Your call to action (CTA) has a big impact on your B2B conversion rate in Google Ads.
Being clear about what you want your website visitors to do when they get there is the only way you’ll get them to sign up for free trials, meetings, demos etc.
Google Ad CTAs: For SaaS B2Bs Looking For Higher Conversion Rates
But tons of B2B and SaaS businesses misunderstand what a good CTA looks like and where to use it.
We’re all so used to seeing B2C CTAs that we forget our B2B buyers behave and react to our copy differently.
B2B & SaaS CTAs With Responsive Search Ads
Ever since Google got rid of expanded text ads, advertisers have lost some control over the search experience they offer their SaaS/B2B customers. Including which CTAs they show and where they show them.
But Google argues it’s for the best. With RSAs, Google’s algorithms are able to optimize better than the best ad managers.
With that, click through rates are rising, and so are conversion rates, as long as you know how to work Responsive Search Ads in your favor.
RSA Headline Pinning With CTAs
When we lost expanded text ads in exchange for the 5+ headline RSAs, many B2B and SaaS advertisers were first concerned about being able to pin their CTAs to the second or third headline.
Pinning was a tempting solution given that SaaS businesses had no control over where their headline’s would show.
Google advertisers started noticing that the Google algorithms were showing ads with pinned headlines less than the same ads without pinning.
Moral of the story, unless you want to be penalized by 50%-70% of your eligible B2B impressions, then don’t pin.
Don’t get caught up in controlling RSAs too much, it has been proven time and time again that responsive search ads can outperform extended text ads significantly.
What Google Wants Your B2B & SaaS CTA To Look Like
You’ll notice when you create an ad in Google Ads for your B2B that you’re given plenty of suggestions.
These suggestions include headlines based on keywords in your ad group, headlines pulled from copy on your site and cookie cutter calls to action.
So if you are looking for a quick and easy way to create an ad, you can stay in the ‘ad creation station’ and make your responsive search ad CTAs things like “sign up today” and “find out more.”
You might even make Google’s ad grader happier.
Let’s look at a more effective approach.
Deciding Your B2B Google Ads CTA
So if you aren’t going to choose your B2B CTA from Google’s Ad suggestions, how will you ever decide what to use? Do you even need a CTA? (I’ll address that second question in a bit).
Start by looking at your keywords and your landing page.
B2B CTAs based off keyword intent
If you have well organized B2B or SaaS ad groups, hopefully you have keywords sorted by intent.
For the sake of simplicity let’s look at these two keywords:
- How to do a swag giveaway?
- Swag giveaway tool
Do you believe the two users behind these searches are asking for different information?
Hopefully you do!
side note: your conversions on your SaaS landing page should reflect the intent of the keyword that brought them there.
For “how to do a swag giveaway?” I would suggest leading to a page where the conversion is an email entry with a downloadable ‘how to’ sheet.
In the case of “swag giveaway tool,” you probably can have a more valuable conversion like ‘book now’. Th inclusion of the word tool indicates that the searcher has done their research and is ready to choose a service.
The first’s CTA would be “download: swag giveaway checklist”
The second might be “Free swag giveaway Demo”
There are two big differences between these and the Google Ads suggestions:
- They’re not basic. You only have 30 characters per headline to differentiate your B2B or SaaS in the search results. Don’t waste an entire headline saying something generic. Try to include keywords specific to your B2B in your CTA.
- The headlines have calls to action that are tailored to the intent of the searcher.
Both of these will improve your click through rates, conversion rates and lower your costs per click. All of this will result in your B2B paying less per conversion in Google Ads.
Work With What Your B2B or SaaS Website Has
Consistency in your CTAs is another key factor in keeping your B2B conversion rates high in Google Ads.
Check out the landing pages that you’re sending traffic to. What are their conversions? What are the CTAs on your conversion buttons?
If you have an ad leading to a landing page with a meeting scheduler and the button to submit reads “Book a meeting,” then make your Google Ad CTA look similar (hopefully your B2B & SaaS CTAs are more specific and exciting than that).
B2B Competitor Research
This is more of a conversion-related suggestion but if you want Google Ads success in the B2B and SaaS world, you will have to keep an eye on the competition.
Specifically which CTAs, and ultimately conversions they are asking their website visitors to complete.
You’ll notice your B2B competition testing different versions of their calls to action, so should you.
Most B2Bs & SaaSs Think Their Google Ads CTA Is Great
With RSAs, your B2B or SaaS ad isn’t going to show whatever you put as your CTA every time so you also have to focus on your other headlines too.
Again, don’t pin your CTA. If it’s better, Google will favor it.
Additionally don’t put a ton of calls to action in your headline ad copy. Normally, sticking with one per ad will do the trick (one in the headline and maybe one in the description if you’d like).
Plain CTAs Miss Opportunities
Just putting “book now” or “request a quote” in a headline is kind of lame. You only have so many characters available in the headline (30 pere headline, 2-3 headlines per ad shown).
To best serve your B2B or SaaSs conversion rate in Google Ads, add a little pizzazz to your headline.
Stuff a service, feature, or use-case type word in there too, at the very least have your brand name hyphened next to it (Book Now – Brand Name). Which I would use as a last resort.
Examples:
Book Your BOM Upload Demo
Start Scheduling For Free
Start Your App Dev Project Now
Does Your SaaS or B2B Need A Google Ads CTA Headline?
No you don’t need a CTA for a successful B2B or SaaS Google Ad. Most of the time, calls to action waste space that could be better used to show features or other differentiators.
If you understand your keyword intents and the type of buyer your ad is showing for, you can better attract them using that extra space to stand out from the competition.
Again, with responsive search ads, there’s no harm in throwing one well-written, consistent CTA in there. Just be willing to accept that other headlines can convert just as well if not better.
Examples Of SaaS & B2B CTAs (and non CTAs) In Google Ads
You’ll see that the theme here is that you don’t need a call to action, and frankly advertisers and Google rarely show them in the B2B or SaaS spaces any more.
Look at this result for “meeting scheduler tool.”
You’ll see only one one of the B2B SaaS results has a Google Ad with a CTA in the headline and honestly I’m not the biggest fan of it.
Call it a personal preference but to me “getting started” is inherently part of clicking on an ad in the search results.
What I do like about it is that it stands out in this search result which is definitely a goal when creating Google Ad copy for B2Bs.
Interestingly, the HubSpot result (second position) has a CTA in a more clever spot.
Using sitelink extensions is a really good way to include a call to action in B2B SaaS ads because it lets you give that direction without losing headline space.
What To Use Instead Of Google Ads CTAs
Instead of depending on having CTAs in your B2B headline, try addressing the needs of the search.
If you have features or benefits that help you stand out from the other searches, use those.
“Easiest meeting link tool”
“3-Step Automation Setup”
Many searches are for certain use cases like “for business” or “for salons.” leverage those intents in your ad copy to attract more relevant users.
Conclusion
If you must have CTAs in your B2B and SaaS ad copy within your Google Ads campaign, responsive search ads offer a lot of alternate places to put them as well. Sitelinks, descriptions and callouts are all good places to test your CTAs.
At the end of the day, don’t just leave your boilerplate CTAs in there. Especially with arbitrary terms like “try it out” or “get started today.” Set expectations and stay specific.
Thanks for reading!