If you sell B2B software, you already know reviews matter. But there is a specific platform your buyers are using to shortlist tools before they ever talk to your sales team , and most SaaS companies are leaving it completely unoptimized.
That platform is Capterra.
With over 2 million verified reviews across 900+ software categories, Capterra is one of the most visited software review sites in the world. 77% of software buyers use Capterra to find and evaluate software, making it a critical piece of your go-to-market motion , yet most PMMs treat it as an afterthought.
This guide will change that. We will walk you through exactly how to get more Capterra reviews, step by step, without breaking any rules and without annoying your customers in the process.
What Is Capterra and Why Does It Matter for B2B SaaS?
Capterra is a software discovery and review platform owned by Gartner. It helps business buyers find, compare, and evaluate software tools across virtually every category , from CRM and project management to HR tech and marketing automation.
Here is why it matters for your pipeline:
- High buyer intent: People on Capterra are actively looking to buy, not just browsing.
- Category-based discovery: Buyers search by category and filter by rating, company size, and features. If you are not listed or have too few reviews, you do not make the shortlist.
- SEO value: Capterra listings rank well on Google for competitive "[software type] software" queries, giving you free organic visibility.
- Trust signal: B2B buyers trust third-party validation over vendor claims. A strong Capterra profile converts.
"Software listed on Gartner Digital Markets (Capterra, G2, GetApp, Software Advice) gets 4x more leads than those that are not listed."
That alone should tell you this is worth your time.
Capterra vs G2 vs GetApp vs Software Advice: What Is the Difference?
Here is something that trips up a lot of PMMs: Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice are all owned by Gartner under what is called the Gartner Digital Markets network.
This means a few important things:
They Share Reviews Automatically
When a customer leaves a review on Capterra, that review is automatically syndicated to GetApp and Software Advice. One review appears everywhere across the network. You do not need to ask customers to review you on three separate platforms.
They Have Different Audiences
| Platform | Primary Audience |
|---|---|
| Capterra | SMB and mid-market buyers, broad discovery |
| GetApp | Tech-forward SMBs comparing app integrations |
| Software Advice | Buyers who want human guidance (advisor calls) |
| G2 | Enterprise and mid-market, peer-to-peer reviews |
G2 Is a Separate Company
G2 is not part of Gartner Digital Markets. It is a completely separate platform with its own review base, algorithms, and buyer audience. Getting reviews on Capterra will not affect your G2 profile, and vice versa.
If you are trying to build a review strategy across both, check out our guide to getting G2 reviews and our breakdown on choosing the right review platform for your category.
The Takeaway
When you optimize Capterra, you are simultaneously optimizing for the entire Gartner Digital Markets network. That means every review you collect on Capterra is worth three listings worth of exposure.
Step 1: Claim and Optimize Your Capterra Profile
Before you ask anyone for a review, your profile needs to be in good shape. A weak or incomplete profile wastes reviews , buyers will land on it and bounce.
Claim Your Listing
Go to capterra.com and search for your product. If a listing already exists, claim it. If not, submit your product. You will need to verify ownership via a business email.
Fill Out Every Section
Do not leave anything blank. The algorithm surfaces profiles that are complete, and buyers look at every field.
The most important sections:
- Product description: Lead with the pain you solve and who you solve it for. Avoid jargon. Write for a busy VP making a shortlist decision in 90 seconds.
- Categories: Choose all relevant categories. Each category you are listed in is another search result you can appear in.
- Features list: Check every feature your product supports. Buyers filter by features, and missing a checkbox means missing a buyer.
- Screenshots and videos: Add at least 5 screenshots showing the core user experience. A product walkthrough video significantly increases engagement.
- Pricing: Even if you do not list exact pricing, indicate your pricing model (per seat, flat rate, usage-based). Buyers filter by pricing model.
- Integrations: List every integration. Buyers in specific tech stacks filter by this.
"Products with 10+ reviews on Capterra appear 3x more often in buyer searches."
Step 2: Understand What Makes a Good Capterra Review
Not all reviews are created equal. Understanding what Capterra looks for , and what buyers actually read , helps you set expectations when you ask customers for reviews.
What Capterra Looks For
Capterra flags and may reject reviews that:
- Are too short (fewer than 100 characters)
- Come from the same IP address or company email domain in bulk
- Look like they were written by the vendor or a bot
- Do not describe an actual use case
The best reviews are specific, use-case-driven, and written in the customer's own voice.
What Buyers Actually Read
When a buyer lands on your Capterra profile, here is what they look at first:
- Overall star rating , The number next to your name in search results
- Ease of Use, Value for Money, Customer Service , These sub-ratings appear on every listing
- Most recent reviews , Buyers scan the last 5-10 reviews for recency signals
- Pros and Cons , The structured fields, not the long-form text
- Reviewer details , Company size, role, and industry give context
When you coach customers on writing a review, encourage them to fill in the Pros and Cons fields specifically. That is what gets read.
Step 3: Identify Your Best Candidates for Reviews
The biggest mistake companies make is asking everyone for a review at the same time. A mass email blast to your entire customer base will get you a low response rate and risk negative reviews from customers who are not actually happy.
Instead, build a targeted review candidate list.
Who to Ask
Power users: Customers who log in frequently, use advanced features, and have high product adoption scores. They are your biggest fans even if they have never said so explicitly.
NPS Promoters (score 9-10): If you run NPS surveys, anyone who scores you a 9 or 10 is a warm lead for a review. They already told you they love the product.
Recent success moments: Customers who just hit a meaningful milestone in your product , their 100th user invited, their first successful campaign, their biggest month of results. Happy moments are the right moments to ask.
Recent renewals: A customer who just renewed is a customer who made an active choice to stay.
Positive support interactions: Customers who rated a support ticket 5 stars or replied with a thank-you email are in a positive frame of mind.
Who Not to Ask (Right Now)
- Customers with open support tickets or complaints
- Customers who are mid-renewal negotiation
- Churned customers
- Anyone who scored your NPS below 7
Step 4: Ask via Email at the Right Moment
Email remains the highest-converting channel for review requests. But timing and framing matter enormously.
The Timing Rule
The best window to ask for a review is within 24-48 hours of a meaningful success moment. That could be a milestone hit in-product, a positive NPS response, or a renewal confirmation.
Check out our full breakdown on the best time to ask for reviews for data on which moments convert best.
What the Email Should Include
A good review request email is short, personal, and removes friction. Here is the structure:
- Reference the specific win or moment , Show that you are paying attention
- Make the ask clearly , "Would you leave us a review on Capterra?"
- Include the direct link , Do not make them search for your listing
- Tell them what to write , Give them 2-3 bullet points they could mention
- Keep it under 150 words , Respect their time
Example:
Hi [First Name],
I saw that your team just onboarded your 50th user , that is a huge milestone, congratulations.
If you have had a good experience with [Your Product], would you mind leaving us a quick review on Capterra? It takes about 3 minutes and helps buyers like you find us.
[Leave a Capterra Review →]
A few things worth mentioning: [specific feature that helped them], [outcome they achieved], [how the team uses it].
Thanks so much , it genuinely means a lot.
[Your Name]
For more templates across different scenarios, see our review request email templates.
Step 5: Use Capterra's Review Collection Program
Capterra has a built-in Review Collection Program that you can use to solicit reviews directly through their platform. Reviews collected through their program are marked as verified, which increases trust with buyers.
How It Works
- Log in to your Capterra vendor account
- Navigate to the Review Collection section
- Upload a CSV of customer emails (first name, last name, email, optional company)
- Capterra sends the review invitation from their domain
- Reviews go through their verification process automatically
Why This Matters
Reviews collected through Capterra's own program carry a "Verified Review" badge, which signals to buyers that the reviewer is a real customer. Profiles with a high percentage of verified reviews tend to rank better in category searches.
You can run this program periodically , for example, once per quarter with your most recent cohort of successful customers.
Step 6: Automate Review Collection With Tools
If you have more than a few hundred customers, manually identifying the right moment to ask and sending one-to-one emails does not scale. This is where automation earns its keep.
What Good Automation Looks Like
The best review automation is trigger-based, not time-based. Instead of sending review requests on a fixed schedule, you send them when something meaningful happens in your product.
Examples of triggers:
- User hits a usage milestone (10th report generated, 500th contact synced)
- Customer completes onboarding
- NPS response comes in at 9 or 10
- Customer renews their subscription
Tools to Consider
Several tools can help automate this at scale. One option is HighAdvocacy, an in-product advocacy platform built specifically for B2B SaaS.
HighAdvocacy catches customers at their moment of success inside your product , a milestone hit, an NPS win, a renewal , and surfaces a review prompt automatically. It auto-generates review text based on the customer's usage data, so customers are not staring at a blank text box. And it verifies submissions via AI Vision, so you can confirm a review was actually submitted without having to manually check Capterra.
