The sales quarter is three weeks out. Your VP of Sales is asking why you only have 14 reviews on G2 when your top competitor has 120. Sound familiar?
Most Product Marketing Managers end up running a last-minute review blast , dump the whole customer list into Mailchimp, cross their fingers, and get maybe 3 responses. That approach is broken. The average review campaign converts at 2–5% when done via bulk email. You're leaving 95–98% of your potential reviewers on the table.
This playbook is different. It's a tight, focused 7-day sprint designed for exactly this situation. You'll segment the right customers, send the right message at the right moment, follow up efficiently, and close out with real numbers you can take to your leadership team.
90% of B2B buyers check G2 or Capterra before making a purchase decision. Your review count is not a vanity metric , it's a pipeline accelerator. Let's run this properly.
Before You Start: The Pre-Campaign Checklist
Before Day 1 begins, spend 30 minutes getting your foundation right. Skipping this is the #1 reason campaigns underperform.
1. Choose your target platform(s)
Don't spread yourself thin across every review site at once. Pick one or two. If you're in B2B SaaS, G2 is almost always the priority. If you serve SMBs, Capterra has more reach there. Need help deciding? Read our guide on choosing which platform to target before you launch.
2. Set a specific, achievable goal
"Get more reviews" is not a goal. "Get 20 new G2 reviews by Friday" is. Work backward: if you're targeting a 15% conversion rate (realistic with segmentation), you need to contact at least 135 customers to hit 20. Set the number, then size your list accordingly.
3. Lock in your incentive
Gift cards in the $20–$30 range are the sweet spot for B2B SaaS. Account credits work well if your product is sticky. Whatever you choose, make sure it's FTC compliant , you must disclose the incentive and cannot require a positive review. Read our full breakdown of FTC compliance for review campaigns to avoid any legal exposure before you start.
4. Confirm your profile is ready
If your G2 or Capterra profile is incomplete, reviews won't convert to pipeline. Make sure your logo, product screenshots, and category tags are all up to date before you drive traffic to it.
Day 1: Segment Your Customers
Goal: Build a high-intent contact list that's 3–5x your review target.
This is the most important day. If you ask the wrong customers, your campaign will fail no matter how good your emails are.
Pull NPS Promoters (Priority 1)
NPS promoters are 4x more likely to leave a review than the average customer. These are people who scored you a 9 or 10 in your last NPS survey. They're already emotionally invested. They want you to succeed. Pull everyone who scored 9–10 from the last 90 days and put them in Group A.
For more on turning this segment into reviewers, see our guide on turning NPS promoters into reviewers.
Pull Recently Active Power Users (Priority 2)
Log into your product analytics tool (Mixpanel, Amplitude, Heap, or even your CRM). Filter for customers who have:
- Logged in at least 3 times in the last 30 days
- Used a core feature in the last 14 days
- Not submitted a support ticket marked as "unsatisfied" in the last 60 days
These are engaged, satisfied users who are getting real value. Put them in Group B.
Pull Recent Milestone Achievers (Priority 3)
Did any customers hit a meaningful milestone recently , their 100th user onboarded, 1,000th email sent, first renewal, a major integration going live? Reviews left within 7 days of a success moment are 40% more detailed and positive. Strike while the iron is hot. Add milestone achievers from the last 30 days to Group C.
Your Target List Size
| Goal | Minimum list size (at 15% conversion) |
|---|---|
| 10 reviews | 67 contacts |
| 20 reviews | 134 contacts |
| 30 reviews | 200 contacts |
| 50 reviews | 334 contacts |
If your list is smaller than needed, lower your goal. Never pad it with cold customers , quality of segment is everything.
Day 2: Prepare Your Assets
Goal: Have everything ready to hit send on Day 3 without scrambling.
Write Your Email Templates
You need three:
Template 1 , Initial Ask (Day 3 send) Keep it under 150 words. Lead with their achievement, not your ask. Subject lines that work:
- "Quick favor from a happy customer like you?"
- "[First Name], your [milestone] is worth celebrating"
- "Would you share your [Company Name] story?"
Personalize with: first name, company name, the specific achievement or milestone, the platform you're asking about, and the incentive.
See our full library of review request email templates , you can copy-paste and customize in under 10 minutes.
