Are you up to speed on the 10+ G2 product releases in 2024 so far?
If you’re like me and manage G2 for your software business, you probably know a few of the latest G2 updates but will also be surprised to see some others.
From a handy visual of the Review Decay algorithm applied to your reviews to Paid Promotions offering lowered-ranked vendors the chance to rent real estate in the top 3 results of a category page, there’s probably a release of interest to you.
Let’s get into it.
What's new in G2? Release Notes & My Two Cents
Tucked away in the G2 documentation site, you’ll find Release Notes. If you’re a G2 keener, bookmark this page and return to in every so often to stay updated.
In this post, I’ll focus on the releases I think are the most noteworthy. I’ll also provide my recommendations on each one.
Some of these updates are minor, nice-to-have features. Others could make a major impact on your business.
Table of Contents
Review decay in my.G2 - October 2023
Think of G2 reviews as the opposite of a fine wine aging gracefully.
G2’s review decay algorithm ensures that fresher reviews pack more punch, giving buyers the most relevant insights as time goes on.
As a vendor, it’s beneficial to know how much value your reviews lose in G2’s algorithm based on the age (in months) of each.
Here are the 4 ranges provided in the G2 Review Decay chart:
- 0 to 3 months (90 days): 99%-100% of original weight
- 3 months to 12 months: 86-99% of original weight
- 12 months to 24 months: 14-86% of original weight
- 24 months or more: < 14% of original weight
In the screenshot above, you can see that the company shown has more than half of its reviews over the 18-month mark, meaning it’s high time for a review refresh campaign.
G2 Clicks (Beta) - January 2024
For Founders and Demand Gen and Growth marketers, G2 Clicks is one to consider.
It’s a new, subscription-free, pay-per-click offering. So, if your company doesn’t have a paid G2 plan but you want to generate more leads from G2, this is now the best way to do it.
It’s important to note that this is already included if you have any paid plan with G2.
Here’s an illustrative example of who could use G2 Clicks. Keyplay, a product listed on G2, has a free profile (you can tell because it doesn’t have a call-to-action (CTA) button. Also, G2 prominently lists top-rated alternatives on its profile 😬).
In comparison, PartnerStack (where I work) has a paid profile and gets CTA buttons on its profile. G2 Clicks doesn’t offer anything to a company like PartnerStack (With a paid plan) but offers a company like Keyplay (with a free profile) a new way to add a CTA link and pay-per-click.
I would recommend companies with a free G2 account try G2 Clicks because:
- lead volumes on CTA button link clicks on G2 product profile pages are generally low so it won’t break the bank
- you can cancel your subscription at any time at the click of a button in my.G2 (in-app )
- g2 site visitors are showing buyer intent by searching for information on software solutions (i.e. the lead quality will be relatively high)
For more information, see the G2 Clicks product documentation page.
G2 Impact Chart - January 2024
The new G2 Impact Chart is a simple yet effective way to visualize your “G2 funnel”, or at least the very top of it.
It shows three parts of the funnel, all in visits:
- Visits to your category page(s)
- Visits to your G2 product page(s)
- Visits to your G2 product page(s) to your website or vice-versa
When you hover over each of the three stages, you’ll see more performance data (see the GIF above).
G2 provides you with a competitive edge by offering averages on product page visits for your categories and prospects tracked, allowing you to benchmark against your competition.
To give you an additional data point for comparison, the example shown in the GIF is of a company that’s ranked in the top 5 (bounced around all top 5 positions in the year shown).
What’s lacking from the impact chart is what comes after the prospect is tracked. Did it lead to pipeline? A new deal? That impact would need to be measured elsewhere. This is more about your capture of traffic for your catgeories.
It’s also worth noting the proportion of your tracked visitors who first visit G2 vs. who first visit your site. The higher the number for Visits to G2 first, the better your case will be that G2 is functioning as a demand generation channel as a way for buyers to discover your solution.
For more information, see the G2 Impact product documentation page.
G2 + Sendoso - February 2024
The G2 + Sendoso integration enables you to go beyond the standard gift card incentive for business software reviews and send physical gifts instead.
Customer Marketing & Advocacy (CMA) advocates often speak to the importance of developing customer relationships.
Sending memorable physical gifts instead of forgettable gift cards could provide another way to develop a better relationship with an element of surprise and delight.
The G2 + Sendoso integration makes it easier to run themed review campaigns with creative direct mail (e.g., a Valentine’s Day review campaign with a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers).
For more information, see the G2 + Sendoso integration product documentation page.
HubSpot Ideal Customer Profile Filters - March 2024
G2 buyer intent data can help you get valuable insight into who’s in-market for your solution.
The catch? In my experience, many of the buyers for software in one of our categories are outside of our target ICP.
Therefore, getting buyer intent signals for all organizations can be a firehose of information, overwhelming sales teams with too many irrelevant signals. I’ve seen G2 buyer intent data abandoned by some teams for this reason alone.
The new HubSpot Ideal Customer Profile filters can help fix that. With it, you can filter which companies you want to send buyer intent signals to your HubSpot, so you can focus on the in-market buyers in your target ICP.
For more information, see the HubSpot Ideal Customer Profile Filters product documentation on G2.
Paid Promotions - April 2024
I find a lot of vendors who are skeptical or disappointed by G2 are ranked outside of the top 3 in their category.
After all, according to my 2023 State of B2B Software Reviews survey study, more than half of B2B software buyers only take the time to read the reviews of 3-5 vendors.
Therefore, if you’re outside the top 5, your traffic share of category-page visits is probably quite low (I’d guess less than 5%).
In short, G2 paid promotions provide you with a way to rent real estate in the top 5 — your paid promotional ad / listing will show in the 3rd spot.
Some important notes: Paid promos are only available quarterly. There are three ad slots per category per quarter, and your promo will only be shown to one-third of the visitors in the category. Prices vary by category traffic. I’ve seen prices range from $1,000 to $4,500 per quarter, though the range is probably much bigger than that. There’s a self-serve option, i.e. you can pay for your quarterly promo in-app to get started ASAP.
In my.G2, you can see the specifics of the paid promotions for your category or categories.
If you’re a vendor with product ranked outside of the top 5, consider G2’s new paid promotions.
I’d recommend if you have a self-reported attribution setup so you can also measure how many leads mention that they discovered/heard of you/found you through G2. Without this setup, the ROI on the direct clicks alone will probably disappoint because they’ll undervalue the true impact of the promo.
For more information, see the Paid Promotions product documentation on G2.