It works across Capterra, G2, Trustpilot, and other platforms from a single workflow.
You can also read our broader guide on how to automate review collection across platforms if you want to compare options and approaches.
Step 7: Respond to Every Capterra Review
Most vendors collect reviews and then ignore them. This is a missed opportunity.
Capterra rewards engagement. Profiles where the vendor actively responds to reviews tend to rank better in category searches.
"Companies that respond to reviews see 12% higher buyer intent scores on Capterra."
How to Respond to Positive Reviews
Keep it short and specific. Thank the reviewer, reference something they mentioned, and reinforce one value your product delivers.
How to Respond to Negative Reviews
This is where most vendors get it wrong. Do not be defensive, do not explain, and do not argue. The goal is to show future buyers that you listen and that you fix problems.
Structure:
- Acknowledge the frustration without excuses
- Take responsibility for the experience
- Offer to resolve it offline ("Please reach out to [email] and we will make this right")
- End with what you have done or plan to improve
A well-handled negative review often converts buyers better than a string of five-star reviews, because it shows your company responds to feedback.
Set a recurring reminder to check and respond to Capterra reviews at least once a week.
Step 8: Use Capterra Reviews Across Your Marketing
Once you have built a solid review base, syndicate that social proof everywhere.
Where to Use Capterra Reviews
- Website: Pull specific quotes onto your homepage, pricing page, and relevant feature pages
- Sales decks: Add a "What Our Customers Say" slide with Capterra quotes
- Email sequences: Include relevant Capterra quotes in nurture emails
- Paid ads: Short, punchy quotes work well in social ads
- Capterra badges: Embed any badges you have earned on your website, especially on the homepage and pricing page
What NOT to Do on Capterra
Do Not Incentivize Reviews Without Disclosure
Offering gift cards or discounts in exchange for reviews is not automatically against the rules , but you must disclose the incentive. Capterra will flag and remove reviews that appear incentivized without disclosure.
Read our guide on FTC compliance for incentivized reviews before you run any incentivized campaign.
Do Not Ask for Reviews From Non-Customers
Capterra verifies reviewers. Asking non-customers, employees, or friends to review your product is a violation and those reviews will likely be removed.
Do Not Batch Ask Everyone at Once
Capterra's fraud detection looks for unusual spikes in review volume. Spread your review requests out over time , weekly or bi-weekly batches are much safer than one big blast.
FAQ: Getting More Capterra Reviews
How long does it take for a Capterra review to show up?
Capterra reviews typically go through a moderation process that takes 2-5 business days. Once approved, it appears on your profile and is syndicated to GetApp and Software Advice automatically.
Can I offer a gift card in exchange for a Capterra review?
Yes, but with caveats. Capterra allows incentivized reviews as long as the incentive is disclosed. The reviewer must include a disclosure like "I received a gift card for writing this review." Check our guide on FTC compliance for incentivized reviews before you launch.
Does a review on Capterra also show up on GetApp and Software Advice?
Yes. Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice are all part of the Gartner Digital Markets network. A review submitted on any one of these platforms is automatically syndicated to the others.
How many Capterra reviews do I need to start seeing results?
10 reviews is the first meaningful threshold. Products with 10+ reviews appear 3x more often in buyer searches. The next milestone is around 25-50 reviews, where you start to qualify for Capterra's Top Performer and Shortlister badges in many categories. The average B2B SaaS buyer reads 6-7 reviews before making a purchase decision.
What is the best way to ask customers for a Capterra review without being annoying?
The answer is timing and specificity. Instead of a generic "please leave us a review" email, send a message that references something specific the customer achieved with your product. Check out our review request email templates and our guide on the best time to ask for reviews for the full framework.
Final Thoughts
Getting more Capterra reviews is not about finding a hack or gaming the system. It is about building a repeatable process that catches your happiest customers at the right moment and makes it easy for them to share their experience.
The companies that win on Capterra are the ones that:
- Have a complete, optimized profile that makes a strong first impression
- Ask the right customers at the right time, not everyone at once
- Use both manual outreach and automation to scale their ask
- Respond to every review, positive and negative
- Syndicate their Capterra reviews across every channel
Start with your profile, identify your first 10 review candidates, and send your first batch of requests this week. If you want to see how the same framework applies to G2, our guide to getting G2 reviews covers the same approach applied to G2's specific requirements.
