Martech Stack Killing Your Margins: The Hidden SaaS Expense

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Read time: 3 minutes.

Welcome to the 204th edition of The Growth Elements Newsletter. Every Monday and sometimes on Thursday, I write an essay on growth metrics & experiments and business case studies.

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Most SaaS operators obsess over CAC and churn. Meanwhile, there is a line item on your P&L quietly draining thousands per month that nobody is auditing.

Your martech stack.

[1] The Problem Nobody Talks About

Earlier this year, I audited a SaaS company spending over $5,000 per month across just three tools. Here is what the numbers looked like:

• Email platform: $4000/month, sending to 28,000 contacts with a 13% open rate

• Scheduling tool: $900/month, generating 20-22 bookings per month

• Chat tool: deeply integrated, too expensive, impossible to remove without pain

The email tool was broadcasting to 22,000 contacts who had stopped engaging entirely.

[2] Why Tool Bloat Happens

Every growth stage adds tools.

Seed stage, you buy what solves the immediate fire.

Series A, someone adds a dashboard tool.

By the time you hit £1M ARR, you are running 8 to 12 tools where 4 would do the job.

• Tools get adopted by one person and inherited by the team

• Annual contracts auto-renew without review

• Switching costs feel higher than they actually are

According to Zylo's 2025 SaaS Management Report, the average company wastes 33% of its SaaS spend on underused or unused licences.

[3] The 15-Minute Audit That Saves Thousands

Pull up every tool your marketing and sales team uses. For each one, answer three questions:

• What is the cost per meaningful action this tool delivers?

• Could another tool you already pay for do this?

• If this tool vanished tomorrow, what would actually break?

If the cost per action is embarrassing or the answer to question three is "nothing," cancel it this week.

Final Words

[1] Run the 3-question audit on every tool in your stack this week. No exceptions.

[2] Cut your email list to engaged contacts only. Sending to dead contacts is not marketing, it is a waste.

[3] Block one hour this quarter to review every auto-renewing contract before it rolls over.

That's it for today's article! I hope you found this essay insightful.

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

I always appreciate you reading.

Thanks,
Chintankumar Maisuria