Customers today have no dearth of options for buying various products and services. No matter which niche of business you are in, you will have hundreds and hundreds of competitors offering the same products and services. In such competitive times, how do you make your business stand out? How do you ensure to stay ahead of your competition? How do you make sure that all the competition does not affect your sales? Well, there are several marketing techniques and campaigns that businesses can leverage to stay on top; however, one key area that can effectively help them is customer reviews.
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Who Benefits from SaaS Review Sites?
For customers, it is all about gaining the maximum value for the amount they spend. Hence, they often conduct thorough research before investing or making a purchase. Reviews play a major part in this exhaustive research. It is not surprising to see that the majority of the customers prefer to buy products/services which have higher customer ratings and positive reviews. Apart from the end customers, businesses themselves also rely heavily on customer reviews to understand their customers’ needs. These insights from existing customers, decision-makers from the same industry, and people with similar mindsets form a core aspect of any new product/service launch.
All of this is true even for those who are in the business of providing essential software. It is not enough just to launch your software; you also need to ensure that your intended target audience is aware of the software and its offerings. Apart from your traditional marketing technique, which involves heavy costs, the best option to put your software out in the market is through reviews. Customers tend to rely more on these personal reviews rather than any of the marketing gimmicks. In fact, according to a study by Bright Local, it is estimated that 91% of customers trust online reviews and make their purchases based on the reviews they read.
In this post, we will dive deep to understand why it is important for SaaS businesses to leverage these review sites as much as possible, who can benefit from these review sites, the advantages of SaaS review sites, and more.
The Value of Customer Review Sites
Customer reviews can do wonders for any business – be it retail, e-commerce, finance, software, technology, human resources, manufacturing, etc. The amount of information that these businesses can gain from customer reviews is phenomenal. These reviews are also beneficial for customers as it aids them in their decision-making process. Though these review sites are beneficial for all types and sizes of businesses, their importance in the B2B world is on the higher side. This is because when it comes to software purchases which are usually done for the entire business, there are more risks involved, such as higher costs, intensive decision-making sessions, and a larger number of stakeholders.
Below are some of the businesses that can benefit from utilizing customer reviews:
- SaaS Companies – When it comes to buying software, there is no dearth of options for customers, which is why it is highly recommended that SaaS companies pay close attention to various customer review sites.
- Offline Solutions Sellers – When it comes to offline solutions like installing hardware for an entire building/office, customers obviously want the best in the market. Popular review sites play a key role in influencing customer decisions.
Agencies – Before hiring any agency, organizations would prefer to hear from their previous customers to understand whether the agency can fulfill their expectations or not.
Importance of SaaS Review Sites
Gone are the days when investing in software was all about purchasing and learning about it. Today, software buyers are interested in the entire lifecycle – right from what your software offer to what value you can add to their business to how streamlined is your buying process to how competitive your prices are to what kind of customer support you provide, and more. The best way for them to gain information about all these aspects is through SaaS review sites. The experiences shared by real-time users, their feedback, ratings, insights, etc., have a significant impact on whether or not the customer will opt for your software.
Various review sites gather reviews and insights about SaaS products belonging to different categories, rank them based on the user ratings, and provide the information to potential buyers. Here are some of the top reasons why it is important to build up your presence on key SaaS review sites.
1. Exposure
Listing your SaaS product on review sites is an excellent way to gain more exposure. Many SaaS companies may shy away from listing their product on a site that also lists their competitors with good reviews. Though it is a valid concern, businesses need to understand that not every customer is aware of their product. Most of the customers tend to do a generic search, such as the best CRM software or the best time management software. By building a strong presence on these review sites, SaaS businesses increase their chances of being found by potential customers. With positive reviews in place, there is a greater chance of conversion rate into successful sales.
2. Social Proof
Social proof can be defined as a psychological phenomenon wherein people tend to follow or replicate the actions/behaviors of others. Having your SaaS product listed on popular review sites is a great way to increase your social proof. Most software buyers have their go-to review sites, and if your product is not listed on those sites, you miss out on the opportunity to provide them with your social proof. If you are unable to secure a listing on popular review sites, you will definitely lose out on potential buyers and also face challenges in building your presence.
