The Review Iceberg
If your high school English curriculum was like mine, chances are you’ve heard of the iceberg theory.
Coined by Ernest Hemingway, the iceberg theory is a style of writing in which the author only gives as little backstory or character details as possible, only what can be seen above the surface of the water: the top 10% of an iceberg. It is up to the reader to look closely, reading and re-reading between the lines of dialogue and narration to catch small cues that reveal the emotional undertones, relationships, and rising tensions within the story – the remaining 90% of the iceberg.
So what does this have to do with review data?
When you visit your product’s profile on G2.com, you see several written reviews, describing the likes, dislikes, and business problems solved with your solution. If you look at a Grid© Report, you’ll see a handful of quantitative metrics and scores tied to your product and its competitors, all gathered through the same reviews that appear on your profile.
But did you know that G2 reviews gather approximately 30-35 data points per review? Only a fraction of that data is shown on your profile and in reports. While those surface data points serve as excellent insight for buyers and powerful ammunition for marketers, it is the data below the surface, and the resulting opportunities for analysis, that can inform your product roadmap and overall strategy.
The G2 Insight Subscription offers a wealth of competitive intelligence, from replacement data, to pricing, to natural language processing (NLP) analysis, quarter-over-quarter performance tracking, and myriad ways to segment and analyze depending on your objective. But it isn’t enough to simply receive the data, G2 Insights require a critical eye and a willingness to engage with the data, conducting analysis and actioning on what is uncovered.
Know where you stand with Replacement Insights
It is simply impossible to win every deal. Despite fantastic reviews on G2 from your most loyal champions and a slew of consecutive Leader and High Performer badges, your prospects are going with the competition – or worse – your customers are churning.
Win/loss analysis via internal and external interviews are time and resource intensive. A member of your sales team can give you their impression on why a deal was lost or why a customer churned, but hearing from day-in, day-out users of your solution is where the meat of that coveted intel lies.
Going to your G2 profile and your competitors’ profiles is a great start to find that information, but that's only scratching the surface. Using swap data reported by our reviewers.
G2 Insight Reports gives you the full scoop on customer churn, including:
- Who is replacing your product the most?
- Who is your product replacing the most?
- Why are customers switching to your product or from your product to a competitor?
- How sticky are you in mid-market companies vs. enterprise or small businesses? What makes you stand out in each?
G2’s replacement data can jumpstart high-value conversations, product strategy, and market awareness. Below are just a few benefits of having high quality replacement data:
- Ask informed questions in customer interviews: “30% of our churning customers say that difficulty with our integrations is the reason for switching to our competition. Where do you see our value falling short when it comes to integrating with other tools?”
- Fight complacency: Didn’t think the new product in the market had an edge on your solution? You might be surprised to see that they’re replacing your product on a minor feature your team has never thought to prioritize. Or maybe they are finding ways to offer comparable value for half the cost. Take the data and use it to update/prioritize your roadmap.
- Understand the needs of your customers by company size: G2 Insight Reports will show you which company sizes make decisions based on your product features. You might hear from some customers that your automation capabilities are top of the line, but are you getting the full picture? Maybe mid-market companies love your automation capabilities, but a large portion of enterprise customers go with the competition because your automation capabilities don't meet their needs.
Know your value with Pricing Insights
Pricing data is arguably the most common blindspot in competitive intelligence. Even if you had actual price tags, discounts and contracts vary based on the customer’s needs, size, and revenue. In any case, a buyer’s perspective of how expensive your product is depends greatly on the value delivered.
Perceived value reveals customer sentiment on how you price your product. Does it line up with the norm in your particular market? Does the quality of the product and time to ROI justify the expense? G2’s Pricing Insights reveal where your product falls among its competitors and the category average when it comes to perceived value.
With G2 Insights, you’ll get a full report on how expensive buyers think your product is compared to your competitors. Average contract lengths and discounts given provide extra detail into what might be informing these perceptions. You might tout your product as being the most affordable option in the market, but is your competition providing better value by accommodating discounts and flexible contract lengths?
Further analysis can reveal how this perception has changed over time. Say you recently changed your pricing model at the beginning of the fiscal year. With the help of G2’s Research team, you can take a look at the month-over-month change in perceived value to validate the recent changes, or perhaps to signal the need for revision.
