What SaaS and B2B Platforms Are Missing in Their Sonic Branding

SaaS and B2B platforms are getting harder to tell apart. Product features are converging, and AI is speeding up the process.

Most companies respond to this convergence by investing further in visual identity, messaging strategy, and product design. Of course, these are all important (some might say they’re the backbone of a brand), but they’re also where the competition is most concentrated. And that’s why a lot of SaaS brands feel increasingly similar.

Sound rarely enters the conversation.

In our recent report, The State of Sonic Branding in SaaS, we analysed 25 of the largest SaaS companies and reviewed 60 branded audio assets across their marketing efforts. What we found was that only 16% of those companies use a recognisable sonic logo. The remaining 84% rely on generic or inconsistent sounds, if they use sound at all.

This suggests that sonic branding is still underdeveloped in SaaS and B2B platforms, which creates a window where early sonic decisions can carry disproportionate weight.

SaaS and B2B Platforms Have a Differentiation Problem

For a long time, SaaS companies could rely on product advantage to stand out, but the gap is closing fast. Thanks to advancing technology (namely AI), features are easier to replicate. This reduces the time it takes for competitors to match functionality. What was once distinctive is now expected, which creates a different kind of challenge.

When products look and behave in similar ways, the experience becomes harder to attribute to a specific brand. A dashboard is a dashboard; a workflow is a workflow.

To counter this, a lot of SaaS platforms adjust their messaging. They revisit their positioning, or they invest in visual identity and brand systems. And while these efforts matter, they tend to blend into the pre-existing parameters that are already out there.

Sound, on the other hand, supports engagement without adding visual (or written) noise. According to Veritonic, 58% of listeners report that a brand’s sound is more memorable than its visual identity. So, sound can reinforce a brand where users are already engaged – whether that’s watching a product video or completing a task.

Despite this, most SaaS and B2B platforms haven’t developed a clear sonic identity. Their audio tends to be chosen per-asset, or per-campaign –functional rather than branded.

Most SaaS Brands Remain Silent

If sound offers a different way to build distinction, you’d expect it to be widely adopted, right? Well, the data suggests otherwise.

In our analysis of the top 25 SaaS companies, only four use a recognisable sonic logo. That leaves the vast majority of SaaS companies without a consistent audio signature. This might not seem like a major issue, but you’d be surprised at how many users already encounter these brands through sound.

Product videos, demos, webinars, social content, events, onboarding animations…even subtle interface feedback all have audio.

Even among the small number of companies that have sonic logos, application tends to be inconsistent. A logo might appear at the end of a video, then disappear entirely from other touchpoints. There’s no clear sense of continuity. And when it comes to branding, that’s a missed opportunity.

Consistency is what turns a single deliverable into a recognisable asset. Without it, sound stays as a one-off production choice instead of something that builds familiarity and recognition over time.

Generic Sound Creates Generic Impressions

Nearly half of the SaaS companies we analysed rely on stock or licensed music in at least one of their brand assets. The rest show signs of customisation, but even then, the distinction isn’t always clear. Without access to licensing, most tracks fall somewhere between bespoke and modified library music.

In SaaS, the same tonal qualities appear again and again. Optimistic, human, and driven moods dominate, whereas the emotional profile clusters around focused, inspired, and empowered.

On their own, these choices make sense. They align with how SaaS companies want to position themselves – forward-looking, capable, and efficient. But the issue is how consistently these choices are repeated across the sector.

Instrumentation follows a similar path. Clean synth leads, vocal textures, light guitar, and familiar rhythmic structures appear across a large proportion of assets. Genres converge around electronic, pop, and funk, which creates a sound that feels current and accessible, but rarely unique.

Of course, none of this is inherently problematic, but when the same combinations appear across multiple brands, the brands in question start to sound the same.

Stock and convention make production easier and more efficient. They reduce decision-making and speed up delivery. But they also limit what the sound can do over time. Without a clear sonic identity, audio just sits in the background without developing any meaning.

Why This Matters for Recall, Trust, and Brand Equity

From our SaaS sonic branding report, we might conclude that many software companies see sound as a secondary layer to visuals and messaging. However, Veritonic’s research shows that 58% of listeners find a brand’s sound more memorable than its visual identity. And this matters in an industry where recall is often the difference between being shortlisted by a user (or an enterprise) and being ignored.

SaaS and B2B buying journeys are rarely linear. Prospects move between vendors, they revisit products, and they encounter brands across different formats over time. In short, recognition is built through repetition. And sound plays a major role in that repetition.

A consistent sonic cue can reinforce identity across multiple touchpoints, from a product video to a webinar; a campaign to a product interaction. Over time, these cues begin to carry meaning. They become shortcuts for recognition.

There’s also an attention factor. According to Ipsos research, sonic branding increases brand attention by 8.53 times compared to visual-only assets, making it a critical driver of “memorable attention”.

Now, this doesn’t that mean that adding sound automatically improves a brand’s performance. It means that when sound is used intentionally, it can support how a message is received and remembered.

Consistency across touchpoints suggests intention. It shows that a brand has been considered as a whole, and not put together in parts. When visual, verbal, and audio elements align, the experience feels more cohesive.

In contrast, inconsistent or generic sound can undermine that effect. Even if the user doesn’t consciously notice it, the experience feels less connected, even subconsciously.

What Early Adopters Are Doing Differently

A small number of SaaS companies have already started to treat sound as part of a broader brand system. In our report, we found that SaaS companies like Canva and Salesforce are leading the way in developing memorable sonic assets. Rather than relying on one-off music choices, they’ve developed recognisable audio elements that translate across multiple touchpoints.

For Salesforce, this meant building a sonic logo that could extend into product interactions, events, and digital content. For Canva, it meant extending its sonic identity directly into the product experience, with audio cues embedded into interactions like notifications and transitions.

This creates a sense of continuity between what users see and what they hear while using the platform.

What a More Considered Approach Looks Like

As part of Fonetik’s internal benchmarking process, we developed a conceptual SaaS product called TaskPop to explore the idea of sonic systems in practice.

Instead of starting with music, we mapped out what the product should feel like to use, what kind of feedback users should receive at key moments, and how sound should support the overall experience without getting in the way.

From there, we created a simple sonic motif, which acted as the foundation for everything else. The sonic logo established a recognisable audio signature. That same motif was then adapted into a set of UX cues, including completion sounds, notifications, and error feedback. Each cue followed a consistent tonal logic, so even though the sounds served different functions, they still felt connected.

This kind of approach changes how sound is recalled over time. For example, a user might hear a variation of the same motif in a video, then again when completing a task, then again in a notification. Each interaction reinforces the last, with consistency being key.

For SaaS and B2B platforms, this doesn’t require a large-scale rollout. Even a small, well-defined set of audio elements can begin to create a sense of continuity, especially in areas like onboarding, product feedback, and content.

The Opportunity Is Still Wide Open

At the moment, sonic branding in SaaS and B2B platforms is still in its early stages. Most companies haven’t developed a sonic logo, with most relying on generic or inconsistent audio. And even fewer have connected sound across product, marketing, and brand experience.

This might suggest hesitation, or competing priorities. Or, it might simply be that sound hasn’t been treated as a strategic consideration yet. Either way, it creates an opportunity.

There are no widely recognised sonic leaders across SaaS and B2B platforms, and there are no dominant set of cues that define the sector. There’s also no expectation that brands should sound a certain way.

This allows companies to make early decisions about how they should sound that can carry long-term impact. Over time, that sonic identity will accumulate as it moves from being a design choice to something closer to an identifier.