A few days ago, I did a 180° on how I see B2B SaaS messaging. An article about demand opened my eyes to why talking about pain points doesn’t work.

In this article, Cedric Chin talks about “authentic demand,” an idea developed by Matt Chanoff & Merrick Furst.

Long story short …

We tend to think that when there’s a market, an ICP, and clear pain points, we have discovered true demand. This assumption shows up in the messaging we put out there. We talk about pains …

Moreover, if you’ve noticed, most advice on SaaS messaging revolves around uncovering & presenting the pain points.

Heck, I was a big believer in this idea myself. I thought that spotlighting pain points in messaging mirrored the reality of prospects making them feel seen.

When in fact …

• People don’t buy because they are in pain: Companies, teams, and people can live with pain for a very long time. Not only that, they can find cheap workarounds and even thrive despite the pain.
  
  • e.g., A compliance team tracks regulatory changes in Excel. They’ve done it for years, built shortcuts, and it … works well enough.
• People don’t buy because they desire something: Executives & pros might want to use different tools. But that doesn’t mean their desire will influence the decision to purchase a B2B SaaS solution.
  
  • e.g., A risk manager wants AI transaction monitoring to cut false positives. But they keep using their current rule-based system that flags almost everything.

The existence of pain points or desires doesn’t signal true demand. It’s a misconception that people act simply because they feel pain or desire.

That’s why, building messaging around pain points or desire (to improve, generate revenue, cut costs) won’t necessarily trigger an action.

What works though is … situational context. For example ...

• A B2B SaaS company goes enterprise. They NEED to get specific certifications.
• A fintech enters the EU market. They MUST comply with MiCA regulations.
• A client demands 3rd party risk assessments. The vendor MUST run it.

B2B buyers move toward purchase when they have no other choice but to buy.

As Cedric notes:

“Authentic demand exists for a solution when someone is put in a situation and they cannot not buy (or use) the solution.”

So what does this mean for messaging? I’d say stop hunting for pain points or desires.

And instead, focus on identifying the right contexts when B2B buyers MUST purchase the solution because there’s no other way. Then highlight that in your messaging.

e.g.,

Instead of “Are you tired of manual compliance tracking?” …

Ask “Are you preparing for ABCD compliance?”

Of course, this only works when authentic demand exists. You can’t manufacture it by changing your messaging. But that’s an entirely different conversation.

P.S. Things are much more complex than what I’m describing here. This post is just an attempt to offer a perspective rooted in how real B2B buyers actually act.

For more, read Cedric’s article The Heart of Innovation: Why Most Startups Fail or the book The Heart of Innovation.