Solved: Marketing a B2B SAAS Verification Product for E-commerce

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

I've had a look at your question about developing a customer acquisition strategy for your client, "Truly Legit". It's an interesting product – a verification badge for e-commerce stores. It's a B2B SaaS play in a very busy market, so getting the marketing right from the off is going to be absolutly vital. I'm happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience running paid advertising for similar B2B software companies. This might get a bit detailed, but I want to give you a proper picture of how I'd approach this.

There's a fair bit to unpack here, so I'll walk you through my thought process step-by-step.

We'll need to look at your customer and their awareness...

First things first, before we even think about which buttons to press in an ads manager, we need to get inside the head of your ideal customer. You've said they are small to medium e-commerce businesses. That's a good start, but we need to go deeper. What kind of e-commerce business? A dropshipper just starting out? A store doing £50k a month? A boutique brand selling handcrafted goods? Each of these will have different pain points and will respond to different messages.

The most important question though, is this: Are they actively searching for a solution like a 'verification badge'?

My gut feeling is, probobly not. It's not like a plumber, where your pipe bursts and you immediately go to Google and type "emergency plumber near me". An e-commerce store owner is more likely to be searching for things like "how to increase my conversion rate" or "reduce cart abandonment". They are problem-aware, but not necessarily solution-aware. They know they have a trust or conversion problem, but they don't know that a verification badge is a potential solution. They might not even know such a thing exists.

This is a really important distinction because it dictates your entire channel strategy.

-> If they WERE searching for it: We'd pour all our initial budget into Google Search ads. We'd target keywords like "e-commerce verification badge", "store trust seal", "website verification service for shops". The strategy would be to capture that existing demand. It's the lowest hanging fruit. But I suspect the search volume for these terms is very low, if not zero. You should still do the keyword research to confirm, of course, but I wouldn't bank on it being your primary channel.

-> Since they AREN'T searching for it: Our job is to interrupt them, educate them, and create the demand. We need to find where these e-commerce store owners hang out online and put a compelling message in front of them that makes them stop scrolling and think, "Huh, I've never thought of that. Maybe that could help my store." This means our primary channels will likely be social media platforms where we can do proactive targeting.

This realisation changes the game. We're not just harvesting existing demand; we're creating it. This requires a more nuanced approach to targeting, messaging, and the overall funnel, which I'll get into next.

I'd say you need to pick the right ad platform...

So, if we're going with an interruption-based strategy, where do we find these business owners? The two main contenders are going to be LinkedIn and Meta (Facebook/Instagram). Both have their pros and cons for this specific offer.

LinkedIn Ads

This is the most obvious choice for B2B. It's a professional network, and its targeting capabilities are designed for reaching specific decision-makers in specific industries. This is its biggest strength. You can get really granular.

For 'Truly Legit', you could build audiences based on:

• Job Titles: 'Founder', 'Owner', 'CEO', 'E-commerce Manager', 'Head of Digital'.
• Company Size: You can specifically target businesses with 1-10, 11-50, or 51-200 employees to hit that SME sweet spot.
• Industries: 'Retail', 'Apparel & Fashion', 'Consumer Goods', 'Health, Wellness and Fitness'.
• Company Lists: This is a powerful one. You could use a tool like BuiltWith or Store Leads to find lists of websites that use Shopify, for example. Then you can upload that list of company names to LinkedIn and target the decision-makers at those specific companies.

The downside of LinkedIn is that it's expensive. Clicks and leads cost a lot more than on other platforms. But the quality is often much higher. You're paying a premium for that precise targeting. We've run campaigns for B2B software clients where we got a Cost Per Lead (CPL) of around $22. For the right high-ticket offer, this is perfectly acceptable, but you need to be sure the economics of your client's product can support it.

Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram)

Don't write off Meta just because it's B2B. A massive number of small business owners use Facebook and Instagram, both personally and for their business. The key is finding them amongst the noise. The targeting isn't as precise as LinkedIn, but it can defnintely work and is often much cheaper.

