This article comes from Luis González’s insightful talk at our virtual Customer Marketing Summit in 2024, check out his full presentation.
Transforming customer feedback into actionable insights is a game-changer for any business.
I’m Luis González, Head of Global Customer Advocacy at Alteryx, and my journey across customer success and advocacy roles has given me a deep understanding of how to leverage customer reviews to drive enterprise-wide impact.
At Alteryx, we’ve moved beyond traditional review metrics, focusing instead on the meaningful insights that customer feedback provides—insights that power our sales strategies and inform executive decision-making.
In this article, I’ll explore the tools, tactics, and strategies we use to turn customer reviews into enterprise-wide battle cards, enabling faster ROI, higher adoption rates, and stronger customer relationships.
The power of verified reviews in B2B
Did you know that 86% of businesses consider verified reviews either important or very important?
Let’s think about that for a second. B2B buyers behave very similarly to B2C buyers. The difference is that B2B buyers don’t have the luxury of making impulse purchases like I do when I’m shopping at my local J. Crew, but they still go through the same decision-making process.
We need to market to them in a way that aligns with how they engage with their favorite brands in their daily lives.
When you’re about to buy something, whether it’s a product, choosing a restaurant, or deciding what movie to watch, what’s the first thing you do? You check the reviews.
The B2B buyers follow the same pattern. They’re constantly checking reviews to see what’s relevant, what others are saying, and how the product or service has been received by people like them.
The nature of reviews is evolving. It’s no longer just about looking at a star rating—“Oh, this has four out of five stars”—people are now diving deep into the actual content of reviews. Think about the last time you made a significant purchase or booked a trip. Chances are, you didn’t just glance at the star rating. You likely scrolled through multiple reviews, looking for detailed, in-depth feedback.
The changing nature of reviews
Now, consider this from the B2B perspective. When making any significant investment, businesses go through the same process. They look beyond the stars and into what people are saying about the product or service. The presence of qualitative commentary is now king.
Buyers want to see what others have actually experienced. Following closely behind is the distribution of numeric ratings—how many five-star, four-star, and three-star reviews does a product have? And finally, review recency—how recent are these reviews? Were they posted six months ago or last week? Buyers want the most up-to-date information to ensure they’re making a sound investment.
Do these factors resonate with your own behavior as a consumer? I bet they do. When you're evaluating a restaurant or a new product, you check what people are saying, how the ratings are distributed, and how recent the reviews are. These are the same key metrics that B2B buyers use when evaluating offerings.
The human element in B2B buying
At the end of the day, the B2B buyer is still a human being, not just a persona or a job title. They engage with products and services just like anyone else, relying on a combination of reviews, ratings, and visuals to guide their decision-making.
In fact, numeric ratings, review recency, and the presence of screenshots or videos are tightly clustered at the top of what buyers are looking for. Another factor that's gaining importance is common review themes—these provide insight into recurring customer feedback, which I'll talk more about later.
Ultimately, if you want to succeed in the B2B space, you need a review strategy that highlights what your product does best. By focusing on these key elements, you'll be able to provide potential buyers with the information they need to make informed decisions.
