builder to create custom chatbots to assist customers with their queries.
You can create and send email campaigns to your target audience directly from the Tidio platform.
It supports multiple languages which makes it an ideal choice for businesses with a global audience.
Advanced AI that recommends the products to users based on their interaction.
Smart ticketing system to solve the customer’s query quickly.
Pros:
Easy installation
Free plan is available
Customer Satisfaction Management
Robust analytics
Easy customization
Blog post to learn
Mobile app is available
Cons:
Limited integration feature
100 unique visitors are limited in the free plan
Pricing:
Tidio offers one Free plan and three pricing plans including – the “Communicator” plan, the “Chatbots” plan, and the “Tidio+” plan. Look at the pricing details of each plan below.
Plan
Annual Plan Price
Monthly Plan Price
Communicator
15.83 USD per month
19 USD per month
Chatbots
32.50 USD per month
39 USD per month
Tidio+
240.83 USD per month
289 USD per month
Conclusion
Interactive chatbots can help you engage with your customers in a better and more personalized way. You can broadcast your offers and other marketing messages easily. They can also help you provide quick and efficient customer service. The best part is you can deploy interactive chatbots on websites, apps, as well as other social media platforms.
The software solutions mentioned above are some of the top AI chatbot platforms in the business. So, choose the one you like the best to build your own interactive chatbot.
A chatbot is computer software used to automatically generate messages to the queries of customers in a messaging app. As customers want 24/7/365 service, so it is an advanced way of communicating with humans via machine.
What are some popular Chatbots in 2023?
Some of the popular Chatbots tools in 2023 are as follows:-
Chatfuel
Chatbot
IntelliTicks
Zendesk Chat
Botsify
ManyChat
Tawk.to
Which are the best free Chatbot tools?
The best free chatbot tools are as follows:-
Chatfuel
ManyChat
Botsify
MobileMonkey
Flow XO
Pandorabots
Aivo
DialogFlow
Is Chatbot an AI tool?
Yes, chatbots are often powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and are able to mimic human conversation and perform tasks automatically.
What are the benefits of Chatbots for Customers?
The benefits of Chatbots for Customers are as follows:-
Chatbot provides 24/7/365 service.
The customer receives an instant reply to their queries.
Customers can take a screenshot of the message whenever they want in order to claim if they won’t avail of the service.
Users have the flexibility to choose the language in which they want to initiate the conversation.
What are the benefits of Chatbots for Companies?
The benefits of Chatbots for companies are as follows:-
Chatbots boost sales because of their instant and 24/7/365 service.
A chatbot is considered a way to reach out to new customers because of its active presence.
It helps the companies in saving the cost that is required to maintain customer service. Though the installation of a chatbot requires an investment cost, it is less compared to a customer service salary.
Chatbot increases operational efficiency as it reacts faster to the customers’ inquiries on behalf of the company.
Can chatbot tools handle multiple languages?
Many chatbot tools offer support for multiple languages, including Dialogflow, Botpress, and Pandorabots. However, it’s important to check the specific language capabilities of the tool you’re considering to make sure it meets your needs.
Can chatbot tools integrate with other tools and services?
Many chatbot tools offer integrations with other tools and services, such as CRM systems, marketing platforms, and payment processors. It’s worth checking the available integrations of the chatbot tool you’re considering to see if it meets your needs.
Software as a Service (or SaaS) is a new method for delivering software applications over the internet. It does not require any installation or maintenance of the software to avail of the services. The software is hosted by a third party and one can access it by paying a subscription fee.
The benefits of the SaaS model are clear. It provides lower costs, lower commitment risk, and a try-before-you-buy model, which gives customers a remarkable opportunity to assess a product before making a purchase. Indeed, the benefit is so clear that a 2017 study conducted by BetterCloud found that 86% of organizations estimate that 80% of their business apps will be delivered through the SaaS model by 2022.
Growth chart of SaaS business apps in companies
In 2022, the SaaS market valuation is at $186.6 billion and has an annual growth rate of around 18%. It is projected to grow to $700 billion by 2030.
For software businesses, on the other hand, the SaaS model presented an entirely new way to build, distribute, market, sell, and support a software product. It affects every single part of a software operation. But the most significant change that the SaaS model brought — the one at the root of all the other changes — was the SaaS revenue model. The Software as a Service (SaaS) revenue model is associated with regular, ongoing payments over a defined period, in exchange for using a software application or other tool.
SaaS is referred to as a software distribution model in which a cloud provider hosts applications and makes them available to end-users over the internet. In this model, an independent software vendor may contact a third-party cloud provider to host the application.
SaaS is one of the categories of cloud computing that include infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS). SaaS applications are mostly used by IT professionals, business users, and personal users. Products ranging from entertainment services, like Netflix, to advanced IT tools come under SaaS. SaaS products are mostly marketed to B2B and B2C customers.
As per recent McKinsey & Company study, technology industry analysts have predicted further growth in the SaaS market, and expect to see the market for SaaS products close to $200 billion by the year 2024.
All About SaaS
SaaS Revenue Model & Its Phases
Before SaaS, the software revenue model was transactional and all that mattered was the initial sale of the software product. Big, fancy salesmen sold long-term deals for one, two, or even five million dollars a pop. Done. Hands dusted, gong rung, contract signed — all the revenue that was going to come from that deal had been generated. Enter the SaaS revenue model. It swapped the single point of revenue with three essential phases: Initial sale → Retention → Expansion
SaaS Revenue Model
There are three phases of the SaaS Revenue Model as listed below.
Phase 1: The Initial Sale
Phase 2: Retention Revenue
Phase 3: Expansion Revenue
Phase 1: The Initial Sale
It still exists! And it’s still an essential part of the SaaS revenue model. “Closing” an initial sale includes everything from a simple self-serve upgrade to an annual contract shepherded by an inside salesperson.
