2025 SaaS Marketing Statistics to Know (WOW)

We surveyed 32 of our clients and close friends that run SaaS businesses to learn more about what’s been working for their companies in terms of marketing. Changes in market conditions, changes in AI advancements, and the saturation of the SaaS industry are all related to the questions that we asked. In short, how are things going? And what statistics can we pull out of this survey that can help other SaaS businesses continue to flourish in 2025? The survey results we were able to gather certainly surprised us.

Key Takeaways

• What marketing channels are driving results in 2025? SEO (28%) and agency partnerships (22%) are leading growth for MQLs, SQLs, and trials, followed by brand building (14%) and LinkedIn campaigns (12%). Traditional channels like trade shows and YouTube are seeing minimal impact (3%).
• What unconventional tactics are gaining traction? Paid newsletter promotions (48%) and niche community engagement (Reddit, StackOverflow – 37%) are now some of the most effective demand-gen tactics, outperforming AI automations and traditional outreach.
• Is AI playing a major role in SaaS marketing today? Despite the hype, 64% of SaaS companies surveyed aren’t yet using AI automations regularly, and only 16% are leveraging AI agents—suggesting that human-led, brand-first strategies still dominate for early-stage teams.

Compelling SaaS Marketing Statistics for 2025

In the survey we asked our participants a number of questions including:

• Top channels that are working to drive MQL, SQL, and/or Trial growth.
• Most unique channel that’s working to drive MQL, SQL, and/or Trial growth.
• Amount of AI automation being used in growth marketing tactics.
• Whether AI agents are being used and how.

Criteria for the survey:

• Mixture of B2B and B2C SaaS Companies.
• Early stage (seed stage startups to Series B).
• Very few late stage SaaS organizations.

Top Marketing Channels

It’s no question that if you’re in SaaS marketing there’s this ongoing debate over what works. You can see the floodgates of YouTube videos that you’ve seen hit your mind right now. Automations this, AI that, and everything in between.

Part of our survey aimed at understanding what channels (whether new and innovative or old and boring) are working for SaaS companies.

The results are interesting:

• 28% responded that SEO is driving their top return on advertising spend
• 22% responded that agency partnerships are driving B2B and B2C leads
• 14% responded that brand building is leading to blended acquisition gains and reduced customer acquisition cost
• 12% responded that targeted LinkedIn campaigns (organic and paid) are driving new acquisition
• 8% responded that paid search marketing is driving new demand
• 5% responded that community building is leading to new demand generation
• 5% responded that email newsletters are driving new demand
• 3% responded that trade shows and other offline marketing are driving demand
• 3% responded that YouTube is driving new demand generation

Of those results, I would argue that some of them may be skewed by the limited group of people that we surveyed. And the fact that we surveyed some of our own clients who have invested in SEO. However, it’s still very interesting to see the channel breakdown.

Related: SEO ROI Statistics

In short, by channel:

• 28%: SEO
• 22%: Agency Partnerships
• 14%: Brand Building
• 12%: LinkedIn Marketing
• 8%: SEM
• 5%: Community Building
• 5%: Email Marketing
• 3%: Trade Shows
• 3%: YouTube

One of our survey participants made a note about brand building saying, “Building up our brand tends to be the same as marketing across all channels. Or basically, omnichannel marketing. However, we also bucket in the more press releases we put out, the more software improvements we make, the more partnerships we sign, and more. The more that we can emphasize our growth or our message, it tends to lead to more traction.”

Most Unique Channel’s Leading to Growth

We asked participants of their SaaS marketing blend or “rollup,” what’s the most unique tactic that’s working right now to drive demand generation.

The results came back as the following:

• 48% said paid newsletter promotions are helping to drive demand.
• 37% said either paid or organic mentions in places like Reddit, StackOverflow, or other forums are helping to drive demand.
• 12% said traditional marketing like mailers or text campaigns are working to drive demand alongside strategic sales initiatives.
• 3% said unique AI agent tactics that automate triggers across marketing platforms.

I’m less surprised by the results above. With the number of newsletters that are out there now thanks to places like SubStack, there does seem to be great communities to tap into where there are listening ears. In addition, it’s surprising to see that AI agent workflows have yet to really take off. However, with SaaS, I would anticipate that this is more related to the space focusing more on sales than marketing initiatives. This could all change as the technology advances.

In short, here are the results by channel:

• 48%: Paid Newsletters
• 37%: Forums (Reddit/StackOverflow)
• 12%: Traditional Marketing
• 3%: AI Agents

Related: B2B SaaS SEO

Amount of AI Automations Being Used in SaaS Marketing

This question aimed at understanding just how much AI automation is being used within SaaS organizations right now. Before we note the results it’s important to mention that we had a fairly even split in terms of B2B and B2C SaaS companies. However, most were very early stage (Series A to B). This may change as the organizations shift their marketing efforts and become more robust.

Of the participants who answered:

• 64% were still not using AI automations in their workflows.
• 36% were starting to adopt AI tools in their workflows.

One participant came back and said, “We, like many others, have been using AI for efficiency creation, alongside human agents. However, aside from automating data transfer between platforms (almost like rule-based systems), we haven’t really found a great way to set things on autopilot. We’re still finding that the market is shifting dramatically, almost quarter by quarter, and that requires someone taking a look at how campaigns or strategies need to change.”

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That seems to resonate with me. So far, I’ve felt like a lot of the tooling in the market tends to “create garbage” if I’m speaking candidly. And I wouldn’t recommend brands invest in that when they have a brand image to protect (going back to brand building as a way of garnishing demand generation).

Whether AI Agents Are Getting Used

Really this question came down to what we wanted to know. It seems like “all the rage” right now to talk about AI agents. However, the results came back interesting:

• 16% said they are using AI Agents
• 84% said they are not using AI Agents

I’m not completely shocked by this statistic. It does seem like the early days of AI agents. However, one participant did give us some clarity, “We’ve found a great use for AI agents on research projects. Things like market research or the need to better understand our ideal customer personas. The AI agents kind of just feel like augmentation of our workforce, though. And don’t really feel like it’s automating everything we need. It’s just more like… speedy and quick needs that get delivered fast.”

Related: Building a SaaS Content Marketing Strategy

Takeaways From the Survey

Reading the marketing statistics from the survey I’m generally not surprised. I think in most cases, the hard “grunt work” of marketing still pays off. And any major or established brand will know that. And tends to protect the brand as the first priority. Establishing credibility and trust among the market through execution and great customer service or experience.

However, here’s probably a few things to take away:

Where to Place SaaS Marketing Budget

Here’s where you might want to think about 2025/2026 planning:

Where to Avoid Spending Budget

Areas where you might want to pull back on marketing spend: