7 Surprising SaaS Trends Every Founder Must Know in 2024
Summary
TLDREl video analiza el 'State of Independent SaaS Report', discutiendo métricas clave como la tasa de rechazo, tasa de crecimiento y valor de vida del cliente (LTV) en relación con diferentes modelos de prueba gratuita y planes premium. Se revela que los negocios con tres fundadores tienen un crecimiento mes a mes superior, y que el requerimiento de tarjeta de crédito en la prueba gratuita impacta en el crecimiento inicial pero no necesariamente en el LTV. Los canales de publicidad más efectivos para aumentar los ingresos son Google AdWords y los anuncios de Meta (Facebook), seguido por 'otros' y LinkedIn. El resumen destaca la importancia de entender el perfil del cliente ideal y las estrategias de monetización en el éxito de un SaaS independiente.
Takeaways
- 📊 La mayoría de las startups de SAS (Software como Servicio) son autofinanciadas, lo que indica una tendencia hacia el crecimiento sostenible sin depender de capital externo.
- 💡 El número de fundadores tiene un impacto significativo en el crecimiento de la empresa, con trios de fundadores mostrando un crecimiento 2 a 3 veces mayor que los fundadores solitarios o duos.
- 📈 Las empresas que ofrecen un plan gratuito sin necesidad de tarjeta de crédito tienen una tasa de churn (renuncia de clientes) similar a la de las que sí la solicitan, lo que sugiere que la estrategia de fremium puede ser efectiva.
- 🔒 Solicitar una tarjeta de crédito al inicio del periodo de prueba gratuita ha mostrado una disminución, lo que indica un cambio en las prácticas de marketing y en la percepción del valor propuesto por los clientes.
- 📈 El crecimiento mensual promedio de las empresas que no requieren tarjeta de crédito en la prueba gratuita es menor, pero su Valor de Vida del Cliente (LTV) es aproximadamente el doble en comparación con otras opciones de planes.
- 🎯 El mercado objetivo tiene un impacto significativo en las tasas de crecimiento, siendo el sector empresarial y el mercado no gubernamental (ONG) los que muestran tasas más altas.
- 🤔 La decisión de solicitar fondos externos disminuyó de un 30% en 2022 a un 23.5% en 2023, reflejando un mayor esfuerzo por parte de los emprendedores por crecer de manera autofinanciada.
- 📝 Las empresas que ofrecen un plan premium o fremium a menudo no entienden cómo hacer que funcione efectivamente, lo que puede llevar a problemas de monetización y estrategias de crecimiento poco eficientes.
- 📣 Los canales de publicidad más efectivos para el aumento de ingresos son Google AdWords y los anuncios de Meta (Facebook), seguidos por otros canales que podrían incluir publicidad en eventos o podcasts.
- 🔑 Los datos del informe muestran que no hay una fórmula única para el éxito en SAS; las decisiones sobre planes de precios, requerimientos de tarjeta de crédito y estrategias de marketing dependen de múltiples factores como el perfil del cliente y el mercado objetivo.
Q & A
¿Qué es el informe 'State of Independent SaaS' y qué revela sobre las empresas SaaS independientes?
-El informe 'State of Independent SaaS' es un estudio que recopila datos de casi 700 fundadores de SaaS, principalmente bootstrapeados. Revela información sobre el crecimiento, la tasa de rebote, la valorización de la vida del cliente y cómo se comparan las empresas en diferentes métricas clave.
¿Por qué podría ser interesante para una empresa compararse con otras empresas SaaS más avanzadas?
-Compararse con otras empresas SaaS más avanzadas puede brindar una perspectiva valiosa sobre el rendimiento de la propia empresa, permitiendo identificar áreas de mejora y estrategias efectivas que podrían aplicarse para incrementar el crecimiento y la rentabilidad.
¿Cuál fue el descubrimiento más sorprendente del informe sobre la relación entre el número de fundadores y el crecimiento de las empresas SaaS?
