Software recommendation requests: answer the buyer who just asked

Why is a recommendation request such a strong signal?

Someone asking for software has done three things before posting: noticed a problem, decided a tool should fix it, and admitted they do not know which one. That is a buyer at the start of an evaluation, with no incumbent to dislodge and no contract to wait out.

The request is also a brief they wrote for you. Posters tend to share their team size, industry, the job to be done and the constraints that matter ("needs to work offline", "under $50 a seat", "has to sync with our accounting software"). You rarely get that much context from a list.

The catch: if this is their first tool in the category, they may not know the vocabulary, the price range or what to ask in a demo. The vendor who explains that clearly is the one they end up trusting.

Where people ask, and the words they use

Requests show up in industry subreddits and founder communities on Reddit, in posts on X addressed to followers, and in Q&A threads that rank in search results long after they were written. The phrasing is predictable, which is what makes them detectable. If most of your buyers ask on Reddit, our page on Reddit lead generation covers that source in depth.

On Reddit, the asks cluster in communities organized around a job or an industry rather than around software: r/smallbusiness, r/sysadmin, r/msp, r/Accounting, r/marketing. Private Slack and Discord groups host many more, but they are closed for a reason. Take part there as a member, and keep what people say in them out of your prospect lists.

• "What do you all use for…"
• "Any recommendations for a tool that…"
• "Is there software that can…"
• "Looking for something to replace our spreadsheet for…"

How do you build searches that catch these requests?

Searching for your category name finds the people who already know the category, which first-time buyers rarely do. Build your searches from the buyer's vocabulary instead. Five steps, using purchase-approval software as the running example:

1. 1

   Write down the job, not the category

   People ask for outcomes: "approve purchases from my phone", "stop chasing timesheets", "send invoices automatically". Few write "procurement software". List five to ten jobs your product does, in the words customers used on sales calls.

2. 2

   Add what they use today

   First-time buyers are usually replacing a spreadsheet, a shared inbox, a whiteboard or paper. "Replace our spreadsheet for…" is one of the most dependable phrasings you can watch.

3. 3

   Add constraints only your buyers mention

   An integration ("works with QuickBooks"), a device ("on phones for the drivers"), a compliance need ("needs an audit trail"). Constraints narrow results to people you can actually serve.

4. 4

   Combine them with the asking phrases

   Pair each job with the phrases listed above. On Google, a query such as site:reddit.com "what do you use for" timesheets returns threads, and the date filter keeps them fresh. Monitoring tools such as Syften or Google Alerts save you from rerunning the searches every morning.

5. 5

   Prune every two weeks

   Drop the searches that only bring students, listicle writers or companies far outside your size range. Keep the ones that produced a reply, and write more like them.

Is this request worth an email?

Not every request is a lead. A quick read of the details tells you whether it comes from a company with a budget or from someone collecting ideas.

Three requests, three decisions (fictional)

• "Our 40-person clinic group still tracks staff certifications in Excel, and an audit is coming in May. What do people use?" A company, a size, the tool being replaced and a deadline. Email this week.
• "Solo bookkeeper here. What's the cheapest way to send invoices?" A sole trader shopping on price, far below a B2B ICP. Skip.
• "Writing a roundup of the best tools for remote teams. What should I include?" A content writer. Not a lead, although a short public answer can get you listed.

What Startories does before anyone gets an email

1. 1

   Classifies the request

   A recommendation request is kept apart from complaints, alternative searches and general interest in a category, because each needs a different angle. The original post stays linked to the lead.

2. 2

   Finds the business behind it

   The request is tied to a real company through public details such as a company name, a website or a professional profile. Requests from people with no business attached are dropped, not guessed.

3. 3

   Scores the fit

   Company size, industry, location and the stated need are checked against your ICP, with the reasons written next to the score. You can see at a glance why a 30-person logistics firm made the cut and a student did not.

4. 4

   Reaches the person who buys

   In a small company the person asking often signs too. Otherwise Startories looks for the budget owner, such as the operations manager or the finance lead, and verifies the business email.

How to write the first email: help first, pitch second

The person asked a community for advice, so the email that works sounds like advice from someone who knows the category. Explain what matters for a team like theirs, show where you fit, and be honest about when another option is better. That honesty separates you from the vendors who dropped a link in the thread.

• "For approvals at around 30 people, the deciding question is usually whether finance or operations owns the process. Here is how we set it up when operations owns it."
• "What logistics teams tend to need from approval software: sign-off on a phone, an audit trail and a sync with the accounting system. We do all three, and I can show you in 15 minutes."
• "If you're comparing a few tools this month, the checklist we give prospects might save you a couple of demos, whether you pick us or not."

