What is SaaS Copywriting?

SaaS is a really competitive market…but if you’re reading this, you already know that.

That’s why it’s so important to find any way you can find to stand out to potential customers. Or more specifically, stand out above your competitors.

This is why your copy and content has never been more important. It’s the easiest way to communicate with your audience, and convince them to hit ‘Subscribe’.

But recently, there’s been a weird shift towards copycat copy. SaaS companies are relying more and more on templates, AI tools, or copying their competitors to create their copy.

The result has been the ‘samification’ of SaaS copywriting, where everyone sounds the same. They promise the same things, use the same buzzwords, and sometimes even use the same copy:

And while this trend towards plagiarism and anti-originality sucks from a creative standpoint, it does create a huge opportunity for any SaaS that’s willing to create something truly original.

That’s what I’m going to cover in this blog.

Understanding SaaS Copywriting

Before we get too specific, let’s first be clear what we mean by SaaS copywriting. Here’s my definition:

• SaaS copywriting is the research, planning, and creation of persuasive writing with the intention of convincing the reader to try or buy the product.

The one big caveat I’ll add to this is that copy isn’t always read — it can also be heard or sometimes even portrayed with imagery.

Or in real teams, we’re talking about web copy, emails, ads, content, social media, case studies, etc.

(I’ll go into all of these in more detail later on)

The biggest difference between SaaS copywriting and other types of copywriting is the focus on subscriptions. In other types of copy, the main goal is persuading someone to buy something once or to buy it again.

But with SaaS copywriting, you’re asking them to make a long-term commitment with a subscription. Even if you’re just asking them to start a free trial, that’s still a bigger commitment than most people want to make. 

This means you’re always fighting an uphill battle, doing everything you can to build connections and show your audience not just why your product is good, but why it’s better than all your competitors. Which is easier said than done!

Benefits of (good) SaaS Copywriting

If you get your copy right, your company will benefit in many ways:

• Improved conversion rates: Obviously the most obvious benefit is improved conversion. If your copy does what it’s supposed to, you’ll see more free trials and sign-ups, depending on what your copy is trying to achieve. 

• Build brand authority & trust: If you create the right content, you can showcase your company as an authority in your niche or industry, building trust with your customers. This ranges from the tone of your copy, to the case studies, testimonials, and other content you create.

• Enhanced brand awareness: Great copy gets people talking, which can have a huge impact on brand awareness. One well-written ad, social media post, or video can be enough to bring a lot more eyes on your product.

• Better SEO: You also need to think about those pesky search engines. By writing clear and engaging copy, combined with useful content, the copywriting can be the difference between page 20 and page 1 on Google.

• Educates your audience: You can’t assume your customers know what you do, and why they need it. Good SaaS copy fills in these blanks, highlighting the problem you’re solving and ideally pointing to you as the solution.

The difference between mediocre and great SaaS copywriting

As I mentioned in the intro, there is a lot of mediocre SaaS copy kicking around that sounds the same. In fact, they all read like the writer saw a 2014 Trello landing page and thought ‘perfect, let’s do that’.

This all stems from the copycat culture in marketing. It’s not a new phenomenon — brands have been copying each other for as long as marketing has existed.

But the difference is that nowadays, it’s really fucking easy!

You can’t glance at LinkedIn without people shilling their templates, playbooks, and frameworks that ‘guarantee’ results. And you can’t glance anywhere without having the latest AI app shoved down your throat. Which isn’t to say some of these ‘AI’ tools aren’t useful — I use Perplexity every day to help me with my research. But it’s become the norm to generate whole landing pages or blog posts using ChatGPT.

The problem with these copycat approaches is that they make it impossible to create anything genuinely new. If you use the same template as your competitors, you get copy that looks the same.

And AI tools can only copy what already exists. It’s high-tech mass-plagiarism, which is fine if you’re into that sort of thing. But if you want great copy, it simply can’t create that for you.

Genuinely great copy taps into the emotion and romance of your target audience. It should make them feel something. And once you’ve done that, you can show them how your SaaS plays into that feeling. If it’s a good feeling, you’ll help them feel more. If it’s a negative reaction, you’ll help it go away.

The only way to achieve this is to understand your customers wants, needs, dreams, aspirations, frustrations, etc. This is achieved by talking to your customers, looking through reviews, etc. Or to use its official name, carry out Voice of Customer (VoC) research.

Only then can you write (not generate) original copy that will help you grow your SaaS.

Types of SaaS Copywriting

Web copy

This is probably the one people think of first, for good reason — your website is one of the few things you have complete control over, and it is often where people decide whether or not to give your product a chance.

This means there’s a lot of pressure to get your web copy right. You need it to engage and inform the reader, direct them to the right information, provide opportunities to sign-up, but not chase them off the site. It also needs to tell search engines the right information to include you in the right searches.

Emails

After your website, emails are by far your most powerful marketing tool. If you have people who willingly gave you their email address, you have a captive audience. But you need to know what to say, and how to say it.

As a SaaS copywriter, I love writing emails because you can get a bit more personal. You can write emails from actual people, expressing genuine opinions, feelings, reactions, etc. You can also ask questions and start conversations that will help you to reel people in, and work out how to reach more people.

Ads

Sometimes you need to reach a whole new audience that has no idea you even exist. That’s where ads can make a huge difference. This is where nuance and subtlety go out the window, as you likely only have a fraction of a second to grab the reader's attention and tell them what you’re about.

Whether it’s a written ad, a video ad, or even audio, you need to be able to punch them in the face with your message, getting straight to the heart of why they should give a fuck about your software.

Product descriptions

How you talk about your software is a critical part of your messaging, as it tells the reader why they should care. Whether it’s on a landing page, a review site, ProductHunt, etc., you need to have clear product descriptions that inform as much as they sell.

This is an oft-overlooked aspect of SaaS copywriting, but if you can’t effectively describe your software while explaining the problems it solves, you’re in trouble.

Blogs

To some, blogs are just SEO-fodder, but they can actually be a huge part of your brand identity. Instead of just stuffing them with keywords, they should be providing genuinely useful content to your customers and potential customers.

If done well, they help you establish your authority in your industry, while drawing more eyes to your brand. Just be careful not to be too salesy — that’s the quickest way to turn someone off your content.

Social media

Similarly, your social media presence is an extension of your brand, and should be treated as such. You could just delegate it to an intern, but you’ll be doing your software a disservice. Social media copywriting is an art in its own right, and can take time to get right.

Video scripts

Video is a key part of marketing, but you’re wasting your time without a good script. Whether it’s a demo video, authority content, or something else, you want your videos to match the tone of the rest of your brand. They should also speak about your software in the same terms and phrases.

Not only do well-written videos help you to reach a new audience, but they can be repurposed into blogs, cut up for social media, and embedded on your website. The more (good) videos you have, the more options you’ve got.

Ebooks and white papers

While things like ebooks and whitepapers can feel a bit old-fashioned, they are also excellent lead magnets. You can use them to grow your email list, and identify new leads. But only if they promise to help the reader in some way or another. 

People will decide whether they think the lead magnet is worth giving up their email address, so you need to run any idea you have through this filter.

Great copy will prosper

Ultimately, SaaS copywriting is a battle for the customers' hearts and wallets. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C SaaS, your success will be closely tied to the quality of your copy and content. Tied to how well you can elicit an emotional reaction from your target audience.

But if you find a copywriter that can do this for you, you’ll be in an excellent position to grow your business and beat the competition. A copywriter that can get to the heart of your business, and tell the world how fucking amazing your software is.

And when you find that writer, never let them go — it’s getting harder and harder to find skilled copywriters who can actually do this.

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