If you’re marketing for a B2B SaaS company then the chances are that you are already familiar with Capterra. A huge presence online and core source of reviews for business software buyers, Capterra is a B2B marketing channel you can’t afford to ignore. Not only can Capterra boost your reach on search, it can also deliver more qualified traffic (3 times more likely to convert according to Capterra themselves).
The Capterra Offer in their own words:
“Every month, more than 5 million business software buyers use Capterra. With a Pay Per Click listing, you’ll reach relevant customers precisely when they are researching the kind of software you offer.”
It’s already a crowded market space, with big players bidding high for the top slots on Capterra. This can be daunting for a new entrant but, rest assured, with the right approach you too can reap returns from this recommendations behemoth.
What is Capterra?
Now part of the Gartner conglomerate, Capterra is one of three software peer review sites run by the company (the other two being GetApp and Software Advice). The sites feature reviews and rankings for over a million different software products across over 700 categories; from accounting tools to booking systems for hairdressers. Paying customers get their software featured higher, with detailed explanations and reviews, and a link back to their site. The ranking of featured software in each category is determined by the price of bids – pay per click – from the competing companies.
How to get started with Capterra
The first step with Capterra is just to get your product featured in the relevant category/categories with product descriptions, pictures and, if you have it, a video introducing your service. This can all be done for free, as a basic member of Capterra. Once registered, you will be prompted to fill out a standard pro-forma with a short description of your service and the features it offers. The Capterra team will review your submission before publishing to the relevant category.
With more niche products, your service could already be listed near the top of that category before you spend a single dollar. Even if you don’t immediately become a paying customer, it is worth featuring your service and building your profile on the network. If later you start bidding to rank higher, your Capterra profile will already be there, hopefully with the addition of some positive reviews, ready to be promoted.
Tips for listing your product on Capterra
1. Keep your product descriptions concise and relevant
Your product description needs to grab the reader’s attention quickly and be easy to understand at a glance. Make sure all your USPs are listed and easy to understand. Often a visit to Capterra will just be the start of a buyer’s decision making process, so you should avoid excessive detail. If they are interested they can find out more on your site. Use product screens and videos to make the information you have attractive and easy to digest.
2. Choose your categories with care
Your software will probably be relevant to list under several categories, so make sure you cover all the relevant ones. It might also be worth listing in categories that are a little more niche and less competitive, where you will have a greater chance of ranking near the top.
3. Make sure all your features are listed
Users can filter their searches by features, so you should make sure all your features are listed. You don’t want to be excluded from relevant searches just because you’ve forgotten to tick a box or two.
4. Offer Demos and trials
Consider offering free Demos or trials. They are great ways to get your target audiences excited about your service and Capterra is the perfect place to make this offer. ‘Free trial’ is also a search filter that visitors to Capterra can apply to their search, so if you don’t include one, you may miss out.
How to build your Capterra presence: reviews
Already the recipient of huge amounts of B2B marketing spend, the competition on Capterra can be daunting for new entrants. As well as optimising your bidding strategy it’s worth spending time to make sure your profiles stand out. Key to this is the quantity and quality of your reviews. Peer reviews are at the heart of the Capterra offer to software buyers and the more positive reviews you can publish the better.
Few things will be more convincing for business professionals than endorsements from people in similar roles in their industry. Capterra reviews come with a name, job title, industry and often with accreditation via a Linkedin profile. There are a number of ways that you can encourage your customers to publish reviews on Capterra (ideally through their Linkedin profile), including offering incentives to do so. The site is open about this and specifies which reviews are sponsored and which are ‘organic’.
Capterra listings come with the option to filter for most reviews and for highest rated (star rating). These are frequently used filters, so getting to the top spot on either of these criteria is well worth the effort. Capterra also offers a range of badges so that you can promote your service as ‘highest rated’ on your website and other marketing channels, once you get there.
Promoting your products on Capterra
So you’ve got your product listed on Capterra. You’re happy with the products profile page and have some good reviews to back up your claims. It’s time to put some money behind it and get your product featured near the top of the category!
While it’s possible to achieve quite a visible presence in some categories just through your reviews, more competitive categories need a budget and only as a paying customer will Capterra link directly to your site and help you take the visitor where you want them: on your landing page. Exactly how to structure your bidding process and optimise your returns will be covered in my next post, Capterra optimisation and best practises.
