B2B SaaS Four-Channel Demo Comparison

Cross-Channel Performance Analysis - B2B SaaS

Normalized Metrics Summary

Detailed Channel Breakdown

Webinars (Best Efficiency)

• Original model: Flat fee - $2,000 total
• Attendees: 50
• Effective cost per attendee: $40.00
• Demo request rate: 24% (12/50 attendees)
• Cost per demo: $166.67 - Lowest
• Quality indicator: High intent (attended live event)

LinkedIn InMail

• Original model: CPS (Cost Per Send) - $5.00/message (estimated)
• Messages sent: 800
• Opens: Not specified (estimated ~400 at 50% open rate)
• Clicks: 100
• Effective CPC: $40.00 ($4,000 / 100 clicks)
• Demo request rate: 20% (20/100 clicks)
• Cost per demo: $200.00
• Quality indicator: Direct decision-maker outreach

Google Ads

• Original model: CPC - $5.00/click
• Clicks: 3,000
• Demo request rate: 1.5% (45/3,000 clicks)
• Cost per demo: $333.33
• Quality indicator: Search intent, broad audience

Content Syndication

• Original model: CPL (Cost Per Lead) - $26.67/lead
• Leads delivered: 300
• Demo request rate: 5% (15/300 leads)
• Cost per demo: $533.33 - Highest
• Quality indicator: Low conversion suggests lead quality issues

Channel Rankings

By Efficiency (Cost per Demo):

1. Webinars: $166.67/demo - Best efficiency
2. LinkedIn InMail: $200.00/demo (+20% vs Webinars)
3. Google Ads: $333.33/demo (+100% vs Webinars)
4. Content Syndication: $533.33/demo (+220% vs Webinars)

By Conversion Quality:

1. Webinars: 24% attendee-to-demo rate (highest intent)
2. LinkedIn InMail: 20% click-to-demo rate (targeted outreach)
3. Content Syndication: 5% lead-to-demo rate (quality concerns)
4. Google Ads: 1.5% click-to-demo rate (broad traffic)

By Volume Delivered:

1. Google Ads: 45 demos (highest volume)
2. LinkedIn InMail: 20 demos
3. Content Syndication: 15 demos
4. Webinars: 12 demos (lowest volume)

Insights and Recommendations

Scale Webinars

• Best efficiency at $166.67/demo
• Highest conversion quality (24% attendee-to-demo)
• Dual benefit: Lead generation + product education
• Low volume (12 demos) indicates significant room to scale
• Action: Increase frequency from current level to 2x/month, test topic variations, co-marketing partnerships to expand reach
• Budget recommendation: Increase to $4,000-6,000/month (2-3 webinars)

Maintain and Optimize LinkedIn InMail

• Strong efficiency at $200/demo (second-best)
• High conversion quality (20% click-to-demo)
• Direct access to decision-makers
• Limited scale (depends on target account list size)
• Action: Maintain $4,000 spend, improve messaging/targeting to increase click rate from 12.5% to 15%+
• Test personalization at scale and A/B test subject lines

Audit Google Ads

• Highest volume (45 demos) but expensive at $333/demo
• Low conversion quality (1.5%) indicates broad/low-intent traffic
• 2x more expensive than webinars per demo
• Action: Reduce budget by 30% to $10,000, focus on high-intent keywords (competitor terms, solution-specific phrases)
• Eliminate broad match keywords that dilute performance

Reassess Content Syndication

• Most expensive at $533.33/demo (3.2x worse than webinars)
• Very poor lead quality (5% lead-to-demo rate)
• $26.67/lead seems reasonable but downstream conversion is terrible
• Action: Cut spend by 75% to $2,000 or pause entirely; demand better lead quality from vendor or switch providers

Budget Reallocation Scenario

Current State: $29,000 total spend -> 92 demos -> $315.22/demo average

Optimized Budget:

• Webinars: $2,000 -> $6,000 (+$4,000)
  • 12 -> 36 demos (+24 demos)
• LinkedIn InMail: $4,000 -> $4,000 (maintain)
  • 20 demos (same)
• Google Ads: $15,000 -> $10,000 (-$5,000)
  • 45 -> 30 demos (-15 demos)
• Content Syndication: $8,000 -> $1,000 (-$7,000)
  • 15 -> 2 demos (-13 demos)

New Total: $21,000 spend -> 88 demos (-4 demos) -> $238.64/demo

Net Impact:

• 28% budget reduction ($8,000 saved)
• Only 4 fewer demos (4% volume decrease)
• 24% improvement in cost per demo efficiency
• Better quality demos from high-intent channels

Alternative Aggressive Scenario

If you reinvest savings into top performers:

• Webinars: $2,000 -> $8,000 (+$6,000) -> 48 demos (+36)
• LinkedIn InMail: $4,000 -> $8,000 (+$4,000) -> 40 demos (+20)
• Google Ads: $15,000 -> $10,000 (-$5,000) -> 30 demos (-15)
• Content Syndication: $8,000 -> $0 (-$8,000) -> 0 demos (-15)

New Total: $26,000 spend -> 118 demos (+26 demos) -> $220.34/demo

Net Impact:

• 10% budget reduction ($3,000 saved)
• 28% increase in demo volume (+26 demos)
• 30% improvement in cost per demo efficiency

Quality Checks Needed

1. Demo-to-Close Rate by Channel: Pull conversion data from CRM

   • If Content Syndication demos close at 40%+ vs 10% for others, the high cost per demo may be justified
   • If Webinar attendees close at same/better rate than paid channels, the efficiency advantage is real and even understated

2. Deal Size by Channel: Analyze ACV/contract value

   • Google Ads may attract smaller customers (SMB) while webinars attract enterprise
   • LinkedIn InMail targeting senior titles may yield larger deals
   • Adjust cost per demo targets based on expected contract value

3. Sales Cycle Length: Track time from demo to close

   • Webinar attendees may have longer consideration (education-first)
   • Google search traffic may close faster (active shopping)
   • Factor velocity into channel economics

4. Attribution Accuracy:

   • Webinar attendees may have touched other channels first (Google search, LinkedIn ads)
   • Consider multi-touch attribution model
   • LinkedIn InMail likely last-touch (direct outreach)

Red Flags and Considerations

Content Syndication Warning Signs:

• 5% lead-to-demo conversion suggests either:
  • Poor lead quality (form-fill farms, disengaged prospects)
  • Misalignment between content topic and product
  • Long nurture required (shouldn’t count as same-funnel stage)
• Recommendation: Request sample leads for manual review before next contract

Webinar Scalability Questions:

• Current 24% conversion is excellent but may not hold at 4x frequency
• Topic saturation: Can you produce quality content for 2-3 webinars/month?
• Audience fatigue: Will same target accounts attend multiple times?
• Recommendation: Start with 2x frequency, monitor conversion rate closely

Google Ads Volume Dependency:

• Delivers 49% of total demos (45/92)
• Cutting too aggressively may impact sales pipeline targets
• Recommendation: Phase reduction over 2-3 months while ramping webinars

Next Steps

1. Immediate (This Week):

   • Pause or reduce Content Syndication to $1,000-2,000/month trial
   • Plan next 2 webinar topics and secure dates

2. Short-term (Next 30 Days):

   • Increase webinar budget to $4,000, execute 2 webinars
   • Audit Google Ads account: eliminate broad match, focus on high-intent terms
   • Reduce Google budget to $12,000 (20% cut) as test

3. Medium-term (Next Quarter):

   • Scale webinars to $6,000-8,000/month (2-3 per month)
   • Test LinkedIn InMail messaging improvements
   • Further reduce Google to $10,000 if webinar scaling successful
   • Pull close rate data by channel to validate efficiency rankings

4. Analysis Gap to Fill:

   • Calculate CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) including sales costs
   • Measure demo-to-customer conversion by channel
   • Track ACV and LTV by acquisition channel
   • Run incrementality test on one channel to validate attribution