If you play this phase well and show strong initial sales growth, you’ll get somewhere with your SaaS business. You’ll probably be able to raise some money, maybe even have a mini-brand — excellent! But these days, an initial sale brings in far less revenue than in the traditional SaaS revenue model. It’s still extremely important — you need a flow of new customers — but you also need to move on too.
“You mean we have to keep them happy? Forever??” – Early SaaS pioneer
Quite so, Mr. Early SaaS Pioneer. There’s a new (SaaS) revenue model in town. Most early players, however, maintain the sales-first mentality even though they’re selling much smaller, month-to-month deals. They’re celebrating the initial sale disproportionately which is not correct for SaaS.
On the other hand, some SaaS companies quickly realized the importance of retention. Indeed, they saw that an initial sale didn’t matter much if a new account was canceled three, six — even 12 months later. They realized they couldn’t sustain growth if they churned the customers they brought in. These people know how to play the game of SaaS.
Today’s SaaS pros realize that retention is the biggest revenue opportunity in SaaS. An initial sale might get you $500 in the bank when you convert that deal. But retention, retention will bring in that amount times the number of months the account stays active. And why? Here’s some fast math on that point:
1 month (initial sale): $500
x 12 months = $6k
x 24 months = $12k
x 36 months = $24k
Indeed, the revenue opportunity from retention is exponentially larger than the initial sale. Execute well in this second phase, my friend, and you will build a solid, sustainable SaaS business. Excellent! But wait — if you want to build a great SaaS business, crush the competition, and have a shot at an IPO, you’ll have to master the third phase of the SaaS revenue model: Expansion.
Phase 3: Expansion Revenue
Often overlooked, always important — this is where the true secret to SaaS growth lies. Savvy SaaS teams quickly realized that they could drive revenue growth by expanding existing accounts. Upsells, cross-sells, and any other sales that could generate additional revenue from existing customers became SaaS staples. And it worked earlier, mainly because the opportunity for second-order revenue was huge.
Calculating expansion revenue growth rate
You understand the realities of the three phases of SaaS revenue. Excellent! But that’s only half the battle. The other half is executing against it. You’ll need to shift the way you look at adoption, customer service, sales, and marketing. Thanks to the SaaS model, the operations of software businesses are changing.
Customer relationships: In the SaaS revenue model,customer relationships are based on the ongoing delivery of customer value.
Marketing issues related to the SaaS/subscription model: Marketing strategies focus on growing subscribers through lead generation, branding, goodwill activities, and other efforts to create interest in the product or service.
Operational implications of the SaaS/subscription revenue model: Companies employing the SaaS/subscription revenue model should focus primarily on delivering cost-effective customer value.
Financial and strategic implications: In most cases, successful SaaS/subscription companies build up their subscriber base over a long period. In the interim, they require financing to develop delivery capacity as well as to support efforts to increase the user base.
Key metrics: SaaS/subscription companies consider key metrics to be customer retention and net new growth in subscriber numbers.
Modalities: While SaaS/subscriptions are most commonly thought of as single sales to individual subscribers, the SaaS/subscription model also works with bulk sales. Rather than selling one subscriber one subscription, a company can sell subscriptions in larger increments for a reduced per-user rate.
Costs and benefits of the SaaS/subscription model: The SaaS/subscription revenue model usually works best when a company is servicing ongoing and continuous customer needs. This means that customer relationships may span several years. It is often challenging to convince new customers to commit to long-term contracts, especially in the case of companies offering novel products or services.
To build a great SaaS revenue operation, there are three truths teams must accept:
SaaS revenue goes well beyond an initial sale. There are three essential phases of revenue and a SaaS business must execute well in all three phases to become great.
Building a management structure that provides continuity and strategic consistency across these three phases of revenue will ensure the best shot at success.
Product engagement is the key to winning the game of SaaS. Great SaaS operations understand this and find a way to bring this data to their team in the most actionable way possible. Great SaaS revenue models seamlessly integrate product engagement insights into every part of their customer-facing operations.
Conclusion
A good SaaS model provides lower costs, and lower commitment risk, and a try-before-you-buy model gives customers a remarkable opportunity to assess a product before making a purchase. For software businesses, on the other hand, the SaaS model presents an entirely new way to build, distribute, market, sell, and support a software product.
Now that you know about the revenue model of SaaS, let’s get on board and start executing them in your business.
FAQs
What is SaaS?
Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of delivering applications over the Internet – as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management.
What are the examples of SaaS?
Examples of SaaS are – BigCommerce, Google Apps, Salesforce, Dropbox, MailChimp, ZenDesk, DocuSign, Slack, and Hubspot. PaaS Examples: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Heroku, Windows Azure (mostly used as PaaS), Force.com, OpenShift, Apache Stratos, Magento Commerce Cloud.
What are the three phases of the SaaS Revenue Model?
The three phases of the SaaS Revenue Model are:-
Phase 1: The Initial Sale
Phase 2: Retention Revenue
Phase 3: Expansion Revenue
Is Netflix a SaaS?
Yes, Netflix is a SaaS that offers software to watch licensed videos. It follows a subscription-based model wherein the user can choose the suitable one as per its requirement.
Is Facebook a SaaS?
SaaS simply stands for “Software as a Service”. Facebook is a consumer network product, not technically SaaS, but there’s no other product that provides as many services as Facebook does.
Are mobile apps SaaS?
The new frontier for enterprise software as a service (SaaS) providers appears to be in mobile apps. While desktop platforms are still the backbone of any SaaS product, mobile apps are becoming increasingly important. Mobile apps and API connections are expected to add 0.71% growth to the SaaS Market Size.