3. Website Authority
Another reason why review sites add great value is that it increases your website authority. Most of these review sites provide a link back to your website. Having these links from reputed review sites helps in establishing and increasing your online authority. When search engines trust a review site, it is mostly because the content on those sites is genuine and relevant, which is why, when you get links from these sites back to your website, it gives your brand an edge over your competitors when it comes to search engine optimization and organic search.
4. Greater Insight
The majority of the businesses use these customer review sites to look for new leads and convert them into successful sales. However, apart from using it to find new customers, these review sites add value to businesses because of the amount of insight they provide. Though converting potential leads into new customers is one of the priorities, another advantage is the amount of feedback that you can get from existing customers. With the insights gathered from existing customers, businesses can improve all the areas where their customers have concerns, such as the buying process, support, product performance, etc. By constantly paying attention to their feedback and making changes, businesses can also improve the customer experience.
Businesses can also use these customer review sites to gather insights about their competitor’s products as well. They can check the reviews of their competitors and plan strategies accordingly. You can also understand why customers are more inclined towards their competitor’s products. Another great use of these customer review sites is that they can help businesses develop a more effective content marketing strategy by analyzing the reviews and determining any common patterns.
5. Customer Feedback
Having your SaaS products listed on popular review sites allows you to gather as much customer feedback as possible. By setting up your online presence on various sites, you can give your customers more opportunities and avenues to give their feedback which in turn can be used to improve your product, customer experience, and overall business.
Advantages of SaaS Listing Websites
Here are some of the top advantages of SaaS listing websites.
- A SaaS listing website is a great platform to provide detailed information about various software along with user reviews, feedback, pricing plans, etc., allowing the customers to make better decisions.
- Another advantage of SaaS listing websites is that the majority of the buyers visit these review sites to find out about a SaaS product rather than its official website.
User Review Advantages
Below are some of the key advantages of user reviews.
- When you receive more user ratings, it is an indication of how true your marketing content is regarding the software.
- User reviews are one of the best ways to build up a robust and loyal customer base which is one of the key goals of every business. This strong bond will also ensure that your existing customers recommend your products and software to others.
- No business is perfect; there is always some scope for improvement, and user reviews are one of the best organic forms of collecting feedback.
Rankings Advantages
When it comes to search engine optimization, user reviews play a vital role. Here are some of the main advantages of ranking higher in search engines.
- The majority of the customers put in the name of the software and then add the word review to it. This is a great way to increase the chances of your SaaS product appearing in the search engines.
- Having new content is another way to ensure a good ranking on search engines, and user reviews are the perfect ‘new content’.
- Google often relies on the various reviews and ratings provided by users to rank websites.
How to Benefit from SaaS Customer Review Sites
There are several ways in which businesses can leverage these SaaS customer review sites. Here are the top three ways.
- Refining your Position through Customer Review Sites – Refining your position ideally means having a clear-cut idea of who is the target audience of your product, what are the various problems that it will solve, and why customers should opt for your product instead of your competitors. Since review sites can offer in-depth insights, it is a great place to start positioning your SaaS company.
- Enhancing Content Marketing and Sales Enablement through Customer Review Sites – If you are lacking inspiration for new ideas regarding your SaaS product, your best option would be to take advantage of the customer review sites. There is a wide scope of opportunity as businesses can go through their competitor’s reviews, identify patterns and topics that the customers are interested in, and then create suitable content around the findings.
- Streamlining your PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Ads Strategy using Customer Review Sites – Most businesses may not tend to allocate their PPC ad budget for review sites; however, these sites offer huge amounts of valuable data. Even though the quality of leads may be low, the ability to gain deep insights outweighs the low-quality leads, thus, making it a good place to experiment with your PPC ad budget.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that the higher the visibility of your SaaS products on popular customer review sites, the higher the chances of converting potential leads into new customers. More the number of user reviews you have, the better the chances of your product being the talk of the town. Review sites today are no longer all about whether a product is good or bad; it has become much more sophisticated and is considered one of the most valuable assets for all types of businesses.