-El descubrimiento más sorprendente fue que las empresas con tres cofundadores experimentaron un crecimiento promedio del 2 a 3 veces mayor que las empresas con un solo fundador o dos, y que al aumentar a cuatro o más fundadores, se observa un descenso en el crecimiento mensual promedio.
¿Qué impacto tiene solicitar una tarjeta de crédito al inicio de una prueba gratuita en las tasas de crecimiento y retención de clientes?
-Solicitar una tarjeta de crédito al inicio de una prueba gratuita parece tener un impacto significativo en el crecimiento inicial, con una tasa de crecimiento mensual del 14% en promedio para las que lo requieren. Sin embargo, esto puede llevar a una tasa de rebote más alta en el tiempo, ya que los clientes pueden olvidar cancelar sus suscripciones.
¿Cómo afecta ofrecer un plan gratuito en la valorización de la vida del cliente (LTV) y en la tasa de rebote?
-Ofrecer un plan gratuito puede aumentar la LTV en promedio hasta el doble en comparación con otros planes, a pesar de tener una tasa de rebote ligeramente más alta. Esto sugiere que los negocios con planes gratuitos pueden estar cobrando más y retienen a los clientes por más tiempo.
¿Cuál es la relación entre el tipo de mercado objetivo y las tasas de crecimiento de las empresas SaaS?
-El tipo de mercado objetivo tiene un impacto significativo en las tasas de crecimiento. Por ejemplo, las empresas que se enfocan en empresas (B2B) de tamaño empresarial experimentan tasas de crecimiento mensuales promedio del 26%, mientras que las que se enfocan en consumidores o gobierno tienen tasas mucho más bajas.
¿Por qué podría haber una disminución en el número de fundadores de SaaS que buscan financiamiento externo en los últimos años?
-La disminución en el número de fundadores que buscan financiamiento externo puede ser atribuida al entorno de financiamiento más difícil y a los términos menos atractivos que se ofrecen actualmente, así como a una mayor resistencia mental y discernimiento sobre cuándo buscar financiamiento.
¿Cuáles son las tres principales fuentes de financiamiento que han aumentado significativamente los ingresos de las empresas SaaS según el informe?
-Las tres principales fuentes de financiamiento que han aumentado los ingresos son Google AdWords con aproximadamente el 65%, seguidos por los anuncios de Meta (Facebook) con alrededor del 30%, y otros canales que incluyen una variedad de opciones que pueden ser tan efectivas como LinkedIn.
¿Qué desafíos enfrentan las empresas SaaS que ofrecen un modelo de suscripción premium frente a otros modelos como las pruebas gratuitas?
-Las empresas que ofrecen un modelo de suscripción premium pueden enfrentar desafíos en términos de monetización y理解 del mercado, ya que a menudo no conocen cómo hacer funcionar el modelo de freemium y pueden tener planes de precios más bajos en comparación con otros modelos.
¿Por qué es importante para una empresa SaaS conocer su perfil de cliente ideal (ICP) y cómo afecta eso la estrategia de marketing y ventas?
-Conocer el perfil de cliente ideal es crucial para una empresa SaaS, ya que permite enfocar sus esfuerzos de marketing y ventas en los segmentos de mercado que más probablemente comprarán sus productos o servicios, lo que puede resultar en un mayor crecimiento y una tasa de rebote más baja.
Outlines
📊 Análisis de crecimiento y estructura de equipos en SAS
El primer párrafo explora cómo las empresas SAS comparan entre sí y qué tan buenos son sus índices de rotación y tasas de crecimiento. Presenta hallazgos del 'State of Independent SAS Report', que recopiló datos de casi 700 fundadores de SAS, la mayoría con enfoque en el autofinanciamiento. Se destaca cómo la presencia de tres cofundadores parece triplicar el crecimiento promedio mensual en comparación con equipos de un solo fundador o duos. Se sugiere que un tercer fundador puede ser la clave para romper empates y tomar decisiones más eficientes, aunque hay una disminución de retornos cuando se tiene un equipo de cuatro o más fundadores.
