SaaS PPC
SaaS PPC measured in qualified pipeline and payback, by one consultant across Google and LinkedIn
Software companies have the cleanest data in paid media and often the worst use of it. The CRM knows which trials became customers and what they pay; the ad platforms are optimising towards sign-ups. Connecting the two is most of the job, and it is where a SaaS account starts here.
Where SaaS accounts leak
- Optimising towards the top of the funnel. Free trials, demo requests and content downloads are easy to count and cheap to buy. Without product-qualified or sales-accepted stages flowing back, the platforms buy the cheapest sign-ups, which churn.
- Competitor and category terms treated the same. "[Competitor] alternative" and "best [category] software" bring different buyers at different stages and should sit in separate campaigns with separate pages and expectations.
- Brand taking the credit. Performance Max and broad match drift onto the brand name and the reported CAC looks wonderful. Brand is isolated, and the non-brand number is the one managed.
- LinkedIn judged on form fills. A £10 click on a Head of Operations who downloads a benchmark is not pipeline. LinkedIn is judged on qualified opportunities from the CRM or not at all.
- Payback ignored. A customer acquired at £900 on a £40 monthly plan is a 22-month payback before gross margin. The targets by plan and segment come from that arithmetic, not from a blended CAC.
What management includes
- Measurement to the CRM. GA4 and Tag Manager with a user ID, HubSpot or Salesforce stages (MQL, SQL, opportunity, closed won, with amount) imported to Google Ads and LinkedIn as offline conversions, so the platforms optimise towards revenue. See conversion tracking.
- Google Search by intent. Category, problem, integration and competitor campaigns, each with its own page and its own target, brand kept separate, Performance Max only with brand excluded and only once the conversion data deserves it.
- LinkedIn for the accounts that are not searching. Named account lists from the CRM, firmographic and title targeting, offers built for a buyer with a problem this quarter, conversation and document ads tested against a control. LinkedIn Ads →
- Microsoft Advertising for the professional audience on work devices, with LinkedIn profile bid adjustments Google cannot offer. Microsoft Ads →
- Pages per intent, built by me: comparison pages, integration pages, use-case pages, with the trial or demo form that asks the one qualifying question. See landing pages.
- Reporting in pipeline and payback. Qualified pipeline, closed-won revenue and CAC payback by channel and segment, alongside the platform numbers.
A published SaaS result
Pontomais, a time-tracking and HR software startup, grew sales by 600% in eight months with paid media, most of it Google, run by me. The figures come from the company's own sales reporting at the time; the full note is on results. The market was Brazil and the currency was different, but the method was the one above: the CRM connected first, campaigns split by intent, brand isolated, and budget following measured pipeline.
Who this fits
UK and Irish B2B software companies from seed to Series B, or established vertical SaaS, spending roughly £3,000 to £60,000 a month across Google and LinkedIn, with a CRM in use and a sales or product-led motion that can report stages. Consumer apps measured on installs are not a fit.
Questions people ask before hiring
What CAC should a SaaS company expect from Google Ads?
No honest number exists before the account and the CRM are read together. What is measurable from the first month is CAC by channel and segment against your plan prices, which gives payback, and that is the figure the targets are set from.
Can you connect Google Ads and LinkedIn to HubSpot or Salesforce?
Yes. Offline conversion import from CRM stages with amounts, enhanced conversions for leads, and a user ID in GA4 so the journey from click to closed won is visible. The setup is documented so your RevOps team owns it.
Should we bid on competitor names?
Usually yes, in a separate campaign with its own page and a target that reflects the lower conversion rate. Comparison pages that are honest about where the competitor is better convert well and stay within the advertising rules.
Do you run product-led growth accounts?
Yes, provided product-qualified signals (activation, team invites, usage thresholds) can be fed back. Without them the platforms optimise towards sign-ups that never activate, and the budget is better spent elsewhere.
How much does SaaS PPC management cost?
A flat monthly fee set from the scope: platforms, markets, campaigns and how much landing page and tracking work is included. Never a percentage of spend. Quoted in pounds, ex VAT, by email from the form. See pricing.
Related services
Tell me about the account
Spend band, site and what is not working. You get a straight answer on whether I can help, what I would do first and a price range. No proposal deck, no sales follow-up sequence.