PPC Strategies for SaaS: How to Build Campaigns That Scale

PPC ads are a great marketing strategy for SaaS businesses. But they can blow a hole in your marketing budget if you aren’t being smart with your strategy and tactics.

In SaaS, where long sales cycles, high customer acquisition costs, and intense competition are the norm, your PPC strategy must align with how your audience buys software.

This guide breaks down the best PPC strategies for SaaS businesses in 2025. From branded campaigns to YouTube explainer ads, we’ll explain the tactics that deliver results, plus the best practices, pitfalls to avoid, and how to structure campaigns for each stage of the funnel.

Whether you’re launching your first campaign or scaling existing efforts, this is your blueprint to building profitable, sustainable PPC programs for SaaS.

What We'll Cover

What Is SaaS PPC?

SaaS PPC is the practice of using paid search and display advertising to promote software products. Instead of building organic traffic over time, SaaS PPC gives you a fast track to reach potential buyers on platforms like Google, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook.

Here’s how it works:

• You bid on relevant search terms or audience signals. Example: A CRM SaaS company bids on keywords like “best CRM for startups.”
• Your ad is shown to users who meet your targeting criteria. Example: A project management SaaS runs a Display ad campaign targeting users who recently visited Asana’s pricing page and are reading articles about “team collaboration tools.
• You pay when someone clicks your ad (or sometimes when they view or convert). Example: A B2B analytics platform pays $7 per click on a Google Search ad for “data dashboard for SaaS” or chooses to pay per lead on LinkedIn Lead Gen Ads, where they’re charged only when someone submits a form.

PPC marketing aims to drive high-intent traffic that turns into demo requests, free trial signups, or conversions at a sustainable cost.

It's a valuable marketing tool for SaaS businesses because it offers:

• Immediate visibility: Unlike SEO, PPC gets your message in front of buyers now.
• Precise targeting: Ads can reach audiences segmented by job title, company size, or search behavior.
• Funnel control: Guide prospects from awareness to conversion with tailored ads at each stage.

Why PPC Marketing Is A Great Strategy for SaaS Companies

Organic channels like SEO take time. Outbound takes persistence. But PPC delivers visibility and volume fast, which is essential when:

• You’re launching a new product or feature.
• You’re testing messaging and need real-time feedback.
• You need to scale demo bookings, signups, or SQLs.

More importantly, SaaS buyers don’t follow a linear journey. They might search a keyword, click a competitor, see your ad on LinkedIn, and only convert weeks after watching a video or reading reviews.

PPC allows you to show up across that whole journey, reinforcing your message and moving buyers toward action.

Key Benefits:

• Control over who sees your offer and when
• Real-time data for optimization
• High scalability when campaigns are profitable
• Clear cost-per-lead (CPL) metrics for ROI tracking

The best SaaS PPC campaigns combine search, display, video, remarketing, and lead generation formats to drive pipeline and growth. When done well, they can form a core part of your SaaS growth engine.

Why SaaS PPC Campaigns Fail

Before building your campaigns, it’s essential to understand where most go wrong.

Targeting the Wrong Intent

Not every click is a good click. Many SaaS marketers waste ad spend budget chasing high-volume, low-converting keywords.

For example, a SaaS business might bid on the keyword “CRM.” Sure, it's likely to get traffic, but most searchers aren’t ready to buy or aren’t looking for your specific solution.

Instead, your focus should be:

• Keywords that show intent to act (e.g., “best CRM for startups”)
• Audience signals that align with buying behavior
• Negative keywords to exclude irrelevant traffic

Intent alignment is the biggest driver of conversion rates. Miss this, and even the best ad creative won’t save your campaign's performance.

Weak Landing Pages

Many SaaS businesses run ads that aim to direct users to specific landing pages. These are often product or service pages that showcase features and unique selling points (USPs). When it comes to PPC, clicks don’t convert unless your landing page delivers a great user experience.

• Is the messaging misaligned? You can expect visitors to bounce.
• Overly long pages or forms? Drop-off will increase before they reach your CTA.
• Poor navigation or on-page SEO? If pages don't load quickly or make sense, the user will click off.
• Generic CTAs? If it doesn't speak to the user, conversions will stall.

That's why landing page optimization is key. Your PPC pages should mirror the ad promise, focus on a single action, and be designed for speed, clarity, and persuasion.

No Tracking or Attribution

Without full-funnel tracking, it’s impossible to know what’s working. Without data and insights from every campaign you run, you can't optimize future PPC ads. You need to know:

• Which campaigns are driving signups and trials?
• Which keywords lead to confirmed, completed sales?
• What is the real Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by channel?

