Harnessing customer voice has never been more important – especially on review platforms as a way to help stand out from the crowd.
In fact, according to the G2 Buyer Behavior Report, almost a third of software buyers consult review sites more often than other sources. Which is why it’s more important than ever to ensure your brand, and your customer voice, are properly highlighted on review sites like G2.
Xactly, a leading incentive compensation solution that delivers comprehensive sales compensation management tools, has successfully utilized the G2 and Pendo integration to capture customer feedback through reviews and improve their ranking within the G2 Grid.
Prior to their focused G2 review strategy, Xactly knew the importance of customer reviews, but they weren't maximizing their full potential as a G2 customer.
As Alex Arora, Director of Marketing Campaigns at Xactly, shared candidly, “We were paying for the G2 service but were not taking full advantage of the capabilities that were the reviews, reports, badges, grids – basically all of the things that come with being a G2 customer."
Additionally, Xactly was looking for new ways to gather more reviews on their G2 profile. On their journey to generate reviews, Alex initially attempted to motivate customer success reps by offering a unique incentive: $25 for the sales rep if they generate a review, and $25 for the customer if they pass it to their team to leave reviews. While this first approach meant a lot of manual work for a slow trickle of reviews, it set the stage for their breakthrough strategy.
The breakthrough came when Nicole Schmidt, Customer Marketing Manager at Xactly attended a B2B conference, where she first heard about the Pendo integration with G2. Intrigued by the potential, she met with a G2 rep at the conference booth, which led to her learning more about what the Pendo integration could potentially do for Xactly and their journey in review collection.
Nicole recounts, "Since we were already using Pendo, learning about this integration prompted me to check out the G2 booth at the summit to learn about leveraging it in a new way, and that's how we chose to go down this path."
When first using the G2 and Pendo integration, the team at Xactly focused on incentivization tactics for maximum engagement, followed by a non-incentivized approach to test organic engagement.
The results Xactly experienced were extraordinary. "We had 165 reviews in less than four hours," Alex shared excitedly. Their first round generated an impressive 4.6-star average rating.
Considering their initial success, Xactly then moved to test non-incentivized reviews to keep the momentum going. To their surprise, the organic approach also produced remarkable results — 126 reviews in five business days. The significant number of collected reviews speaks to the effectiveness of both their incentivized and organic approaches.
This review generation did more than just give Xactly a boost in reviews on their G2 profile. Nicole emphasized their significant achievement by adding, "We reached the number one spot in enterprise compensation management on G2. Sharing this was a big push we did across social media."
Alex added other ways they made the most of the success of their strategy by saying, "We created social media assets leveraging some of the really good quotes from reviews. We also created a compilation report that highlighted our G2 ranking within our categories, customer quotes, and performance metrics.”
By compiling this report highlighting their improved G2 standings, Xactly was able to effectively communicate their value proposition to potential customers.
To maintain their upward trajectory, Xactly is committed to quarterly review campaigns using the dynamics of G2 and Pendo integration, while finding new ways to use G2. They aim to explore automated review requests to minimize reliance on incentives. Nicole elaborates, "We're trying to test out if we can continue to get reviews without offering incentives."
Looking forward, the team isn't slowing down. Alex shared more on their ongoing approach, "We have this push for new reviews scheduled for every quarter now. We want to keep up our rankings and our performance in G2 reports."
Their advice for companies looking to see this kind of success comes with their unique wisdom. Alex provided a compelling perspective on the importance of platforms like G2 by sharing, "A lot of current and future customers are asking for this information, especially when they are doing their due diligence on software acquisition." She emphasized the value of having "tangible resources that you can use that aren't just your word against the competitor's word."
Ultimately, Alex also highlights that if you want to position yourself favorably on G2, you have to drive reviews to improve rankings and placements on Grid Reports. Secondly, they stressed the importance of giving customers a forum to have their voice heard. And finally, Xactly recommends that brands also take this feedback from customers to deliver back to their product teams to make their product even better.
By strategically leveraging the G2 and Pendo integration, Xactly transformed their approach to customer reviews. Thanks to the influx of reviews, they dramatically improved their market visibility and their G2 ranking, while also creating a powerful strategy for collecting authentic customer feedback. And the results speak for themselves:
Increase in buyer visiting both Xactly's G2 Profile and website.
Average star rating on G2.
Of Xactly’s reviews in the last 6 months came through the Pendo integration.
placement in the Enterprise Grid® Report for Compensation Management.
Their journey with G2 review strategy underscores just how much customer voices matter. Xactly has shown that strategic, thoughtful engagement can turn reviews from a routine task into a powerful competitive advantage. Nicole sums this up, “G2 is a big leader in this space and I feel like the value that we're seeing has really been positive."
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