SaaS companies can’t communicate efficiently without knowing their target audience inside out. If you don’t know what makes your ideal customer profile (ICP) different, you won’t be able to craft personalized messages that resonate with it. Ultimately, you won’t have the necessary insights to engage your target audience, deriving poor business results.

Luckily, there are multiple ways of classifying and analyzing the ICP. You can narrow down your ICP characteristics by zooming in and looking closely at criteria such as industry, industry vertical and niche, type of company, job title, and desired outcomes.

This research usually continues with analyzing the ICP’s pain points and challenges, tech adoption readiness, expectations, and more. In other words, you’ll keep zooming in to extract more details and insights about the ICP.

However, that’s not the only way to analyze your target audience.

You can also zoom out and identify the characteristics that make B2B SaaS customers different from the rest. I promise you that understanding the bigger picture will make it easier to identify multiple communication challenges and understand how to approach your target audience the right way.

Yes, B2B SaaS Buyers Are Human Beings, but They’re Different

I remember when LinkedIn was full of posts stating that talking to B2C and B2B customers is the same because they’re all humans. I was one of those LinkedIn people writing about the ‘humanity’ of B2B customers and how important it is to save them from the corporate, wooden language most SaaS companies adopt in their public discourse.

However, although true—let’s admit it, we all hate corporate language—saying that B2C and B2B customers are equal dismisses multiple nuances and characteristics of B2B customers only.

It’s worth noting that according to The B2B Future Shopper Report by Wunderman Thompson, 90% of global B2B buyers expect a similar experience buying on a B2B website as on a B2C website.

Yet, this is not an indicator that a B2C communication strategy can persuade B2B buyers.

Next, I’ll list the attributes that make B2B SaaS customers different and how these differences translate into communication challenges. Let’s take them one by one:

1. It’s a collective

You’re not selling your SaaS solution to one person. You’re selling to a collective, and this involves a series of elements to consider. 

Roughly speaking, each B2B collective is based on three stakeholder categories: 

• Decision-makers: These people will ultimately decide whether to purchase a specific SaaS. Usually, decision-makers have ownership and skin in the game. Also, in most cases, business growth is their ultimate goal. 
• Implementors: These people will ultimately use the newly purchased SaaS. Their overall goal is to get a job done. It’s worth noting that decision-makers can also be implementors, and in this case, we have multi-layered motivation, such as to get a job done to ensure business growth. 
• Researchers and advisors: These people will analyze the SaaS market to identify the right solution. In most cases, these researchers are internal, and their goal is to find a platform that suits the company’s needs and requirements. In some cases, though, companies will engage external advisors and agencies to research and identify the right SaaS. Their motivation is multi-layered, as their goal is to solve an issue their client has (i.e., find the right SaaS) and ensure the agency’s business growth.

Obviously, we can zoom in and provide a granular description of B2B SaaS stakeholder groups, but that’s not the purpose of this article. 

There are some SaaS companies, such as Miro and Notion, that use the B2C2B or land-and-expand strategy. Usually, their intention is to engage champions inside companies and get them to use their SaaS (land). 

Subsequently, if this person is satisfied with the platform, they’ll share it with their co-workers and managers, who may be interested in adopting the solution company-wide (expand). 

However, that’s not the case for most B2B companies. 

The rough categorization of the B2B collective into decision-makers, implementors, and researchers and advisors translates into a clear communication challenge: 

Will you: 

• Focus on decision-makers with your messaging? 
• Address implementers? 
• Consider internal researchers and external advisors?  
• Craft a message focused on job to be done only? 
• Build messages for each category? 
• Create communication workflows and assets for all categories?

You’ll have to answer these questions because the way you speak to decision-makers is different than the way you communicate with implementers or researchers. Also, the communication workflows and assets will be different for each category. 

2. They have industry-mimetic desires

First introduced by French philosopher René Girard, the term mimetic desire involves our tendency to imitate and emulate other people’s desires. Usually, we have multiple people we want to imitate. These people can be our close ones, such as friends and co-workers, or those who’re part of our external circle of influence, such as influencers, thought leaders, and more. Although we’re unaware of it, we may want specific things because we see our models possess. 

Mimetic desire in the context of industries refers to the tendency of companies and professionals within a specific industry to imitate or emulate the behaviors of successful entities in the same industry. In other words, your B2B SaaS buyers may be interested in a SaaS platform because their competitors or industry leaders are using it. 

