28 Best LinkedIn Ads for SaaS

With its vast network of professionals and cutting-edge targeting capabilities, LinkedIn Advertising offers a golden opportunity for SaaS companies to connect with mid-market, business-minded prospects and forge meaningful relationships with decision-makers and experts in the B2B space. That said, in a highly competitive landscape, a cookie-cutter approach to marketing, including paid ads, is not enough to stand out from the crowd.

I’ll start by taking you through our in-depth exploration process before delving into practical, real-world examples and actionable takeaways to elevate your own advertising efforts. Let’s get started.

Contents

How Did We Analyse Software LinkedIn Campaigns?

How Did We Select Which LinkedIn Ad Examples to Showcase?

Linkedin Campaign Objectives and Performance Metrics

Impactable’s LinkedIn Ads Showcase: What Does a Successful SaaS LinkedIn Ad Campaign Look Like?

1. Top Software LinkedIn Lead Gen Campaigns

2. Top Software LinkedIn Video Campaigns

3. Top Software LinkedIn Website Visit Campaigns

4. Top Software LinkedIn Text Ad Campaigns

In Сonclusion

How Did We Analyse Software LinkedIn Campaigns?

As part of our comprehensive campaign analysis, we embarked on a thorough exploration of the software/SaaS industry, with a particular focus on identifying key players at the forefront of technological innovation. We selected five companies and meticulously evaluated their LinkedIn advertising efforts to —(a) gain a deep understanding of their approaches, (b) get an insight into their campaign performance, and (c) disburse valuable lessons that can be applied to the wider industry.

From targeting and messaging to creative execution and audience engagement, we looked at the various facets of 89 unique campaigns to derive meaningful conclusions and actionable takeaways. Next, we handpicked the crème de la crème of LinkedIn ads, specifically focusing on 28 high-performing examples that truly stood out from the rest.

To ensure accuracy and relevance, our analysis encompassed the campaign results from 01/01/2022 until the present day. This timeframe allowed us to leverage up-to-date data and created a robust foundation for our assessments.

Before delving into the finer details, let me give you an overview of the companies we analyzed, the number of ad campaigns we evaluated, and the ad spend associated with each:

The Companies We Analyzed

How Did We Select Which LinkedIn Ad Examples to Showcase?

Streamlining the analysis process for multiple campaigns, each featuring 5-6 ads, was quite the challenge. When it came to selecting the most impactful and successful ads as examples for this article, we followed a simple two-fold algorithm:

• Identifying the top-performing LinkedIn campaign: Our goal was to pinpoint campaigns that outshine the others in terms of overall performance and desired outcomes.
• Evaluating ad performance metrics: Within the top-performing campaign, we carefully assessed each ad against key metrics that demonstrate effectiveness and efficiency. For lead generation campaigns, we prioritized the ad with the lowest Cost Per Lead (CPL). For other campaign types, we looked at ads with the lowest Cost Per Click (CPC).

Rest assured that each showcased LinkedIn ad has been chosen, considering a range of factors, to ensure we highlight the most productive approaches to achieve favorable results.

Linkedin Campaign Objectives and Performance Metrics

In our analysis, we focused on four distinct campaign objectives to compare key performance metrics.

1. Lead generation

Advertising for SaaS companies can be tricky, especially when the goal is to consistently generate not only a high quantity but also high quality of leads. With the LinkedIn lead generation objective, your campaigns can target prospects at the bottom of the marketing funnel, encouraging actions that lead to conversions.

When prospects click on your ad, a lead gen form pops up, pre-filled with relevant information such as their name, job title, and contact details, based on their LinkedIn profile data. By eliminating the need for manual data entry, you are ensuring a frictionless experience for the lead-capturing process and paving the way for your sales team to initiate follow-ups.

2. Website visits

LinkedIn’s Website Visits objective goes beyond mere traffic generation; it facilitates a personalized brand experience by directing prospects to your website, landing page, or other designated URL, where they can explore your offerings, learn about your unique value proposition, and become part of your growing community of satisfied customers.

Positioned strategically in the middle of the marketing funnel, this ad objective is designed to spark curiosity, like an invitation to a (virtual!) open house. When prospects click on your SaaS ads, they step inside your digital world, get to know your brand up close, understand what problems your products or services are trying to solve, and—finally—take a desired action, whether it’s signing up for a demo, subscribing to your newsletter, or making a purchase.

