SaaS benchmarks: The ultimate list of resources

Setting goals and measuring performance is essential for any SaaS business looking to grow and succeed. However, determining what benchmarks to use can often be a challenge. To simplify your goal-setting process, we have compiled the ultimate list of resources covering various categories of SaaS benchmarks. Whether you're focused on revenue and growth, customer acquisition, sales, customer service, or marketing, this list will help you set better goals and get greater outcomes. 

How SaaS benchmarks can help you set better goals

SaaS benchmarks are crucial reference points for businesses that want to set more informed and achievable goals. They offer valuable insights into areas for improvement and realistic targets. By aligning your objectives with these benchmarks, you can optimise your strategies, allocate resources effectively, and ultimately drive growth and profitability.

Here are some other ways benchmarking can assist in the goal-setting process:

1. Providing context

Knowing the benchmarks in your industry helps you understand how other companies or teams are doing and what standards you should aim for. This way, you can set goals that are challenging but achievable. If you know what's typical in your field, you won't set goals that are either too easy or too hard to reach.

2. Identifying areas for improvement 

By comparing yourself to your peers, you can figure out where you're falling behind and need to focus your efforts. This helps you set goals to address your weaknesses and catch up to or even beat your competitors.

3. Setting SMART goals

Comparing your performance to industry benchmarks is a great way to set SMART goals. It helps you to identify areas for improvement and create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives. By using benchmarks, you can track your progress, stay motivated, and adjust your goals as the industry standards evolve and you grow.

4. Tracking progress

It's always a good idea to have benchmarks to keep track of your progress. They help you measure how far you've come and make sure you're on the right track. By comparing your performance to industry benchmarks, you can see if you're doing well and make adjustments along the way. It's a great way to keep yourself motivated and accountable as you work toward your goals.

5. Encouraging continuous improvement

Benchmarking isn't something you do once and forget about it. It's a continuous process. As the industry standards change, you need to set new benchmarks and goals to challenge yourself. This approach helps you to continuously improve and stay ahead of the curve in your field.

SaaS benchmark resources

Are you looking to set better goals? Access to reliable and up-to-date SaaS benchmarks is crucial for measuring performance and making informed decisions. We've compiled the ultimate list of SaaS benchmark resources, broken down by category, to help you stay ahead of the curve.

Revenue and growth: Assessing financial health and market competitiveness

Revenue and growth benchmarks provide valuable insights into your company's financial health, scalability, and market competitiveness. These metrics are critical for attracting investors and making strategic decisions.

• 2021 Benchmarks for SaaS Firms Under $25 Million in Revenue  (Development Corporate)
• 2023 Growth Benchmarks for Private SaaS Companies (SaaS Capital)
• 2023 SaaS Benchmarks from over 1,800 B2B SaaS companies (Maxio)
• Average Customer Retention By Industry (2024) (Exploding Topics)
• B2B SaaS Retention Benchmarks (SaaS Capital)
• Benchmarks and Revenue (SaaS Brief)
• SaaS Benchmarks: Revenue Growth Rate & The Golden Standard (ScaleXP)
• SaaS Gross Margin Benchmarks and How To Increase Yours (Lighter Capital)
• The Top 12 SaaS Metrics of 2024 (with Benchmarks) (Klipfolio)
• Understanding and Benchmarking Your MRR Movements (ChartMogul)

Customer acquisition: Optimising marketing and sales efforts

Understand the cost and effectiveness of acquiring new customers with customer acquisition benchmarks. Gain insights into optimising your strategies and allocating resources effectively.

• Average Cost Per Lead by Industry – 2024 (First Page Sage)
• CAC by Channel – 2024 Benchmarks (First Page Sage)
• SaaS Free Trial Conversion Rate Benchmarks (Evan Bailyn, CEO, First Page Sage)
• What is good free-to-paid conversion (Lenny’s Newsletter)

Customer success: Keeping customers happy and loyal

Measure customer satisfaction, support accessibility, and response times to ensure you're providing top-notch service. Compare your performance to industry standards to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

• 2024 CSAT Benchmarks by Industry: What's a Good Score? (Fullview)
• 38 SaaS NPS Benchmarks & Top SaaS ENPS Scores (Experience Benchmarks)
• Benchmarking CSAT, NPS, and CES: What's a Good Score to Have? (Nicereply)
• CSAT, CES, NPS: Customer Satisfaction Benchmarking In SaaS (Userpilot)
• CSAT: Definition, Calculation & 2024 Benchmarks (Retently)
• Essential Customer Success Benchmarks for SaaS and B2B Companies (Thinkrific)
• SaaS Retention Report 2023 (ChartMogul)
• What is a good Net Promoter Score? And how does it vary across industries? (SurveyMonkey)

Content marketing: Engaging and converting your target audience

Assess the effectiveness of your content strategy with content marketing benchmarks. Gain insights into content performance, audience engagement, and campaign effectiveness to drive better results and achieve your marketing goals.

• B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024 [Research] (Content Marketing Institute)
• Content Marketing Benchmarks by Industry for 2023 (Databox) 

Email marketing: Nurturing leads and driving customer engagement

Email marketing benchmarks help you assess the effectiveness of your email campaigns in nurturing leads, engaging customers, and driving conversions. Monitor metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to evaluate the success of your email marketing strategies. 