It is nearly impossible to communicate ideas and have important discussions face-to-face always, owing to one’s busy schedule. Advanced communication technology can help this situation smartly. Webinar means conducting an online seminar, meetings, and conferences online, using the internet facility. Webinar software can be defined as video conferencing software that helps host or broadcast training, workshop, meeting, lectures, etc. on the web.
The best webinar software makes recording, sharing, and engaging your prospects. Plus, it should have super high-quality video and audio quality, allow multiple presenters, and even have email marketing capabilities to ensure everyone shows up for your webinar. Most webinar software also comes with features like built-in surveys, polls, live chat, automated webinar sequences, live streaming, and more. These automated webinar sequences are excellent for hosting evergreen content like online courses, podcast interviews, or employee onboarding videos.
Best Webinar Software Tools in 2023
This list of the 12 best webinar software tools will help you figure out which tool is best for your business marketing needs.
Zoom comes with a range of cloud video conferencing capabilities, including HD voice and video functionality, dual streams for dual screens, the ability to join as a view-only attendee, as well as by Zoom Rooms and telephone dial-in. It also has accessibility features, which allow employees with physical disabilities to schedule, attend, and participate in Zoom meetings and webinars.
The group collaboration feature of Zoom allows simultaneous screen sharing, group messaging, whiteboarding, annotation, and co-annotation, iOS mirroring on iPhone or iPad, and the ability to share documents, photos, and videos. Zoom includes unlimited VOIP with toll-free options in more than 60 countries available. You can also integrate any third-party teleconferencing service. Zoom lets you create a personal meeting ID and URL name to share with participants when you schedule your meetings. The security features enable you to give role-based control and include SSL encryption plus HTTPS access.
Zoom works across all platforms and will record the entire event, including questions asked by viewers. It also offers screen sharing and annotations and allows you to broadcast to Facebook Live or YouTube. It is also one of the only major webinar platforms that offer a free plan. If your webinar is under forty minutes and your attendees are under 100, you can use its basic features for free.
Pros and Cons of Zoom webinar software are listed below:
Pros:
Interactive features like screen sharing, hand-raising, virtual background options, and live chat.
Easy to use.
Marketing tools to nurture contacts.
Ability to back up meetings in the cloud.
Allows meetings with a large number of participants.
Cons:
The free version of Zoom has a relatively low limit of 40 minutes.
Zoom has faced security and privacy concerns in the past.
Pricing Plans of Zoom:
Free
100 participants (40-minute limit)
Pro
$14.99/month
Business
$19.99/month
Webinar
$79/month
Event
$99/month
A free personal meeting plan is available with some restrictions. Paid plans start at $14.99/month, with Business and Enterprise plans starting from $19.99/month available as well. Also, Zoom charges per host. If you go with the basic paid plan at $14.99 per month but use two hosts, you’ll pay $14.99 x 2 or $29.98 per month.
Top 10 Best Video Conferencing Tools for Businesses
Webex
Launched in
2000
Rating
4.2/5
Mobile App
Yes
Starting Price
Free
Webex – webinar platform
Webex is more than a webinar platform, combining a wider range of features for holding online meetings, events, training sessions, interactive presentations and team collaboration. This sets it apart from the tools we’ve looked at so far, although the pricing is very similar. So you get a lot of features for your money compared to GoToWebinar and a completely different set of features to EverWebinar.
It provides some impressive features, such as a host room along with HD video and audio services that can be accessed on multiple devices. It allows its users a high degree of customization so that the host environment can be tailor-made to suit business requirements. Through Webex webinars, you can hold meetings throughout your organization, offer online and offline training sessions, and provide remote support. The key USPs of Webex include mobility, user-friendliness, and compatibility with all devices and browsers.
Setting Up a Webinar via Cisco Webex Events
Pros and Cons of Webex webinar tool are listed below:
Pros:
Offers a free plan for up to 100 attendees.
Built-in Q&A sessions, surveys, and polls for audience engagement.
Translates live webinar to more than 100 languages.
Live polling.
Cons:
Must contact sales to get started.
Real-time translation costs extra.
Third party devices can be a problem.
Pricing Plans of Webex:
Basic
Free
Business
$25/month
Enterprise
Custom Plan
Webex webinars pricing plan includes Free Basic plan for up to 1oo participants. Its Business plan cost for $25 per month up to 2oo participants, and Enterprise is a custom plan for up to 1oo0 participants.
GoToWebinar is by the folks at GoToMeeting, the popular meeting and screen-sharing application/service. GoToWebinar software is designed to cater to your webinar and web conferencing needs. The tool comes featured with functionalities that facilitate retain customers and also generate leads. Reminder emails and notifications help to stay well-prepared and not miss important deadlines.
You can easily measure participants’ level of engagement with this tool by using engagement metrics. Pre-recorded webinars are available with this webinar platform. The software also allows customization, so your webinar materials can be designed with your company’s logo easily. You can share at ease videos and demos while holding web conferences or during broadcasting events. It is compatible with mobile.
Some of the biggest benefits of GoToWebinar include a handy video-sharing feature, breakout rooms to split up your audience, and a few mobile apps that can be used for webinar management. As such, it offers some of the best webinar tools on the market. It also features advanced lead management and reporting tools which allow you to integrate with your existing CRM. By doing so, you can handle lead generation and event creation all in one place.
Pros and Cons of GoToWebinar software are listed below:
Pros:
Audience engagement by conducting online seminars, polls and surveys.
Options available for custom branding and registration pages
Lead management and reporting tools.
Allows for large numbers of participants.
Cons:
Software feels a bit outdated.
Relatively expensive compared to other web conferencing and online seminar platforms.
Technical issues were reported by some users.