You can use tools like Google Analytics and HubSpot to connect PPC data with pipeline and revenue.

Are PPC Campaigns Still Relevant with New AI Search Tools?

Despite the rise of AI-driven search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, PPC campaigns remain a valuable and relevant tool.

1. AI search doesn’t replace intent-driven advertising

AI tools may change how users explore and research, but:

• They haven't entirely replaced high-intent commercial queries like “project management software pricing” or “best CRM for startups.”
• PPC campaigns still dominate these queries with clear CTAs and conversion-focused messaging.

2. PPC gives instant visibility

With AI Search being a relatively new technology, marketers and businesses are still figuring out how these platforms rank and cite content – more on that here – and how they can reverse engineer this to improve visibility. It means for now, AI results are harder to influence directly and can take time to appear.

With PPC ads, you appear instantly in front of target users, especially at the bottom of the funnel.

3. AI search lacks robust attribution

One drawback to AI Search platforms is that you can’t reliably track conversions from ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews. PPC platforms offer:

• Clear conversion tracking
• Keyword-level attribution
• ROI calculations

4. PPC supports full-funnel strategies

Though it's still early, what we're seeing with AI Search is that it primarily serves the top and middle of the funnel (TOFU and MOFU), helping users explore, learn, and compare. 

If you want to target a particular funnel stage or focus heavily on bottom-of-the-funnel leads, you can use PPC ads.

• TOFU: Display ads, YouTube, LinkedIn for awareness
• MOFU: Feature- and competitor-based campaigns
• BOFU: Branded search and remarketing

The Top 10 SaaS PPC Strategies

Now that you understand why PPC advertising is a great marketing tool for SaaS businesses, let's look at the 10 best strategies you can use to target your ideal audience. These are:

1. Branded Search Campaigns
2. Competitor Bidding
3. Feature-Based Campaigns
4. Retargeting Campaigns
5. LinkedIn Lead Gen Ads
6. Google Performance Max
7. Intent-Based Display Ads
8. Facebook Lead Ads
9. YouTube Explainer Ads
10. Review Platform Ads

We'll discuss each ad type, its costs, ROI and ideal use cases.

1. Branded Search Campaigns

Branded search campaigns involve bidding on your company name, product names, or closely associated brand terms. These campaigns ensure you dominate your own SERP real estate, appear above any competitors targeting your name, and give you control over the message users see when they search for you.

Even if you already rank #1 organically, a branded ad lets you push key CTAs, like “Book a Demo” or “Start Free Trial,” right at the top of the page.

They’re also a defensive strategy. Many SaaS companies (especially in competitive markets) experience brand hijacking, where competitors run ads on their name. A branded campaign protects your click share.

• Cost: Low CPCs (~$0.50 - $2)
• ROI: Achieves a very high ROI due to strong intent and high conversion rates.
• Best for: Established SaaS brands or those in competitive niches where others are bidding on your name.
• Audience: Warm leads, existing customers, and high-intent users already familiar with your brand.

2. Competitor Bidding

This strategy involves running search ads that target competitor brand names and relevant product terms. For example, if your competitor is “ToolX,” you could bid on keywords like “ToolX alternative” or target “ToolX.” These campaigns position your brand as an alternative or challenger during the prospect’s decision-making phase.

The key is differentiation. You’ll need ad copy that communicates why your product is better, whether it’s in terms of price, features, performance, or support. Sending traffic to a tailored comparison page can improve the results of these PPC campaigns.

• Cost: Moderate to high CPCs ($2–$10+).
• ROI: Lower conversion rates, but high strategic value if the messaging is sharp.
• Best for: Challenger SaaS products with a clear differentiator (e.g., price, features, integrations).
• Audience: Bottom-of-funnel users are evaluating competitor solutions.

3. Feature-Based Campaigns

Instead of targeting your brand or a generic category, feature-based campaigns focus on specific use cases or pain points your SaaS product solves. For example, instead of bidding on “CRM,” you might target “CRM with lead scoring” or “sales automation software.”

Leveraging targeting and segmentation helps you reach your target audience more effectively.

These users are searching for solutions with intent, and your ad can speak directly to their use case, improving both CTR and conversions. Landing pages that showcase that exact feature in action perform best in these campaigns.

• Cost: CPCs vary ($1 - $8).
• ROI: Moderate to high ROI when keywords are specific and pain-point focused.
• Best for: SaaS products with niche features or unique functionality.
• Audience: Solution-aware users searching for tools that match specific needs.