💳 Cambios en las políticas de tarjeta de crédito para pruebas gratuitas
Este segmento del guion examina la tendencia de solicitar o no la tarjeta de crédito al comienzo de una prueba gratuita de SAS. Se observa una fluctuación en las últimas cuatro encuestas, pasando del 73% al 78% y luego disminuyendo al 71%. Se discuten las ventajas y desventajas de solicitar la tarjeta de crédito, como el filtrado de posibles clientes interesados y el aumento de la retroalimentación sin la necesidad de un compromiso financiero inmediato. Se plantea que la decisión puede variar según el conocimiento del perfil de cliente ideal y la madurez de la empresa.
🎯 Impacto del mercado objetivo en las tasas de crecimiento
El tercer párrafo destaca cómo el mercado objetivo de una empresa SAS afecta directamente su tasa de crecimiento. Se revela que las empresas enfocadas en el sector empresarial (Empresas) y en el mercado de mediano tamaño tienen tasas de crecimiento mensuales promedios del 26%, lo que indica un potencial de duplicación de tamaño anual. Por otro lado, el mercado del consumidor y el sector gubernamental muestran tasas de crecimiento más bajas, con un 5% y un 1.75% respectivamente. La elección del mercado objetivo es crucial y establece expectativas de crecimiento para la empresa.
💼 Perspectivas de financiamiento externo en SAS
Este apartado del guion explora la intención de las empresas SAS de buscar financiamiento externo en un plazo de 12 meses. Se observa una disminución de la intención de buscar financiamiento externo de un 30% en 2022 a un 23.5% en el presente año. Se sugiere que este cambio puede ser atribuido al entorno de financiamiento menos propicio y a una mayor reticencia a comprometerse con términos menos atractivos. Además, se señala que la cultura del autofinanciamiento parece estar ganando terreno en el ecosistema de SAS.
🛍️ Comparación de modelos de prueba gratuita y sus impactos
El penúltimo párrafo analiza diferentes modelos de prueba gratuita y sus efectos en el crecimiento, la rotación y el valor de vida del cliente (LTV). Se descubre que, aunque las pruebas gratuitas que requieren tarjeta de crédito tienen un crecimiento inicial más rápido, las que no lo requieren tienen un LTV significativamente mayor, lo que indica que pueden estar cobrando más por sus servicios. Esto plantea la idea de que el modelo de prueba gratuita puede influir en la monetización y estrategias de precios de la empresa.
📈 Canales de publicidad más efectivos para SAS
El último párrafo del guion se enfoca en los canales de publicidad que han aumentado significativamente los ingresos de las empresas SAS. Google AdWords es el canal más efectivo con el 65% de las respuestas, seguido por los anuncios de Meta (Facebook) con alrededor del 30%. Se menciona la poca efectividad de Twitter en comparación con estos canales y se plantea la posibilidad de que 'otros' canales de publicidad, que incluyen una variedad de opciones, sean tan efectivos como LinkedIn, que generalmente se considera uno de los tres canales principales para los fundadores de SAS B2B.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡SAS
💡Churn
💡Growth Rate
💡Free Plan
💡Lifetime Value (LTV)
💡Bootstrapped
💡Credit Card Upfront
💡Founder Trio
💡Opt-Out Free Trial
💡Advertising Channels
Highlights
Comparing company performance with industry benchmarks can provide insights into areas for improvement.
The report surveyed nearly 700 bootstrapped SaaS founders for data-driven insights.
Solo founders experienced an average of 177% month-over-month growth.
Founder trios showed 2 to 3 times the average growth compared to solo founders or duos.
There's a slight decrease in average growth with four or more founders.
The trend of three founders outperforming others has been consistent over the years.
70% of SaaS companies are single-founder businesses, with 15% having two founders.
The requirement of a credit card upfront for free trials has fluctuated over the years.
A communal shift is happening towards opt-out credit card requirements and free trials.
Targeting Enterprise companies can lead to higher month-over-month growth rates.
