How to sell to Heads of Marketing at SaaS companies in United States
Heads of Marketing at SaaS companies are primarily measured on customer acquisition and retention rates. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their unique challenges, such as the need for innovative lead generation strategies that align with subscription models. Highlighting specific solutions that drive engagement and conversion can capture their attention and prompt a response.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 559 saas company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- high customer acquisition costs
- low lead conversion rates
- difficulty in measuring campaign effectiveness
- inconsistent brand messaging
The playbook
- 01
Identify churn spikes
Use customer data analytics tools to filter for SaaS companies experiencing recent churn spikes. This could indicate a need for improved customer engagement strategies. Target your outreach to marketing leaders in these organizations to discuss how your solution can help retain customers.
- 02
Research recent funding rounds
Look for SaaS companies that have recently secured funding, as they often have increased budgets for marketing initiatives. Use platforms like Crunchbase to identify these companies and tailor your messaging around how your offering can help them scale their marketing efforts effectively.
- 03
Analyze content marketing gaps
Examine the content strategies of your target companies to identify gaps in their messaging or engagement tactics. Reach out to marketing heads with insights on how your expertise can enhance their content strategy and drive higher customer engagement.
- 04
Leverage industry events
Monitor industry events or webinars where SaaS marketing leaders are likely to attend. Use these opportunities to connect via LinkedIn or email, referencing the event and suggesting a discussion on trends impacting their marketing strategies.
- 05
Address budget constraints
Be prepared to address potential objections about budget constraints in your outreach. Highlight low-cost, high-impact strategies that your solutions can provide, ensuring that your messaging aligns with their current financial priorities.
Can saas companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 559 saas companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 16.7% of 1–10-person companies against 80.9% of the largest — 64 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improving lead conversion rates
- Strategies for reducing churn
- Enhancing your content strategy
Questions
- Why do heads of marketing at SaaS companies ignore cold emails?
- Heads of Marketing often receive numerous cold emails daily, making it crucial for outreach to stand out. If the email fails to address their specific pain points or lacks personalization, it is likely to be overlooked. Demonstrating an understanding of their unique challenges can improve response rates.
- What challenges do heads of marketing face in SaaS?
- SaaS marketing leaders frequently struggle with high customer acquisition costs and maintaining customer engagement. They also face pressure to demonstrate ROI for marketing campaigns, making it essential for them to find effective strategies that can directly impact revenue and growth.
- How can I get a head of marketing's attention?
- To capture the attention of a Head of Marketing, focus on their specific pain points and provide insights or solutions that align with their goals. Tailored messaging that addresses their current challenges, such as lead generation or customer retention, will be more effective than generic outreach.
- What topics resonate with heads of marketing in SaaS?
- Topics that resonate with SaaS Heads of Marketing include customer retention strategies, innovative lead generation techniques, and the latest trends in digital marketing. Sharing insights on these subjects can position you as a knowledgeable partner who understands their industry challenges.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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