Listing on G2 and Capterra: A B2B SaaS Guide

For B2B SaaS companies, listing on G2 and Capterra is free. The real value doesn't come from creating a profile. It comes from consistently collecting verified customer reviews. Set up properly, these platforms make you visible to buyers who are in the research stage of the buying process. They also give your sales team a powerful source of social proof. The right sequence is this: first clarify your category and positioning, then systematically collect your first 10-20 reviews. Only after that should you consider paid options.

This guide is written specifically for B2B SaaS teams in Turkey, whether they are expanding into global markets or selling to enterprise customers at home. We walk step by step through profile setup, the review collection process, cost models, and connecting results to your pipeline. Rather than treating review platforms as a "set it and forget it" marketing task, we recommend thinking of them as a growth channel jointly owned by your sales and customer success teams.

What are G2 and Capterra, and why do they matter so much?

G2 and Capterra are software review platforms that buyers use to compare products, read real user reviews, and build shortlists. Capterra operates under the Gartner Digital Markets umbrella alongside GetApp and Software Advice. G2 is best known for its category reports, positioning visuals called the "Grid," and its badges.

For B2B SaaS, the importance of these platforms comes down to three things:

• Visibility during the research stage: Enterprise buyers do most of their research on their own before ever talking to a sales rep. For searches like "best CRM software" or "X alternatives," review platform pages frequently rank near the top.
• Third-party trust: However strong the testimonials on your own website are, buyers know you picked them. A verified user review on an independent platform is more convincing.
• Evidence for the buying committee: When an internal champion advocates for your software, they need to be able to tell finance or IT, "Look, this many users in this category have given it this rating." Review platforms give them that material.

In the Turkish market, the direct traffic from these platforms may be more limited than in global markets. However, domestic enterprise buyers also check these sites, especially when comparing against foreign competitors. And for a SaaS company aiming to sell internationally, a G2 or Capterra profile has become almost a basic requirement.

G2 or Capterra: Which should you start with?

If your resources are limited, it's more efficient to focus on one platform and maintain the other at a basic level than to manage both aggressively at the same time. Use these criteria to decide:

Prioritize G2 if:

• Your target customers are mid-sized and large companies,
• Your sales cycle is long and the buying committee is large,
• You plan to use badges and category reports in your sales materials,
• You sell to tech and SaaS-focused companies.

Prioritize Capterra if:

• Your target audience is SMBs and small teams,
• Your product is sold through self-serve sign-up, a free trial, or a short sales cycle,
• You're open to a pay-per-click traffic model,
• Your product serves a vertical industry (e.g., construction, education, or healthcare management software).

A practical approach: Create a free profile on both platforms and fill in the basics. Then direct most of your review collection effort toward the platform that better fits your target audience. Checking which platform your competitors have more reviews on is also a good signal. That's probably where your buyers spend their time.

How do you set up your profile, step by step?

Before creating your profile, your positioning needs to be clear. The category you list in determines who you'll be compared with. It's a strategic decision that is cumbersome to change later. If you haven't answered this question yet, we recommend reading our guide on how to approach B2B SaaS product positioning.

1. Claim or add your product

Often, your product may already have been added by a user. Start by searching for your product name on the platform. If it exists, use the "claim" option to gain admin access via your company email address. If not, submit a new product application through the vendor portal. The verification process requires an email address on your company domain. Don't apply with a personal address like Gmail.

2. Choose the right category

The most common mistake is trying to get into the most crowded category. For example, if you've built a call analysis tool for sales teams, standing out in a narrower category like "Conversation Intelligence" or "Sales Coaching" is far more realistic than competing with the giants in the "CRM" category. In a narrow category, you can be visible with 20 reviews. In a broad category, you can get lost even with 200.

When choosing a category, ask yourself these three questions:

1. What term does the buyer search for when trying to solve this problem?
2. Are the top 10 products listed in this category actually my competitors?
3. Can I get into the top 20 in this category within a reasonable timeframe?

3. Write your product description in the buyer's language

Your description should be a value proposition, not a feature list. You can use this structure:

• First sentence: Who is it for, and what problem do you solve?
• Second paragraph: How do you solve this problem, and how are you different from the alternatives?
• Third paragraph: 3-5 standout capabilities and their concrete outcomes.
• Closing: Practical information that affects the buying decision, such as integrations, language support, and data location.

For products coming out of Turkey, details like KVKK and GDPR compliance, a Turkish-language interface, or local support can be differentiators. State them clearly.

4. Add visuals and video

Choose screenshots from real moments of product use. Instead of an empty dashboard, use meaningful screens populated with sample data. A 60-90 second product tour video significantly improves profile quality. A buyer's first questions are usually "What does it look like, and is it hard to use?"

5. Fill in your pricing information

On review platforms, products without pricing information fall a step behind in the buyer's eyes. Even if you don't want to share exact figures, enter your starting price, pricing model (per user, usage-based, flat package), and free trial information. For the broader strategic discussion on this topic, our article on whether to show prices on your pricing page is a good starting point.

6. Define your integrations and competitors

List every tool you integrate with on your profile. Buyers search using filters like "Does it work with HubSpot?" The platform also typically shows you on comparison pages alongside competitors. Make sure you fill in the relevant fields correctly to appear on those pages.

How do you collect your first reviews?

Creating a profile is ten percent of the work. The remaining ninety percent is building a steady flow of reviews. A profile with no reviews can leave a worse impression than having no profile at all.

Goal: 15-25 reviews in the first 90 days

This is a realistic starting goal. The math is simple: Say you have 300 active customer accounts, with an average of 3 active users per account. That gives you roughly 900 potential reviewers. Even if only 2-3% of them leave a review, that's 18-27 reviews. The goal is achievable, as long as you build the process systematically.

A step-by-step review collection campaign

1. Identify happy customers: In your CRM, filter for accounts with an NPS score of 9-10, support tickets closed positively in the last 90 days, or heavy product usage. This list is your first wave.
2. Pick the right person: Ask for reviews from the person who uses the product every day rather than the executive who made the buying decision. Reviews from real users are more detailed and more convincing.
3. Send a personal invitation: Instead of a mass newsletter, a short email sent by the customer success manager or account manager under their own name gets a much higher response rate.
4. Time it well: Ask for a review after a successful onboarding, when a goal is achieved, right after a renewal conversation, or following a positive support interaction.
5. Follow up: Send one polite reminder 5-7 days after the first email. Anything more becomes annoying.
6. Say thank you: Send a personal thank-you message to everyone who writes a review.

Sample invitation email

Hi Ayşe,

We were thrilled to see your team turn its reporting process from a weekly chore into daily automation over the past three months. Would you be willing to share your experience on G2 to help companies facing similar challenges make their decision? It takes about 5-7 minutes.

[Review link]

Every piece of feedback, whether positive or about what we could improve, is valuable to us.

The last sentence matters. Asking only for positive reviews violates platform rules and damages credibility.

Is it okay to offer incentives?

Platforms may allow small incentives in exchange for reviews (e.g., a gift card) within certain rules. But the core rule is always the same: The incentive can never be conditional on the review being positive. Since the rules are updated from time to time, be sure to read the platform's current review policy before launching a campaign. Platforms usually label incentivized reviews. That's not a problem; it's part of transparency.

Fake reviews, having employees write reviews, or messaging only hand-picked customers to "give us 5 stars" can lead to your profile being removed and serious reputational damage. We covered the impact of long-term trust-building on sales in detail in our article on ethical and transparent trust strategies in B2B SaaS sales.

What should you do about negative reviews?

Negative reviews are inevitable, and they actually help your profile look authentic. A profile with nothing but 5-star reviews raises suspicion among experienced buyers. What matters is your response:

• Respond within 48 hours, in a non-defensive tone.
• Acknowledge the issue and state a concrete action ("Based on this feedback, we redesigned the export module").
• Offer a private channel of communication for a detailed resolution.

When a buyer reads your professional response to a negative review, they also see how you'll behave when they run into a problem.

How much does it cost?

Basic listing is free on both platforms. You don't have to pay to create a profile, collect reviews, or respond to reviews. Costs begin with the paid growth options.

On G2, paid options typically include:

• Advanced profile features and more control over your profile,
• Licensed use of badges and report content in marketing materials,
• Buyer intent data: signals showing which companies are viewing your profile, your category, or competitor profiles,
• Sponsored visibility on competitor profiles and category pages.

On Capterra, the model is primarily pay-per-click (PPC): You bid per click to appear near the top of category pages, and you pay only for visits that reach your website. Click costs vary significantly by category and competition.

