Hi there -  I recently polled my audience to confirm where they needed the most support and top of funnel was the winner by a long shot.

So we're sticking with top of funnel tactics this week. And it just so happens this one has middle and bottom of funnel value too! Win win. 

One of our highest performing channels for inbound leads is G2 --> Customer Reviews. 

Gartner reports that "66% of software buyers say reviews significantly impact their purchase decision; 85% say they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation, and 71% focus on reviews written within the past six months."

This is a FREE channel you can activate, today!!

And I'll tell you exactly how to do it. 😉

The Power of Public Customer Reviews  

Public customer reviews are so incredibly powerful. Just a few of the very real benefits - 

1. They drive inbound leads - your listing helps prospects find you. G2, Capterra, and their peers all invest heavily in their own SEO driving traffic to their listings (you!). 

2. They also drive middle and bottom of funnel conversions - you can point your open deals to your reviews to support your credibility and user satisfaction. 

3. They drive inbound talent* inquiries - I get at least 1 inquiry a month from a highly qualified candidate looking to work at Amplify stating they found me on G2 

4. You can leverage them in your other marketing efforts as social proof 

So let's break down the process step-by-step! 

Step 1: Create your free account and setup your profile

The two B2B review sites that dominate the market in terms of # of reviews and site traffic are G2 and Capterra (owned by Gartner). I'd recommend you create a free account on both. 

• Create an account on G2 here. 

• Create an account on Capterra here. 

Note: Both of these sites have paid subscription offerings as well but I'd recommend you work on getting at least 10 reviews using the free account first before even considering a paid profile. 

Step 2: Request reviews from your current customers

Contact your current customers and request reviews. Bonus - you can request reviews from multiple people at the same company. 

AND, the reviewer can choose to be anonymous if they want. Each person who leaves you a review can choose whether their full name, company name, etc is displayed or not. This can be really helpful to point out if you're selling into enterprise accounts since it can be harder for them to leave public quotes due to company policies.

Even if they remain anonymous, you'll reap the benefit from their direct review in their own words being publicly visible. Both of these review sites have  variety of ways they verify reviews to maintain integrity and public trust. 

Here are a couple email template examples you can use to send the requests. 

Reminder - try to get at least 10 reviews to start and continue to collect at least 5 new reviews per quarter. Recency is an important factor in customer trust for reviews. 

Tip - I like to send a little token of appreciation to each of my customer's that takes the time to leave me a review. I generally send Amplify swag or a $25 Amazon gift card. Note - I don't dangle this as a pay to play incentive, I just send after they have given me a review to thank them for their time and support. 

Step 3: Leverage your review profile link in your sales & marketing efforts 

To maximize the value of your efforts - 

• Add  a link to  your G2 or Capterra profile on your own website - check out the badge in the footer of our website for an example

• Add client quotes to your website, either manually (like I did on ours) or you can automate it using a plug in like Elfsight 

• Send your profile link out to prospective customers who you have open opportunities with. "Here are some of our public reviews for reference."

  • Bonus - it cuts down on the # of times you have to ask one of your customers to do a live reference call too. 

• Promote your reviews on social media like this

That's it! And I promise you - it's worked time and time again for our clients. 

Know someone who could benefit from being added to this distribution? Send them here to sign up. 

That's all for now! 

With love and gratitude,