The CHRO loved our HR platform demo. She walked through every feature, asked smart questions, and clearly saw the value.
Then she said: "This is great. But I need to know what my employees will actually think before I can buy it. Can you do a pilot with 50 people so I can see adoption and feedback?"
I thought she was stalling. She wasn't.
In HR tech, the buyer isn't just evaluating whether your product solves their problem. They're evaluating whether their employees will actually use it—because if employees hate it or won't adopt it, the product is worthless no matter how good it is.
The CHRO was willing to buy. But she needed proof that employees would engage with the platform, not just that it had the right features.
We ran a 60-day pilot. Adoption was strong. Feedback was positive. She bought.
But the pilot revealed something I hadn't understood: In HR tech, you're selling to two completely different audiences simultaneously: the HR team making the purchase decision, and the employees who have to use the product.
If you only market to HR, you'll win deals that fail at adoption. If you only market to employees, HR won't see the value and won't buy.
I'd spent five years in SaaS marketing where the buyer and the user were the same person. HR tech completely changed the playbook.
Why HR Tech Marketing Is Uniquely Complex
After three years selling HR technology, I learned that this category has dynamics unlike any other SaaS vertical:
The Buyer Isn't the User (And Success Requires Both)
In most B2B SaaS, the person who buys your product is the person who uses it. A sales leader buys CRM software and uses it daily. A finance leader buys accounting software and uses it for month-end close.
In HR tech, the CHRO buys the platform. But the employees use it.
This creates a fundamental tension:
What HR leaders want:
- Compliance tools and audit trails
- Analytics and reporting dashboards
- Process efficiency for HR operations
- Reduced administrative burden
What employees want:
- Simple, fast, intuitive experience
- Mobile-first design
- Minimal time spent on HR tasks
- Transparency and self-service
HR leaders evaluate you on functionality. Employees evaluate you on experience.
You need both to succeed.
I've seen HR platforms with incredible functionality that employees refused to use because the UX was terrible. HR loved the features. Employees hated the experience. Adoption failed.
I've also seen HR platforms with beautiful UX but weak functionality. Employees loved it. HR couldn't get the reporting they needed. The platform got replaced.
Your product marketing needs to speak to both audiences with different messages.
For HR buyers: "Comprehensive compliance management with real-time audit reporting."
For employee users: "Update your tax withholdings in 30 seconds from your phone."
Same product. Different value propositions. Different messaging. Different proof points.
Adoption Is the Real Success Metric (Not Purchase)
In traditional SaaS, if someone buys your product, you've succeeded. Retention becomes a customer success problem.
In HR tech, buying is just the beginning. If employees don't adopt the platform, the CHRO will cancel and you'll lose the account.
This means product marketing can't stop at the sale. You're responsible for driving adoption after purchase.
I started building "employee adoption playbooks" as part of our sales process:
- How to announce the new platform to employees
- Email templates for launch communication
- Manager talking points for team meetings
- Training resources for different employee segments
- Tips for driving initial engagement
These weren't customer success materials. They were part of our core product marketing because adoption was how we proved value.
HR buyers explicitly asked: "What's your adoption strategy? How do we get employees to actually use this?"
If we couldn't answer that convincingly, we didn't win the deal.
HR Leaders Are Cautious Because Employee Experience Is Their Brand
HR leaders are risk-averse in a specific way: They're protecting the employee experience.
If they buy software that frustrates employees, the employees blame HR. If they buy software that's buggy or confusing, it damages HR's credibility. If they roll out a platform that fails, employees lose trust in future HR initiatives.
Every software purchase is a reputational risk for HR.
This showed up in every sales conversation:
"What if employees hate it?" "What's the implementation timeline so we don't disrupt employees?" "Can we pilot this with a small group first?" "What if we need to roll it back?"
HR leaders weren't being indecisive. They were protecting their ability to serve employees effectively.