4. Retargeting Campaigns

With retargeting ads, you re-engage people who’ve already visited your website, viewed key pages, or interacted with your brand. These ads show up on other sites or platforms as your prospects browse the web.

This keeps your brand top of mind, pulling users back into your funnel. You can segment audiences by behavior, such as viewing pricing, time spent on site, or abandoning a demo form, and personalize messaging accordingly. 

Targeting users at different stages of the marketing funnel allows you to tailor retargeting ads, ensuring your messaging aligns with their position in the buyer journey. They’re especially useful for long sales cycles, where users may need multiple touchpoints before converting.

• Cost: Low CPM/CPC.
• ROI: High ROI as users are already familiar and further down the funnel.
• Best for: All SaaS businesses. Especially high ACV or long-sales-cycle products.
• Audience: Website visitors, blog readers, trial users, or demo sign-ups who didn’t convert.

5. Intent-Based Display Campaigns

These display ads target users based on real-time behavior and inferred intent, such as browsing SaaS content, comparing solutions, or reading reviews. You can use Google’s in-market audiences or third-party programmatic platforms to reach users in research mode.

Unlike general display ads that focus on demographics, intent-based campaigns prioritise context. For display campaigns, compelling ad messaging and well-crafted ad copy are needed to differentiate your brand and capture attention.

While CTRs are lower than search, impression volume is high, and they drive significant brand lift and awareness.

• Cost: Low CPMs ($2–$6).
• ROI: ROI depends on targeting precision and the quality of the landing page.
• Best for: Top-of-funnel awareness or remarketing expansion.
• Audience: Problem-aware users across niche websites, forums, or B2B publishers.

6. LinkedIn Lead Gen Ads

LinkedIn Ads’ Lead Gen Forms allow users to submit their contact information without leaving the platform. These LinkedIn Ads often promote a valuable resource in exchange for business details (which is pre-filled using their LinkedIn profile data).

This is one of the most effective ways to build a SaaS lead list at the top or middle of the funnel. You can target your audience by job title, company size, industry, or even specific companies. Lead quality is typically high because the targeting is precise and the platform is trusted by B2B buyers.

• Cost: Higher CPCs ($7 - $20+).
• ROI: Good ROI if LTV is high.
• Best for: B2B SaaS companies targeting specific job titles or industries.
• Audience: Decision-makers, mid-level managers, and enterprise leads by job function and industry.

6. Google Performance Max

Performance Max (PMax) is a goal-based campaign type from Google Ads that uses machine learning to serve ads across all of Google’s channels—Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover—based on your assets and audience signals.

PMax leverages PPC automation, using advanced machine learning to optimize bidding, targeting, and creative combinations for the best results. You upload creatives, define your goals, and Google assembles and serves your ads to the most relevant audiences. 

It’s hands-off on the targeting side, but it requires strong creative assets and conversion tracking, including offline conversion tracking, to perform well. It’s ideal for full-funnel SaaS strategies that require a broad reach and incremental conversions.

• Cost: Variable CPCs depending on asset quality and targeting.
• ROI: ROI improves with strong creative and feed optimisation.
• Best for: SaaS companies with well-structured conversion tracking, including offline conversion tracking, and varied creative assets.
• Audience: Full-funnel reach; new users, remarketing, and converters across Google properties.

8. Meta Lead Ads

Meta Lead Ads are a type of paid ad that lets users submit their details directly within Facebook or Instagram using a pre-filled form. These are often paired with offers such as downloadable guides, webinar invitations, or limited-time trials.

The platform is excellent for reaching small business audiences or early-stage buyers in discovery mode. The key to success is compelling creative, and showing clear value in the offer, as well as a fast nurture workflow once leads are captured. While conversion intent may be lower than search, it’s a cost-effective way to grow your pipeline.

• Cost: Low to moderate CPL rates ($5 - $15).
• ROI: ROI depends on lead quality and the nurture path.
• Best for: SaaS businesses targeting SMBs or individuals. Works well for freemium or low-friction offers.
• Audience: Broad B2B audiences by job title, interest, or lookalikes based on CRM data.

9. YouTube Explainer Ads

YouTube video ads let you demonstrate your SaaS product visually, explaining key features, sharing customer stories, or walking through real-world use cases. These video ads can be run as skippable in-stream ads, bumpers, or discovery placements.

Video builds trust, simplifies complex products, and is effective for both awareness and consideration. You can target based on search behavior, keywords, or placements (e.g., targeting viewers of competitor product reviews). Success depends on engaging visuals and clear CTAs within the first 5–10 seconds.