Consumer and government sectors tend to have slower growth rates compared to Enterprise.
Focusing on the right target market is crucial for expected growth rates.
A decrease in respondents planning to seek outside funding reflects the current funding environment.
Free trials requiring a credit card upfront show higher initial growth but lower lifetime value.
Free trials not requiring a credit card have higher churn but double the lifetime value.
The 'premium' model may indicate a lack of understanding of how to effectively implement freemium.
Google AdWords and Facebook Ads are the top advertising channels for revenue growth.
LinkedIn ads are not as effective due to poor ad technology, despite the platform's potential.
The 'other' advertising category suggests a variety of effective channels beyond traditional ones.
Transcripts
wouldn't it be nice to take a peek
behind the scenes at SAS businesses just
like yours or even better businesses
that are just a bit ahead of you so that
you could see how your company Compares
is your 6% churn good bad catastrophic
could your growth rate be better if you
didn't require a credit card upfront how
might offering a free plan affect your
lifetime value the answers to those
questions are exactly what you'll find
in this year's state of independent ass
report we surveyed and compiled data
from almost 700 bootstrapped and most
mostly bootstrap SAS Founders and in
this video I bring in Asia arangio
founder of demand Maven who helped us
create the report to go over a handful
of the surprising results and if you
stick around to the end I'll let you
know where you can get your free copy of
the full report since there was way too
much to include in this video let's get
into it Asia Rano thanks so much for
joining me back on the channel thanks
again for having me super pumped to dig
into all this data I am too let's dig in
to your first finding we we're going to
each have four that we're sharing today
but talk to us about founder count first
and foremost solo founders of course you
guys you know out there you're already
making growth waves like you're already
doing the thing and uh on average and
also the median we typically saw on
average it was around like 177%
month-over-month growth uh when it came
to the median I think most so just for
context too median represents more of
like the this is what most people are
probably experiencing and the average of
course is the number that you get after
looking at the entire data set but even
still month of month growth still
looking pretty good uh what I think is
interesting though is there's a little
bit of like a very slight diminishing
return on the average when you look at
founder Duos meaning like there are two
Founders but what I think is fascinating
is once you get to founder trios meaning
there are three co-founders this is when
you start to see around 2 to 3x average
growth month over month and I think that
this is so interesting because the I
think the connotation of of a trio is
that maybe it goes a little bit slower
but actually I think having the third
person probably like my hypothesis is
that the third person probably uh breaks
a lot of ties so to speak uh however
there are diminishing returns once you
get to four or more we start to see a
dramatic uh drop off when it comes to
average month-over-month growth not that
it's like terrible or poor or anything
it's just not maybe as efficient as some
of the other uh growth rates month over
month but I still think it's really
interesting this has been relatively
consistent since we started asking this
question over the P because this is the
fourth report that we've done uh over
five years I think and I've noticed this
pattern in each of them we could go back
through the others but I believe for
some reason that and I've never been
able to explain it that why three
founders perform significantly better
than one two and certainly than four
I've always been with with bootstrappers
like
we have the numbers in the report I
forget if it's like 70% of mostly
bootstrap SAS are single Founders it's
like a huge chunk and then another like
15 plus percent is two founder companies
and that's just the most common I mean
that's like the 85 that's a line share
right 85% and the more you get like I've
seen four co-founder bootstrap companies
usually there's a weak link is what it
is usually there's someone who shouldn't
you know by my judgment shouldn't really
be part of it and you get too many cooks
in the kitchen and people can't like you
said can't break the ties decision by
committee you there's all kinds of stuff
so it makes sense to me that at four
it's too many but I've always thought
like well three is probably too many as
well but that's not what our numbers
have shown us each year my first finding
we asked when a potential customer
registers for a free trial does your
company request a credit card number to
start the trial and what we looked at in
this case is over the course of the four
surveys we did from 2020 to this year's
2024 and the findings are that the
asking for a credit card upfront has
increased and then decreased again so
the first year it was 73% asked for
credit card upfront then it went up to
78% 78% in the next one and it's down
this year to
71% so about a 10% drop so it's not
precipitous
but I am curious Asia to hear your
thoughts on in the space especially like
with bootstrap Founders that you talk to
do you feel like the goalposts are
moving for a free trials B freemium and
and C you know uh credit card up front
maybe start with credit card up front
because that that's what this slide is
about but do have you seen that goalpost
moving over the past several years yes
uh with the founders and the companies
that I work with absolutely it feels
like there's a communal aha moment
happening around
the opt out credit card requirement or
the opt out free trial which basically
means like you you're requiring the
credit card I think there's a lot more
movement towards opin free trial and I
think we'll probably also discuss a
little bit about freemium as well but
definitely I'm absolutely seeing this I
have some hypothesis about why but we'll
we'll get into that in I think in one of
the future slides that we're going to
cover yeah my default has tended to be
if if I don't have any other information
I ask for credit card up front because
usually I want I want to narrow the
people who are going to try the software
to folks who are actually interested and
I think might pay now it depends though
it depends on the space like if you're
if you're the person who's going to use
the software is different than who's
going to pay for it probably not the
best idea because they don't have a
credit card right if a software
developer at a certain company is going
to use it but doesn't have a credit card
then obviously um you might need to
allow free trial without a credit card
the thing the mistake that I've seen
folks do is either enact fremium where
they then have you know they
bootstrapping and using fremium where
they push Revenue down the line and
maybe they don't have the the criteria
place to do it but also then they get a
lot of noise especially in the early
days and similar with removing credit
card you can get more people and you can
get more feedback and that's the pro the
con is you get more people in and you
get more feedback and depending on how
well you are at dealing with that like
if you're a first-timer that can be
completely overwhelming and so when I
say I default to it I mean it's like a
6040 for me you know it's not an always
and never but it's like with no other
information that's what I do however I
think there there's a lot of leeway here
for it to go up and down that's so
interesting I'm the because I'm the
total opposite is it to get more data
what's the reason that you would go with
not having a credit card Upfront for a
free trial if you already have a really
dialed in sense of who your customer is
then I think like why why put the limits
on on the free trial um and and also I
find that when you are able to get a
little bit more information uh I don't I
just feel like assuming that you have
help and that you have like experience
in this um i' I'm actually very
confident in uh my ability to detect
like okay who's who's actually qualified
what do we what do we got to do to
activate people um I think to your point
if you're less confident in your ability
to that then yeah require credit card up
front but once you once you get to like
10 20 50 paying custom customers I think
that you can take the credit card
requirement off and create more of a
pipeline for yourself but again the
assumption is that you've got a pretty
dialed in understanding of the customer
considering that's literally what I do
um I'm I'm I'm pretty confident in like
okay yeah like we don't we don't have to
require the credit card up front but um
yes I I do think it makes sense though
if you're very very early maybe very new
first-time founder uh also New to SAS
then requiring the credit card up front
will be a really good litmus test so I
do I see a lot of value for sure in that
yeah that's the key is I was referring
to if you don't really know your ICP yet
and you're still trying to figure it out
so that's the difference yeah once you
know your ICP you're driving traffic
your ideal customer profile for those
listening or watching um that that makes
sense I think I think we're on the same
page all right Asia let's talk about
target
market yeah this might sound really
obvious but I think that this this this
slide just illustrates it I and makes it
visual for people because the market
that you ultimately decide to focus on
is going to have a huge impact on your
growth rates this also might not be that
surprising when I say but if you are
targeting Enterprise companies
traditionally speaking your average
month of month month-over-month growth
rate was probably like in the 26 or so
percent that's that's pretty high
actually for uh for a company that
essentially means that you potentially
more than double year over-ear um but
there there are some tradeoffs depending
of course on who you Target so for
example if I uh if I look in this chart
here um towards the end we see consumers
so on average month over month growth
