Why We Publish Reseller Reviews

Reviews written by resellers contain some of the most sought after information for buyers—product to product comparisons, best-fit scenarios, cost-benefit analysis, expectations for implementation and integration, questions to ask during evaluation, etc. (These are insights that end-users, who shine giving feedback on day-to-day usage, can’t always provide.)

Resellers tend to have deep insight into business value, because, like vendors, they need to quantify ROI in order to make a sale. They also often have years of experience with a single product, or set of products, and have seen how the same products work for a variety of clients with different needs. Yet resellers are willing to share advice more freely than analysts or expert consultants with similar levels of experience, who monetize their recommendations.

Here are just a few examples of helpful reseller reviews we’ve published to date:

1. This reseller review of SharpSpring, a marketing automation tool, includes the specific threshold where she would or would not prescribe the product, in terms of lead volume, length of the sales cycle, and number of teams involved in the sale, as well as her feedback on CRM integration relative to other popular marketing automation products she’s used. That checks a lot of boxes for buyers, who appreciate broad perspectives like hers, based on a range of implementations for different companies and experience with multiple similar products.
2. This reseller review of Act-On opens with a list of questions buyers should ask when evaluating any product(s) in the marketing automation space, and encourages them to frame comparisons around how well products will integrate with their CRM.
3. This review of QuickBase (a RAD/low code platform) is from a reseller with deep industry expertise implementing QuickBase for non-profits, who can comment on how well the product integrates with other non-profit systems and adapts to specific organizational processes.
4. This Xero reseller review, on the other hand, is based on experience across various industries. He highlights the way certain industries should prioritize a specific feature differently (account structure), and how this feature in Xero stacks up against QuickBooks, a major competitor.

With all of these examples, the scope of the reseller’s perspective goes beyond just the product being reviewed; they offer advice on how buyers should think about their requirements and their buying process.

Recognizing Potential Bias

Of course, as vendor partners who stand to profit from product sales, resellers are not impartial reviewers. On TrustRadius, each reseller review is clearly marked so that buyers understand where the perspective is coming from, and that it may be biased. Whether the reseller partners with a single product in the space, or consults on a range of options, they have a financial incentive to provide a high overall rating. For this reason, ratings provided by resellers do not contribute to a product’s trScore. We also don’t publish reseller reviews that don’t offer useful feedback and are clearly just promotional.