What your customers say about your business online is as important as ever. But how do you keep track of what they’re saying — and where
Review management, and review management software — an important part of online reputation management — is the key to knowing customer sentiment. When you have insight into the likes, dislikes, and conversations happening around you, you can take steps to improve your business, better meet customer expectations, and make an overall positive impact on your target audience.
The right review management software can make a world of difference in how easily and efficiently you can do this. Here are the features to look for when deciding on a platform and a summary of some of the best online reputation management companies out there so you can make the right choice for your business or agency.
What features should you look for in review management software?
Not sure you need every bell or whistle? That’s totally fair. Basic functionality may be all you need — especially if you’re launching a review management strategy for the first time. Or if you’re further along in the process, you may need a lot more functionality that you can only get by switching to a new software provider.
Regardless of your business type, size, strategy, or existing review management software, here are four must-have features that every solution should offer to keep up with today’s marketing demands and trends:
- Review requests: A body of quality customer reviews is required these days if you want to boost conversions and acquire more customers. To get reviews, you need to ask for them, so any review management software should have a review request feature that streamlines the process and makes it as simple as possible for the customer to take you up on the request.
- Review monitoring: Being able to scan for customer reviews and ratings across multiple websites, search engines, and platforms is key to knowing what people are actually saying about your business. A monitoring feature should have wide reach and be able to alert you in real time so you can respond promptly.
- Review responses: A robust review response feature allows you to craft and send timely responses to every review — good, bad, or neutral — so that you can build and maintain credibility with your audience. An added bonus is an AI component, which can help efficiently generate personalized responses for you that match customer sentiment. This is especially helpful if you have a small team and limited time.
- Campaign management: Review management isn’t complete without the ability to create, execute, and manage campaigns that reach different audience segments with targeted messaging — helping you to engage customers with more relevant communication, increase brand awareness, and maximize reach.
The 5 best review management software companies [2024]
These top-performing platforms in no particular order support a range of business needs, strategies, and goals, so it’s important to understand your unique requirements at the outset. There are pros and cons for each, but all have specific features and functionality that can help you effectively manage reviews and your online reputation.
1. Birdeye
Overview: Birdeye’s complete reputation management platform enables users of local businesses and brands to connect with potential customers and monitor, request, respond to, and report on customer reviews — all through a single dashboard.
Pricing: Birdeye has three pricing plans to choose from, ranging from a basic Starter plan up to a comprehensive Dominate plan. Pricing for each is determined on a per-business basis by number of locations.
Pros: The dashboard is user-friendly and the platform’s robust feature set includes review automation that streamlines review processes and unifies all reviews into a single source of truth. Birdeye is also appreciated for easy implementation and onboarding, as well as responsive customer support.
Cons: Integrating Birdeye with certain apps can be slow or challenging, and its higher cost than some of the other solutions on the market can be a barrier for smaller businesses that are working with limited budgets.
Feature highlights:
- Request reviews via multiple methods — including by text, email, and business website
- Customize review requests and reply to reviews directly from the platform
- Monitor social networks
- Integrate with customer data apps and platforms
2. Reputation
Overview: Reputation’s platform manages customer feedback from acquisition to loyalty, using surveys, review monitoring and responses, and a ticketing system that captures customer comments, speeds up customer communication, and reduces unresponsiveness.
Pricing: Reputation provides pricing upon request.
Pros: Reputation’s ability to consolidate reviews from various platforms and present customer feedback in one place creates convenience and efficiency. The platform’s scheduling feature and ability for users to customize surveys and reports are additional selling points.
Cons: Users find it difficult to navigate some of Reputation’s features, and inconsistencies in how data is interpreted can introduce some challenges to analysis and reporting. The Reputation platform also has limitations in social media management.
Feature highlights:
- Collect, track, and respond to feedback in one inbox
- Get real-time alerts and sentiment analysis across social networks
- Turn survey responses into ratings and reviews
- Utilize prescriptive AI for trend analysis and competitor insights
3. SOCi
Overview: SOCi is an all-in-one marketing platform that focuses on automating social media management and customer engagement for multi-location businesses. Using AI, data analysis, and recommendations, SOCi’s platform manages social strategy, customer feedback, and reviews, among a host of other capabilities.
Pricing: SOCi provides custom pricing.
Pros: SOCi gives users the ability to manage multiple social media accounts from one place and maintain a cohesive brand image. And its convenient scheduling feature helps businesses plan and post content on a regular basis for consistent customer engagement.
Cons: Different subscription plans can limit the number of SOCi users per location, which can impact larger enterprises. Also, users who are already familiar with the platform find it to be user-friendly overall, but there can still be a steep learning curve for first-time users.
Feature highlights:
- Centrally manage comments, reviews, and alerts from social media accounts
- Schedule social posts with one click
- Monitor reviews across multiple platforms
- Automatically respond to reviews with an on-brand voice
4. Podium
Overview: Podium helps local businesses manage lead conversion and customer communication with a platform and features centered around SMS (or texting). Podium’s SMS tools support review management as a method for requesting and gathering reviews.
Pricing: Podium offers three pricing plans to choose from: the Essentials plan at $249/month; the Standard plan at $409/month; and the Professional plan at $599/month.
Pros: Podium’s automated customer texting and review capture capabilities earn high praise — as does the platform’s ability to seamlessly integrate with existing CRM systems. Podium’s analytics can also reveal trends in positive or negative reviews to help inform business improvements.
Cons: Podium is considered expensive — making it more cost-prohibitive for smaller businesses. Slow and spotty customer service and limited customization and flexibility are also some of the downsides.
Feature highlights:
- Monitor reviews from a variety of platforms and sources and centralize data
- Manage customer messages in one place
- Engage with customers through real-time text, chat, social media, and email
- Gain insights into reviews with in-depth analysis and reporting
5. GatherUp
Overview: GatherUp is the go-to review and reputation management resource for small businesses, multi-location businesses, and digital agencies that want to white label a reputation management service for clients. GatherUp specializes in helping businesses use reviews and feedback to improve the customer experience and attract and retain customers.
Pricing: GatherUp is priced by location, starting at $99/month for one location, down to $25/month for 101+ locations. GatherUp also provides a free 14-day trial.
Pros: GatherUp is known for its seamless, automated review request and response process, ease of use, and dedicated customer support. Businesses can also now take advantage of its new SMS capabilities to enhance customer engagement.
Cons: Customizations can be limited in GatherUp and some of the features need better explanation. The platform’s inability to pause review campaigns is also a downside for some users who are accustomed to having this feature in other solutions.
Feature highlights:
- Request customer reviews and feedback through text and email
- Monitor reviews across 50+ sites and consolidate in one place
- Generate review responses with AI technology
- Share reviews on social media and the business website
Ready to take the next step?
Learn more about how GatherUp can help your business collect, track, and respond to customer feedback and reviews to better manage your online reputation, engage effectively with customers, and improve the customer experience. Start a free trial today.
