When you think of G2, you probably think of reviews. That is what we are all about here, right? I’m sure you have asked yourself other questions like, “Where do they get all of these reviews?” or “Who are these people writing the reviews?” Well, a portion of them come from our Vendor Campaigns!

Vendor Campaigns are an easy way for our customers to begin their review gathering process. When I first started at G2 a little over a year ago, vendor campaigns were just beginning.

I was brought in to fill the new Email Campaign Coordinator role and build out what they have become today. We were not really sure what the process would look like, or how many people it would take. There was a lot of learning to do, and at times we had to stop and completely restructure how we ran our campaigns.

To begin, I’ll give you a little context of what they are.

What is a vendor campaign?

The vendor campaign process is fairly simple. Our customers reach out and let us know they would like to run a review campaign. We then email their customers on their behalf and ask for reviews!

This looks different from one campaign to the next; sometimes we offer gift cards for reviews, or we will even use our G2 Gives initiative as well. The entire process typically takes about a week and a half with a total of three emails.

Why run a vendor campaign?

Now why would a vendor want to run a review campaign? By gathering trusted reviews from customers, they are able to do a few things. Verified reviews bring a higher satisfaction rating. The more trust they build up in their reviews, the better they look and have people more willing to buy.

We also have these nifty grids that vendors can be showcased on in comparison to their competitors. Appearing on a grid helps vendors stand out and gives more reason for buyers to choose them.

Lastly, a campaign also helps the vendor get a better sense of how their product is being used. Campaign data has been used to show companies what they are excelling in, and even where they can improve their product.

How do vendor campaigns work?

Now that you know the what and why, let me tell you about the how. Our first step in improving vendor campaigns was to update the copy of our emails. We did quite a bit of A/B testing and met with some of our sales team to get more eyes on the email copy.

We wanted to come across to reviewers as transparent, but most importantly, authentic. Too many people are already being spammed by junk mail, so we had to find a way to stand out and make ourselves known. As G2 continues to increase brand awareness, this aspect is becoming a lot easier.

After the copy was finalized, we started really digging into the review campaigns themselves. Campaign requests quickly went from just a handful of inquiries, to an entire day’s worth of work. We were blasting emails across the world and getting real users’ experiences to help other professionals make software decisions. After about six months, the work was becoming too much for one person. That is when we brought in a second Outreach Campaign Coordinator!

We were able to start gathering more data, testing different copy and strategies, and overall really raking in reviews. In May alone we gathered over 7,300 reviews just from vendor campaigns. This was very exciting for us because we were able to help push G2 to the 1 million review mark! As we continue to grow, so do our customers, which leads to more review campaigns.

Implementing review automation

Another amazing thing that happened for us was the implementation of Review Automation. This is another tool our customers are able to use to effectively gather reviews for their products. This is a more automated process that they can use to purchase and continuously collect reviews rather than by running one-off campaigns.

Vendor campaigns have impacted both our customers and our reviewers. Our customers are able to gather these reviews and be recognized in different reports we release throughout the year. Reviewers are able to join a community and leave honest feedback about the software and services they use daily that impact their work. It creates a trust between reviewers and puts a buyer’s mind at ease when approachingG2 looking for new software.

Going for the goals

Vendor campaigns have made it a lot easier for us to reach our goals over here at G2 and we are excited to see what happens next. One million reviews is HUGE and our vendors have had an even bigger hand in helping us get there.

Most importantly though, vendor campaigns would not be such a success if it were not for our reviewers. Thank you for helping me and my team get here, and don’t forget to keep leaving those reviews!