Template 2 , Follow-Up (Day 5 send) One sentence, maximum. Something like: "Hey [Name] , just following up on my note from earlier this week. Would love to hear your story on G2. Still happy to send a $25 gift card your way." That's it. Following up once doubles your conversion rate.
Template 3 , Thank You (Day 7 send) Warm, personal, brief. Confirm the gift card is on its way. Tell them you'll share their review on your LinkedIn. Make them feel like the VIP they are.
Optimize Your Review Profile
Before you send a single email:
- Upload recent product screenshots (or short GIFs of key features)
- Make sure your product category tags are accurate
- Add an updated product description with your current positioning
- Verify your pricing page link is correct
Day 3: Send Wave 1 , Your Best Candidates
Goal: Get your initial ask in front of Group A (NPS promoters) with maximum personalization.
Timing Is Everything
Send between Tuesday and Thursday, between 10am and 2pm in the recipient's local time zone. Avoid Monday (inbox overload), Friday (weekend mode), and early mornings or evenings. For more on optimizing timing, see our research on the best time to ask for reviews.
Personalization Checklist
Before you hit send on each email, confirm:
- First name is correct (not "Hi there" or "Hi {first_name}")
- Their specific achievement is mentioned ("Since you just hit 500 active users...")
- The platform is named explicitly ("...on G2")
- The incentive is clearly stated
- The link goes directly to your review page, not a homepage
Send Sequence
Start with Group A only (NPS promoters). Do not send to Groups B and C yet. You want to gauge response rate from your warmest contacts before scaling up.
Batch size note: If you're sending manually or through a simple email tool, cap each batch at 50 emails per day to stay out of spam filters.
Track Opens and Clicks
Use UTM parameters on your review link so you can track who clicked versus who actually submitted a review. This data is critical for your Day 4 and Day 5 decisions.
Day 4: Monitor, Respond, and Prepare Wave 2
Goal: Respond to every review that comes in; assess response rates from Day 3.
Check for Incoming Reviews
Log into G2 (or your target platform) and look for new reviews. Respond to every single one within 24 hours. A thoughtful response from your team shows prospects that you're engaged and customer-focused , and it signals to the reviewer that their effort was appreciated.
Evaluate Day 3 Response Rates
By end of Day 4, you should have open and click data from your Day 3 sends. If:
- Open rate is below 30%: Your subject lines need work. A/B test a new subject line before Wave 2.
- Click rate is below 5%: Your email body isn't driving action. Simplify the copy; make the CTA more direct.
- Click rate above 10%: You're in good shape. Proceed with confidence to Wave 2.
Day 5: Send Wave 2 + Follow Up on Wave 1
Goal: Expand reach while following up on non-responders from Day 3.
Follow-Up to Non-Openers from Day 3
Pull everyone who did not open your Day 3 email and send a one-line follow-up. Change the subject line , a fresh subject grabs attention:
- "Quick one, [Name]"
- "Still time to grab your gift card"
- "[Name] , 2-minute ask"
Keep the body to one sentence. Long follow-ups feel desperate. Short ones feel human.
Send to Group B (Power Users)
With your Day 3 learnings in hand, send your optimized initial ask to Group B. Use the same template but update any personalization fields to reflect what makes these users distinct , it might be tenure ("You've been with us for 2 years...") or usage depth ("Since you're one of our most active users...").
Consider a Slack or LinkedIn Touch
For your highest-value customers, a direct Slack message or LinkedIn DM can be more effective than email. Keep it conversational: "Hey , I know this is a bit out of the blue, but we're doing a push on G2 this week. You've gotten great results with [feature] and I'd love for you to share that story. Happy to send a gift card as a thank you." Warm, direct, authentic.
Day 6: Final Push + Social Amplification
Goal: Last outreach to non-responders; use social proof momentum to create urgency.
Final Reminder to Non-Responders
This is your last email. Subject line options:
- "Last chance , gift card offer expires tonight"
- "Final note from [Your Name]"
- "Closing this out today, [Name]"
Keep it one sentence. Creating a real deadline (today is the last day to claim your gift card) motivates action without feeling aggressive.
Share New Reviews Publicly
By Day 6, you likely have 5–15 new reviews. Start amplifying them:
- LinkedIn: Screenshot a great new review and post it. Tag the customer (with their permission). Mention the review push is still open.
- Slack (internal): Share new reviews in your #wins or #customer-success channel. Your team will get excited, and excited teams talk to customers differently.
