G2 Now Has 2M+ Reviews: Here's What That Says About Software Buying

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by Jacob Solomon Jan 17, 2023 News
G2 Now Has 2M  Reviews: Here

We all have a tale to tell. There are other parts of ours that are just as important.

G2 was able to reach 1 million reviews in the last quarter of 2019. It was the culmination of several years of hard work and perseverance by our team.

G2 did it again. We now have over two million authentic reviews from real people on G2.com.

When you think about it, it's two million. We would have a bigger population than Miami, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Kansas City combined if G2 was a city.

In celebration of this latest landmark, let's dig in and reveal some insights. We are on our way to 2,000,000 reviews.

Accelerating the move to digital life

In the grand scheme of things, three years isn't a lot of time. The world has changed a lot since G2 hit 1 million reviews.

Our way of life was upended by the Pandemic. Most people lost their daily routines and comforts because of public health.

Most jobs transitioned to working from home or used new protocols to protect workers. Adoption of digital technology was much quicker.

We all remember that time when we didn't have to answer on video calls. Companies moved quickly to find software that was mission-critical and enabled business continuity.

We looked at the data to see what impact the Pandemic could have. The reviews kept growing at a consistent pace.

A line chart depicting review count totals over several years

There was no indication that the Pandemic directly impacted review collection. The data shows that reviews are important for software buyers. Reviews continued to flow in despite the dramatic changes.

We were able to earn the trust of software buyers by connecting them with the software they needed. It's safe to say that user reviews are here to stay in the world of B2B software.

We believe in the power of real reviews. The truth is that the quality of reviews is more important than the number of reviews. Buyers trust G2 to research and evaluate software.

  • We take steps to verify the identity of every user on G2.
  • Review moderation leverages over 43+ data points to assess the authenticity of reviews.
  • Every review is vetted and can only be approved under strict guidelines.

Don't think we're telling you the truth. When we asked some of our power users what keeps them coming back, their comments showed how dependent they are on G2 for their software buying needs.

Software categories that experienced the most growth

As technology continues to improve, the software world will only grow. We wanted to see which emerging software categories saw the most growth.

G2 constantly evaluates and creates new categories in the software landscape. The largest changes in the number of vendors were seen in the top five categories.

This is the first thing. 2,598 is the total number of software programs in the Amazon marketplace.

Organizations can discover, provision, and govern third-party software with the help of the Amazon Web Services Marketplace. User reviews are important to selecting software vendors through the Amazon Web Services marketplace.

There are two The year of the non-fungible token was 2021. The technology took the world by storm.

There are three. The internet has made it so easy to distribute information that it's a growing concern. The last few years have seen an increase in the use of disinformation detection tools.

There are four. Worldwide demand and adoption of cloud computing continue to grow, as analysts project this market to more than double by the year's end. When evaluating the top vendors, reviews are just as important as the actual purchase because of the high costs.

There are five. Considering the proliferation of cloud-based solutions and services, organizations are looking for software that helps manage digital credentials, badges, and certificates.

Category growth honorable mentions

Two other categories should be mentioned when comparing vendor growth over the course of the next few years.

  • Vaccine Tracking: 4 —> 53 (+1,225%)
    Luckily, advancements in medical science made it safer for people to gather in public after the pandemic's start. Many organizations began reevaluating their workplace policies as innovative treatments and vaccines became more available. For companies that instituted a return-to-office plan for their hybrid or on-site workforce, many required vaccination against COVID-19 and needed a solution that made it easy to track vaccination records without risking HIPAA and privacy law violations.
  • Neurodiversity Cognitive Assessment: 3 --> 32 (+966%)
    Did you know that ADHD and Autism can present differently in women, resulting in many of them receiving a diagnosis in adulthood? Since the pandemic forced many to work from home, numerous adults under these new working conditions without a formal diagnosis began to consider the possibility they might be neurodivergent in some way. This is also in part due to several viral videos on TikTok from creators talking about their neurodivergent experiences. With public interest spiking in 2021, we saw the emergence of vendors offering cognitive assessment software that may act as stand-alone tools or may integrate with electronic health record (EHR), telemedicine, and medical practice management software.

Review count growth across the world

The rest of the world is catching up to North America in terms of B2B software market. G2 is excited to serve buyers in all markets because of the growth of software companies.

North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and Asia-Pacific are three distinct regions that G2 has expanded into.

A line chart comparing review count gains by region over time

The data tells us a few things.

  • Sustained growth in the world’s largest software market. North America will always be core to our business, and we’re proud to say that we consistently saw review counts increase from this region.
  • Review counts exploded in a strong APAC market. Asia-Pacific will be a force to contend with in the coming years. And with a considerable 68.8% lift in reviews in 2022 over the previous year, APAC is a big driver behind the 2 million review mark.
  • Significant progress in an emerging region for software. EMEA continues to make excellent improvements, and we’re thrilled to grow alongside software vendors in this region.

How G2 sets up vendors to win

Without the software vendors we wouldn't be able to achieve our goals. User reviews are important to G2, but so are the sellers who use reviews to their advantage, win more deals, and retain customers for longer.

The growth of our company is tied to the success of vendors that use G2. We are constantly exploring new ways to make it easier for users to submit reviews and to offer solutions for vendors to scale their collection efforts.

Periodic review optimization

It's difficult to create the best experience for reviewers.

On the other hand, you want to get as much feedback from users as possible because their experiences are valuable to software buyers. We are constantly looking for ways to make it easier for people to submit reviews.

We constantly challenge ourselves to improve the submission experience.

Automating review collection

Vendors can use automation to increase their review collection. It is possible to collect reviews without relying on customer outreach.

Users can submit reviews in the app they are using with the G2 + Pendo integration. You will have a better chance of getting user feedback by triggering review requests when users are most active.

Ramping up reviews with G2 Review Generation

G2 review generation campaigns are one of the fastest ways to scale reviews. We will work with G2 to submit reviews for you.

It is more likely that you need to prompt your most loyal customers to leave a review. Review generation campaigns can help create a more consistent flow of reviews throughout the year, potentially boosting your chances of placing higher in seasonal G2 grid reports.

G2 Review Generation campaigns were used to improve BoomTown's user ratings. The case study shows how to do it.

The journey to 3 million starts now

The team at G2 is proud of the work they have done to get to this point, but they know that they operate in a world of rapid change. The voice of the customer is more important than ever, and we are thrilled to continue using it.

In this behind-the-scenes look at the journey to 2 million reviews on G2, we learned a lot.

  • Customer reviews are instrumental in the shift to digital life. G2’s consistent growth over the last three years demonstrates how authentic reviews are now a fixture in the customer journey for software buyers.
  • Quality always beats quantity. We’re proud of our achievements, but we remain committed to maintaining moderation guidelines that ensure authenticity behind every review.
  • Review counts keep rising across the world. APAC is becoming a powerhouse region in the world of software, and EMEA isn’t far behind.
  • Vendors have numerous tools at their disposal to earn more reviews. Sellers on G2 have access to different strategies, tools, and best practices to claim their rightful place at the top of the Grid. 

We aren't done yet, but it has been an amazing journey. We will link our glasses for now, but we are looking forward to meeting you at the next milestone.

You can be a part of the million. Help other buyers evaluate which software is best for them by submitting a review.

Stephen Hoops photo