• Cost: Low CPVs ($0.05 - $0.30).
• ROI: Mid-to-high ROI for products needing visual explanation.
• Best for: Complex SaaS tools that benefit from visual storytelling.
• Audience: Custom audiences based on search history, site visits, or YouTube channel interests.

10. Review Platform Ads (e.g, G2, Capterra)

SaaS buyers compare products and read peer reviews on these platforms. By running sponsored listings or banner ads, you can position your product at the top of relevant category pages when buyers are evaluating.

Review platforms often offer lead generation services or CPC-based sponsored listings. Because users are actively in buying mode, the traffic is highly qualified. These platforms also boost credibility if you have a strong review profile, making them powerful BOFU tools.

A strong review profile and clear positioning are key elements of a successful SaaS PPC campaign, helping ensure your ads reach the right audience and drive measurable results.

• Cost: High CPCs ($10 - $50), but with very high intent.
• ROI: The ROI is strong, driven by strong reviews and clear positioning.
• Best for: SaaS companies in competitive categories with strong user reviews.
• Audience: Bottom-of-funnel users actively comparing tools in your category.

Best Practices in SaaS PPC Marketing

Successful campaigns are not only determined by how much money you spend on them. A few best practices must also be followed to ensure the campaign reaches the right audience segments at the right stage of their journey. 

1. Match Campaigns to Funnel Stage

Most SaaS buyers don’t convert on the first click. Yet many PPC campaigns treat them that way. Sending cold traffic straight to a demo or pricing page is a common mistake that leads to higher bounce rates.

Instead, you must think about structuring your campaigns around the buyer journey. 

It's all about positioning the right offer at the right time. When your ad aligns with the buyer's intent, it increases relevance, lowers acquisition costs, and improves conversion rates.

Best practices:

• TOFU (Top of Funnel): Use informative, value-driven content like eBooks, reports, or explainer videos. Run these on Display, YouTube, or paid social to educate and attract early-stage leads.
• MOFU (Middle of Funnel): Target solution-aware users with feature-specific search terms or “competitor vs” keywords. Direct them to comparison pages or use-case content.
• BOFU (Bottom of Funnel): Retarget engaged users with strong CTAs like “Book a Demo” or “Start Your Free Trial.” Keep messaging ROI-focused and conversion-ready.

2. Always Track Conversions Properly

Without accurate tracking, you can’t optimize. Yet, many SaaS teams run ads without clear attribution or conversion visibility, resulting in wasted spend and unclear ROI.

Metrics tracking means knowing exactly which campaigns, keywords, and audiences generate leads in your pipeline, not just clicks.

Best practice:

• Track both micro and macro conversions: Capture early signals, such as time-on-site, scroll depth, or button clicks, as well as final conversions, like demo bookings or sign-ups.
• Use UTM tracking: Apply clear and consistent UTM parameters across campaigns and map them into your CRM or analytics stack.
• Import offline conversions: If you have a sales-assisted funnel, set up offline conversion tracking via Google Ads or LinkedIn to close the loop between ad clicks and revenue.

3. Optimize Landing Pages for Message Match

A strong ad can only perform if the landing page backs it up. If your ad promises one thing and your page delivers another, or if the experience is slow, confusing, or irrelevant, your results will suffer.

Best practice:

• Mirror your ad copy: Ensure the headline of your landing page matches the keyword and messaging used in the ad.
• Keep forms lightweight: Limit form fields to only what you need. Focus on conversion, not data collection.
• Use proof and clarity: Feature testimonials, badges, callouts, or mini-case studies above the fold to quickly build trust.

4. Test, Learn, and Scale Fast

PPC is a performance channel. Small tweaks, such as ad headlines, CTAs, and landing page copy, can improve results when tested properly.

The longer you run underperforming variants, the more budget you waste.

Best practice:

• Test 3–5 ad variations per ad group: Run controlled experiments to learn what works. Vary only one element at a time to identify the impact.
• A/B test weekly: Don’t wait for monthly cycles. Build a cadence of rapid iteration on creative, copy, and formats.
• Reallocate budget quickly: Pause low-performing channels and double down on what’s converting. Don’t be sentimental: go with the data.

How MADX Helps SaaS Companies Build PPC Strategies

Whether you're looking to scale lead generation, defend brand terms, or test new markets, our team builds PPC campaigns that align with your product, ideal customer profile (ICP), and funnel stage.

We handle the strategy from keyword research and ad creative to landing page conversion rate optimization (CRO) and analytics.

Our approach combines:

• SaaS expertise
• Technical performance tracking
• Creative testing at scale
• Conversion-focused copy and UX

Want to increase ROI from your paid channels? Book a free PPC strategy call with MADX.