Podium

Pros

What I like most about Podium is the ability to add each representative so that they can send out invites to the customers they speak to. I like this feature because as a Marketing Specialist, I'm not on the phone with customers - they are. They can easily plug in their phone number or email address and the customer will receive the invite! They simply click the link and leave us a review. It makes it easy for not just the team, but the customers as well. That is very important to us.

Cons

The inability to get access ALL analytical results on the dashboard. You get some of the info, but in order to look at everything, I have to generate different reports from the platform and look at it in a spreadsheet. This is probably the most annoying and inconvenient part of using this platform. It has the ability to filter and look at stats for some things and other things, its not there.

Pros

In addition to being extremely easy to use and straightforward from a backend and frontend standpoint, this software is such an easy way to grow and manage our online reputation. I love that all I have to do (once my campaign is set up) is enter a phone number and hit "send"! It's way easier than asking our customers to leave reviews, and most of them actually do it.

Cons

There wasn't much that I didn't like about the software. The only thing worth mentioning is there are a few creative limitations when setting up your campaign. However, nothing that a few tweaks couldn't fix!

Pros

Direct Google integration is definitely the biggest pro here. They also are focused on having staff message customers directly for reviews one-on-one. It won't work for everyone, just depends on the business model.

Cons

Very limited functionality and visibility into your account. Right now, it's basically just a review solicitation platform via messaging and email. It's efficient at getting star ratings and reviews, but that's about it. If you're looking for surveys, look elsewhere. Also, when I was a customer, they didn't even have NPS Score. That's pretty basic. Reporting is very limited and it's hard to get an overview of your total account, only individual locations. Customization is little to none for both the dashboard and the actual campaigns. Oh, and it's crazy expensive. You're basically paying for the direct Google integration. Which is super nice and important, but still. I also had a very negative experience that was unique to me. I had very specific contract conditions that were not met and it was a very difficult and painful process to get rectified. I felt very misled by the company and lost any trust I had in them. It was very disappointing.

Pros

Probably the best thing about Podium are the SMS text feature that sends an easy to use FB or Google review link directly to a potential reviewer. The link eliminates any guesswork of confusion about how to leave a review which, for the clients we're using it for, would definitely hinder their customers from providing review. Additionally, the email notifications that inform any time a review is left is hugely beneficial because reviews never fall of your radar and because it's so so easy to respond directly to reviews within the Podium platform, it's simple and quick to just pop into the review and respond to it as soon as you're notified! Another thing I love is that Podium is constantly adding features and functionality, like the ability to now respond directly to FB reviews from the platform in addition to Google reviews.

Cons

It can be a little glitchy- for instance, for the past two weeks the Reply button within each Google review wasn't working so I had to reply to reviews directly from google.com/business. I will say however that the live chat customer service option is awesome and both times I've used it, my problems were immediately resolved and the support team was super helpful

Pros

We used Podium through another company that we signed up with. We were able to easily text with customers and as for a review through this system. Our company is strong with customer reviews so it was an easier way to ask for one and the customer could access whichever review site they felt most comfortable with right from their phone.

Cons

Some customers complain about leaving a Google review because they don't remember their Google login. This company helps with those customers because it gives them links to other review sites if they don't want to leave a Google review. Nothing in particular that I do not like about this product.