Pricing Plans of GoToWebinar:
Free
7 days
Starter
$89/month
Pro
$199/month
Plus
$429/month
After a free 7 days trial, prices start at $89/month billed annually. GoToWebinar also offers a Pro Plan for $199/month and an Enterprise plan at $429/month.
EverWebinar is a powerful webinar automation tool that aims to help you build email marketing lists. With EverWebinar, you can schedule and automate your webinar footage to play at set intervals and the software aims to recreate the live experience for users. The goal is to increase engagement and attendance by telling users the next webinar is about to begin, even if they choose to replay it a dozen times per day.
Like evergreen content, evergreen webinars are existing webinars that are re-broadcasted over time. The idea is that some webinars contain topics and content that stays relevant and can be replayed to new attendees (and new potential customers). With EverWebinar, you have three options:
Show the webinar live.
Show a hybrid – a pre-recorded video with live chat enabled.
Show a fully automated video – no work or interaction from you required.
EverWebinar is the best webinar platform for you if you want to automate screenings of your pre recorded webinars and turn them into a highly effective lead generation strategy. This is a truly unique platform.
Pros and Cons of EverWebinar webinar automation tool are listed below:
Pros:
EverWebinar has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users to schedule and host webinars.
EverWebinar allows users to create automated webinars, which means that the webinar can be run without the need for the host to be present.
It allows users to customize the look and feel of their webinars, including the ability to add logos, branding, and custom graphics.
It can be integrated with other tools, such as email marketing software and CRM systems, which can help users to manage and track their webinars more effectively.
Cons:
EverWebinar is a paid webinar software.
EverWebinar does not offer some of the advanced features that are available in other webinar software, such as the ability to conduct polls or surveys during the webinar.
As with any webinar software, there is a risk of technical issues occurring during the webinar, such as connectivity problems or audio/video issues.
Pricing Plans of EverWebinar:
Free
Not Available
Installment Plan
$199×3 yearly
Annual Plan
$499/yearly
Biennial Plan
$799/2 years
There are a few options in EverWebinar pricing plans. You can pay in 3 installments of $199 or pay $499 annually but most importantly, you can try it out and get a feel for it first with a 14 day trial. There is also a Biennial Plan (799$/ 2 years).
EverWebinar pricing
MyOwnConference
Launched in
2014
Rating
4.3/5
Mobile App
No
Starting Price
Free
MyOwnConference – web-based webinar software
MyOwnConference is a robust, web-based webinar software. It provides easy access to the webinar room from any popular browser without the installation of additional software. It offers a wide range of features, including Q&A, chat, screen sharing, recording, quizzes, whiteboard, and much more. This makes MyOwnConference useful for different types of events: webinars, video conferencing, business meetings, training sessions, remote work, e.t.c.
Pros and Cons of MyOwnConference web based webinar software are listed below:
Pros:
MyOwnConference allows users to host online meetings and webinars with up to 1000 participants.
MyOwnConference offers a range of features, including screen sharing, audio and video conferencing, and chat, which can be useful for various types of online meetings and webinars.
Records webinars in HD.
The interface supports sixteen different languages. This enables you to engage with a multilingual audience.
Cons:
UI isn’t that user-friendly.
The platform only supports a maximum of 10 different speakers. This may cause problems if you have a lot of expert presenters lined up.
Pricing Plans of MyOwnConference:
Free
20 attendees for lifetime
One Time Plan
$12/day
Monthly Plan
$36/month for 60 attendees
Annual Plan
$348
MyOwnConference offers a free plan for 20 attendees for lifelong use. As for paid plans, it provides 3 types of tariffs: one-time, annual, and monthly. A one-time plan starts at $12/day and includes all available features. The monthly price starts at $36/month for 60 attendees. The annual plan will cost you $348 with 20% discounts.
ClickMeeting is a webinar management tool for businesses who want to increase their digital reach by hosting branded webinars. All features are intuitive and straightforward to use and come in handy while dealing with international speakers and audiences. It is easy to personalize the webinar room and every associated element with just a few clicks while managing all sorts of webinars such as paid webinars, automated webinars, etc.
Webinar hosting is free from the hassle of device and operating system incompatibility. Types of content that can be hosted include Facebook and YouTube Live, Presentations, Whiteboard, Polls, Surveys, and more. With analytical capabilities, users can derive useful predictions and trends and strengthen their relationships with webinar attendees with regular engagement. With a dedicated webinar tool, it is easier to move prospects through the sales funnel, attract a larger and targeted user base, deliver knowledge-oriented sessions, and measure the progress.
How to Create and Deliver an Exciting and Impactful Webinar on ClickMeeting
Pros and Cons of ClickMeeting webinar management tool are listed below:
Pros:
You can stream webinar live on YouTube or Facebook.
A user-friendly interface makes it easier to use and manage.
ClickMeeting offers a range of features, including screen sharing, audio and video conferencing, and chat, which can be useful for various types of online meetings and webinars.
Engage your audience with live chat and Q&A sessions
Unlimited webinar landing pages.
Cons:
Can’t schedule recurring meetings.
It does not have a phone support hotline.
The storage capacity is limited to 10-hour maximum.
Pricing Plans of ClickMeeting:
Free
30 Days Trial
Live
$25/month
Automated
$40/month
The price is reasonable, but the number of attendees allowed is a little low. The rates start at $25 per month (billed annually) for 25 attendees, $40 (billed annually) per month for up to 50 viewers. There is also an option for custom-pricing that’s best suited for enterprise customers.
WebinarJam is developed by the same team as EverWebinar but the focus is on screening live webinars this time. WebinarJam is more like a traditional online seminar platforms, designed for live events so there’s no automation or scheduling with this tool. However, it syncs perfectly with EverWebinar to provide a platform combination that caters to all of your webinar needs – more capable and cheaper than most of the competition.
