Find Out More About Q4 2022 SaaS and Software Holiday Spend Report -
The fourth quarter is the most important quarter for software companies around the world.
This was confirmed by analyzing the sales figures of more than 300 SaaS and software companies who use our platform for billing. We observed that the fourth quarter of 2014 is most definitely the highest-performing quarter of the year for both commercial and consumer sales.
Here's our challenge to you: Are you benefitting from this quarter? Software companies in November see 11% to 24% more than the annual average revenue.At the end this year buyers are eager to pay on subscriptions and software- are you using the marketing budget wisely?
In this article, you'll find:
- The trends in US software sales by quarter and month
- How software sales vary across the globe throughout the year
- A comparative between B2C and B2B B2B sales between quarters
- Strategies for taking advantage of seasonal holidays and occasions around the globe
About Our Data
's billing platform supports over 3500 SaaS and software companies who have customers found in over 200 countries or territories. In this article, we'll concentrate on where sales take place and not where the business is.
Additionally, we'll look at the average monthly revenue of all sales that are made in the country of a given country, with a seasonal index which compares the month to the average revenue of the year in question.
It's suggested by our data that it's worthwhile having Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other holiday promotions during November and December.
However, the "holidays" can be greater then Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you consider the global context, there are dozens of holiday seasons that you could use to promote promotions and increase profits.
It's just a matter of knowing where to go.
US Year-End Trends for SaaS And Software Purchases
In the U.S., many industries have a substantial increase in sales at the end each year. As an example, for instance, hobby, toy, and game shops earn 35 percent of their annual revenues during the holiday season. However, is this the case for SaaS and software?
Utilizing five years of data that we analyzed, we examined the median monthly income of software sold through 's platform to customers located 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 continue to be strong through to the end of the year.
Average US SaaS and Software Sales
When we look at the quarter as a whole, we see the fourth quarter is much stronger than the other three.
US SaaS and Software sales by quarter
This is only data on sales in the U.S. What about 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 purchases across eight important markets including that of the U.S., Canada, Germany, Great Britain, India, Brazil, Australia as well as China.
Again, when we examined the October-to December revenue compared to the monthly average for October through December, we did see increased sales in October, November, and December, with sales peaking most in November . the peak is significantly higher in the world.
Average global SaaS, Software and Sales
Keep in mind that the numbers are based on where the client is situated, not on the location of the company's headquarters, suggesting that those Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales actually drive a global increase in revenue for SaaS and software businesses.
Average Monthly Revenue per the Country (2016-2020)
If we look at more into the data and look at the results, we find that although Q4 is still the most robust quarter for all countries, the increase varies significantly from country to the country. For example, of the countries we compared, China and Germany had the biggest average spikes during November.
B2B Versus B2C , End of Year Performance
There's a lot of anecdotal talk of B2B sales slowing during the 4th quarter. We suspect this is true when it comes to sales processes that feature long buying cycles, or for those using an account-based approach. But, when we examine B2B SaaS as well as software sales in general We find that the last quarter is actually the best quarter in the entire year, with an average of 114% over the quarterly average.
In order to compare the success of B2B against B2C companies, we randomly selected 30 users that only offer B2B or B2C markets around the world. We then looked at their revenue from 2019, 2020, and 2021 in order to determine patterns.
As you can see, the fourth quarter was the most successful quarter for B2B as well asB2C firms.
B2B Versus Quarterly B2C Sales
What do these insights provide us with regard to how SaaS as well as software companies can prepare for the holiday season? In the next few sections, we'll outline the top techniques for the final days of the year. And we'll show you some more data to help discover other ways to boost revenues all through the year.
5 Christmas Strategies for SaaS And Software Companies
1. Take a look at different strategies to market for The Region or Country
If you are running promotions in multiple countries or regions, think about localizing your promotions.
In many countries, the rise in sales in November occurs in the course of Cyber Week, which is recognized by several countries around the globe. This includes Germany, which has the second highest November increase among the nations we have compared.
However, the largest increase resulted from China which is a nation that Cyber Week is not as significant as Singles' Day, which falls on November 11. According to our analysis We found that there was a substantial growth in sales China during singles' Day.
2. Include Regional and Other Competitive Holidays to Your Campaign Calendar
Our data reveals opportunities for other times of the year too. As an example, although revenues fell in June across the majority of countries that we examined, it increased in China likely due to China's annual 618 shopping day which is the second largest e-commerce day in the country. Single's Day is the largest.
Most companies will run promotions around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But don't forget that there are numerous other holidays all through the year which you can use to drive revenues.
If your product is gaining great acceptance in a particular region then it might be worth to develop a regional calendar of holiday events for the area and then create a region-specific offer in line with it.
We aren't able to tell you what's going to happen to the specific company however, you are aware of the markets you are competing in. Look over your records and observe what patterns and trends you discover.
Generally, data from regions will give you a better idea of your ROI (ROI) in any advertising program you are running.
Special Holidays or Major Shopping Days Of Note
Here are a few you should think about. There will be many others in certain areas, and we encourage you to investigate events in the regions you target.