This required messaging focused on de-risking the decision:
What doesn't work: "Our platform has the most comprehensive features in the market." (Sounds risky—more features means more complexity for employees)
What works: "Our platform has high employee NPS scores (68 average) because we prioritize simplicity. Most employees complete key tasks in under 2 minutes." (Reduces risk—employees actually like using it)
We started leading sales conversations with employee satisfaction data, not feature lists.
Compliance Creates Non-Negotiable Requirements
HR tech isn't just about efficiency. It's about legal compliance.
HR platforms need to handle:
- Employment law compliance (federal and state-level)
- Tax withholding calculations
- Benefits administration regulations
- COBRA compliance
- ACA reporting requirements
- EEOC recordkeeping
- Labor law posting requirements
- Data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)
If your platform gets any of this wrong, your customer faces legal liability.
This makes compliance a table-stakes requirement, not a differentiator.
In my first HR tech pitch, I highlighted "full compliance coverage" as a key selling point.
The CHRO said: "I assume you're compliant. If you're not, we can't even consider you."
Compliance isn't a feature. It's the price of admission.
But it does matter in messaging:
Bad messaging: "We're compliant with all regulations." (Generic claim, not credible)
Better messaging: "We update for regulatory changes automatically. When California changed sick leave laws in 2023, all our customers were compliant the day the law went into effect. No action required." (Specific, credible, demonstrates how you handle compliance operationally)
The Buying Committee Includes Unlikely Stakeholders
HR tech purchases involve stakeholders you wouldn't expect:
HR team: Obvious buyer
IT/Security: Evaluates data security, integrations, technical architecture
Finance: Cares about payroll accuracy, benefits costs reporting
Legal: Reviews compliance capabilities, vendor contracts, data handling
Department managers: End users who need manager-level functionality
Executive team: Signs off on budget for company-wide platforms
I lost a deal where HR loved us, IT approved us, but we got killed by department managers who said the previous HR platform had a feature we didn't have (custom approval workflows).
We'd sold to HR's requirements without understanding what managers needed from the platform daily.
Now we involve department managers in the sales process early:
"We'd like to show the platform to a few department managers who'll use the manager functionality. Can you connect us with 2-3 managers who are good representatives of your manager population?"
This early involvement catches objections before they kill deals.
What Actually Works in HR Tech Product Marketing
After three years and hundreds of sales cycles, here's what works:
Create Separate Messaging for Buyers vs. Users
Don't try to use one message for both audiences. Build two parallel messaging frameworks:
For HR buyers (functionality-focused):
- Compliance coverage
- Reporting and analytics capabilities
- Administrative efficiency
- Integration with existing systems
- Implementation and support
For employee users (experience-focused):
- Simplicity and ease of use
- Mobile accessibility
- Time savings on HR tasks
- Transparency and self-service
- Personal control
Your marketing website needs both. HR leaders evaluate you on functionality. But they're also checking whether employees will find it intuitive.
We built separate sections on our website:
- "For HR Teams" (buyer-focused features and ROI)
- "For Employees" (user experience and simplicity)
HR buyers explicitly told us they reviewed the employee-facing messaging to see if it would resonate with their workforce.
Lead With Employee Satisfaction Data
The most compelling proof point for HR buyers: Evidence that employees like using your platform.
We started leading sales conversations with:
- Employee NPS scores from customers
- Adoption rate data (what percentage of employees actively use it)
- Task completion time benchmarks
- User testimonials from actual employees (not just HR leaders)
This flipped the traditional software demo:
Old demo structure:
- Features walkthrough
- Admin capabilities
- Reporting tools
- Q&A
New demo structure:
- Employee satisfaction proof points
- Employee user experience (show how simple it is)
- Manager capabilities
- HR admin features and reporting
- Compliance and integration details
This addressed the CHRO's primary concern first: Will my employees actually use this?
Build Adoption Resources Into Your Sales Process
HR buyers want to know: "How do I get employees to adopt this?"
