Part
01
of one
Part
01
I need benchmark data on consumer based saas companies
Hello! Thanks for your question about benchmark data for consumer-based SaaS companies. The short answer is that the average monthly revenue for an SaaS company is $445,000, the average annual growth rate is around 40%, median CAC is $0.90 for every $1, and only 14% of paid customers use their SaaS service on a daily basis. You'll find a deep dive of my research below.
METHODOLOGY
To respond to your request, I searched extensively through industry reports, analyses, blogs, articles, surveys, and other sources to find some key benchmarks for the SaaS industry, focusing specifically on the data points you mentioned in your request. Below, I've broken down my findings into sections: revenue and growth, CAC, marketing spend, churn, and engagement.
INSIGHTS
1. Revenue and Growth.
According to Insight Squared, the average monthly revenue for an SaaS company, regardless of size, is $445,000. That being said, there's a notable disparity in revenue between the smallest and largest companies. Those with less than $1 million in annual bookings had an average monthly revenue of $107,000, while those with more than $10 million in annual bookings had an average monthly revenue of $1.2 million.
In terms of growth, there are several metrics worth looking at. This report looks specifically at revenue growth for early-stage SaaS startups. According to the report, the average SaaS Series A company grows from $10,000 in revenue in its first quarter to $93,000 in its fourth quarter to $413,000 in its eighth quarter. Additionally, that report found that the average SaaS company raises $9.5 million in Series A.
Another report found the median revenue growth rate for SaaS companies, by size. Small companies grew at a median growth rate of 30%, medium companies at a rate of 15%, and large companies at a rate of 58%. Similarly, this report found that the median revenue growth rate for SaaS companies, regardless of size, was 37% in 2013 and 42% in 2014. For public SaaS companies specifically, however, this report found that they grew at an average, four-year CAGR of 73%, with the very top companies having a four-year CAGR of 200%.
2. CAC
According to this report, the median spend from SaaS companies, regardless of size, was $0.90 for every dollar of new ACV from a customer. The same report also found that the median CAC per $1 of upsells is $0.18, or about 17% of CAC, and the CAC for renewals is $0.12, or 11% of CAC. The average customer lifetime for an SaaS company is 48 months. For a company with less than $1 million in annual bookings, it's only 28 months, but for a company with more than $10 million in annual bookings, it's 57 months. Moreover, the lifetime value of a customer for the average SaaS company is $125,000. Again, this is only $31,000 for very small companies, but is $300,000 for very large companies.
3. Marketing Spend
According to this report, successful SaaS companies spend 45-55% of their revenue on sales and marketing. For private companies, the average was 41% of revenue; for public companies, it was 35%. The range for individual companies was from 20% to 63%.
5. Churn
This report finds that monthly revenue churn for SaaS companies, regardless of size, is 3.1%. For small companies, the average is 4.5%, and for large companies, it's 2.6%. Another report found that the annual gross dollar churn of a typical SaaS company, if you exclude upsells, is 6%. The median annual unit churn (by customer count) is 8%. Moreover, the median annual net dollar retention rates (DRR) of SaaS companies, including churn, but also including the benefit of upsells, is 103%.
6. Engagement
50% use the software less than once a month, or not at all.
19% use the software less than once a week.
14% use the software weekly.
17% use the software daily.
CONCLUSION
To wrap up, I've provided some key benchmarking data on SaaS companies. I hope this information is helpful to you! Thanks for using Wonder, and let us know if we can help you with anything else.