It has all the table stakes features like HD video, multiple presenters, slick customer-facing interface and an easy presenter dashboard. It also has features like- live broadcast to YouTube, live chat in webinar, ability to moderate and highlight comments, private messages between moderators, popups for selling your product during your webinar, the ability to poll your audience, or share a video or whiteboard annotation mid-webinar and a super robust analytics dashboard.
Pros and Cons of WebinarJam webinar platform are listed below:
Pros:
Enterprise plan allows for up to six presenters and 5,000 live attendees
One-click webinar registration.
User-friendly and quick to set up.
Support multiple languages.
Interactive and engaging features
Cons:
.Customer support isn’t always friendly.
Can’t stream directly from your website.
Pricing Plans of WebinarJam:
Starter
$39/month
Basic
$79/month
Professional
$229/month
Enterprise
$379/month
Webinarjam pricing plans starts at $39/month (when paid annually). There are also other options like Basic ($79/month), Professional ($229/month) and Enterprise ($379/month).
Webinarjam Pricing
Livestorm
Launched in
2016
Rating
4.4/5
Mobile App
No
Starting Price
Free
Livestorm
Livestorm is a webinar software that facilitates hosting eye-catching presentation and demonstration of products/services. With this tool you can improve your customer training process, by creating live sessions to answer queries and give tips.
This webinar software helps creating and sharing online live courses for your targeted masses. You can craft attractive landing pages without a landing page builder software, and emails without any need to opt for email automation software. Livestorm facilitates hosting webinars quickly,without any requirement to download anything. It can easily be accessed from any device, including PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Their webinar software also works on any browser without any restrictions for attendees.
An area where it stands out is the email logistics where you can send promotional emails, automate those emails, check email status, and add a touch of personalization. This webinar tool also takes your data security very seriously and is 100% GDPR-compliant. Livestorm is also focused on customer engagement with activities like polling, Q&A sessions, and the use of up-votes.
Pros and Cons of Livestorm webinar software tool are listed below:
Pros:
Run live, on-demand, or fully automated webinars.
Livestorm is easy to use and set up.
Intuitive landing pages.
Engage attendees with features like polling, Q&A sessions, and upvoting.
Perfect tool when handling interviews and testing candidates.
Cons:
As browser software, video quality can be affected by the host’s internet connection.
It does not have a slideshows upload feature in the webinar.
Webinar duration must be 20 minutes or less for its free plan.
Pricing Plans of Livestorm:
Free
Up to 30 active contacts/month
Pro
$88/month
Business
Custom Plan
Enterprise
Custom Plan
Livestorm offers four pricing plans Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise. Free plan allow Up to 30 active contacts/month, Pro plan cost $88/month, billed annually, Business and Enterprise are custom plans with unlimited active contacts and other attractive features. Get a personalized quote as per your requirements.
Demio is one of the best webinar software platforms available out there. It’s super easy to record your webinar automatically in the cloud. When it comes to visual aesthetics, it delivers real-time, HD streaming, and great looking platform design. The software has powerful tracking options. Retargeting, tracking, or conversion pixels may be freely added on the registration page, thank you page, or in the webinar room.
Also, demio offers automation rules, such as sending the webinar recording to those who joined only after the 30-minute mark. With these rules, it is easy to segment the audience in real-time based on the actions that people take. Finally, demio is a very simple tool. It usually takes just several minutes to schedule the first event and even less time to setup the recurring webinars.
Pros and Cons of Demio webinar software platform are listed below:
Pros:
Webinar pages are highly customizable.
Includes engagement features like live chat, document handouts, and CTA pop-ups
You don’t have to download any additional software to run webinars.
14-day free trial available.
Cons:
There is no general link available instead, there’s a separate link for each attendee.
Webinar replays don’t display annotations, chats, and polls.
You only got to share the entire screen. Thats so painful in a webinar.
Pricing Plans of Demio:
Free
14 Days Trial
Starter
$34/month
Growth
$69/month
Premium
$250/month
Demio provides a 14-day free trial, which allows you to test out all its features. The Starter plan starts at $34 per month for a 50-person webinar room, Growth plan of $69 for a 150-person room, and Premium Plan of $250 per month for a 500-3000 person room. These monthly rates are valid on annual subscriptions.
GetResponse is all-in-the-box solution incorporates not only a webinar platform, but also different marketing tools, including autoresponders, custom emails, list segmentation feature etc. With this, it is possible to have the email database and webinar tool under the same roof. As a result, the account holder may schedule webinar campaigns for the subscribers, send the reminders to them; share the event on social media.
Like the others on this list, it includes features like polling, desktop sharing, integrated whiteboard, and access to detailed reports. It is also possible to use the registration feature to collect new emails and to send automatic thank-you messages to the registrants.
Pros and Cons of GetResponse webinar platform are listed below:
Pros:
Lots of templates to choose from, making building almost anything on the platform possible
Nothing is left to the imagination – you can view your marketing automation workflows and funnels in a visual manner.
Retarget visitors to your webinar page.
Comparatively good at split test.
Third-party tool integration.
Cons:
No free plan for webinars.
Complex email automation structure.
Complete automation is not available at the basic plan.
Pricing Plans of GetResponse:
Basic
$15/month
Plus
$49/month
Professional
$99/month
Max
Custom Plan
GetResponse Basic plans starts from $15 per month. Plus plan cost for $49 per month, Professional plan cost for $99 per month and Max is a custom plan.
DaCast may be a great choice for companies and individuals who are just trying their hand in webinar conducting. While the majority of webinar platforms are subscription based, this pricing format may not be ideal for those who only hold live events from time to time.
Dacast is the live streaming platform with a unique approach to pricing. The customers may pay on an event by event basis. Prepaid bandwidth may be used when the client needs it during the following 12 months. However, there are also subscription-based plans for those who hold webinars regularly. With Dacast, it is possible to stream from your website over social networks including Facebook, or any other way.
