Podium

Avantages

One place, multiple platforms combine. Appointment Center Reps do not need to check multiple dashboards, log in to multiple sites. It is all very transparent who sent what, saw what, etc. There are sites that are cheaper but we like the simplicity of this one. We can text customers and employee, create templates for consistent messaging, request reviews, NPS, all in one place.
We know there are additional products available such as payments on Podium that we choose not to use. There is more that can be done with it than we need.

Inconvénients

It is not the cheapest platform for what we are doing but it is comfortable and does a great job.
Would be interested to see group, mass messaging, and schedule messaging.

Avantages

Podium makes managing high volumes of texts easy

Inconvénients

The lack of customer service is truly boggling. It is literally impossible to get someone on the phone. The poor integration should have been my first clue. We lost three days of business and nobody cared. Podium Customer service makes your local DMV look like Chick-fil-a or some other excellent customer service organization. I will be leaving the second my contract is up. The amount of money they charge is absurd compared to other similar products.

Avantages

Many things to like about podium

- Fills the gap between sending out blanked newsletters and cold calling customers
- turns genuine review, conversations into real customers
- Provides sms followup, mobile notifications, web chats, video chats
- Team chats and collaboration feature
- Deployment is easy

Inconvénients

Would have benefited from a free trial plan for small businesses to try before they buy.

Avantages

Podium is a great product to use if customer engagement and feedback response is a top priority for your business. You are able to see all the reviews that people leave, whether on Google or Facebook. I received a weekly email report which would detail how many reviews were received for the week. There is an option to send out a text campaign to all number in your system, this is a great option to promote an event. Also, if your business has different locations, Podium allows you to manage them separately.

Inconvénients

Nothing negative to say about podium, but a mobile app would be a great addition.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

Simply put, the ease of use. Podium allows us to communicate with our customers across various platforms, while being able to send pictures and forward hyperlinks. It's truly a versatile program that continues to serve us well.

Inconvénients

There are the occasional glitches - infrequently, we won't receive email notifications of Podium inquiries. As we typically have the software up and running at all times, this sporadic issue can be minimized.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

It is handy to be able to choose who you send a review request too. Sometimes there are issues (on both sides, customer and business) and it's nice to have a system that will not automatically send review request to everyone.

Inconvénients

It would be great it if pushed into/worked with CRM systems so that all customer data/communication was in one spot.

Avantages

I love how easy it is to answer quick questions that cut down on phone calls to the office. I also can't overstate how helpful the review request templates are for quick texting!

Inconvénients

The mobile app is very flawed. Messages are missed or just not seen, even when I know what I'm looking for. Podium is absolutely a desktop experience from the management side.

Alternatives envisagées 

Swell

Pourquoi passer à Podium

Swell was cheaper and had some very attractive options. Honestly, the only reson we didn't switch is because changing products amid a pandemic was something we didn't think would be wise to inflict on our team.

Avantages

It is easy to use, easy to train people, and it works to get customer reviews in the right place on the internet. Google reviews are king and the Podium works great with Google Reviews.

Inconvénients

The customer support could be better and more knowledgeable. The company is growing fast and they have a lot of new people who do not know the product.

Alternatives envisagées 

Broadly et Birdeye

Pourquoi passer à Podium

They are the best and most reliable. Also, they have the tightest partnership and integration with Google.

Avantages

We enjoy gathering reviews from customers that have either purchased a vehicle or serviced a vehicle at our dealership. Podium's software makes this much easier than casually asking customers to visit a social site and leave a review.

Inconvénients

Honestly, I haven't ever encountered a problem or have an input for updrades.

Avantages

Podium is so easy to use and makes it easier for both staff and patients to be in touch. With live messaging that goes both ways, we are able to help many more patients in day.

Inconvénients

I’ve never really had a problem with podium. Overall it has made a world of difference in how we interact with patients!

Avantages

The software is so easy to use that we have just about everyone in our dealership using it. A quick walkthrough was all our least tech savvy people needed to be able to use it. Since starting with Podium our overall Google rating has jumped up to 4.7 and we have nearly 1500 reviews.

Inconvénients

Occasionally the tagging feature is a little wonky. For example one of our employees has the same first name as the company so he is tagged in every review that mentions the company by name.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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

Avantages

Podium is easy to use and it's affordable. It's easy to connect with customers, help them solve problems, and get their honest reviews and feedback.