This is why it’s crucial to identify and target industry models, secure even a tiny project with them, and then communicate your collaboration with them. For example, suppose you can list Dior as your SaaS customer—and by Dior, don’t think only about the fashion house itself, as it can also be a Dior store in Dubai—and communicate this collaboration. In that case, you can definitely be interested in other similar brands in purchasing your SaaS.  

3. There’s no compulsion when buying

It’s very rare for a B2B SaaS buyer to purchase access to a platform on a whim. Usually, this process involves careful analysis, deliberate consideration, and thorough evaluation of existing options. Also, this process includes budgeting assessment and financial planning, as the B2B SaaS buyers will likely look into cost-effectiveness. 

This results in a long, sometimes exhausting process that includes elements such as:  

• Submitting Expression of Interest (EOI)
• Filling out Requests for Proposal (RFP)
• In-person and virtual meetings 
• Security assessment 
• And more

With this in mind, your entire communication strategy should involve crafting messages and generating assets that cover needs, doubts, and requirements your B2B SaaS buyer may have throughout the entire buying process.

4. They need different levers to bridge the trust gap

Since I’ve mentioned security assessment above, it’s worth noting that safety protocols are highly important for B2B SaaS buyers. Compared to B2C buyers, your B2B customers will likely pay careful attention to elements such as: 

• Data protection
• Compliance
• Business continuity
• Customer trust
• Intellectual property protection 
• Brand reputation 

In other words, apart from your commercial promises and educational material, your B2B buyers will check whether you’re company adheres to specific compliance norms, requesting certificates such as: 

• ISO/IEC 27001 - Information Security Management System (ISMS)
• SOC 2 (Service Organization Control 2)
• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
• and more

With this in mind, you must build a communication strategy based on your existing certificates to bridge the trust gap with your B2B SaaS buyers.  

5. They search for a tech partner

Considering how long and expensive the B2B SaaS buying process may be, your target audience isn’t looking for a commodity or a SaaS solution they can easily replace. In other words, in most cases, B2B SaaS buyers seek long-term tech partners they can trust. 

The question is whether you’re expressing your quality as trusted and reliable tech partner in your communication with external stakeholders.

6. They are knowledge workers

Quick definition: A knowledge worker is an individual who creates and handles information. Unlike manual workers, paid to perform physical tasks, knowledge workers contribute through their cognitive skills and expertise. 

In most cases, B2B SaaS buyers (as well as you and your teams) are knowledge workers. This reality involves a series of unfortunate circumstances, such as: 

• Information overload: Think about the consistent and overwhelming stream of information each knowledge worker has to endure daily. From memes and industry news to company reports and emails, there’s no end to the information they have to consume, analyze, and act upon.  
• Communication overload: Think about the number of meetings knowledge workers have scheduled for this week or the number of emails and Slack messages they have to reply to throughout the day. 
• Choice overload: Think about the incredible number of choices each knowledge worker has daily, ranging from which tactic to deploy to which wording choice to use in crafting a report. 

And considering how arduous and complicated the B2B SaaS analysis and buying process can be, you’ll want to get ultra-efficient at communication, avoiding any type of overload.

7. There’s fear of disruption

Being part of a collective and company, B2B SaaS buyers aren’t usually excited about radical change or work disruption. They may dislike deploying SaaS solutions that require a change in their system or replace their workflows. 

It’s different if the need for radical change is internal and the B2B SaaS collective looks for a solution to make it happen. But in most cases, B2B buyers will look for SaaS partners that can adjust to their internal structure and offer insights into improvement that won’t disrupt the existing status quo. 

So when communicating with your B2B SaaS buyers, you’ll want to understand their workflows, showcasing how your solution can add to their existing structure without requesting too many changes on their behalf.    

8. Your B2B SaaS buyer has … big challenges

Finally, as I emphasized earlier, let’s not forget that B2B SaaS buyers are humans, and they may experience things such as: 

• Burnout
• Quiet quitting
• Isolation and loneliness
• Lack of autonomy
• Job insecurity
• Lack of work-life balance
• Stress and pressure
• Skill obsolesce
• and more

Obviously, you can’t help them overcome these challenges or realities. But being aware of the humane aspect of your B2B buyers will help you develop empathy and translate it into understanding, patience, and supportive communication.

Final note

There are multiple ways in which you can analyze your ICP. However, zooming out and looking at the B2B SaaS buyers’ characteristics will help you see the bigger picture and deploy the right communication strategy. 

Tailor your messages by understanding the nuances of the B2B SaaS audience, considering the collective nature, industry influence, deliberate buying process, and the need for trust and reliability.