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What’s New With G2 In 2024 – My Take On Their Latest Product Releases

What’s New With G2 In 2024 – My Take On Their Latest Product Releases

Are you up to speed on the 10+ G2 product releases in 2024 so far?

If you’re like me and manage G2 for your software business, you probably know a few of the latest G2 updates but will also be surprised to see some others. 

From a handy visual of the Review Decay algorithm applied to your reviews to Paid Promotions offering lowered-ranked vendors the chance to rent real estate in the top 3 results of a category page, there’s probably a release of interest to you. 

Let’s get into it.

What’s new in G2? Release Notes & My Two Cents

Tucked away in the G2 documentation site, you’ll find Release Notes. If you’re a G2 keener, bookmark this page and return to in every so often to stay updated. 

In this post, I’ll focus on the releases I think are the most noteworthy. I’ll also provide my recommendations on each one. 

Some of these updates are minor, nice-to-have features. Others could make a major impact on your business.

Table of Contents

Review decay in my.G2 – October 2023

screenshot of g2 review score decay in my.g2
Log in to my.g2 and see your review decay charted to get a sense of whether it’s time to run a review refresh campaign

Think of G2 reviews as the opposite of a fine wine aging gracefully.

G2’s review decay algorithm ensures that fresher reviews pack more punch, giving buyers the most relevant insights as time goes on.

As a vendor, it’s beneficial to know how much value your reviews lose in G2’s algorithm based on the age (in months) of each. 

Here are the 4 ranges provided in the G2 Review Decay chart:

  • 0 to 3 months (90 days): 99%-100% of original weight
  • 3 months to 12 months: 86-99% of original weight
  • 12 months to 24 months: 14-86% of original weight
  • 24 months or more: < 14% of original weight
As you can see, the review weight falls off a cliff in year two.
 
More specifically, in G2 documentation on review decay, it says, “…a review decays gradually for the first 90 days and maintains a stronger weight for the first 18 months, after which the rate of decay accelerates. After about three years, the review reaches approximately 3% of its original weight and maintains that weight in perpetuity.”
 
Therefore, I’d recommend using the 18-month marker as a rough marker review if it needs a refresh. At that point, a review has lost 50% of its value and will lose more of it at an accelerated rate (e.g. by the 24-month mark, a review will only hold ~20% of its original value.) 

In the screenshot above, you can see that the company shown has more than half of its reviews over the 18-month mark, meaning it’s high time for a review refresh campaign.

It’s all about keeping things current and reflective of what’s happening now.
 
(Yes, this release was technically in late 2023, but given how important it is to any vendor who’s been running reviews on G2 for some time, I decided to include it on the list.
 
For more information, see the G2 Review Decay product documentation page. 

G2 Clicks (Beta) – January 2024

G2 clicks screenshot in my g2

For Founders and Demand Gen and Growth marketers, G2 Clicks is one to consider. 

It’s a new, subscription-free, pay-per-click offering. So, if your company doesn’t have a paid G2 plan but you want to generate more leads from G2, this is now the best way to do it. 

It’s important to note that this is already included if you have any paid plan with G2. 

Here’s an illustrative example of who could use G2 Clicks. Keyplay, a product listed on G2, has a free profile (you can tell because it doesn’t have a call-to-action (CTA) button. Also, G2 prominently lists top-rated alternatives on its profile 😬). 

In comparison, PartnerStack (where I work) has a paid profile and gets CTA buttons on its profile. G2 Clicks doesn’t offer anything to a company like PartnerStack (With a paid plan) but offers a company like Keyplay (with a free profile) a new way to add a CTA link and pay-per-click. 

I would recommend companies with a free G2 account try G2 Clicks because:

  1. lead volumes on CTA button link clicks on G2 product profile pages are generally low so it won’t break the bank
  2. you can cancel your subscription at any time at the click of a button in my.G2 (in-app ) 
  3. g2 site visitors are showing buyer intent by searching for information on software solutions (i.e. the lead quality will be relatively high)

For more information, see the G2 Clicks product documentation page.  

Screenshots comparing free and paid G2 profiles
Keyplay is an example of a company with a free profile that could opt to use G2 Clicks to add a CTA button to its profile for lead gen

G2 Impact Chart – January 2024

GIF of the G2 Impact chart data
Hover over each stage of the buyer journey in the G2 Impact Chart for more performance data

The new G2 Impact Chart is a simple yet effective way to visualize your “G2 funnel”, or at least the very top of it. 

It shows three parts of the funnel, all in visits:

  1. Visits to your category page(s)
  2. Visits to your G2 product page(s)
  3. Visits to your G2 product page(s) to your website or vice-versa

When you hover over each of the three stages, you’ll see more performance data (see the GIF above).

G2 provides you with a competitive edge by offering averages on product page visits for your categories and prospects tracked, allowing you to benchmark against your competition.

 To give you an additional data point for comparison, the example shown in the GIF is of a company that’s ranked in the top 5 (bounced around all top 5 positions in the year shown). 

What’s lacking from the impact chart is what comes after the prospect is tracked. Did it lead to pipeline? A new deal? That impact would need to be measured elsewhere. This is more about your capture of traffic for your catgeories. 

It’s also worth noting the proportion of your tracked visitors who first visit G2 vs. who first visit your site. The higher the number for Visits to G2 first, the better your case will be that G2 is functioning as a demand generation channel as a way for buyers to discover your solution.

For more information, see the G2 Impact product documentation page.

G2 + Sendoso – February 2024

GIF of how the G2 and Sendoso integration enables sending gifts for reviews
Send physical gifts instead of gift cards with the G2 + Sendoso integration to boost review collection campaigns

The G2 + Sendoso integration enables you to go beyond the standard gift card incentive for business software reviews and send physical gifts instead. 

Customer Marketing & Advocacy (CMA) advocates often speak to the importance of developing customer relationships.

Sending memorable physical gifts instead of forgettable gift cards could provide another way to develop a better relationship with an element of surprise and delight. 

The G2 + Sendoso integration makes it easier to run themed review campaigns with creative direct mail (e.g., a Valentine’s Day review campaign with a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers).

For more information, see the G2 + Sendoso integration product documentation page. 

HubSpot Ideal Customer Profile Filters – March 2024

GIF of new HubSpot ICP filtering in G2 for relevant buyer intent data

G2 buyer intent data can help you get valuable insight into who’s in-market for your solution. 

The catch? In my experience, many of the buyers for software in one of our categories are outside of our target ICP.

Therefore, getting buyer intent signals for all organizations can be a firehose of information, overwhelming sales teams with too many irrelevant signals. I’ve seen G2 buyer intent data abandoned by some teams for this reason alone.

The new HubSpot Ideal Customer Profile filters can help fix that. With it, you can filter which companies you want to send buyer intent signals to your HubSpot, so you can focus on the in-market buyers in your target ICP.

For more information, see the HubSpot Ideal Customer Profile Filters product documentation on G2. 

Paid Promotions – April 2024

Screenshot of an example of G2 paid promotions available in my.G2
In my.G2, you can see the Paid Promotions for your category or categories, as seen here in this example

I find a lot of vendors who are skeptical or disappointed by G2 are ranked outside of the top 3 in their category.

After all, according to my Paid Promotions product documentation on G2

- May 5, 2024