Write Reviews and Turn Your Opinions Into Gift Cards on G2 Crowd
Have you ever wanted to get paid in mocha Frappuccinos? G2 Crowd can help with that. Well, sort of.
G2 Crowd is a business software review website, and it wants your opinions badly — so badly that it’s willing to pay for them with gift cards. Each review will typically net you a $10 gift card to Starbucks or Amazon. Sometimes you can get more. For niche software, the company can pay more than $25 per review.
And if you don’t like those two gift-card choices, you can use our guide to sell gift cards for cash or exchange them for better ones online.
How to Get Paid to Write Reviews for G2 Crowd
Writing reviews for G2 Crowd is fairly straightforward. You follow the corresponding link for an Amazon or Starbucks gift card (see below), select what software or app you use for work, then rate the software and answer a few short questions about it.
Be honest in that you actually use the software. Provide a screenshot of you using the software with identifiable information, where possible. This will speed up the verification process.
For example, you can log into many software services with your Gmail, LinkedIn or Facebook account. For my reviews, I logged into the software using my Gmail account, and my email and avatar were visible in the corner of the screen, making the screenshot easily verifiable.
If you can’t provide decent proof that you use the software you’re reviewing, G2 Crowd will probably reject your review. That means no gift card.
Here’s what you’ll need to start reviewing:
- A LinkedIn account or business email address.
- Corresponding promotion links for Starbucks and/or Amazon.
- A screenshot to verify that you use the software or app.
- About five to 10 minutes to complete the review questions.
If you don’t have a business email address or LinkedIn account, no worries. Making a LinkedIn account is easy and free. You can follow our guide to make your LinkedIn profile shine.
Be aware that if you go to G2 Crowd’s website and start reviewing products without following the promotion links, your reviews won’t qualify for the gift cards.
The company will pay for the first five verified reviews. After that, you can gain points or other incentives for additional reviews.
What Is G2 Crowd, and Is It Legit?
G2 Crowd is a popular software review platform. Five former employees from BigMachines, a customer relationship management software company, founded G2 Crowd in 2012. Since then, the company has reached a reported valuation of nearly $500 million, according to TechCrunch.
So the business is doing well. And in short, yes. It’s legit.
I maxed out my paid reviews in one day, totalling $50. The website says it takes 48 business hours for the digital gift cards to appear in your account’s reward section. I got all the gift cards within a few hours. Some came the next business day.
By offering people gift cards, G2 Crowd is actually solving a problem with online reviews: polarization. An analysis published by Harvard Business Review states the reviews are typically biased, meaning people don’t often take the time to review things they don’t love or hate.
Think about it. What was your last online review for? A so-so experience? Not likely.
You were probably elated (five stars) that your server at Texas Roadhouse was hilarious and comped your dessert, or maybe you were furious (one star) that the courier left your package from Aunt Lisa outside in the rain.
So, hopefully, a few gift cards to Amazon or Starbucks can get you to give a more honest review and a rating somewhere in between that evening at Texas Roadhouse and the package-delivery debacle of 2017.
Adam Hardy is a staff writer on the Make Money team at The Penny Hoarder. He lives off a diet of stale puns and iced coffee. Read his full bio here , or say hi on Twitter @hardyjournalism.
