How UserEvidence saved tens of thousands of dollars by streamlining compliance

The company

Closing the trust gap

UserEvidence automates social proof for GTM teams and generates verified customer evidence, product stats, and ROI data in minutes. Their customer voice platform delivers surveys at key moments throughout the customer journey to continually capture feedback and uncover new insights. Founded in 2020, the company has grown substantially — they have tripled their revenue year over year, completed their Series A funding round, and now have over 100 customers.

UserEvidence initially sold into small and medium-sized companies, but are now focused on adding larger enterprise deals to their portfolio. However, these enterprises have strict security requirements for their vendors. To appeal to these prospects, the team at UserEvidence needed an easy way to share their commitment to security practices in a demonstrable way.

‍

The challenge

Earning the trust of large enterprises

UserEvidence's initial focus was on earlier-stage technology companies, partly because of concerns about passing rigorous security audits required by enterprise-level clients. But as UserEvidence grew, SOC 2 compliance became top of mind. 

Specifically, UserEvidence heard in a negotiation that if they failed to secure SOC 2 compliance within the next six months, the agreement would not be signed and would be terminated. This, coupled with other potential deals that required compliance, put the company at risk of losing out on significant revenue due to their inability to pursue larger contracts.

“We wanted to sell to larger technology companies with rigorous security standards," says Ray Rhodes, CTO and Co-Founder of UserEvidence. "To do so, we needed a more robust security framework — some companies wouldn’t talk to us at all without SOC 2 in place.”

Recognizing the need for SOC 2 compliance as an industry standard and a gateway to engaging with larger companies, UserEvidence faced the daunting task of navigating the complex landscape of achieving and maintaining a SOC 2 certification.

‍

The solution

An easy-to-use Trust Management Platform that integrates with their existing tech stack 

UserEvidence wanted to gain SOC 2 compliance without burdening their small engineering team or diverting resources from their product roadmap. “I had done the process manually before and knew that it would be too much to take on again,” said Grant Ammons, Head of Engineering. 

After evaluating options including competing providers, third-party consultants, and dedicating part of their staff to doing it themselves, Vanta emerged as the clear leader in the trust management space and the easiest way for them to save time and money while achieving compliance.

Vanta's platform stood out for its user-friendly interface and the ability to integrate with UserEvidence's existing tech stack, which ensured they’d be able to get up and running quickly. The wide breadth of integrations also made it easy to deploy everywhere, no matter what tools UserEvidence uses. 

{{quote-2}}

Within a few short months of onboarding Vanta, UserEvidence became audit-ready for SOC 2. Speed was of the utmost importance as UserEvidence had promised some customers that they’d reach clients within a short time frame. 

‍

The impact

Massive cost savings and the ability to sell upstream

The partnership with Vanta has been transformative for UserEvidence, enabling significant cost savings and the ability to sell confidently to larger, enterprise clients. 

UserEvidence estimates that they have saved tens of thousands of dollars by streamlining compliance processes and reducing the need for manual oversight. Integration with the tools they use has automated the tracking and remediation of security issues, eliminating manual tracking and reducing potential gaps in their audit readiness.

By partnering with Vanta, UserEvidence has now secured SOC 2 compliance, creating a foundation of trust as they continue to grow.

{{quote-3}}