With G2 Insights in hand, sync with your team to explore how you can adjust your pricing or even the way you package your product. Changes in pricing can involve a lot of teams internally. Come prepared with G2 data to help set the stage for alignment on your ideas and proposed solutions.
Step in step with your customers' basic needs with Benchmark Insights
Going above and beyond for your customers with new releases and feature enhancements is an ever-present target in the sky for most SaaS companies. While it is an important goal to have, it is crucial to not lose sight of your customers’ basic needs.
G2’s Simple Six: Ease of Use, Ease of Admin, Ease of Setup, Ease of Doing Business With, Quality of Support, and Meets Requirements, cover the basics of what every customer needs and certainly what they’ll be reflecting on when it comes time to consider a renewal. G2 Insights shows you quarter-over-quarter performance for you and your competitors on all six metrics.
Take it a step further and work with the G2 team to run NLP analysis on your customers’ written responses for Likes & Dislikes, aggregating common themes and sentiment across your recent reviews. Get a summary of customer sentiment for your product, your competitors, and your entire category.
Leveraging Insights to inform strategy
Marketing
The Insights “Power User” marketer knows how to really make the data shine, using G2 Insights in tandem with G2’s content subscription. For instance, they might be one of several companies found in the Leader quadrant of a recently published Grid© Report. But rather than just picking a report at random, the power user is able to make a strategic and informed decision on which report they choose to shout from the mountaintops, and what kind of story they want to tell with it.
For instance, they may see a general downward trend for Ease of Setup scores across their competitors and the category at large in their Insight Report. Meanwhile, their product’s Ease of Setup has maintained high marks, and a large percentage of customers who have switched to their product from competitor solutions have cited clunky implementations and low adoption as reasons for switching.
Equipped with this intel, the Power User takes to all social channels to promise this season’s Implementation Index, in which their product earned the Easiest Setup and Fastest Implementation badges – targeting the little-known weakness in their space head on.
Building landing pages and additional collateral for their sales team, marketers can use G2 Insights as a guide to what story they want to tell.
Sales
A prospective customer will always have a shortlist of competitors they are also considering, which is why no salesperson ever goes into a call empty handed. From reasons for churn and satisfaction trends, to trajectory and overall perceived value, a salesperson should always know where their product stands in the market.
G2 Insight Reports are ripe with quick facts on product, competitor, and category strengths and weaknesses. Sales can seal the deal by using G2 data to anticipate what the current sentiment is within the market, and what uncertainty or doubt might be in the back of a prospect’s mind.
Customer success
Similarly, G2 replacement data is crucial for a customer success org to stay ahead of where their current customers may be looking when it comes time for renewal. Knowing why their product loses to competition gives them the knowledge to address the issue proactively, months before the renewal is being discussed. Inversely, having the knowledge of why customers switch from their competitors equips them to challenge their customers’ reasons for looking elsewhere.
Product
Overlay your previous product releases and updates on our Benchmark Satisfaction graphs. If you rolled out a large product improvement in Q3 of last year, did your solution become more cumbersome to set up or difficult to use as a result? While your product rapidly scales, are you maintaining your customers’ trust through your user support and overall ease of collaboration? G2’s Benchmark Insights can help you get ahead of downward trends, and keep up with how your competitors’ customers are doing.
Take Benchmark Satisfaction and customer sentiment data to your team’s next retro – what worked well with your latest product improvements, and what could be better? Use G2 data to learn from your past work and plan for the future. Focus your product improvements on the areas where you need to improve – or perhaps on features that ensure upward satisfaction growth in the areas where downward trends are surfacing from your competitors’ customers.
Getting the full picture
Everybody wants to share their vanity stats. But there is more to gain by taking the time to dig deeper. Customer reviews are a valuable source of intel, especially for your everyday buyer. But it is your responsibility as the seller to dive below the surface and see the full iceberg in frame. The good news is, you don’t have to read between the lines to get there, or dive into arctic waters for that matter. G2 Insights has the full picture.
Curious to learn more? Claim your free G2 profile today and discover how G2 Seller Solutions can help transform your business.
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