If you’re running a SaaS company and responsible for getting more qualified leads in the door, you’ve probably heard about Drift. Maybe your sales team wants it for chat. Maybe your CMO is sold on “conversational marketing.” Or maybe you just want to know if it’s worth the price tag. This review isn’t for tire-kickers—it’s for the folks actually responsible for pipeline. Let’s get into what Drift does, what it doesn’t, and whether it’s the right fit for your sales and marketing teams.
What Is Drift, Really?
Drift bills itself as a “conversational marketing” platform. In plain English: it’s software that lets you put live chat and chatbots on your website, with the goal of turning anonymous visitors into real leads for your sales team. Over time, it’s added email playbooks, scheduling, and integrations with CRMs and marketing automation tools. The idea is to help B2B SaaS companies have actual conversations with buyers, instead of just blasting forms and waiting by the phone.
It’s not the only tool in this space, but it’s certainly one of the most hyped and has a pretty loyal following—especially among SaaS and tech companies selling to other businesses.
Who Actually Gets Value from Drift?
Let’s be clear: Drift isn’t for everyone. Here’s who will get the most out of it:
- B2B SaaS companies with real sales teams (not just self-serve).
- Businesses with decent web traffic (think: at least a few thousand visitors/month).
- Teams who care about fast lead response times and qualifying buyers before sales gets involved.
- Companies ready to invest real time into setup, playbooks, and ongoing tweaks.
If you’re a solo founder or running a low-touch SaaS with little traffic, Drift is probably overkill—and pricey overkill at that.
Core Features: What Matters and What’s Fluff
Drift has a lot of features. Some are genuinely useful. Some are just nice-to-haves or, honestly, things you may never touch.
The Good Stuff
- Live Chat and Chatbots: The main event. Bots handle initial conversations, qualify leads, and hand off to humans when needed.
- Routing and Scheduling: Automatically send leads to the right sales rep, and let people book meetings on the spot.
- CRM and Calendar Integrations: Connects with Salesforce, HubSpot, and your calendar to keep things in sync.
- Targeting and Personalization: Show different playbooks to different segments—by company size, industry, or even specific accounts.
- Real-Time Notifications: Sales gets pinged when a target account is on the site, so they can jump in.
The “Meh” or Overhyped
- Email Playbooks: They exist, but most teams have better luck with dedicated email tools.
- AI-Powered Everything: There’s a lot of talk about “AI,” but most of it comes down to scripted logic, not real intelligence. Don’t expect ChatGPT-level conversations.
- Analytics: You’ll get reports, but they’re not as deep as what you’d get from a proper analytics tool.
How to Actually Use Drift for Lead Generation and Sales
Here’s what a realistic Drift rollout looks like for most SaaS companies.
1. Nail the Basics: Onboarding and Setup
- Install the Drift widget on your website. This is usually just a quick copy-paste of a JavaScript snippet.
- Connect your CRM and calendar. The integrations are solid, but you’ll need admin access and some patience.
- Decide who’s on point: Figure out which reps or SDRs will handle live chats and who gets which leads.
Pro Tip: Don’t just dump Drift on your sales team and hope for magic. You need buy-in and someone to own setup and maintenance.
2. Build a Few Good Playbooks (Not 20)
Playbooks are Drift’s term for chat workflows. Start simple.
- Qualify first: Build a bot that asks basic qualifying questions (company size, role, intent).
- Fast-track meetings: If someone fits your ICP, show a calendar and let them book with sales right away.
- Fallback: For everyone else, offer helpful resources or collect their email for nurture.
Ignore the urge to go wild with branching logic and edge cases. The more complex your playbooks, the more likely you’ll break things—or just annoy users.
3. Train Your Team, But Keep It Real
- Set expectations: Drift isn’t magic. If nobody is online to answer chats, you’re just running a slightly fancier form.
- Use the mobile app: Sales reps can respond to hot leads on the go, but only if they’re set up and trained.
- Respond quickly: The whole value of Drift is speed. If you’re slow to reply, you’re wasting your money.
4. Monitor, Measure, and Adjust
- Track meetings booked through Drift. This is the main ROI driver.
- Watch bot drop-off: If people are bailing early, your bot is probably too pushy or confusing.
- Look for real impact: Are you getting better leads, or just more noise? Be honest about what’s working.
Pro Tip: Skip the vanity metrics. It’s easy to get excited about chat volume, but meetings and qualified pipeline are what matter.
The Honest Pros and Cons
What Works Well
- Shortens sales cycles: If you have the right team and decent traffic, Drift really can get you more meetings, faster.
- Solid integrations: CRM, calendar, and Slack integrations actually work. You don’t have to duct-tape everything together.
- Personalization: You can target high-value accounts with custom messages, which is great for ABM teams.
What Doesn’t
- Price: Drift isn’t cheap. There’s no real free tier, and the good stuff is locked behind higher plans. Expect to talk to sales.
- Complexity: It’s easy to make your playbooks a tangled mess. Simpler is better.
- AI Limitations: Don’t believe the hype—bots are only as smart as you make them. They still need a lot of babysitting.
- Support: Mixed reviews. Some users rave, others complain about slow or canned responses.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Setting and forgetting: Drift needs regular updates. New playbooks, new reps, new messages.
- Over-qualifying: If your bot asks too many questions, people will bail.
- Not aligning sales and marketing: If nobody’s watching chat, or leads aren’t followed up, Drift is just window dressing.
- Ignoring the mobile app: It can really help with fast responses—if your team uses it.
Alternatives: Should You Even Use Drift?
Before you sign a contract, look at:
- Intercom: Similar features, sometimes cheaper, but more focus on customer support.
- HubSpot Chat: Included if you’re already on HubSpot, but less powerful for complex routing.
- Olark, LiveChat, Freshchat: Cheaper, but more basic—good if you just want live chat, not bots.
If you’re a smaller team or just getting started, don’t feel bad about using a simpler tool until you know you need more.
Bottom Line: Is Drift Worth It for B2B SaaS Teams?
Drift can be genuinely valuable if:
- You have a sales team that cares about fast responses.
- Your website gets enough traffic to justify the investment.
- You’re willing to spend time building and tweaking chatbots and playbooks.
It’s not a “set it and forget it” solution, and it’s definitely not cheap. But if you’re serious about turning web traffic into qualified pipeline—and you keep things simple—Drift is worth a look. Just don’t expect it to do your job for you.
Start simple. Iterate. Don’t get distracted by shiny features. The goal is more quality conversations, not more software.