SaaS Copywriting: The SaaS Marketing Framework That Actually Works

By Andrew on 8/8/2024

Most SaaS marketing is a wasteland of buzzwords and empty promises. But it doesn’t have to be. Effective marketing isn’t about being clever; it’s about being clear and compelling. Here’s a framework for creating marketing that actually drives growth, not just hot air.

The Four Quadrants of SaaS Marketing Effectiveness

Picture a matrix. One axis is ‘Clarity’ (low to high), the other is ‘Impact’ (low to high). This gives us four quadrants:

1. High Clarity, High Impact: The Holy Grail
2. Low Clarity, High Impact: The Diamond in the Rough
3. High Clarity, Low Impact: The “So What?” Zone
4. Low Clarity, Low Impact: The Waste of Bits

Let’s break it down with real-world examples. Brace yourself - some of these might sting.

Quadrant 1: The Holy Grail (High Clarity, High Impact)

This is the promised land. Crystal clear messages that hit real, urgent needs.

Examples:

• Stripe: “Payments infrastructure for the internet”
• Slack: “Where work happens”
• Shopify: “The platform commerce is built on”
• Zoom: “The leader in modern enterprise video communications”
• Notion: “All-in-one workspace”
• Airtable: “Organize anything, with anyone, from anywhere”
• Mailchimp: “All-in-one marketing platform for growing businesses”
• Dropbox: “Securely share, store and collaborate on files and folders from anywhere”
• GitHub: “Where the world builds software”
• Trello: “Collaborate, manage projects, and reach new productivity peaks”

Why it works: You get it instantly. It speaks to a fundamental need or desire. No fluff, just value.

Quadrant 2: The Diamond in the Rough (Low Clarity, High Impact)

There’s power here, but it’s buried under jargon or complexity.

Examples:

• Oracle: “The world’s most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems”
• SAP: “The world’s largest provider of enterprise application software”
• Palantir: “We build software that empowers organizations to effectively integrate their data, decisions, and operations”
• Cloudera: “The enterprise data cloud company”
• Snowflake: “The Data Cloud”
• New Relic: “Deliver more perfect software”
• MuleSoft: “The world’s #1 integration and API platform”

Why it fails: The real value is lost in a word salad or vague claims. There might be a great product behind this, but you’d never know it from the copy.

Quadrant 3: The “So What?” Zone (High Clarity, Low Impact)

It’s clear, but no one cares.

Examples:

• Generic SaaS Company A: “We offer 24/7 customer support”
• TechCorp B: “Our platform is built with React and Node.js”
• SecureCloud C: “We use 256-bit encryption”
• StartupX: “Founded in 2015 by Stanford graduates”
• EnterpriseY: “Our servers are hosted on AWS”
• InnovateCo: “We have an office in Silicon Valley”

Why it fails: Clear, sure, but not compelling. It doesn’t address a real pain point or desire. Your tech stack or founding date might be interesting to you, but your customers care about results.

Quadrant 4: The Waste of Bits (Low Clarity, Low Impact)

Unclear and unimportant. Unfortunately, this is where most marketing lives.

Examples:

• IBM: “Let’s create new possibilities”
• Accenture: “Outmaneuver uncertainty”
• Deloitte Digital: “Reimagine everything”
• Capgemini: “Get the future you want”
• Cisco: “The bridge to possible”
• HPE: “Accelerating next”
• Dell Technologies: “Innovation that stops at nothing”

Why it fails: It says nothing and means nothing. It’s a word cloud of buzzwords that could apply to literally any tech company.

Putting the Clarity-Impact Matrix to Work

1. Audit Your Current Copy Be merciless. Plot every headline, tagline, and key message on this matrix. Brace yourself - most will probably land in the bottom right quadrant.

2. Clarify the Unclear For anything on the left side, ask: “How would you explain this to a smart friend at a bar?” That’s your clearer version. Turn Palantir’s jargon into “We help organizations make sense of their data.”

3. Amplify the Impact For the bottom half, ask: “So what? Why should anyone care?” Keep pushing until you hit something that genuinely matters to your users. Turn “We use 256-bit encryption” into “Your data is locked down tighter than Fort Knox.”

4. Aim for the Holy Grail Iterate until every key message sits in that top right quadrant. It’s not a one-time fix; it’s a process. Slack didn’t start with “Where work happens.” They got there through relentless refinement.

5. Test Relentlessly Your opinion doesn’t matter. Test your messaging with real users. Let data guide you to the top right. A/B test everything. What sounds clever in a marketing meeting often falls flat in the real world.

The Uncomfortable Truth About SaaS Marketing Copy

Here’s what most miss: The best SaaS marketing often doesn’t sound like marketing at all. It sounds like a straight answer about how to solve a real problem.

Look at Stripe’s documentation, Airtable’s templates, or Notion’s guides. That’s marketing gold. Why? Because they’re showing, not telling. They’re demonstrating value, not just claiming it.

Remember, in SaaS, you’re not after a one-time purchase. You’re starting a long-term relationship. Every word should build trust and demonstrate value. Fluff doesn’t scale. Clarity and impact do.

This framework isn’t about being creative for creativity’s sake. It’s about ruthless clarity and genuine impact. Use it to cut through the noise, both in your market and in your own organization. In a world drowning in meaningless marketing, clarity and impact are your secret weapons.

The challenge: Make every word earn its place in that top right quadrant. It’s hard work, but it’s how you win in SaaS. Don’t just talk about adding value - actually add it, with every message you put out there. Your users will thank you, and so will your bottom line.

SlimSaaS

Chances are, you’re here because you want to market your already existing SaaS product, but in the rare event you might still be building one, check out slimsaas.com.