- Chinese New Year/Spring festival -It is always observed between January 21 and the 21st of February
- Celebrated in China and countries with significant Chinese or Sinophone numbers
- International Women's Day -- March 8
- National holidays in 27 countries across West, Central, and East Africa, Eastern Europe, Germany, China and North Korea
- Singles' Day -- November 11, an Anti-Valentine Day holiday
- Celebrated in Southeast Asia and Western Europe
- Diwali -- the 15th of December in the Hindu month Kartik (Usually late October or in the early part of November)
- It is celebrated by the people of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Caribbean
- Click Frenzy - Second Tuesday of November
- Australia
- Black Friday -- Last Friday of November
- North America, much of Western Europe, China, the majority of Africa, Brazil, and Mexico are all participants.
- Cyber Monday
- The majority of countries who participate on 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, most of Southeast Asia, South Africa
- Boxing Day -- December 26
- is celebrated in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand
- International Workers' Day or Labor Day -- May 1 is a major holiday in Europe, Russia, Africa, Central and South America and the beginning of September across the U.S. and Canada; and the first Monday in October in Australia
- The HTML0 is widely praised around the globe
3. Promotional Efforts Can Roll Into Q1
While software sales slow down in the first quarter of this year, the drop could not be as drastic as you'd like. In January, sales remained solid (above 90 percentage) across the US, Great Britain, Germany, and Canada. A larger drop was seen in February.
The majority of marketing and sales teams are able to relax during the first quarter of the year to regroup or recharge. There's also a chance to stand out in a less competitive season.
When you run campaigns during the fourth quarter, it's not only competition against your direct competitors. At the end of the year, people's inboxes and social media feeds overflow with Christmas-related promotions. More than any other time of year it's an opportunity to be noticed.
It's an ideal time to test some new and exciting things.
4. Track Your Sales Using an Index of Seasonality
Analyze the results of your campaigns year-over-year to make sure the increase in spending doesn't exceed the increase in revenue.
Monthly-over month (MoM) and year-over-year (YoY) increase can tell you many things, but they're not the only ways to evaluate your performance.
An index of seasonality, such as the one we utilized in our guide, shows how a given month compares with the normal month of the year.
We suggest keeping track of annual campaigns YoY and compare the results to the other campaigns you are running throughout the year.
Remember that a monthly increase in sales may not be all the information needed to judge the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. In the case of Cyber Monday, for instance, based on your time zone and the date orders are made Cyber Monday sales could continue into the month of December. If you just look at the sales figures for November You may not get the whole of the picture.
When you're making plans for your promotional events, here are a few others KPIs we recommend tracking.
| Minimum | Advanced |
|---|---|
|
|
5. Accent on Customer Appreciation
Although you may not be able to double your revenue at the end of the year, Christmas season is the best time to work on relations with customers, particularly if you have a SaaS product.
Use the holidays for a chance to thank your clients who are already VIP or regular customers with extra generous promotions, gifts, giveaways and personalized deals. Here are some suggestions from others SaaS and software firms have used successfully:
- Run the "Holiday Bundle" promotion using your top add-ons and even an additional training.
- Give a huge discount on a subscription plan or an upgrade to software.
- Create a promotion for gifts in which customers are urged to purchase subscriptions, software or subscriptions for family members and friends.
- Run the "Treat Yourself" promotion encouraging customers to buy something to treat themselves at the time of the holiday.
- You can give away an annual subscription or upgrade who are enrolled in a referral or loyalty program.
- Create something unique for email newsletter subscribers.
4. Reward your affiliates
A lot of affiliates, be they corporations or individuals, might plan to work hard throughout the holidays and this makes it an ideal time to reward them with a larger commission rate or a particularly good deal which they could promote.
How Do I Help?
Here are a few methods that's fully-stack platform for commerce can assist you over the holiday season and beyond.
1. Support Managers of Inquiries
If you are expecting a substantial rise in sales during the holiday season Is your support team ready? Support for purchase-related inquiries can be handled for you, saving the time and funds to focus on driving more sales during the festive season.
2. Localized Languages, Currency and Payment Methods
In order to compete and succeed on the international market, your business must offer an experience for shopping that is localized and is compatible with a variety of languages, regulations, and local preferences.
The most popular payment options vary depending on the region. If you discern a trend in the most popular areas on your site analysis, you will be able to select the payment options that you must offer international customers. This includes digital wallets like PayPal as well as credit cards and wire transfers. By offering the preferred method of payment, you'll be able to reduce cart abandonment and payment declines.
provides a checkout service that is localized that automatically converts your product's pricing information to your customer's preference for local currency as well as language and offers a wide variety of payment alternatives.
3. Global Tax Management and Regulation Compliance
The global consumer doesn't like an unexpected regulatory or tax burden that could be incredibly disruptive to the purchase process.
automatically calculates taxes, VAT and GST automatically at check-out process. It also ensures that the compliance with regulations like GDPR and PSD2 are automatically applied for impacted transactions.