8 Best Practices
With YouTube Ads, you can connect with potential customers who are searching for answers to their questions. Every month, more than 2.5 billion people use the platform, spending an average of 19 minutes every day watching videos. This means that you have a huge opportunity to showcase your SaaS product and its benefits to a highly engaged audience.
But how do you create an effective advertisement video for a SaaS product that stands out from the crowd and drives action?
Creating effective YouTube ads for SaaS involves understanding your target audience, highlighting the unique value propositions of your SaaS product, and crafting compelling narratives. Here are some of the best practices in the industry to follow:
1. Find An Engaging Hook
The first few seconds are crucial to capture the attention of your viewers and entice them to watch more, especially when it comes to YouTube Ads for SaaS products. You need to find a hook that works for your target audience and your product. A hook can be a question, a problem, a statistic, a testimonial, a story, or anything else that sparks curiosity and interest.
For example, Dropbox used an explainer video to demonstrate how their product functions and the benefits it offers for people who want to store and share files online. It worked because it:
- Focused on benefits, not features.
- Explained the problem and the solution clearly.
- Used High-quality, visually appealing paper cutouts and stop-motion animation.
- The video was released on Hacker News, a popular online community for tech enthusiasts, where it drew hundreds of thousands of views and comments.
2. Experiment with Different Video Lengths
When it comes to YouTube Ads for SaaS products, you have a range of video ad options at your disposal. These include in-stream ads, which can be skipped or non-skippable, bumper ads that are very short, discovery ads that appear in search results, and outstream ads that display on other websites.
You should experiment with different video lengths to find out what works best for your product and audience. Through heavy customisations like you can ensure that your YouTube ad campaigns for SaaS effectively reach your target audience, generate high-quality leads, and drive business growth. In general, shorter videos are better for getting people’s attention and interest, while longer videos are better for getting people to take action and remember your brand.
For example, Mint.com effectively showcased their financial app in a 30-second skippable in-stream ad, emphasizing features like budgeting, bill tracking, credit score monitoring, and investment advice.
Pipe, on the other hand, used a concise 6-second bumper ad to highlight their unique value proposition of converting recurring revenue into upfront cash. This innovative approach helps businesses grow without debt or dilution.
3. Highlight Product Interface
A great way to demonstrate your SaaS product and its value is to include video of the product interface in your ad. This way, you can display how your product functions, what it looks like, and how it addresses the needs of your customers. You can also highlight customer testimonials about your product interface to create these persuasive SaaS product YouTube ads.
You can use screen recordings, animations, or live demos to feature your product interface in your ad. You can also use captions, voiceovers, or music to enhance your message and make it more engaging.
For example, Nectar used an animated video of their product interface to show how their employee recognition platform helps teams celebrate wins and build culture.
4. Tell Better Stories
When utilizing YouTube Ads for SaaS products, you can leverage the power of storytelling to craft compelling narratives. Stories can help you connect with your audience on an emotional level and make them remember your product and brand. You can use storytelling to tell the story of your product, your customers, or your company in your ad.
You can use different types of stories, such as customer success stories, founder stories, problem-solution stories, or vision stories. You can also use different elements of storytelling, such as characters, conflict, resolution, climax, or call to action.
For example, Galley used a customer success story to show how their meal delivery service helped a busy mom save time and enjoy healthy food. According to the story, Sarah was struggling to balance her work and family life, and often resorted to ordering takeout or skipping meals. She decided to try Galley after hearing about it from a friend, and was impressed by the quality, variety, and convenience of the service.
- Image: Sarah Bregel
5. Different Videos For Different Audiences
Not all customers are the same. They have different needs, preferences, pain points, goals, and behaviors. That’s why you should create unique videos for segmented audiences based on their characteristics and interests. Alternatively, YouTube Shorts ads offer a unique opportunity to capture viewers’ attention with short-form vertical videos. With a maximum duration of 60 seconds, these ads are designed to deliver quick and engaging messages to the audience.
