Unlock the Power of Azure Marketplace: A Quick Guide

The Azure marketplace has revolutionized B2B software selling, ensuring a seamless experience for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to connect with potential leads and accelerate revenue growth. However, it is significant to understand the processes, roles, and programs associated with the marketplace and tap into the right opportunities at the right time. Continue with the blog to get a deeper understanding of all the right resources and how you can leverage the best out of the rest.

Azure Marketplace Listing Types for ISVs

For ISVs, there are multiple Azure marketplace listing types available for ISVs to continue with. Depending on the requirements – you want them to purchase directly or continue ahead over a pre-planned sales process, you can make further choices. Here is a list of the necessities available: free trial, test drive, contact me and get it now.

Free Trial

Let customers try your products/solution in their business model before committing finally. Build credibility and trust for your brand within the Azure marketplace. You can offer them a free trial experience for 30 days to 6 months. Also, the leads can switch plans during the trial without resetting the duration clock.  

Test Drive

With a test drive, ISVs can offer free and exclusive access to their SaaS offer to potential leads. However, different from the free trial, leads here don’t need to configure or download the SaaS offer. Instead, they can access a pre-configured business model, similar to a sandbox environment, which lasts for a few hours, providing a guided tour of the solution.  

Get it Now

Customers can directly purchase and start using the product from the Azure marketplace after agreeing to the terms and conditions. This is the shortest and the most compact way compared to other listings available.

Contact Me

Customers can get in touch with a representative from the ISV to learn more about the solutions listed on the Azure Marketplace. All that an ISV must do is publish their offer and make a Contact Me option available on their listing. Receive customer’s credentials with requirements as they click on the button and approach them with a pre-planned sales process.

Learn to Choose the Best Azure Marketplace Listing Type for Your SaaS Offer

Here is a quick guide to choosing the best Azure Marketplace listing type:

• To make your offer appear in the search space organically, include the top keywords searched by your target customers in the product name.
• Include a clear and crisp description of your solution. Talk in detail about the products, user persona, or target audience it seeks to serve. Also, elaborate on the pain points the same seeks to address. 
• Create a logo with clear resolution. Optimize the same post it is calibrated for use by the partner center.
• Add screenshots of the actual interface. Offer an instant look at the UI and the aesthetics.
• Incorporate relevant knowledge resources into – brochures, whitepapers, pitch decks, etc., and present them in PDF format and as a URL to the Azure marketplace listing.
• Finally, add one featured video about the solution. Limit the duration between 60-90 seconds. In the video, focus on customer benefits and challenges addressing capabilities.

Proven Strategies to Generate, Nurture, and Convert Leads for Business Growth

For ISVs, the primary goals on the Azure Marketplace should always be presence buildup and meaningful lead generation. However, without a robust plan in place, things can get messy and delayed. Thus resulting in a loss of potential clients and poor branding experience. Continue with the points below to avoid such difficulties and harness the best of the business, locking in interested customers on the marketplace.

• Lead Generation

Microsoft marketplace maintains a count of 4 million active visitors. Topping the lead acquisition funnel are the initial interest leads, followed by active leads and test drive or free trial leads. Without a proper plan, managing such a dynamic audience might turn out to be overwhelming. Connect your Microsoft publisher account to your CRM system like Azure Table or Salesforce, to get all data in one place. Curate a robust follow-up plan, converting leads into customers.    

• Sales Nurturing

Communicate significant metrics, goals, and milestones to the entire sales team. Document every step, from getting leads listed on the CRM to curating tailored follow-up plans for them, and keep refreshing the same.  

• Conversion

Finally, make sure your offer in the Microsoft marketplace is operationally and technically sound, aligning with the customer’s interest. Research and connect with the right platform that can help you publish your offer within a week and is providing support with automation, private offer creation, listing management, smart metering, etc.

Business Benefits of Private Offers Over Public Offers on Azure Marketplace

ISVs planning to go live on the Azure marketplace or with existing offers know that offers can be private or public. Based on the level of customization, you can make an informed choice. Public offers ensure general terms and conditions, contrary to private offers, enabling ISVs to tailor-make contracts with specific terms meeting customers’ expectations.

Also, public offers fail to bring along co-selling benefits. Private offers perfectly bridge all the gap, helping ISVs conquer marketplace sales and foresee almost 10x growth in their Azure revenue. 

Upscale your Azure Marketplace Presence with SaaSify

ISVs across the globe can connect with billions of buyers across 100+ countries globally over the Azure marketplace. However, the absence of a structured process might lead to the loss of potential leads. SaaSify for Microsoft Commercial Marketplace can offer the right support, ensuring adequate outcomes. Here is all, that ISVs have been able to get assisted with so far:

• Publishing offers, including the right listing type, within a week. 
• Curation of a transactable offer from scratch in the Azure Marketplace.
• Creation of private offers.
• Planning and development of a tailored brand identity backed by intelligent performance tracking abilities post you start selling.