Here's how I'd approach Meta targeting:

• Interests: This is your main tool. You'd want to test interests that are highly specific to your target audience. Think about what a store owner would be interested in, not what a shopper would be.
  • Avoid broad interests like 'online shopping'. That's your customer's customer.
  • Test platform interests: 'Shopify', 'WooCommerce', 'BigCommerce', 'Etsy'.
  • Test tool interests: 'Klaviyo', 'Mailchimp'.
  • Test publisher interests: 'E-commerce Fuel', 'Shopify Plus'.
• Behavioural Targeting: You can target 'Facebook Page Admins', and then layer that with an e-commerce interest. For example, people who are admins of a Facebook page AND are interested in Shopify. This helps weed out the consumers.
• Lookalike Audiences: Once you start getting some data (e.g., a list of trial signups or even just website visitors), you can create lookalike audiences. These are often the best-performing audiences on Meta.

I've seen Meta work incredibly well for B2B SaaS, especially when targeting the 'S' and 'M' of SME. I remember one campaign we ran for a B2B software client that generated over 4,600 registrations at a cost of just $2.38 each. The key was a really compelling offer and nailing the audience targeting. It shows that if you get it right, the scale and cost-efficiency of Meta can be a huge advantage.

My advice would be to test both platforms. Start with a small, controlled budget on each. LinkedIn for precision, Meta for scale and cost-efficiency. See which one delivers not just the cheapest leads, but the leads that are most likely to convert into paying customers.

You probably should rethink your offer and funnel...

Getting your ads in front of the right people is only half the battle. What happens after they click is arguably even more important. For a B2B SaaS product like this, especially one that's new and building trust itself, the offer and the sales funnel are everything.

You can't just send people to a homepage and hope they click 'Buy Now'. The sales cycle is longer and requires more nurturing. I've seen so many businesses waste money on ads because thier website and offer weren't ready to convert the traffic.

The Offer

You're not really selling a badge; you're selling trust and increased conversions. The offer in your ads needs to reflect that. But more importantly, you need to lower the barrier to entry. Who is going to pay for a new, unknown verification system without trying it out first? Your competition, even the indirect ones, are likely offering free trials.

• Free Trial: This is non-negotiable in my opinion. Offer a 14-day or 30-day free trial. Let them install the badge, see how it looks on their store, and hopefully see an impact on their metrics. A completely free trial is the best way to get people in the door.
• Demo: A demo is okay, but it's a higher friction ask than a free trial. It requires scheduling a call. I'd offer it as a secondary option for larger clients, but lead with the free trial.
• Lead Magnet: An alternative or supplementary approach is to offer a valuable piece of content in exchange for an email address. For example, "The 5-Point Checklist for a High-Trust E-commerce Store". People who download this are highly qualified leads that you can then nurture via email towards a free trial.

The Funnel

A standard B2B SaaS funnel looks something like this:

Ad -> Persausive Landing Page -> Free Trial Signup -> Email Onboarding/Nurturing -> Conversion to Paid Plan

The landing page is absolutly critical. It can't be a cluttered homepage. It needs to be a dedicated page with one single goal: get the visitor to sign up for the free trial. It needs professional, benefit-driven sales copy. It should answer questions like:

• What is this? (A verification badge that builds customer trust).
• Why do I need it? (Because low trust kills conversion rates and increases cart abandonment).
• How does it work? (Simple install, customisable design, etc.).
• Who else is using it? (Social proof is massive. Testimonials, logos, case studies).

The sales cycle will be longer than B2C. You might get a lead today who doesn't become a paying customer for 30-60 days. That's normal. You need to track your metrics accordingly and not panic if you don't see an immediate ROI on day one. It's about filling the top of the funnel with qualified trial users and then having a solid process to convert them over time.

You'll need compelling creative and copy...

Assuming you've got your platform and your funnel sorted, the final piece of the puzzle is the ad itself. In a busy social media feed, you have about two seconds to grab someone's attention. Your creative and copy have to work hard.