While it lacks a few of the more advanced features of other webinar platforms, it offers a good variety of functionality across all plans, including: Quality Streaming, No Viewer Limits, Unlimited Channels, Watermarking, Play on Facebook, Playlist, Third-Party Integration, Multi-Bitrate, Secure Delivery, Analytics, Mobile Device Support, and Video Paywall.
Pros and Cons of Dacast webinar management tool are listed below:
Pros:
Monetization features like price groups, promo codes, and subscriptions available.
Customize your paywall.
Free trial for 14 days available.
Interactive video on demand.
Private streaming.
Cons:
Plans have a bandwidth limit. If you go over, you have to pay $0.25 per GB.
Not many customization options.
Pricing Plans of Dacast:
Starter
$39/month
Event
$63/month
Scale
$188/month
Custom
Available
Free trial for 14 days available. Starter plan is available for small audiences for $39/month billed annually, Event plan (One time or occasional events) for $63/month billed annually, Scale plan is available for Business & organizational video for $188/month billed annually. There is one quote-based custom plan as well that allows you to cherry-pick the features you require.
DaCast pricing
Conclusion
Due to the popularity of webinars, there’s no shortage of platforms to choose from. There are some great webinar platforms on this list and a few outside bets that cater to more specialist needs. The above is by no means an exhaustive list, but it does highlight some of the biggest platforms with the best features, pros and cons and pricing details . The right webinar platform for you, depends on your specific needs, of course. However, I can fully recommend taking a closer look at the options we’ve covered today by trying out a few free trials. Do you know of some other webinar tool? Feel free to drop it in the comments section below.
FAQs
What is Webinar Software?
Webinar software can be defined as video conferencing software that helps to host or broadcast training, workshop, meeting, lectures, and other virtual events on the web.
Which are the best webinar software platforms?
Best webinar software platforms are:
Zoom
GoToWebinar
EverWebinar
MyOwnConference
ClickMeeting
WebinarJam
Livestorm
Demio
GetResponse
Webex
DaCast
What is the main purpose of webinar?
The main objective of conducting a webinar is to instruct, demonstrate, or educate your targeted audience.
Are webinars live or recorded?
It can be both, either live or recorded.
Is Zoom, a good webinar software?
Zoom Video Webinar is the best virtual platform for hosting meetings, webinars, conferences, etc.
Are webinars still effective?
Yes, webinars are still effective, and they should be a part of your marketing strategy.
The e-commerce market in India is expected to reach $350 billion by 2030.
On the other hand, mobile e-commerce sales are projected to exceed $710 billion in 2025.
Due to the pandemic, a lot more people have started buying products online.
All these stats show us that if you want your product to reach more hands you need to build your own online store.
Nowadays, it’s very easy to create your website using tools like Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce.
Although to have a successful business you need to select the correct business model and delivery framework.
You also need to select the right website that matches your business requirements.
All these things can seem quite confusing.
Don’t worry!
In this article, I will explain to you all the popular and most used business models, delivery frameworks, and e-commerce websites with their pros and cons.
I will also give examples so you can understand each concept easily.
Freelancers can list their skills on a website like Upwork and mention what tasks they can accomplish, how much time they will take to do a task and what price they will charge.
Businesses can look for skilled service providers for their tasks on Upwork. They can pay these freelancers for a specific task and get their work done within a few days.
This is how the C2B business model works!
Another example of C2B can be a gamer who shares an affiliate link to a gaming console on his YouTube channel.
Consumers get the freedom to set their own prices and businesses get the opportunity to work with people with different backgrounds and expertise.
Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
Etsy- An Example of C2C Business Model
The rise of the internet and e-commerce gave birth to the C2C business model.
In this model, consumers sell products directly to other consumers using third-party websites like eBay, Etsy, Alibaba, and many more.
These websites make money by charging transaction or listing fees.
The e-commerce marketplaces like the ones mentioned above allow small-scale business owners to sell their products without the hefty upfront cost of setting up an online store.
If you decide to make a website that uses the C2C model you need to take care of quality control, payment handling, delivery, and resolve all the issues between the two parties.
You also need to make sure that both the buyer and seller don’t get cheated and get a good product and a fair price.
You also require advanced technology.
Many other companies have tried to use this business model but failed terribly due to an unstable business strategy.
We are not saying that you shouldn’t use this model.
But, if you want to operate on a C2C model you need to have a smart business strategy that satisfies your customers and generates profit for you.
Business to Government (B2G)
Senseware- An Example of a B2G Ecommerce Business Model
In the B2G model businesses sell their products or services to federal, state, or local government agencies.
An ammunition manufacturer building guns and missiles for the government is an example of a B2B model.
Let’s understand how this model works.
First, the government will submit a proposal (RFP) according to its project requirements and timeline
As an e-commerce business, you need to bid on these projects.
Since you are working with the government you need to deal with bureaucracies and the pace of the project is usually slow.
As you might have guessed, government agencies don’t use e-commerce sites to place orders.
Although a local government agency can go to an e-commerce site to place an order for a part required to complete a particular project.
In dropshipping you directly buy products from the suppliers and manufacturers who then ship the products directly to your customers.
Let’s say you decide to sell men’s wallets.
You find a supplier who sells you quality wallets for Rs 500 including the shipping costs.
You list all those wallets on your online store for Rs 900 with free shipping.
When someone places an order in your store you then place the order with the supplier at their wholesale price.
The supplier ships the product directly to your customers.
Here, you make a profit of Rs 400.
You are not dealing with the warehousing of the products nor do you have to focus on packaging and shipping and tracking the inventory.
You are only focusing on marketing and positioning the products.
Now, you may ask why don’t the customers directly buy from the supplier.
