Get More Out Of Q4: 2022 SaaS and Software Holiday Spend The Report
The fourth quarter is the most crucial quarter for companies that develop software around the world.
We confirmed this by reviewing the sales figures of more than 300 SaaS as well as software-based companies which use our bill-pay platform. We discovered that Q4 is one of the top-performing quarters of the year in both commercial and consumer sales.
And here's our question to you: Are you profiting from the period? The software industry in November see 11% to 24% over the average monthly revenue.At the conclusion of the year, buyers are eager to pay on software and subscriptions -Are you using your marketing budget effectively?
In this article, you'll find:
- Changes to US software sales, by month and quarter
- How software sales vary all over the world during the year
- A comparative of B2C and B2B sales between quarters
- Tips for making the most of seasonal holidays and occasions around the globe
About Us Data
's billing platform supports over 3500 SaaS and software firms that are customers in more than 200 nations or regions. In this article, we'll focus on how sales are made in contrast to where a company is located.
We'll also be looking at the average monthly revenue from all sales in a specific country using a seasonal index, which compares the month to the median revenue of a given year.
The data we have collected suggests running Black Friday, Cyber Monday and various other holidays promotions during November and December.
But the "holidays" could be greater that Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you think globally there are many holiday seasons that you could use to run promotions and drive revenues.
You just have to know where to search.
US End-Of-Year Trends For SaaS And Software Purchases
In the U.S., many industries see a significant lift in sales towards the close season. For example toys, hobbies, and game stores earn 35% of their total annual sales around the holidays. What about SaaS as well as software?
Using five years of data that we analyzed, we examined the monthly average of software sold on the platform in the U.S. Then we looked at the comparison of each month to the yearly average.
The sales are at their peak in November but remain strong until the end of the year.
Average US SaaS and Software Sales
Looking at the whole quarter, we see the fourth quarter is much stronger than the other three.
US SaaS and Software Revenues by Quarter
This is only data on sales in the U.S. However, what are the global market?
Global End-of-Year Trends for SaaS And Software Purchases
To better understand the behavior of consumers globally, we looked at SaaS and software purchase across eight markets that are major, which include those in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Great Britain, India, Brazil, Australia and China.
Once again, when we looked at October through December's revenue in comparison to the average monthly revenue for the year, we did see increased sales in October, November and December. sales peaking most during November, and the highest point is much higher on a global scale.
Average Global SaaS and Software Sales
Remember that these numbers depend on where the customer is located, not the corporate headquarters. This suggests that those Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales actually drive an increase in revenues worldwide for SaaS and software businesses.
Average Monthly Revenue per country (2016-2020)
When we break down more into the data, we see that while Q4 is still the most robust quarter for all countries, the increase differs significantly from one country to the next nation. As an example, among the countries we compared, China and Germany had most significant average rises during November.
B2B Versus B2C End Of Year Performance
There's lots of anecdotal evidence of B2B sales slowing in the final quarter of the year. We believe this to be true in sales systems that have longer buying cycles or the account-based model. But, when we look at B2B SaaS and software sales generally, we find that the last quarter is actually the top quarter in the entire year, with an average of 114% over the average for each quarter.
In order to compare the success of B2B in comparison to B2C firms We randomly picked 30 clients that offer B2B as well as B2C markets across the world. Then, we looked at the revenue they earned from 2019 to 2020, and 2021 in order to discern patterns.
As you can see, this quarter was the clear winner for B2B andB2C businesses.
B2B Versus Quarterly B2C Sales
What can these findings reveal about how SaaS as well as software companies can take on the Christmas season? In the coming sections, we'll offer best techniques for the final days of the year. And we'll show you some more data to help identify alternative ways to boost revenue -- across the entire year.
5 Strategies for the Holiday Season for SaaS And Software Companies
1. Consider Different Marketing Strategies Per the Country or Region
If you run campaigns in multiple countries or regions, think about localizing your promotions.
Many countries' increase in sales during November usually occurs during Cyber Week, which is recognized by numerous countries around the world. This is not just Germany where there is the second largest increase in November of the countries we compared.
But the biggest lift resulted in China -- a country where Cyber Week is not as big a deal like Singles' Day that falls on the 11th of November. According to our analysis we observed a significant growth in sales China for singles' Day.
2. Add Regional and Other Less Competitive Holidays to Your Campaign Calendar
Our research reveals the potential in other months of the year, as well. In particular, even though revenues fell in June across all the countries we looked at but it was up in China possibly due to China's annual 618 shopping event that is second in terms of ecommerce holiday in the world. Single's Day is the largest.
The majority of companies run promotional events during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But don't forget that there are many other celebrations throughout the year you can leverage to increase profits.
If your product is gaining great popularity in one particular area, it may be worthwhile to develop a regional holiday calendar for that area and create a specific regional offering in accordance with.
We can't tell you what will happen to your specific business however, you are aware of your market. Check out your data and see what patterns and trends you can find.
Generally, data from regions will give you a better sense of your ROI (ROI) for any marketing campaign you run.