Because prices vary by package, company size, and category, and are updated frequently, giving exact figures would be misleading. Paid packages usually require an annual contract and can consume a significant share of an early-stage company's monthly marketing budget. That's why we recommend this rule of thumb:

• 0-20 reviews: Don't sign up for any paid package. Put all your energy into collecting reviews.
• 20-50 reviews: Try Capterra PPC with a small test budget. For example, set aside a fixed budget for three months and measure how the incoming traffic converts to demos or trials.
• 50+ reviews and visibility in a clearly defined category: Consider G2's paid packages, especially intent data.

To determine where this spend fits into your overall marketing budget, you can refer to our article on how to set a B2B SaaS marketing budget.

How do you get onto the G2 Grid and earn badges?

G2 positions products within categories through reports it publishes periodically. In these reports, products are placed into segments such as "Leader," "High Performer," "Contender," and "Niche" based on dimensions like user satisfaction and market presence. G2 also awards badges such as "Momentum Leader," "Easiest to Use," and "Best Support."

The key factors for getting into these reports are:

• Minimum review threshold: To be included in a category's reports, you need a certain number of reviews, and they need to be sufficiently recent. Thresholds may vary by category.
• Review recency: Older reviews carry less weight over time. You need a continuous flow of reviews rather than a one-off campaign.
• Satisfaction scores: Sub-scores such as ease of use, quality of support, and ease of setup are decisive in the reports.
• Market presence signals: Data such as company size, web presence, and employee count are also factored into the evaluation.

For a small SaaS company, the most attainable goal is usually the "High Performer" badge. It is awarded to products with high satisfaction but not yet a large market presence. In a narrow category, a team that consistently collects 10-15 new reviews every quarter can earn this badge within a reasonable timeframe.

You can use badges on your website, in email signatures, in sales decks, and in social media posts. Don't forget to check the licensing terms. To promote your badge announcements effectively on LinkedIn, Social Media Corner's B2B LinkedIn management services can be helpful.

How do you turn review platform traffic into pipeline?

Many SaaS companies create a profile, collect a few reviews, and give up, saying "it doesn't work." The real problem usually isn't the platform itself; it's that the interest it generates isn't connected to the sales process.

UTM and source tracking

Add UTM parameters to the "Visit website" or "Free trial" links on your profile. This lets you see leads from G2 and Capterra separately in your CRM and compare conversion rates. Also add a "How did you hear about us?" field to your demo forms. Review platforms usually have far more impact than direct clicks reveal, but that impact only becomes visible through a question like this.

Combining intent data with outbound

The buyer intent data in G2's paid packages shows which companies are researching your category or your competitors. This data is gold for your outbound team. Reaching out with a personalized message to a company that is reviewing your competitor's profile, in that very week, delivers a much higher response rate than cold calling. A sample workflow:

1. Import companies showing intent signals into your CRM every week.
2. Identify the decision-maker and user roles at those companies.
3. Craft a message tailored to the competitor comparison or the category.
4. Launch a multichannel sequence via LinkedIn and email.
5. Compare results against a control group with no intent signals.

For building and scaling this kind of signal-driven outbound process, Sales Corner's data-driven approach to B2B sales and lead generation is a good reference point. Intent data also fits naturally with account-based marketing campaigns.

Equipping your sales team with reviews

Reviews can also be used in sales conversations. Prepare the following materials for your sales team:

• Real user quotes that address common objections (e.g., "Is it hard to set up?"),
• Review summaries grouped by industry (finance, logistics, e-commerce, etc.),
• Reviews that directly compare you with a competitor.

You can also turn your strongest reviews into more in-depth stories. You can speak with a customer who wrote "our reporting time was cut in half" and turn it into a full success story. We explained how to do this step by step in our guide to writing B2B SaaS case studies.

How should you integrate this with content on your own site?

Review platforms and your own website feed each other. A buyer typically lands on a G2 or Capterra page first through a comparison query, then comes to your site to look at the details. To support this journey:

• Create "X alternative" and "X vs. Y" comparison pages on your site and reference your ratings on independent platforms on these pages. We covered the search engine strategy for these pages in detail in our SEO guide to comparison pages.
• Display your review rating and badges on your homepage and pricing page.
• Add 2-3 short user reviews to your demo page.
• Only use review widgets when your rating is strong enough.

