I’ve been in this B2B SaaS world for a while. And I’ve noted that by and large, there are three ways of creating value in B2B SaaS. But some are more often used than others. Most SaaS vendors will talk about how they save you time. Many will talk about how they save you money. But there’s one that is often neglected altogether: how they deliver joy. Is it just me who finds that incredibly sad?

Joy is one of the most incredible emotional values a product can produce. It’s subjective and unexpected and the kind of thing we can all relate to spending money on. This is probably why it’s the most used tactic in B2C.

So why don’t B2B SaaS companies talk about it? I have a theory.

Talking about time and money is methodical and corporate

In B2B SaaS, most businesses increase efficiency in an area where it lacks (which saves money) or help to create new revenue streams (which makes money). These messages are built into the ‘why we build’ rhetoric in B2B. Something is inefficient. SaaS delivers a shortcut. Something costs a lot. SaaS replaces expensive jobs with (less) expensive software. These things are methodical and quantitative. They’re right in the technical founder’s comfort zone and in the language of a key corporate buyer. But joy? That’s philosophical. It’s uncomfortable. It’s emotional. It’s about the user.

Talking about joy is deep

When we talk about joy, it’s often the answer to why people work, why they get out of bed in the morning and do their job, and what makes a person feel like they bring value to the table. Joy is tricky to write a value proposition about because it’s subjective, but joy (and its definition) can also be shared among many. Happiness is best when shared and all that.

Let’s look a little more at the types of joy that B2B SaaS can spark so you can see how joy is used as a value message.

Bringing Joy into a Value Message

Sense of mastery

Sometimes, I call this the “yes you can” value message. This is about having a customer profile that really wants to be able to do something but can’t. No-code platforms are particularly good at this one. But let’s look at an example closer to home for us at maassive.

When we started working with Brilliant Assessments, we spent a lot of time thinking about why people chose it. What we found by reading customer surveys, success stories, and trawling through the help resources is that the reason why a lot of people love it is because it can enable them to build any assessment. The platform's flexibility made possible assessments they may have only dreamed of producing. In fact, it was (and still is) so flexible that you could essentially build a business on the platform. It was with this we came up with a couple of value messages that still hit home for the ICP:

Build it, brand it, and be brilliant with assessments.

Do brilliant things with assessments.

Now, I’ve got to say, it’s not as specific as I would usually recommend, but when you’re marketing flexibility to a wide audience, ‘brilliant things’ is about as specific as you can get, and we always made up for it in the follow-up sentences.

Renewed focus

The joy of renewed focus is an excellent value message. However, it’s also the only joy-led value message that Chat GPT seems to have picked up on, so if you find yourself saying: So you can spend less time doing x and more time focused doing y - try again.

A renewed focus value message also doesn’t need the word “focus” in it. That’s not the point. The point is to examine the relationship between ‘doing what you want, when you want to’ and the joy that it brings.

“Your accounting software automates your tax returns. So you can do that forecasting workshop with your team instead.”

“Your time-tracking software auto-names each entry, so you can just crack on with the next task.“

Sometimes it’s not the joy of doing something you love, but rather the joy of not doing something you really hate.

Overcoming blockers

I love getting past the wall. If you can unblock progress, that’s a fast track to my happy place. This is a popular one for all you AI-infused, AI-supercharged heroes out there.

This is the joy of being able to jump over the stumbling blocks with a little help from your software or gen AI friends. It’s your ride home at the end of the night, your magic wand that makes the stress and heartache of blocked progress disappear.

If you’re in the car park with a flat battery in your car, your product sparks the joy of someone who passes by with a set of jump leads.

Bottom Line

Incorporating joy into SaaS messaging can set a product apart in a B2B industry that often feels impersonal and efficiency-driven. By using the emotional value that comes from mastery, focus, and overcoming blockers, SaaS companies can connect with their customers in a way that resonates with why they do their work.

The key takeaway is that joy doesn’t have to be reserved for B2C; it’s just as relevant in B2B if you know where to find it. For a B2B SaaS product, joy can mean making a task feel seamless, empowering users to achieve something they didn’t think possible, or removing that one last obstacle that lets them achieve their goals. These types of joy can be woven into value propositions that go beyond “save time and money,” creating a more memorable and meaningful message that resonates.

So, if you’re in B2B SaaS, don’t just talk about what you can help your customers do faster or cheaper. Talk about how you can help them enjoy the journey, love their work, and feel happy about what they accomplish.

Why don’t B2B marketers talk about joy?