rate looked closer to 5% for consumers
uh government was pretty pretty slow
1.75 now to keep in mind this is the
average the medians reflected something
very similar um but what was also
interesting was depending on just how
people respond to the survey if they
selected other which to be honest I was
kind of having a hard time of like what
would other be but um but if you were
not really targeting any of these uh
ideal customer types then you probably
saw contractions and growth this could
actually be due to a lack of focus um
this could also just be maybe there are
some consumer customer categories that
just don't fit within this model but at
the end of the day who you target from a
business perspective is going to have a
lot to do with how you grow that should
be both uh I think it should be seen a
little bit as I don't want to say like
blessing and curse but almost like uh
setting expectations for yourself so if
you're if you're targeting if you're
going B Toc if you're going consumer
just have a expectation that growth
might look a little bit different than
if you're B2B targeting Enterprise or
even midmarket uh smbs fell right in the
middle which probably not surprising so
if you were targeting small businesses
your average growth growth rate probably
looked around like 12% month over month
um but overall though something to keep
in mind but yeah Rob I'm curious how how
you see this and uh how this reflects
for you yeah so for context the top
three fastest growing Market Target
markets are Enterprise and midmarket
which is slightly smaller than
Enterprise and NOS or non-government
organizations I'm a little surprised the
NGS are there but I you know it it is
what it is so those are the top three
which the first two certainly line up
with you know my experience of at least
having a dual funnel with Enterprise and
mid Market plus SMB but with the tiny C
companies we see the ones with the
bigger acvs the ones with you know the
bigger um average revenue per account
per month or per year are do tend to be
the ones that grow faster on the bottom
end the bottom four are totally in line
with what I would think aspiring
entrepreneurs education so it's selling
into schools and academics uh consumers
and then government
and yeah that none of those are really
surprising to
me yeah yeah NOS though that makes me
think
that those those software companies are
solving a very big problem for them
that's what makes me think that NGO is
doing so well I think the NGS are
probably Enterprise or mid-market
companies is is my guess you know we've
broken them out because people we we
used to have well we do have other and
people would write in NOS that's our
target market and so we included it but
if you think about it a lot lot of
non-government organizations are
actually large businesses and I I think
kind of you the first three all all line
up so for our next one we asked do you
plan to seek outside funding for your
company within the next 12 months and I
I'm glad we started asking this I think
we've only asked it for two years but it
was insightful for me the first year to
realize you know this really gets sent
out to the microc conf Tiny Seed starts
the rest of us ecosystem which is
frankly it's just mostly bootstrappers
like it's overwhelmingly folks who want
a bootstrap and and that's fine that's
okay um what I was surprised by was in
2022
30% of respondents said they plan to
seek outside funding within the next 12
months and then in this year's report
it's down to
23.5% now a couple thoughts on that
number one it's interesting that across
all the tiny seed companies that we
funded somewhere around a third of them
wind up seeking or raising additional
funding so that a third onethird number
seems to be it seems to be something you
know this is even for for companies
who've taken an accelerate around from
Chinese seed the other takeaways from
year to year if you heard me say 2022 is
30% and 2023 was about just under 24% so
there's a decrease right of you know 20
20 something per. I think that's due to
the funding environment I'll say this
the 2022 results were actually surveyed
in Fall of 21 when things were still
gangb ERS it was so easy to raise
funding everyone was thinking about it
everyone was doing it the valuations
were high there were all the there were
spacks going on there was crowdfunding
going out you know all kinds of stuff so
I do think there was more of an appetite
because it was just easier money was
cheaper and this year's survey you know
taken what uh a couple years later
because we we skipped the year in
between is down to about 24% and I'll
admit that's just not that surprising I
think with funding being harder to raise
kind of makes sense you bootstrap until
the money's available and If the money's
never available you just keep
bootstrapping funding being harder to
raise but then also terms not nearly as
appealing as maybe they once were there
you go uh and then also I think there's
just like
a what was the quote from microcom most
recently the exit strategy is death yeah
yeah I think I think the culture is
culturing when it comes to when it comes