3. Video views

With LinkedIn’s Video Views objective, you can create a visual storytelling experience that can influence the purchasing decisions of the decision-makers in the industry. This mid-funnel approach allows you to build on the awareness established at the top of the funnel and guide prospects toward meaningful actions.

As viewers engage with your LinkedIn video ad, they become more invested in your offerings, moving one step closer to becoming qualified leads. You can then leverage this growing interest by prompting them to visit your product page, or subscribe to a newsletter. The cost for a 2-second view on LinkedIn using the Video Views objective typically ranges from $0.06 to $0.14, making it a higher-priced option compared to Facebook. However, the advantage lies in the platform’s ability to reach a precise and hyper-targeted audience.

4. Text ads

LinkedIn Text Ads provide an intuitive self-service ad format, enabling swift creation, management, and optimization of personalized campaigns. The robust audience segmentation framework allows you to target the right audience based on location, demographics, skills, and interests, ensuring an optimal balance between reach and relevance for your SaaS ads.

Text ads appear in the right column of the desktop and are available in four formats—square, tall, horizontal, and long—allowing you to tailor your message for maximum impact.

After defining the ad objectives that would serve as our performance benchmarks, we shortlisted the following metrics to gauge campaign effectiveness.

• Cost Per Lead (CPL) represents the average cost incurred for acquiring a single lead. It suggests that the campaign’s targeting and messaging have positively resonated with the audience, resulting in cost-effective lead generation. By achieving a low CPL, we maximize the return on investment and optimize resource utilization, ensuring that our LinkedIn ads are easy on the pockets while yielding tangible results.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures the percentage of leads who click on specific calls-to-action or links within an ad campaign. For lead generation campaigns, the CTR indicates the level of interest and intent among the audience to learn more about your offerings (e.g.: visiting your website) and/or take a desired action (e.g.: take advantage of a limited-time offer). A higher CTR indicates that the campaign’s messaging, creative elements, and value proposition resonate strongly with the prospects, resulting in a greater number of clicks.
• Cost Per Click (CPC) refers to the average cost incurred for each click on an ad. When assessing performance, a lower Cost Per Click (CPC) reflects the campaign’s efficiency in attracting audience engagement while optimizing budget utilization. It indicates that a maximum number of clicks have been generated at the most economical cost possible.
• Clicks play a crucial role in the conversion funnel, directing potential customers to landing pages or lead generation forms, where they have the opportunity to become qualified leads or paying customers. When LinkedIn ads for SaaS companies record a high number of Clicks, they are not only reaching the right audience but also actively increasing brand visibility and driving conversions. Moreover, when measured in conjunction with other metrics, such as bounce rates and time on page, they offer valuable insights into the user journey. Understanding where prospects might drop off allows us to optimize their experience and create a more seamless transition from the ad to the website/landing page.
• Conversions provide a clear indication of how many prospects took the desired action after clicking on your ad. If the cost per conversion is lower than the value generated from each conversion (e.g., a sale), it indicates a positive ROI. Low conversion rates can be indicative of various underlying issues—(a) you are not targeting the right people, (b) your ad messaging or creative is not resonating with your target audience, or (c) your landing page is not user-friendly, lacks relevant information, or has complicated navigation.
• Video View Rate (VVR) calculates the percentage of video views among the total impressions. Remember, video views are considered when there are at least two continuous seconds of playback, with the video occupying at least 50 percent of the screen. A high VVR signifies that the campaign’s storytelling, visuals, and messaging have conveyed a sense of authenticity, building trust and credibility with viewers.

Impactable’s LinkedIn Ads Showcase: What Does a Successful SaaS LinkedIn Ad Campaign Look Like?

Now that we’ve introduced our clients and outlined the ad objectives and key performance metrics for this analysis, it’s time to dive into the actual ads that Impactable has run. It’s important to mention that out of the 5 clients, we chose to focus on only 2-4 within each category, as none were utilizing all four campaign objectives or ad types.

1. Top Software LinkedIn Lead Gen Campaigns

Let’s take a look at some top-performing software lead gen ads.

2. Top Software LinkedIn Video Campaigns