You can target specific audiences on YouTube based on their age, gender, location, language, interests, keywords, topics, devices, or previous interactions with your ads. You can also use custom intent audiences or custom affinity audiences to reach people who are searching for products or services like yours or who are interested in related topics.
For example, Insite.ai used different videos for different audiences based on their industry verticals (retail or finance) and their pain points (customer churn or fraud detection). They have tailored videos for retail and finance customers, addressing their pain points and showcasing the solutions they offer.
For retail customers, Insite.ai‘s video focuses on reducing customer churn through customer segmentation and personalization tools.
On the other hand, their video for finance customers highlights how their anomaly detection and risk scoring tools help detect fraud.
6. Have a Target, Have a Strategy
One of the key factors that influence the success of your YouTube Ads for SaaS campaign is targeting. You need to make sure that your message reaches the right audience at the right time. You also need to avoid spending money on viewers who are not interested or relevant to your product.
You should be strategic about targeting by using a combination of different targeting options that suit your goals and budget. You should also monitor and optimize your targeting performance by using YouTube’s analytics tools and Google Ads reports.
For example, Spotify used keyword targeting to connect with people who were looking for music content every day. They used this technique to show ads that matched the music interests of the viewers, such as genres, artists, playlists, podcasts, or events. This way, Spotify encouraged them to try their streaming service.
By using keyword targeting, Spotify was able to show relevant ads to users who were already looking for music content on Youtube, and encourage them to try Spotify’s streaming service.
7. Consider Targeting Your Competition’s Keywords
Another effective way to reach potential customers who are looking for a SaaS solution like yours is to target your competition’s keywords. This way, you can show your video ad to people who are searching for or watching videos related to your competitors’ products or brands.
YouTube’s keyword targeting option lets you reach people who are interested in your product or your competitors. You can also create custom intent audiences to show your ads to people who have searched for similar keywords on Google.
For example, Monday.com used keyword targeting to display their video ad to people who were searching for or watching videos related to Asana, a well-known project management tool. They used YouTube TrueView for Action ads, which are video ads that can be skipped and have a call-to-action button and a headline text overlay.
Your team’s future depends on monday.com
Their video ad had a catchy song and colorful animation, and they compared their product to Asana’s. Monday.com aimed to boost brand awareness, website traffic, and conversions among their target audience. Their campaign achieved a 25% higher click-through rate, a 23% lower cost per acquisition, and a 35% higher return on ad spend.
8. Use Content Exclusion as Needed
YouTube Ads allow you to reach a large and diverse audience, but not all of them may be suitable for your product or brand. You may want to exclude certain types of content or audiences that are irrelevant, inappropriate, or sensitive for your ad.
You can use YouTube’s features to exclude content to choose who can see your ad and where it shows up. You can avoid certain topics, categories, keywords, placements, or channels that are not relevant or appropriate for your ad. You can also exclude certain types of audiences based on their age, gender, parental status, or household income.
For example, Slack avoided showing their video ad on videos that had profanity, violence, or adult themes by using content exclusion features. Slack aimed to enhance brand awareness, social responsibility, and customer loyalty among their target audience.
Choose a better way to work | Slack
They truly utilized YouTube TrueView for Reach ads, which are skippable video ads that prioritize impressions and reach a wide viewership.
In Conclusion
SaaS YouTube Advertising is a powerful way to display your product and its advantages to an active and engaged audience. By following these best practices, you can create effective advertisement videos that stand out from the crowd and drive action.
Also, you have to carefully assess the YouTube ads cost and budgeting accordingly. Determining how much do Youtube Ads cost depends on various factors such as your targeting options, ad format, ad duration, and the competitiveness of your desired audience segment.
If you need help with creating or optimizing your YouTube Ads for SaaS, contact us today. Passionbits is a platform for marketers to easily connect with creators and churn out custom videos, ads, testimonials, or even shoots for their social media.