to bootstrap in general so uh yeah I but
I also think it speaks maybe a little
bit to the mental resilience of
bootstrappers I think a lot of people
are learning about how to how to grow
sustain
uh and also being maybe a lot more
Discerning about like when does it make
sense to get funding and Asia for your
next slide we have a battle of the
models talk us through this oh yes okay
it is the it is one of my absolute
favorite debates and it's just because
there isn't really like a right or a
wrong answer but the data is going to
show us a couple of really interesting
Trends so basically there's of course
offering premium then there's the free
trial you can do opt-in free trial which
which basically means that you don't
require a credit card UPF front and then
there's the opt out free trial which
means that you do require require a
credit card up front you have to opt out
of it so when it comes to growth churn
and LTV which we're going to look at in
here in a second when it comes to growth
overall so what we find is uh free plans
and free trials that do require a credit
card we're going to see on average at
least 10% and for free trial credit card
required uh it actually is the highest
so 14% month over Monon average growth
for companies that do that uh so
requiring the credit card up front does
have a pretty big impact when it comes
to um initial you know upfront growth
and then not requiring the credit card
it had the least amount of
month-over-month growth this is about
7.6 we'll call it 8% on average um and
at first blush that may seem like oh CC
required for the free trial is the
obvious answer and then maybe after that
premium but not necessarily because now
we have to look at churn so for churn
for the free plan this was absolutely
fascinating but basically your month
over month growth average while it might
have been
10.45% um churn was about the same it
was almost 11% month-over-month
uh average for turn so basically premium
tended to see if you offered a free plan
uh you probably saw a little bit higher
turn as well um when it comes to the
free trial credit card required the
average for the month-over-month turn
was 5.5% now this was actually shocking
to me because traditionally speaking we
tend to see really high turn numbers
when you require the credit card up
front because people forget to cancel
and they you know they email you and
they're like oh I forgot to cancel can
you cancel my thing and then um profit
well and a lot of other subscription
metrics will actually count that as turn
um even though they might have just
forgotten so I was actually shocked to
see that the average was about 5 .5% on
credit card required and then finally
not requiring the credit card on the
free trial 6.34 so a little bit higher
um now again that might make you think
oh wow not requiring the credit card on
the free trial is the worst one um but
then we're going to look at
LTV uh but first I'll pause here I'm so
curious Rob like your gut reactions to
this it's tough because it is averages
um but my gut feel is typically that
folks who are asking for credit card up
front I I would think that the the churn
for the first 30 or 60 days would be
higher but if they have their stuff
dialed in then beyond that as long as
they're getting ICP their ideal customer
profile in because they are gating it
with a credit card kind of makes sense
right that's why I say it's my default
again it's a default it's a rule of
thumb it's a just a thing that I lean
towards so it it does kind of make sense
it really makes sense to me that free
plan meaning freemium has you know I'd
say lower growth but that that the churn
is high which I guess is this this isn't
churn from the free plan this is churn
from the paid plans which almost tells
me like the business is broken and
that's the thing just bootstrappers
using premium in general usually means
they don't know what they're doing like
that's been my experience you know what
I mean and it's like I and I don't mean
that I I use that bad word only to imply
that I just see it too often it's the
same thing people want to do BDC they
want to bootstrap at two-sided
Marketplace and they want to have
premium I don't know why they're drawn
to this like moobs to a bug zapper but
it really is the most common questions
that I get I've just stopped taking
these questions on the podcast so the
premium part kind of being a train wreck
and the business being on fire that
makes a little more sense the fact that
free trial with credit card require
performs better at least with these
averages um I think it's in line with my
experience but it doesn't you know more
more questions to be asked is how I feel
about it this is where I would
say uh the story flips a little bit so
LTV
ultimately what that kpi speaks to is
the lifetime value of the customer so
for as long as they spend with you how
much how much like actual money do they
do they spend on average uh across their
entire experience um with your product
and what we found was while the free
trial credit card not required certainly
did not look as appealing
month-over-month growth wise or even
turn wise what we found was it actually
