Why G2 Reviews Are More Important Than Analyst Reports
Metadata is once again in G2’s latest reports in the leader quadrant and continues to be #1 in customer satisfaction!
We recently announced Metadata’s return as a Leader in G2’s Summer 2021 Grid© Report for Account-Based Advertising, receiving the highest overall satisfaction rating among all products in the category.
This reprise is significant to restoring brand awareness in a dynamic market and capturing the voice of our customers.
Constantly optimizing products and services is a default setting for us. Using accurate insight is critical, and where better to get that from the user, their experience, and their feedback?
All eyes are on G2, and we think they have a winning approach.
That’s why we’re firm believers that customer reviews are far superior to analyst reports.
Why We Rely on G2
I received positive feedback from my recent LinkedIn post reacting to what Manny Medina from Outreach says on analyst firms.
“They spend 59 minutes telling you how your software is just a feature in someone else’s solution and then try to sell you their consulting services.”
I couldn’t agree more with Manny. Innovation isn’t coming from analyst firms.
Word of mouth has become the #1 channel in B2B marketing. Think about the modern buying process.
If you want to invest in an ABM platform, you’re not going to start hopping on demos left and right until someone sells you on their solution.
You’re going to do your due diligence and research online, see what customers have to say, and ask your friends in the B2B space if they know a good platform.
It’s for this reason why G2 is so insanely popular.
The word of a customer will always carry more weight than the word of the company itself. That’s why I believe G2 is the future of how people will purchase, with less focus on the analysts and more on direct customer feedback.
But it’s essential to get a solid understanding of how G2 works and how you can make the most out of it.
Why do we love it?
For one, G2 was conceived in a basement by five SaaS technology entrepreneurs that loved working together and loved building companies that helped entrepreneurs thrive.
We have an innovative tech marketplace where businesses find, review, and manage the technology they need for growth. G2 aims to be the trusted source to help operators make educated technology decisions.
The benefit is the third-party validation in the market — directly coming from the customer’s path to purchase.
They operate to ensure it’s a valued source of information so that buyers can make accurate comparisons between products. It’s equal access and representation, which helps to contextualize user-informed feedback.
G2 knows analysts are not vendors or users of the software they are reporting on, and their focus is on helping buyers select the best software using peer reviews from the ones who have used it – not analyst reports.
How We Rely on G2
We use G2 in so many ways at Metadata. It’s one of the things we know we can point to that has helped us tell our story and stand out to customers as an early-stage startup.
Here’s how we rely on G2 at Metadata:
- We use G2 content in all of our marketing
Social proof is the best kind of marketing, so we turn our best G2 reviews into quotes and testimonials. We include them throughout our website and add them to our landing pages.
We add the latest G2 badges to our website, email signatures, and social profiles whenever the quarterly reports are released.
- We build Metadata audiences from G2 intent data
With G2 intent data, we can see which companies are looking at our G2 profile, competitors’ profiles, and relevant product categories.
And with the G2 integration we announced earlier this year, we can automatically target potential buyers at these companies using Metadata campaigns on Facebook and LinkedIn.
- We use language from G2 reviews to improve our messaging
The best product marketers use the same language their audience is using.
We look at how our customers describe what we do and how we make their lives easier in their G2 reviews. Their language helps us stay on top of our messaging, so we know it will land with our audience.
Make the Most of It
Online reviews matter. They impact your website traffic, brand loyalty, length of your sales cycle, and ultimately – your revenue.
Any business that does not have an effective customer review strategy fails to benefit from customer feedback.
You need to have the right resources in place to generate more reviews and update your existing ones. The real value comes from analyzing each review, good or bad.
Here’s where you can start if you’re new to customer reviews on G2:
- Keep your profiles on G2 and LinkedIn up-to-date
G2 reserves the right to remove any reviews, comments, or other content contributed by users if their profiles are missing critical information.
- Make “asking for reviews” a normal part of the customer success process
Don’t assume customers, even the most loyal ones, will take the initiative to write a review. 70% of customers will leave a review when prompted, so one of the best ways to encourage customer reviews? Just ask.
- Make it easy for your customers to leave reviews
Find friendly and unique ways to ask customers to write reviews. You can word your ask using different open-ended questions like “Tell us about your experience.”
Our rise in the latest G2 rankings proves that listening to our customers, not analysts, was the right call for us. It helps us expand on what’s working and build a better product for our customers.
While many things influence buying behavior, few are more impactful than genuine reviews from real customers. They should be a top agenda for any company striving to remain relevant, drive revenue, and grow its reputation.