What should SaaS companies from Turkey watch out for?

Turkish SaaS companies face some specific situations on these platforms:

• Language: The vast majority of reviews are written in English. When asking your Turkish customers for reviews, politely mention that writing in English isn't required but may be preferable for global visibility. Check the platform's current language support.
• Customer base geography: If all your reviewers come from a single country, global buyers will notice. If you have customers abroad, even just a few, prioritize getting reviews from them.
• Company size signal: Make sure your company information, LinkedIn page, and website are consistent and up to date across your profile. These signals matter in market presence evaluations.
• Payment and contracts: Paid packages are usually priced in foreign currency and require annual contracts. Factor exchange rate risk into your budget planning.

What are the most common mistakes?

1. Creating a profile and forgetting about it: Outdated screenshots, old prices, and unanswered reviews create an unprofessional impression.
2. One-off campaigns: Collecting 30 reviews in one month and then getting none for the next year quickly erodes your visibility in the reports.
3. The wrong category: Getting lost in an overly broad category or attracting the wrong buyers in a category unrelated to your product.
4. Investing in paid options too early: Signing an annual paid package with 5 reviews is an inefficient use of budget.
5. Lack of ownership: If it's unclear who owns the profile, the work falls through the cracks. Assign a clear owner. Product marketing or customer success is usually a good fit.
6. Not measuring: Without source tracking, it's impossible to prove the channel's value.

How do you measure success? A sample 90-day plan

First 30 days:

• Claim your profile on both platforms, select your category, and complete your description and visuals.
• Add UTM-tagged links and set up the source field in your CRM.
• Build your first invitation list of 50-100 people based on NPS and usage data.

Days 31-60:

• Launch your first review wave with personal emails.
• Respond to every incoming review within 48 hours.
• Build a quote library for the sales team from your best reviews.

Days 61-90:

• Launch the second wave and automatically build review requests into the customer lifecycle (after onboarding, after renewal).
• Report on profile views, clicks, leads, and opportunities.
• Hold a data-driven decision meeting to evaluate paid options.

Metrics to track:

• Number of new reviews per month and average rating,
• Profile views and clicks to your site,
• Number of leads, opportunities, and closed-won deals sourced from review platforms,
• Win rate and sales cycle length for opportunities from this source (compared with other channels).

Our experience shows that leads from review platforms tend to be low in volume but high in intent. So don't look only at lead count; look at win rate and sales cycle length as well.

Frequently asked questions

Is listing on G2 and Capterra paid?

No. On both platforms, creating a basic product profile and collecting reviews is free. You pay for growth options such as advanced profile features, badge licensing, buyer intent data, or pay-per-click visibility on Capterra. In the early stages, a free profile and systematic review collection are usually enough.

How many reviews does it take to see meaningful results?

The exact threshold varies by category. However, 10-20 verified reviews is a good starting point for your profile to look credible to buyers. Getting into G2 reports and earning badges requires both a minimum number of reviews and recent reviews. That's why you should aim for a steady flow of reviews every quarter.

Can I give customers gifts in exchange for reviews?

Platforms may allow small incentives under certain conditions, but an incentive can never be tied to a positive review. Since the rules change from time to time, you should read the platform's current review policy before a campaign. Having employees write reviews or using fake reviews can get your profile removed.

Are these platforms necessary for a SaaS company selling to the Turkish market?

If you sell only domestically, direct traffic may be limited. Still, enterprise buyers do check these platforms, especially when comparing against foreign competitors. If you plan to expand into global markets, creating a profile and starting to build up reviews early provides a significant advantage. An accumulated review base can't be produced quickly after the fact.

Conclusion

For B2B SaaS companies, G2 and Capterra are not just listing sites; they are an asset that buyers encounter during their research, that the sales team uses for objection handling, and that the marketing team highlights as a trust signal. Success comes from choosing the right category, collecting reviews consistently through processes integrated with customer success, and measuring the interest from this channel in your CRM and connecting it to sales. Only move to paid options once you've built a solid review base, and make that decision based on data.

If you want to build your review platform strategy, design your review campaign, or combine this channel with your outbound and lead generation processes, the SAAS Corner team would be happy to help. Get in touch with us to assess your current situation together.

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