Good question!
Manufacturers and suppliers typically sell in bulk and they will mostly sell to businesses and not give wholesale prices to regular customers.
Another reason is that people buy products because of marketing, brand value, and customer service.
Since manufacturers don’t focus on the above things people would prefer buying from a drop shipper.
Pros of Dropshipping
Since you are not focusing on warehousing, packaging, and shipping there is a very low capital required.
You can sell and test a wide range of products.
You can set up your business anywhere with an internet connection.
Cons of Dropshipping
Since you are not paying for warehousing and inventory the profit margins are very less.
You have zero control over the supply chain.
If the customers receive damaged or lower quality products your business reputation will get damaged.
Since a very low capital is required there is fierce competition.
You will not build a brand because you are selling products of other companies. In the end, the product that they will purchase will have the logo of the other company.
There is very limited customization.
Subscription Service
In the subscription-based model, you regularly deliver products to your customers and get timely payments from them.
It was traditionally used to deliver newspapers and magazines.
But, now it is used in every other industry.
Instead of using it as a standalone delivery model, I will recommend you to integrate it with other delivery models.
There are 3 most common types of subscription services:
Replenishment subscription service
Here, you are selling essential consumable products like shaving cream and body moisturizer.
Curation subscription service
In this model, you are selling a collection of products based on individual customer needs and wants.
Examples of this can be sending beauty products or dresses based on your customer preferences.
Access subscription service
Customers buy memberships in this model.
Generally, businesses give hefty discounts on their memberships to get more people on board.
Selling organic healthy snacks is an example of this model.
Pros of Subscription Service
Customers repeatedly buy products that generate consistent income for you.
You can easily forecast how many sales and revenue you will generate.
Planning the inventory becomes easy.
You can build strong relationships with your customers.
Cons of Subscription Service
For many people signing up for a subscription is a huge commitment and that is why selling subscriptions is sometimes very hard.
You need to constantly innovate and provide quality products to your customers regularly. Even a small mistake can lead to the cancellation of the contract.
Wholesaling
In wholesaling, you sell products in bulk to other businesses or retailers at discounted prices.
It is mostly used in the B2B space but it can also be integrated with the B2C model.
Pros of Wholesaling
You don’t have to spend your time and money on marketing and advertising your products.
You get a fixed profit margin.
Cons of Wholesaling
You need a lot of capital.
You are responsible for warehousing, managing inventory and products, shipping, and tracking customer orders.
Private Labeling
In private labeling, you hire a third-party manufacturer to create your products.
The product idea is yours but, the making is done by someone else.
Once the products are made you can either tell the manufacturer to ship the products directly to the customer’s house or get the products in your warehouse and manage the supply chain yourself.
Selling cosmetics or personal care products like shampoo is a good example of private labeling.
Pros of Private Labeling
You can create your brand without having to invest in factories and inventory.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time and time on product development and can focus on marketing, branding, and customer service.
It is a great way to test your products in the market.
Cons of Private Labeling
You are entirely dependent on the manufacturer. So, if there is any kind of delay or if the third party creates a low-quality product you have to carry the losses.
Most of the privately labeled manufacturers have the minimum order requirement. This means that you need to purchase more than you need.
White Labeling
In white labeling, you are buying products from a third-party manufacturer and selling them under your own brand name and logo.
So, when customers buy the products they think that it has been manufactured by you.
Pros of White Labeling
Since you are not developing the product from scratch the initial investment cost is low.
White labeling allows you to jump on an ongoing trend.
Cons of White Labeling
Most of the white-labeled products are generic and there is a high chance that other businesses are also selling them. This means there is huge competition.
Since you are not manufacturing the product yourself you have zero control over the quality of the products.
In contrast to the single brand website, you have little control over the website and have to strictly follow the rules and regulations of the website.
If you break any of the policies you wouldn’t be allowed to sell on the site.
Since you are competing with dozens of sellers it would be difficult to rank for a particular product keyword.
If you are new to the e-commerce business you can start with the retail website since you don’t have to build the store from scratch.
You can also use it to test the demand for the product or operate both on a single-brand website and a retail website to get a wider reach.
The marketplace that operates on the C2C model allows consumers to sell their products to other users.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by LendingClub.
It can be safe to assume that one of the most vital parts of everyone’s life is banking and financial benefits. We are all heavily dependent on the bank and the financial sector to effectively use our money for loans, lending, investments, or insurance.
These days, the options of banks and financial services are endless with many people using different kinds of banking and various financial services like insurance premiums, paying utility bills, online shopping, mobile recharge, etc all through Debit/Credit cards. The introduction of technology in this sector has also made transactions simplified and much easier.
In order to develop and obtain future financial rewards, multiple financial services are being offered by major banks, such as personal banking, and business banking solutions. In addition to this, banks also offer investment advice or consultancy to assist investors in making the best use of their money.
LendingClub, which was founded in 2006 in the USA, offers a wide range of financial products and services to help its customers reach their financial goals. The company was founded as the world’s first peer-to-peer lending platform.
To gain some insights into LendingClub, we have articulated some relevant information on LendingClub’s products and services, its business and revenue model, competition, and the challenges it faced.
LendingClub was founded in 2006 with the motive to lend its financial services. The company is San Francisco, California-based financial services startup. The best part about the company is that it was the first peer-to-peer lender to register its offers as shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to allow secondary loan trading. LendingClub was the world’s largest peer-to-peer lending marketplace at one point. Around December 2015, the firm announced that $15.98 billion in loans have been originated on its platform.
LendingClub also provides traditional direct-to-consumer loans, such as vehicle refinancing, through WebBank, an FDIC-insured, state-chartered industrial bank based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The services offered by LendingClub are – Personal loans, business loans, auto refinancing, personal banking, institutional banking, and institutional investors.