First-time buyers need a buying guide

Someone buying their first tool in a category does not know what to ask. Give them the questions, even the ones a competitor answers well. For the logistics company in the example above, written to its operations manager:

Subject: "5 questions for approval software vendors". "Hi Maria, when a company of about 30 people picks its first approval tool, five questions tend to decide it. Can approvers sign off from a phone? Does it sync both ways with your accounting software, or only export? What does the audit trail show? What happens when an approver is on vacation? How does pricing change as you add people? We handle the first four well, and we price per approver, which suits teams your size. Want our answers in writing, so you can hold every vendor to the same list?"

Why it works: it is useful even if Maria never buys from you, it shows you understand her situation without quoting her post, and the next step costs her nothing.

Who you write to changes the angle

• Owner of a 10-person company who asked the question personally: they want to decide this week. Lead with setup time and price.
• Operations manager at 30 to 60 people: they will use the tool every day. Show the workflow and how it handles exceptions, such as an approver who is away or an order that changes.
• Finance lead or controller: control and audit. The accounting sync and the approval trail matter more than the interface.
• IT or security admin at 80 people and up: expect questions about single sign-on, data location and a security questionnaire. Have the answers ready, or say plainly what you lack.

One follow-up is enough

Three or four days later: "Did the vendor questions help? If you're down to two options, I can do a 15-minute call that only covers the parts you haven't seen yet." If they reply that they bought something else, thank them and stop; the sequence ends on any reply.

How long does a request stay open?

Not long. Recommendation threads get most of their replies in the first day, and many posters choose within the week, often trying the first two or three tools that sounded right. Startories aims to have a verified contact and a draft ready within 24 to 48 hours, the same window the homepage funnels work in.

If the post sets a date ("before our busy season", "by the end of the quarter"), you have more room, but being early still pays: for a first-time buyer, the first demo often becomes the yardstick for every other option.

Public replies, private messages, email: what is allowed?

Each channel has its own rules, and the person who asked will judge you by how you use them.

Many requests come from freelancers and sole traders. Even when they fit your offer, check the rules where they live: in the UK, the ICO explains that sole traders and some partnerships get the same email marketing protections as individuals, unlike employees of companies (ICO guidance on business-to-business marketing). Startories is built for company buyers and puts an opt-out in every email.

• Reading posts with software falls under each platform's terms. Reddit's Data API Terms set the conditions for apps that access its content; Startories reads public posts through official APIs and compliant sources where they exist.
• Replying in the thread is fine where the community allows vendors and you say who you work for. Mention the options that fit, not only yours.
• Direct messages on the platform are where most communities draw the line. Unsolicited sales messages get accounts banned and posts reported.
• Email to a company's decision-maker is the channel built for business outreach, as long as it is honest about who is writing and makes opting out easy.

Which offers suit this signal, and which do not?

The signal suits vendors whose category people name when they ask: vertical software, HR tech ("what do you use for onboarding?") and fintech ("how do you handle expense approvals?"). It works for services as well: "can anyone recommend a bookkeeper who knows SaaS?" is a lead for accounting firms, and "we need someone to set up our data stack" is one for consultants.

• Poor fit: purchases made through formal tenders. If buyers in your market issue an RFP, a forum question is rarely where the decision starts.
• Poor fit: very cheap tools. If the deal is worth less than the time spent qualifying it, a self-serve page beats outreach.
• Poor fit: confidential purchases. Security incident response or legal tools are seldom discussed in public by the companies that need them.

Which searches pay off, and how do you start?

Measure at the level of the search, because that is what you can change. Startories reports replies and meetings per funnel; split them by the search that found each lead. In the illustration below, built on assumed numbers, the "free" search brings the most volume and nothing else, while the integration search brings the least volume and the best ratio. Cut the first and write more searches like the last.

Set up a recommendation-request funnel

List the questions your buyers ask before they find you: the jobs, the integrations, the spreadsheets they want to replace. Startories turns that list into searches across your intent source and hands you qualified, verified leads. Starter ($99 a month, $1 for a 3-day full-access trial on your first project) covers one funnel; see pricing.

Related reading: the buying signals guide, signal-based outbound, and two neighboring signals: people looking for alternatives, who already own a tool, and pain-point posts, from people who have not yet decided a tool is the answer.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• ICO: Business-to-business marketing
• Reddit: Data API Terms
• Syften: community monitoring
• Google Alerts