Special Holidays or Important Shopping Days Of Note
Here are a few you should think about. There are others in certain areas, and we encourage you to investigate events in the regions you target.
- Chinese New Year/Spring Festival -- Always falls between January 21 until the 21st of February
- Celebrated in China and other countries with large Chinese or Sinophone populations
- International Women's Day -- March 8
- National holidays in 27 countries throughout West, Central, and East Africa, Eastern Europe, Germany, China and North Korea
- Singles' Day -- November 11 is an Anti-Valentine Day holiday
- Celebrated in Southeast Asia and Western Europe
- Diwali -- The fifteenth day in the Hindu month of Kartik (Usually late October or in the early part of November)
- The is famous by the people of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Caribbean
- Click Frenzy -- The Second Tuesday in November
- Australia
- Black Friday -- The Last Friday in November
- North America, much of Western Europe, China, much of Africa, Brazil, and Mexico participate
- Cyber Monday
- The majority of countries who participate in Black Friday are also interested in Cyber Monday.
- Christmas, December 25,
- North America, most of Easter and Western Europe, Australia, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Pakistan, India, Japan, Hong Kong, the majority of Southeast Asia, South Africa
- Boxing Day -- December 26
- It is celebrated throughout Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand
- International Workers' Day or Labor Day -- May 1 in much of Europe, Russia, Africa, Central and South America and the beginning of September in the U.S. and Canada; and the first Monday of October in Australia
- Widely celebrated around the globe
3. Promotional Marketing Efforts can Roll Over into Q1
As software sales decline during the first quarter of this year however, it may not be as steep as you'd like. Sales in January remained good (above 90 percentage) in The US, Great Britain, Germany as well as Canada. A larger drop was seen in February.
The majority of marketing and sales teams are able to relax in the first quarter to recharge or regroup. But there's also an opportunity to be noticed during a slower season.
When you run campaigns during the fourth quarter of the year, you're not only competing with the competition of your own. As the year comes to an end, year, inboxes of customers and social media feeds overflow with promotions for the holidays. Like any other time of year there's a lot of competition for attention.
The months of January and February could be the perfect time to try some new and exciting things.
4. Monitor Your Sales with the Seasonality Index
Monitor the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns over time to ensure the increase in spending isn't more than the growth in revenues.
The month-over-month (MoM) and year-over-year (YoY) increase can tell you much, but those aren't the only methods to assess performance.
An index of seasonality, such as that we have employed in this article will show how the current month compares to the average month of the year.
We recommend tracking annual campaigns YoY and comparison of the results with other campaigns that you have run through the year.
Remember that a month-long increase in revenue may not give you an accurate picture of effectiveness of an advertising campaign. As an example, based on time zones and when the purchase is processed Cyber Monday sales can continue into the month of December. If you look only at sales for November, you may not see the entire picture.
While you're planning your campaigns, here are a few other KPIs we recommend tracking.
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5. Focus On Customers Recognizing Customers
Although you may not be able to double your revenues at the conclusion of the year, the holiday season is the ideal opportunity to improve relations with customers, particularly if you have a SaaS product.
Use the holidays to express your appreciation to current or loyal customers by offering special promotions, gifts, giveaways or personal offers. Here are some suggestions that similar SaaS and software firms have been successful with:
- Run a "Holiday Bundle" promotion using your top add-ons and even a complementary education.
- Provide a significant price on a subscription or upgrading software.
- Run a gift promotion in which customers are urged to purchase subscriptions, software or subscriptions for family members and friends.
- Create a "Treat Yourself" promotion encouraging consumers to purchase gifts for themselves during the holidays.
- Offer a year-long subscription or upgrade to those in a loyalty or referral program.
- Make something extra special to email newsletter users.
4. Reward your affiliates
Many affiliates, whether they're businesses or individuals, could plan to work hard throughout the holidays This makes this a good opportunity to reward them with a larger commission rate or with a special offer which they could promote.
How Do I Help?
Here are a few ways 's full-stack commerce platform will help you through the season of giving and even beyond.
1. Support Information Management
If you are expecting a substantial growth in your orders over the holidays Is your support team ready? can manage purchase-related support inquiries on behalf of you, which will save your time and money to focus on selling more during the holiday season.
2. Localized Languages, Currencies and Payment Methods
In order to compete and succeed in the global marketplace, your business must offer an online shopping experience that can accommodate a wide range of language, rules as well as local customs.
The most popular payment options vary depending on the region. If you discern a trend in popular regions in your website analytics, it will help select the payment options that you can offer automatically to customers from all over the world. It includes electronic wallets, such as PayPal and credit cards as well as wire transfer. If you offer the most popular method of payment, you'll be able to reduce cart abandonment and payment declines.
It offers localized checkout options that converts the price information into your customers' preference for local currency as well as language . It also offers a wide variety of payment alternatives.
3. Global Tax Management And Regulation Compliance
The global consumer doesn't like unexpected tax or regulatory requirements and can prove to be very disrupting to their purchase experience.
Automatically calculates VAT, taxes and GST automatically at check-out process. It also ensures that the laws like GDPR as well as PSD2 are applied automatically to impacted transactions.