Buyers evaluating a five-figure annual contract typically read eight to ten reviews before they ever reach out, based on how G2's own buyer research describes typical software evaluations. For a founder with no ad budget, that makes review sites the single highest-leverage surface in the entire dark funnel.
Why reviews outperform almost every paid channel
A review is trusted precisely because it wasn't written by you. It arrives at the exact moment a buyer is comparing options, which is the highest-intent moment in the entire journey, and it costs nothing beyond the effort of asking.
Ask right after the win, not at renewal
The single biggest mistake founders make is waiting until renewal time to ask for a review. By then the emotional peak of the win has faded. Ask within a week of the moment a customer tells you, unprompted, that something worked. That is the highest-conversion moment to request a review, and it is also when the details are freshest in their mind.
What a review needs to actually say
A generic five-star rating with no detail does little. Coach the requester toward specifics: what problem they had before, what changed, and one number if they have it. "Cut our onboarding time in half" moves a buyer. "Great product, would recommend" does not.
G2 versus Capterra versus niche review sites
G2 carries the most weight for enterprise-leaning B2B software. Capterra skews toward SMB buyers doing faster, lower-stakes evaluations. Niche, category-specific review communities often carry less volume but more trust with a narrow ICP; if one exists for your category, it may outperform both general sites for the specific buyer you want.
A simple weekly habit
Every Friday, scan for any customer who had a visible win that week, a renewal, a positive Slack message, a support ticket resolved well, and send one direct ask. Track requests sent versus reviews received. A founder doing this consistently for a quarter will out-convert a competitor spending five figures a month on retargeting, simply because the buyer trusts the reviewer more than either company's ads.