Two years ago, LendingClub announced to shut of its peer-to-peer lending platform. The company no longer provides new loans for individual investing.
LendingClub – Industry details
As per reports, it is estimated that the global financial services market is worth $20.49 trillion in 2020. The banking and financial sector industry is said to make up a quarter of the world’s economy. This industry is undoubtedly regarded as the crucial nectar in each one of our lives. Reports also claim that about 6.6 million Americans are employed in the financial and banking sector.
LendingClub – Founders
Lending Club was founded by Renaud Laplanche and Soul Htite in 2006.
Renaud Laplanche
Renaud Laplanche
Renaud Laplanche had co-founded and served as the CEO of LendingClub for almost a decade. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Upgrade, Inc., which is a fintech company. Before this, he is also associated with founding another company TripleHop Technologies, which was later acquired by Oracle Corporation. Born in France, Renaud has studied business and law and holds an MBA degree from HEC Business School in Paris, France, and London Business School. In his entire career journey, he has worked on cases related to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and many investment transactions.
Soul Htite
Soul Htite is a fintech entrepreneur who co-founded LendingClub. Presently, Soul serves as the founder and CEO of Valt, a software company that offers financial services. Along with Valt, Soul is also the co-founder of Upgrade, Inc. He has worked with multiple organizations such as Oracle, SinoLending, Assured Asset Management, and True North. His main interests are real-time online services and system architecture for high availability and fault tolerance.
LendingClub – Mission and Vision
LendingClub’s mission reads as, “to transform the banking system to make credit more affordable and investing more rewarding.”
The vision statement of LendingClub is, “Our leaders share a vision of expanding financial opportunities for all Americans through responsible innovation.”
LendingClub – Business Model
LendingClub operates its business through the fee-based model. The business of LendingClub offers borrowers to post loan listings on its website by providing information about themselves and the loans they want to obtain. After a borrower has visited the website, the company then decides whether the borrower was creditworthy based on the borrower’s credit score, credit history, desired loan amount, and debt-to-income ratio and awards a credit grade to its accepted loans, which set the payable interest rate and fees. A typical loan term is three years, with a five-year option available for a higher interest rate and extra expenses.
As mentioned earlier, LendingClub offers personal banking, personal loans, institutional banking, institutional investment, business banking and loans, and other related financial services and loans.
LendingClub – Revenue and Growth
LendingClub has made a total of $679.8 million in revenue as of 2021. LendingClub generates its income by charging origination fees to borrowers and servicing fees to investors. The operating income is reported to be around $18.4 million.
LendingClub – Challenges and Controversies
During early 2016, LendingClub had increasing trouble obtaining investors. As a result, the company raised the interest rate it charged borrowers three times in the first three months of the year. The rise in interest rates, along with fears about the impact of the faltering US economy, resulted in a significant reduction in LendingClub’s share price. The Financial Times stated in December 2017 that LendingClub has failed to escape the impact of a governance controversy in May and that the company has battled to keep major investors buying loans despite internal governance changes. These difficulties have caused it to boost its loss forecast, resulting in additional reductions in its share price. Many other peer-to-peer lending organizations were also having issues at the time.
LendingClub – Funding, and Investors
Lending Club is backed by a group of 24 investors. The most recent investors are Two Sigma and Panorama Point Partners. The other investors’ names are – Flint Capital, Employee Stock Option Fund, FinSight Ventures, Sands Capital Ventures, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Coatue, and DST Global.
Lending Club has raised $392.2 million in investment across 15 rounds. Their most recent fundraising came on April 9, 2017, in the form of a Post-IPO Equity round.
Date
Funding Round
Fund Amount
Investor
April 9, 2017
Post-IPO -Equity
–
–
August 22, 2014
Venture Round
–
–
April 17, 2014
Debt Financing
$50 million
–
Apr 17, 2014
Private Equity Round
$65 million
–
November 13, 2013
Secondary Market Capital
$57 million
–
May 1, 2013
Secondary Market Capital
$125 million
CapitalG, Foundation Capital
June 6, 2012
Venture Round
$17.5 million
Kleiner Perkins
LendingClub – Mergers, and Acquisitions
Lending Club has purchased two businesses. Radius Bank was their most recent acquisition, which occurred on February 18, 2020. Radius Bank was purchased for $185 million. In 2014, LendingClub purchased its first company called, Springstone.
LendingClub – Investments
On September 4, 2019, Lending Club made an investment in Even Financial. The Venture Round – Even Financial investment was valued at $25 million.
LendingClub – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns
LendingClub posts short ad videos on the website called ‘ispot.tv’ on personal loans, business loans, credit cards, debit cards, etc. You can find these videos are short with the right blend of marketing tactics targeted toward their audience with interesting characters and strong dialogue delivery.
LendingClub – Awards and Achievements
Some of the awards won by LendingClub are;
LendingClub was named Best Bank or Credit Union for Online Experience by Nerdwallet (2021)
LendingClub also won Celent Model Bank Award for Credit Innovation During the Pandemic for their Paycheck Protection Program response.
LendingClub won for Top Rated Company Perks & Benefits
LendingClub – Competitors
LendingClub has the following competitors
Avant
2. Lendable
3. SoFi
4. Pagaya
5. Happy Money
6. Auxmoney
7. SocietyOne
8. SoLo Funds
9. Upstart
10. Primavera Financial
FAQs
Who is the CEO of Lending Club?
Renaud Laplanche is the founder & CEO of Lending Club.
Where is the head office of the Lending Club?
The Head Office of Landing Club is in San Fransisco.
Is Lending Club shutting down?
Yes, Lending Club is shutting down.
Why is Lending Club shutting down?
Yes. As per the company’s website, it’s not economically possible for the company to continue its operation.
Niku Mandal