Ad Creative

You need to test different formats to see what resonates. I wouldn't just stick to one thing.

• Image Ads: Simple, effective. Show a clean, professional-looking mock-up of an e-commerce store with the 'Truly Legit' badge clearly visible. You could use a 'before and after' style image, one without the badge looking a bit generic, and one with the badge looking more trustworthy.
• Video Ads: These are powerful for explaining a new concept. A short (15-30 second) animated explainer video showing how a customer's hesitation turns to confidence when they see the badge could work well. Another angle is a simple screen recording showing how easy it is to install on a Shopify store. UGC (User-Generated Content) style videos from early adopters would be gold if you can get them.
• Carousel Ads: These are great for telling a story or breaking down benefits.
  • Card 1: "Losing sales to low trust?"
  • Card 2: "Show customers you're legitimate with a verified badge."
  • Card 3: "Easy to install. Boosts conversions."
  • Card 4: "Start your free 30-day trial today."

Ad Copy

The copy needs to be direct and benefit-focused. Don't talk about yourselves; talk about the customer's problem and how you solve it. Here are a few angles to test:

The key is to test relentlessly. Test different images, videos, headlines, and body copy. What you think will work is often not what actually works. Let the data decide.

We'll need to look at your targeting strategy in more detail...

I mentioned the platforms earlier, but let's quickly structure how you'd prioritise audiences. This is how I generally structure campaigns for my clients, moving from the broadest audiences to the most valuable.

You want to structure your campaigns into seperate stages of the funnel. For a small budget, you can combine some of these, but it's good to think about them seperately.

Top of Funnel (ToFu) - Cold Audiences:
This is where you find new people who've never heard of you. Your goal here is to drive traffic to your landing page for trial signups or lead magnet downloads.

• LinkedIn: Start with the Job Title + Industry targeting I mentioned earlier. This is your most qualified cold traffic.
• Meta: Test your interest-based audiences (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.) layered with the 'Business Page Admin' behaviour. This is likely your largest potential audience.

Middle of Funnel (MoFu) - Warm Audiences / Retargeting:
These are people who have engaged with you but haven't signed up for a trial yet. The goal is to bring them back.

• Website Visitors (who didn't sign up)
• People who watched 50%+ of your video ad
• People who engaged with your Facebook or Instagram page

Your messaging to this group should be different. "Still thinking about it?" or "Here's what you're missing out on...". You could show them a testimonial ad.

Bottom of Funnel (BoFu) - Hot Audiences / Retargeting:
These people are very close to converting. They might have started the trial signup but didn't finish.

• People who visited the checkout/signup page but didn't complete
• Trial users (your goal here is to get them to convert to paid, so you'd show them ads about advanced features or case studies).

And finally, once you have paying customers, you build lookalike audiences from them to feed back into your Top of Funnel campaigns. A lookalike of your best customers is often the most powerful audience you can have.

I'd suggest creating seperate, long-term campaigns for each stage of this funnel. This allows you to control the budget and messaging for each audience segment and see clearly what's working and what's not. I beleive this structure is essential to acheive scalable and predictable results.

This is the main advice I have for you:

That was a lot of information, I know. To make it more digestible, here is a table summarising the core action plan I would recommend for the first 90 days.

As you can see, it's a methodical process. It's not about finding one magic bullet; it's about building a system of testing, learning, and optimising. It takes patience and a focus on the right metrics.

Implementing a strategy like this effectively requires a lot of expertise and hands-on time. From the strategic thinking at the start, to the copywriting, the campaign setup, the daily monitoring, and the constant optimisation – it's a full-time job. Getting the details right, like the audience layering on Meta or the bidding strategy on LinkedIn, can be the difference between a campaign that profitably scales and one that just burns through cash.

If you'd like to discuss this in more detail and get a second pair of expert eyes on your client's situation, we offer a free initial consultation. We could walk through this strategy together and tailor it more specifically to 'Truly Legit', giving you a clear, actionable roadmap. It's often helpful to talk things through with someone who does this day in, day out.

Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh