Did you think that customer reviews were only important to the prospects you knew about? Well, that’s not the case. The fact is, 90% of consumers read online reviews before even visiting a business, and 88% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Adding to that, 77% of B2B buyers usually conduct their own research before talking to salespeople, and consult reviews early in the purchasing process . Not only that, but buyers who consulted online reviews during the software selection process were ultimately more satisfied with their purchases.
G2 has discovered that 67% of B2B buyers prefer to see a mix of positive and negative reviews before making a purchase. Online reviews that inspire the most trust in buyers feel authentic and are those where users provide objective and relevant feedback on the product or service.
Given all that information, it’s no wonder that reviews have become an absolute necessity in the buying process. Online reviews are practically the new word-of-mouth, with buyers preferring to turn to fellow shoppers and buy based on their experience, rather than trust the seller instead.
Third-party B2B software review sites operate in the same manner as review websites for consumers, such as TripAdvisor and Yelp, and they can help you gain visibility and build your buyer’s trust.
How can online reviews help you grow your SaaS business?
It’s clear that reviews are extremely important, but how can they help you grow your SaaS and ultimately drive more sales and signups? We’re here to tell you.
- They build brand and product awareness and increase your presence on the web, as customers generally look for certain software categories and competencies by simply searching for them in search engines. This inquiry will possibly drive them to a software review platform, and if you invest enough in your presence on software review sites, they will eventually end up on your review page and start considering your services.
- They help you gain your prospects’ trust, by showing your potential customers how others are using your product, what benefits (and challenges) they encountered. Remember that it’s not enough to have one three- or four-star review after another; users tend to trust a brand even more when they feel like the reviews are honest and not forced.
- They drive sales growth. As we mentioned earlier, when looking into purchasing products, customers’ decisions are highly influenced by other buyers’ reviews and feedback, as social proof is one of the most convincing salespeople.
If you own a B2B software or SaaS company, you should consider building your presence on these software listing sites to ensure that people looking for products in your category can find your offering.
Let’s look at some of the most popular business review directories for listing your SaaS/software products.
1. G2
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 5.2M
Twitter Followers: 32,200
LinkedIn Followers: 53,194
G2 describes itself as “the world’s largest tech marketplace where businesses can discover, review, and manage the technology they need to reach their potential,” leveraging more than 1.5 million user reviews to drive better purchasing decisions. Technology buyers, investors, and analysts use the site to compare and select the best software based on peer reviews and synthesized social data. Established by the founder and former executives from SaaS leader BigMachines and backed by roughly $12 million in capital, G2 aims to bring authenticity and transparency to business technology research.
If your company has received reviews on G2, you might make it to a Grid® Report (additional criteria apply), which is basically a comparison of the top options in a single business software category. You can use the Grid® to show off how you stack up against your competitors based on reviews from real users of your product. If you’re curious about what a Grid ® Report looks like, check out the Grid® Report for Best Subscription Billing Software.
2. GetApp
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 1.95M
Twitter Followers: 14,100
LinkedIn Followers: 51,501
GetApp, a Gartner company, claims that millions of professionals use its reviews to discover and compare web-based applications capable of helping their business grow. Some of the most popular categories on the site include Business Intelligence & Analytics, Collaboration, Customer Management, Finance & Accounting, HR & Employee Management, Marketing, or Project Management & Planning.
The GetApp review process is quicker than on G2, so it’s easier for your users to leave reviews. Gartner also owns the review sites Capterra and Software Advice. The latter has a slightly different and more high-touch business model where they provide sales-ready leads that have been phone-qualified by their expert advisors. On the other hand, Capterra and GetApp are similar and even share reviews between them, increasing your visibility.
3. Capterra
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 3.3M
Twitter Followers: 17,300
LinkedIn Followers: 15,909
Capterra lists B2B software solutions. The website covers 800+ software categories for over 50,000 products, provides personalized reviews, and recommends solutions that are matched to your specific needs. Check out Capterra’s presentation video for more insights into what the site can do for your company’s products.
4. TrustRadius
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 940K
Twitter Followers: 4,213
LinkedIn Followers: 5,714
TrustRadius serves both buyers and vendors, allowing products to gain exposure while helping buyers make better product purchasing decisions based on unbiased reviews and in-depth Buyer’s Guides that are similar to a G2 Grid® Report. TrustRadius covers more than 360,000 reviews, and claims to offer insightful, detailed reviews that are more than 400 words long on average, nearly four times the typical length of software industry reviews. Every reviewer on TrustRadius is authenticated and vetted, before publication, by a research team, so you can rest easy knowing you’re getting a reliable, comprehensive review, though authenticating users has become standard practice in this space.
5. Software Advice
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 1.1M
Twitter Followers: 8,096
LinkedIn Followers: 28,114
Software Advice claims to simplify software selection for you with more than 390 detailed software guides that include thorough descriptions and reviews covering ease of use, functionality, quality, and support, as well as a wealth of helpful screenshots showing the user interface of each product. It’s a good way to make sure a solution will fit your needs before you dive into more detailed research on vendor websites.
6. PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 320K
Twitter Followers: 4,237
LinkedIn Followers: 6,174
This crowdsourced software review platform prides itself on pulling together honest feedback from real users, so you get the full picture of what it’s like to work with a product. Software is ranked in different categories by factors such as the overall rating and the number of reviews, comparisons, and followers. Count on PeerSpot for an unbiased perspective on the tools you’re considering, no matter what category they might be in.
7. FinancesOnline
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 690K
Twitter Followers: 1,150
LinkedIn Followers: 940
This review platform focuses on B2B software products that will impact your bottom line in terms of leads, conversions, and revenue. FinancesOnline includes detailed descriptions of software products along with user reviews, pricing details, integrations, and alternatives to consider, as well as a handy comparison tool. The tool creates reports that will offer you a 360-degree overview of your customers based on hundreds of insights about their behavior and needs. Their research is based on the customer, and they gather thousands of data points to provide you with accurate information. They mainly focus on how customer behaviors, preferences, and expectations change and evolve over time.
8. Top Ten Reviews
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 880K
Twitter Followers: 11,100
There’s a familiar value proposition here if you’re tired of sorting through long lists with dozens of options for every type of application you need. Top Ten Reviews will help you narrow down your options with – you guessed it – top ten lists comparing the best products in all kinds of categories, from software to electronics. Save time by letting someone else do the initial investigation for you so you can focus your search on the options that have been proven to work. Top Ten Reviews assembles a team of writers and reviewers who each bring specialized skills and expertise to pick apart the data they gather in order to identify products and services of note.
9. SaaSGenius
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 20K
Twitter Followers: 2,192
LinkedIn Followers: 182
If you don’t want to download anything, SaaSGenius will focus your search on software options that are designed for online use only. Users can submit reviews to SaaSGenius, but all submissions are evaluated before posting to avoid any inaccurate or biased information. It looks like you can count on this site to deliver a complete directory of SaaS products, covering basic information, pricing, reviews, alternatives, and comparisons. SaaSGenius supports its users with a recommendation engine, trusted product reviews, easy comparison, white papers, and more to help find the best match for their business.
10. PCMag Business Reviews
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 27.8M
Twitter Followers: 390.100
LinkedIn Followers: 10,813
[data from the global PCMag]
The PCMag Business Reviews focuses on providing comprehensive reviews for business software across 30 categories, including accounting and finance, business operations, collaboration, IT management and security, project management, sales, and many more. The platform combines curated user experiences with PCMag Lab-tested reviews by PCMag editors.
11. SoftwareSuggest
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 750K
Twitter Followers: 2,508
LinkedIn Followers: 2,426
SoftwareSuggest is a leading B2B software discovery and recommendation platform. It has listings across 425 categories, and 18,000 software product listings. Users get detailed software comparisons and live assistance to shortlist the right software for their business. They can also submit reviews (which are only published after verification) of software they have purchased. SoftwareSuggest’s dedicated team of software experts is available 24/7 for assistance and advice related to all things software.
Find a complete, regularly updated directory of the most relevant software for your business here, with accurate pricing, comparison, genuine reviews, and personalized support. SoftwareSuggest matches your business needs with the right software. Whatever it is that you need a software solution for, this website has you covered.
12. GoodFirms
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 950K
Twitter Followers: 2,770
LinkedIn Followers: 3,957
GoodFirms is a full-fledged B2B research and review platform that helps software buyers and service seekers select the best software or firm. Adding to that, it also helps IT companies and software vendors boost user acquisition stats, market share, and brand awareness. The review platform evaluates the top-performing companies and software solutions based on three key elements: Quality, Reliability, and Ability. These metrics are further segmented and then ranked based on their cumulative research scores.
13. AlternativeTo
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 6.85M
Twitter Followers: 6,727
AlternativeTo is a free review website that offers you the opportunity to discover better alternatives to web-based software, desktop computer software, and mobile apps, and sorts these alternatives by different criteria, including the number of registered users who have clicked the “Like” button for each of them on the platform.
As opposed to other software review directories, AlternativeTo does not arrange the software into categories, but each single piece of software has its own list of alternatives, permitting a more tailored listing approach.
14. Crozdesk
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 170K
Twitter Followers: 14,400
LinkedIn Followers: 1,500
Crozdesk is a review website that runs AI and machine learning ranking algorithms to power unbiased software recommendations. Users can assign ratings based on factors such as functionality, popularity, cost, and reputation. Crozdesk is free for users to list their companies, assign reviews, and take advantage of their reports and comparisons.
15. Business Software
Monthly website traffic (source: SimilarTech): 85K
Twitter Followers: 3,936
LinkedIn Followers: 344
Business Software is a free online resource for buyers and vendors of business technology. The review website provides expert advice, in-depth feature articles, user reviews taken directly from the marketplace, best practice recommendations, and substantial software vendor reports. Business Software publishes industry reports each year highlighting the top vendors in specific segments.
Tips for Promoting Your Software on a Review Site
Now that we covered a bit what a B2B software review site is about, you might be thinking about getting some presence on one or more of these sites.
Bonus: Find out why online reviews customers are the ultimate salesperson for eCommerce.
Here are some important tips to keep in mind when promoting your B2B SaaS software solution on a review site:
Check out the categories
Once you’ve made a shortlist of sites to target based on popularity and influence (you can use our list of 15 sites as a starting point), begin by checking the categories supported by each review site. Some sites will be more relevant than others to your business, based on the category criteria.
Check out the competition
Look where your competitors are listed, with what products, how many reviews they have, what ratings they’ve received, and what categories they’re in. The answers to these questions can help you focus your profile creation and review efforts more effectively.
Some sites allow users to filter by several criteria: general (Star Rating), or specific to each business category. Take these options into account to see how you stack up against the competition, or if you have influence in a particular segment.
Start with a free profile
Once you select the sites where you want to be listed, start by creating a free profile (all the sites should have this option). On review sites, prospects are often faced with information from dozens of your competitors, all claiming similar benefits and business outcomes, so your most important task here is to communicate a clear and unique value proposition. Use images, videos, add links to your site, and aim to provide as much information as the free profile allows.
Ask for reviews
Some reviews will come organically, but to truly support your value proposition, encourage your users to write more reviews. It’s okay to provide some guidance, but don’t ask users to copy and paste a template review. This will raise red flags among review site editors and prospective buyers alike. You’ll also be surprised by how much you can learn about your customers from authentic reviews. When you ask clients for a testimonial, they’ll most likely write a positive blurb or review, provided they’re happy with your services.
When writing a review, however, customers are faced with a few in-depth questions that they need to answer more objectively. One of the questions is usually “What do you want to see improved?” or “What are you dissatisfied with?” These questions offer a great way to gather customer feedback that will help you grow. Some constructive criticism from actual users is always useful for making improvements.
Discover who your satisfied customers are
Start conducting Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys, as they not only help you figure out where your SaaS business is standing in terms of customer satisfaction and retention, they are also a valuable source for customer reviews. Once you find out who your happy customers are, start reaching out to them first and ask them for reviews. We all know how much positive reviews bring to your brand, as well as your sales.
Keep an eye on reviews
Monitor review sites regularly. If you get good reviews, great! Consider highlighting and quoting them in your marketing efforts. Just like a picture is worth a thousand words, one customer review is worth a thousand promotional brochures.
If you get any negative reviews, be prompt in replying to the reviewer to show that you care and that you’re doing your best to fix the problem. If a review with inaccurate information pops up, work with the reviewer or website to see if it can be corrected.
Get some leads
Besides getting you some credibility, these sites ultimately serve the purpose of generating leads, which is why premium profiles and add-ons are available. Keep in mind that it may not be efficient to gather leads from the start. First, you’ll need to take the time to gather some reviews, increase your visibility, and get some validation. Explore these paid options as a second step and, regardless of your strategy, always keep encouraging your clients to provide fresh, authentic reviews of your products.
Conclusion
If we were to draw a line, customer reviews are the ultimate promotional drive right now, with marketing activities and ads overly saturating the market. When considering any type of purchase, buyers are constantly looking for peer approvals and feedback. Therefore, it’s important, now more than ever, to invest your time in listing your Software and SaaS products on review websites in order to generate awareness and, ultimately, successfully boost your business’ growth.
Don’t hesitate to comment below if you have any additional review websites you can recommend!
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