We built adoption resources as core sales enablement:
Employee launch communication templates:
- Announcement email
- FAQ document
- Training video scripts
- Manager talking points
Adoption measurement framework:
- Key adoption metrics to track
- Timeline for adoption milestones
- Red flags that indicate adoption problems
Change management guide:
- How to position the change to employees
- How to handle resistance
- How to gather and act on feedback
These resources became our most requested sales materials. HR leaders needed them to build internal business cases and get executive approval.
Managing all these different adoption resources for different customer segments (retail employees vs. desk workers, hourly vs. salaried, multi-location vs. single-office) created organizational challenges. I used platforms like Segment8 to keep all enablement materials organized and versioned—made it much easier to find and share the right adoption playbook for each customer's employee population.
Offer Pilots to De-Risk the Decision
HR leaders want proof before company-wide rollout. Offer pilots proactively:
"Let's start with one department or location. Run it for 60 days. Measure adoption and employee feedback. If it works, we'll roll out company-wide. If it doesn't, you've only tested it with a small group."
This dramatically lowers perceived risk.
Our pilot-to-full-rollout conversion rate was 78%. Once employees started using the platform and gave positive feedback, HR leaders had the internal proof they needed to expand.
Pilots also gave us valuable feedback to improve messaging:
Employees used different language than HR leaders to describe value. They cared about different features than what HR thought they'd care about. We incorporated this language into our marketing.
Create Manager-Specific Enablement
Department managers are hidden influencers in HR tech deals. They're not the primary buyer, but they have veto power if the platform makes their lives harder.
We created manager-specific resources:
Manager demo: 15-minute walkthrough of manager-specific workflows (approvals, team management, reporting)
Manager one-pagers: Quick reference for common manager tasks
Manager ROI calculator: Time saved on administrative tasks vs. previous process
This prevented late-stage objections from managers who felt like their needs weren't considered.
Build Industry-Specific Messaging
HR challenges vary dramatically by industry:
Retail/hospitality: High turnover, hourly workers, shift scheduling, multi-location
Healthcare: Compliance-heavy, multiple credential types, shift workers, union considerations
Tech/professional services: Remote work, competitive benefits, equity management, global teams
Manufacturing: Hourly workers, safety training, shift schedules, union environments
Generic "HR platform" messaging doesn't resonate. Industry-specific messaging does.
We created industry-specific landing pages, case studies, and demos showing how the platform worked in that specific environment with those specific challenges.
A healthcare HR leader doesn't want to see a tech company case study. They want to see how another healthcare organization implemented the platform.
The Unexpected Advantages of HR Tech Marketing
Despite the complexity, HR tech has unique advantages:
Long-term contracts with high retention. Once an HR platform is implemented and employees are using it, switching is extremely difficult. Our average customer lifetime is 5+ years.
Word-of-mouth in HR networks. HR leaders talk to each other constantly. One happy customer will introduce you to their network. Our best acquisition channel is HR leader referrals.
Clear success metrics. Employee adoption, time savings, compliance accuracy—these are measurable outcomes that prove ROI clearly.
Expansion opportunities. HR tech has natural expansion paths: start with core HRIS, add recruiting, add performance management, add learning. Our net revenue retention is 125%.
Six months after that initial pilot, the CHRO sent me an email: "Employee feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We're rolling out company-wide next month."
The pilot proved what the demo couldn't: that employees would actually use the platform and find value in it.
That's the core insight in HR tech marketing:
You're selling twice—once to the HR buyer, and once to the employee users. You need both to succeed.
Your messaging needs to work for both audiences. Your proof points need to address both perspectives. Your sales process needs to validate both experiences.
If you only sell to HR, you'll win deals that fail at adoption.
If you prove that employees love your platform, HR will buy with confidence.
HR tech marketing is complex, but the playbook is clear:
- Create separate messaging for buyers and users
- Lead with employee satisfaction proof
- Build adoption resources into your sales materials
- Offer pilots to de-risk decisions
- Enable managers who are hidden influencers
The sales cycles are longer, but the customers are stickier. The evaluation process is more complex, but the success metrics are clearer.
That's HR tech product marketing.