• 21 Top Cold Email Statistics That Work in 2024 (Klenty)
• Email Marketing Benchmarks and Metrics Businesses Should Track (Mailchimp)
• Email Marketing Benchmarks and Stats by Industry for 2024 (MailerLite)
• Email Marketing Benchmarks For 2024 [By Industry, Region, Day] (Moosend)
• Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks (Campaign Monitor)
• What are good open rates, CTRs, & CTORs for email campaigns? (Campaign Monitor)

Social media: Building brand awareness and driving conversions

Understand the reach, engagement, and impact of your social media campaigns with social media benchmarks. Evaluate the success of your strategies, identify areas for improvement, and optimise your approach to meet your business goals.

• 2024 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report (Rival IQ)
• 2024 Social Media Industry Benchmarks (Socialinsider)
• Average Engagement Rates for 12 Industries [January 2024] (Hootsuite)
• Social Advertising Benchmarks for 2023 (Brafton)

Search engine marketing (SEM): Optimising your paid advertising

SEM benchmarks can help you assess the effectiveness of your paid search campaigns in driving traffic, generating leads, and improving conversions. By monitoring key metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), and conversion rates, you can evaluate the performance of your SEM efforts and make data-driven decisions to optimise your campaigns.

• 27 Google Ads Benchmarks (2024) (Store Growers)
• Advertising Trends: CPM Benchmarks by Industry [Study] (SEMRush)
• Conversion Rate Benchmarks - Find Out How YOUR Conversion Rate Compares (WordStream)
• LinkedIn Advertising Statistics & Benchmarks that B2B Marketers Need to Know (Powered by Search)
• Search Advertising Benchmarks for Every Industry [2023 Data] (LocaliQ)

SEO: Improving search engine visibility and website traffic

SEO benchmarks offer insights into the performance of your SEO efforts, helping you measure their impact on search engine rankings and website traffic. Evaluate the success of your campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and optimise your strategies to drive more qualified traffic to your website.

• 2023 Organic SEO Industry Benchmarks Report (Conductor)
• How fast should a website load in 2023? (BrowserStack)
• SEO Benchmarks by Industry (First Page Sage)
• SEO Industry Benchmarks (Databox)
• Site Speed is (Still) Impacting Your Conversion Rate (Portent)

Video marketing: Engaging and converting with video content

Assess the effectiveness of your video content in engaging, reaching, and converting target audiences. Benchmark your video marketing efforts to measure ROI and optimise your campaigns.

• 2023 Video in Business Benchmark Report (Vidyard)
• State of Video Report: Video Marketing Statistics for 2024 (Wistia)
• Video Marketing Benchmarks (HubSpot)

Using AI for SaaS benchmarks

If you're operating a SaaS business, AI-powered tools can help you gather benchmarking data to compare your business's performance against industry standards. This will help you identify areas where you can improve. However, it's important to note that some large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Claude cannot connect to the internet, which means they may not provide the latest data. Instead, you can use LLMs like Perplexity AI, Google Gemini, or Copilot. These models are constantly updated with the latest training data and come with built-in mechanisms to assess the credibility of the information they provide.

Here's a list of detailed AI prompts for finding benchmarking data for your SaaS business:

Revenue and growth AI prompts

• ‍"Retrieve historical revenue and growth data for SaaS businesses similar in size and industry to mine."
• "Provide benchmarks for annual revenue growth rates in the SaaS industry over the past five years."
• "What are the typical revenue-to-employee ratios for SaaS companies in my sector?"

Customer acquisition AI prompts

• ‍"Identify industry benchmarks for customer acquisition cost (CAC) in the SaaS sector."
• "Compare conversion rates from free trials to paid subscriptions among top-performing SaaS companies."
• "What are the most effective customer acquisition channels for SaaS businesses, and what conversion rates do they achieve?"

Customer success AI prompts

• ‍"Retrieve benchmarks for customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores and net promoter scores (NPS) in the SaaS industry."
• "Compare average response times for customer support inquiries among leading SaaS companies."
• "What are the industry standards for customer churn rates in subscription-based SaaS businesses?"

Content marketing AI prompts

• ‍"Retrieve benchmarks for blog post engagement metrics (e.g., views, shares, comments) in the SaaS sector."
• "Compare the effectiveness of different content formats (e.g., articles, videos, infographics) in driving leads for SaaS businesses."
• "What are the industry benchmarks for email open rates and click-through rates (CTRs) in SaaS email marketing campaigns?"

SEO AI prompts

• ‍"Identify benchmarks for organic search traffic and keyword rankings for SaaS websites."
• "Compare domain authority and backlink profiles of top-ranking SaaS companies in my niche."
• "What are the industry benchmarks for click-through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates from organic search results in the SaaS sector?"

Social media marketing AI prompts

• ‍"Identify benchmarks for social media engagement rates (likes, shares, comments) for SaaS companies across various platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook)."
• "Compare follower growth rates and audience demographics for leading SaaS brands on social media."
• "What are the typical conversion rates for social media advertising campaigns in the SaaS industry?"

Video marketing AI prompts

• ‍"Retrieve benchmarks for video view counts, watch times, and engagement metrics (likes, comments) in the SaaS sector."
• "Compare the effectiveness of different video platforms (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo) for hosting SaaS product demos and tutorials."
• "What are the typical conversion rates for video ads and embedded videos on SaaS websites?"

Conclusion 

If you're running a SaaS business and want to set goals, benchmarking can be a great way to ensure you're aiming for something challenging yet doable. By comparing your business to industry standards, you can determine how well you're doing and where you could improve. 

Remember that SaaS benchmarks aren't one-size-fits-all. They can vary depending on things like your industry, the size of your company, and who your target audience is. So, when you're using benchmarks to set goals, keep in mind the unique things about your business and adjust your targets accordingly. If you use SaaS benchmarks and tailor them to your specific situation, you can create a data-based roadmap for success that helps you measure progress and sets you up for long-term success.