would have on average two times the LTV
versus other plans so for context free
plan and premium we saw an average of 3K
LTV when we looked at credit card
required on the free trial it was about
3.6k LTV free trial credit card not
required 6.5k so easily 2x over premium
or free plans and then a of course a
slight bump over the over the free trial
credit card required what this tells me
is that while businesses might choose
you know the free trial where the credit
card is not required um what they're
basically trading off is faster maybe
upfront month-over-month growth for
basically more money in the pocket which
I don't think you can be mad about
however that's not to say though that
requiring the credit card UPF front is
not a good option if anything this makes
me think that maybe monetization is a
little bit broken for companies that
tend to do the credit card required up
front um and then for premium it's
exactly what you said before I think a
lot of Founders just don't really
understand how to make fremium work like
how do you make it do the thing but it
also could speak to lower pricing plans
and uh charging Less in general because
you've got freemium as your starting
point so it could also speak to that as
well so maybe monetization is a little
bit broken here as well yeah this one's
interesting for me because in our last
slide we looked at growth rate and free
trial with credit card acquire was
growing significantly faster month over
month than the others but free trial
credit card not required has
significantly higher lifetime value
even though the turn is higher so it
implies that without credit card
required the basically the they're
charging more right I mean because for
the LTV to be higher with higher turn
means they have to be charging more
charging more keeping more I think too
potentially this is where like data can
be made to tell a story because Asia and
I could go on Twitter X and we could say
well obviously based on this slide you
should not ask for a credit card and we
have data for it and we could flip to
the slide before we could say Obviously
by this slide we you know a free child
credit card require allows you to grow
faster and it's I won't say it's apples
and oranges cuz they're related but it's
it's unclear and honestly this is why
the answer is it depends it really does
depend on your space it depends on your
customer type your ICP it depends on
your stage and for our last slide this
one will be quick I just like looking at
it because the question we ask is please
select up to three advertising channels
that have most significantly increased
your revenue and the number one is with
what 65 percenti is is Google AdWords
number two with about half that so
around 30ish is uh meta or Facebook ads
and then next is other and fourth is
LinkedIn and I every year I'm always
like I think Twitter ads are going to do
something so at some point they're gonna
and they never do they're all they're
always so far to the right it's like
that Twitter ad ecosystem is terrible
usually though I would expect LinkedIn
to be third it just in broader
experience it's like ADW it's Google
AdWords it's it's Facebook and it's
LinkedIn would be my top three that I
would recommend to um you know to
Founders B2B SAS Founders the issue
though is the LinkedIn ad tools are not
great and that's what I've heard and so
we've actually tiny seeds invested in
link low which is a SAS that it sits on
top it's like it's it helps you manage
and and deal basically get around
linkedin's crappy ad interface you heard
me say that's not their marketing that's
me just saying it's pretty rough um the
ad Tech of LinkedIn is significantly
behind meta and AdWords the thing that I
want to dig into and I wish I had this
data with me today is other advertising
I don't exactly know what that is and I
bet we had a text field that people
entered stuff I I'm curious if other
advertising is like advertising on
podcast advertising or sponsoring events
or display advertis like I can imagine
those being an other and so the fact
that it's ahead of LinkedIn might be
just that it's so varied you know
there's so many different options that
people kind of bucket it all in one
yeah the the LinkedIn thing is also not
surprising to me I I think um in order
for LinkedIn to work you've got to be
targeting audience that just actually
lives on LinkedIn like I live on
LinkedIn that's where I hang out now
Asia thanks again so much for joining me
here in this video today folks want to
keep up with you you are Asia arangio on
Twitter and demand
maven.com into the state of independent
SAS report you can head over to stateof
IND sas.com if you want to get your
hands on the rest of the report in it we
walk through dozens of SAS metric
benchmarks we talk a little bit about
our methodology and comment on the most
surprising findings and I also cover the
content about hiring that was on my eth
slide that we didn't quite have time for
in this video if you found this video
helpful make sure you like And subscribe
I'll see you next time thanks for
watching
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