The Ultimate Guide to Partnership Programs for B2B SaaS Companies

As a SaaS business company, you need to do more than just serving the customers. SaaS marketing is important to achieve success. A good SaaS marketing plan is necessary to improve brand reach. You can build a SaaS partner program to get better success. Most of the successful SaaS businesses are built on partnerships. These partnerships can bring better revenue to a business. This article explores all about B2B SaaS partnership programs- what they are, why they are important, types of SaaS partner programs, how to engage with partners, and how to build a plan around it.

What are B2B SaaS Partnership Programs

Depending on the goals of the business, a partner program can vary. The partner ecosystem is one that working professionals build through alliances with each other. This is aligning sales, product, strategy, marketing, and more to build massive partnerships. These partnerships are the future of SaaS. A partner program helps deliver value and business opportunities to the company.

Why are B2B SaaS Partner Programs Important

A B2B SaaS partner program offers some main benefits-

• Leverage the social ladder of some well known brands
• Upscale your marketing efforts
• Improve sales narrative

A SaaS partner program empowers both the parties involved. It is a relationship that both parties need to real rewards from. The success of these partnerships lie in understanding goals, metrics, and forging connections to achieve them.

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Types of SaaS B2B Partner Programs

There are many types of SaaS partner programs in the B2B sector. The main pillars on which these connections are forged include-

• Size of the SaaS company
• Your goals
• Time availability
• Investment capacity
• Resource availability

However, these are the common types of SaaS B2B partnership programs.

Referral Program

Referral programs are important SaaS partnerships. In this, users of your service refer others to check out your services in exchange for a commission payment or referral fee or affiliate fee. This is in multiple formats-

• Credits
• Percentage of sales
• Discounts

You can drive better results from loyal customers to promote your service. This can result in better customer acquisition, reduced costs of acquisition, and more trust.

Incentive Programs

Choosing the right incentives to benefit customers is important. Would they prefer a discount in their subscription fees? A free month? Or an upgrade to a better package? What would be beneficial for your business? Promote your referral program to get more reach.

Integration Partner Programs

B2B SaaS integration partnerships are effective while allowing two services to work collectively to create convenient and user-friendly service. The key benefits of integration partnerships include-

• Enhancing service value
• Improving the reach for a fresh audience
• Opportunities for co-marketing efforts

Who can you partner with?

• Service providers
• Product platforms
• Complementary agencies
• Strategic companies
• Knowledge partners

Why Should You Build a Partner Program for SaaS Businesses

A partner program for B2B SaaS companies is more than a money making stream. You can position your industry as a thought leader if you have a good rapport with partners. You can create better content, improve event participation, and increase brand awareness. Here are some reasons why you should build a partner program

• Amplified growth
• Mutual values
• Measure attributes better
• Better brand association
• Increased revenue
• Extended network
• Enhanced product portfolio
• Indirect sales channels

How to Create a B2B SaaS Partnership Model

Did you know that HubSpot generates 40% of its revenue from its B2B SaaS partnership program. The main components of a SaaS B2B model for partnerships include-

Strategy

The key aspect is to note down the objectives of the company. Finalise the partner journey, what is the ideal partner profile, what are the goals you want to achieve, keep track of your objectives, and finalize your benefit grids. Sign a contract, keep the deed clear, and measure the analytics such as signups and clicks. You need to document integrations, additional requirements, create program rules for partners, and more.

Alignment

Aligning the sales and marketing processes for partners will help. This involves listening and updating information for partner teams. You need to map your efforts by including informational resources and sales material in your messaging. Putting your customers at the center of this is the key to a great SaaS partnership.

Enablement

This is where your work starts bearing fruit. This is when your product will be referred and onboarding will start. You must cross check the references and create an environment that partners will love. Using metric based KPIs will help track how you are doing. Sending weekly reports will also help. Another thing to do is by creating a custom newsletter that informs of all changes and incentives that can happen. You must create a system where all communications are integrated to offer better support.

SaaS Partner Program Examples

Here are some companies who have been able to leverage partnerships to improve their business to a huge extent.

HubSpot

The HubSpot Partner program is one that will help complement and integrate with HubSpot. There are over 500 powerful integrations that new partners can utilize. You can integrate with many non-HubSpot tools like Wistia, Zendesk, SurveyMonkey, and more.

SmartKarrot

SmartKarrot has B2B SaaS partnerships to enhance integration and reduce work load. You can custom integrate CRM, billing, communication, product adoption, and helpdesk tools like Jira, Salesforce, Zendesk, slack, Hubspot, Freshdesk, and stripe.

Bottom Line

SaaS partnership programs can get complicated. You need to be vigilant and automate everything. Since channels are usually large, it can get tough to manage. In that case, partnering with the right companies can eliminate challenges of going haywire. You will see a revenue increase, better brand presence, improved networking, information exchange, and technology improvement.

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