- Your email newsletter or nurture sequences: A "customers are loving us on G2 this week" callout adds credibility and creates FOMO for anyone sitting on the fence about leaving a review.
Social amplification serves two purposes: it rewards the customers who already reviewed (public recognition feels great) and it signals to everyone else that real people are engaging.
Day 7: Close Out and Measure Results
Goal: End the campaign cleanly, reward participants, and document what worked.
Stop All Outreach
Day 7 is not for sending more emails. The campaign window is closed. Anyone who hasn't responded after three touchpoints is not going to respond , more emails will only damage the relationship.
Count Your Results
Pull the numbers:
- Total reviews generated (check the platform directly, not just email clicks)
- Total contacts reached (Waves 1 + 2 combined)
- Conversion rate = Reviews generated / Contacts reached
- Best-performing segment (Group A vs. B vs. C)
- Best-performing email (subject line, send day, template version)
A well-executed campaign targeting the right segment should hit 15–25% conversion rate. If you're below 5%, the segmentation or timing was off. If you're above 20%, you've found a model worth repeating.
Send Gifts to All Participants
Honor every commitment. For everyone who left a review, send the gift card immediately via email. Include a warm note and a direct link to the review so you can celebrate it publicly.
Document What Worked
Write a one-page internal summary:
- What was the campaign goal?
- Who did we target, and how?
- What emails performed best?
- What was the final conversion rate?
- What would we do differently?
This doc is the foundation for your next campaign , or the handoff document if you automate this process going forward.
Beyond the Campaign: How to Never Need This Again
Here's the uncomfortable truth: the 7-day sprint model is a response to a system failure. If you're scrambling before every sales quarter to hit a review target, you're playing catch-up instead of building a durable asset.
Manual review campaigns are exhausting. You're spending a full work week on outreach that could be running automatically in the background, all the time.
The alternative is an always-on review collection system that catches customers at their highest-intent moments , inside the product itself, right after they achieve something meaningful , and converts them to reviewers automatically.
This is what HighAdvocacy is built for. Instead of you manually segmenting your NPS data and writing email sequences, HighAdvocacy monitors your product for customer success signals , milestones hit, NPS scores submitted, renewals processed , and triggers a personalized review ask at exactly the right moment. It auto-generates the review text based on what the customer actually accomplished, and verifies every submission via AI Vision so you always know your review count in real time. It works across G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and Google.
The result: instead of running one exhausting campaign per quarter, you're collecting reviews every week on autopilot.
If you want to go deeper on automating review collection, that guide covers the full architecture of an always-on system. And for platform-specific guidance, read our complete guide to getting G2 reviews.
But for right now , you have a 7-day playbook. Go run it.
FAQ
How many customers should I contact for a review campaign?
Target a list that's at least 3–5x your review goal. If you want 20 reviews and expect a 15% conversion rate, you need at least 134 contacts. Prioritize quality over quantity , a smaller list of warm, recently active customers will outperform a large list of disengaged ones every time.
Can I offer incentives for reviews on G2 and Capterra?
Yes, both G2 and Capterra allow incentivized reviews, but there are rules. You must disclose the incentive, you cannot require a positive review, and you cannot pay for fake reviews. Gift cards and account credits are both acceptable. See our full breakdown of FTC compliance for review campaigns for platform-specific details.
What's the best time to send review request emails?
Tuesday through Thursday, between 10am and 2pm in the recipient's local time zone consistently outperforms other windows. Avoid Monday mornings (high inbox competition), Friday afternoons (low engagement), and early morning or late-night sends. Read our full research on best time to ask for reviews for data by industry.
What if my conversion rate is really low (under 5%)?
A sub-5% conversion rate almost always points to one of three problems: (1) the list is too cold , you're reaching customers who aren't actively happy with your product right now; (2) the email copy is too generic , personalization is weak; or (3) the timing is off. Go back to Day 1 segmentation and tighten your criteria. A smaller, warmer list will dramatically outperform a large, unfocused one.
How do I get more reviews without running campaigns manually every quarter?
This is the right question to be asking. Manual campaigns are a band-aid. The long-term solution is an always-on system that triggers review requests based on real customer signals , NPS scores, product milestones, renewals , so reviews accumulate continuously instead of in quarterly bursts. Read more about how to get G2 reviews at scale, or explore what automating review collection looks like in practice.