Inconvénients

The payment processing was not something we could use because it doesn't sync up with your website or inventory. There are less expensive options on the market.

Avantages

This software is very user friendly and the support staff is readily available.

Inconvénients

They can be pushy with sales emails and wanting to go over additional products.

Avantages

The SMS service, But hey we all have phone anyhow.!

Inconvénients

Everything, The after sales service and support is shocking, The app doesn't always work, leads dont always come through costing me $ and hurting my reputation. I find it faster and easier to just use social media.

Avantages

It helps automate simple customer communications to drive more reviews to our business than ever before.

Inconvénients

I don't think there's anything I dislike about it at this juncture.

Avantages

Having discussions assigned to me allows me to quickly begin addressing inquiries and setting up appointments with clients.

Inconvénients

The phone app is terrible and frequently crashes. Does not offer notifications or gives too many alerts, is difficult to identify or locate the person you are speaking with, crashes or malfunctions

Avantages

This works exactly as described, You can communicate from your website, request and receive reviews. Too you can send invoices that can be credited to your account. This came in handy for after hours reservations by text when we did not want to publish CC numbers.

Inconvénients

Negative was totally about the monthly cost. It was 3x that of the next competitor. Too, they required a 1 year contract which was too much committment.

Avantages

Love being able to talk with customer in real time. Also able to message with them offsite through cell.

Inconvénients

There is nothing about this software that I do not like.

Avantages

The cost is inexpensive and it really does help get reviews

Inconvénients

As new additions and upgrades are coming, it feels like reviews has gone on the back burner. Like everything else is more important. In fact, when another dealer of ours signed up, the reviews shows up as an "add on" for invoicing when this used to be the focus. So, it has also gotten way more expensive over the years. Additions also seem to influence functionality of review aspect on dashboard and things "break" more often. Also, I think that support doesn't work weekends from when we had an issue and I had to call that I wash I got.

Avantages

There’s a lot of companies out there that have products for our digits age but I’ve found one in Podium that is useful. I do all reputation management for the Automotive group I work for and it’s incredibly easy to manager because of Podium. I can connect with all customers from all my stores without needing to have multiple logins and with the easy of a click of a button to switch between stores. Lots of other benefits but this is the one I love most. We want to be in direct contact with all our customers and this tool makes it easy.

Inconvénients

I can’t really think of something I don’t like. The only thing I would think to improve it as a tool that would offer more to the customer is change from automated responses to Facebook messages to a team that handles incoming messages.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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!

Avantages

The review text message changed our search engine position. We got a ton of reviews after deploying this software. It’s always incredible easy to set up and teach new employees.

Inconvénients

Once you send out reviews to a customer you can’t send another one even if it has been months.

Avantages

You can instantly send review requests to sales and service customers the moment their transaction is complete

Inconvénients

N/A, this tool does what it says on the box in every respect

Avantages

Current and potential customers have easier access to us, and we're able to reach a lot more people than we could previously with phone calls alone. Anyone can get the hang of it quickly and the design is user friendly. Any time we have questions customer service is available right away.

Inconvénients

There was one time that they updated the software in a way that did not benefit the specific way that we use it without asking us. We tried to work with it for a while, but after we let them know we weren't crazy about it they rolled us back to the previous version with no problems.

Avantages

This program allows our customers to contact us via text and vice versa, which is increasing the preferred method of communication for our clientele. It allows us to store communications, assign conversations to employees, and ask homeowners for reviews on social media. The review request feature seamlessly links to our preferred review methods, so there is little effort needed on behalf of the homeowners. We have increased the number of reviews on our Google page by 100% since using Podium.

Inconvénients

There is not currently the ability to create private conversations between staff and outside parties, it would be nice to have ways to separate conversations by department, with options to reassign by an administrator.

Avantages

I love the ability to customize templates so that we can reach out to and respond to customers in a personalized, however unified voice, no matter who in the office is responding. Requesting reviews is just a click away as well, and customers are able to choose where they would like to leave a review, which our customers truly appreciate.

Inconvénients

I wish the integration with Service Titan allowed more information to be pulled into the reporting of review requests, and the ability to push information back into Service Titan, however if using this as a standalone option is works great.

Avantages

The promise was to promote more google reviews by allowing field technicians to solicit a review in the field.

Inconvénients

When I tried to cancel because we were getting posts from all over the USA well we only service South Jersey became a waste of time. Few posts were from our area.
When I tried to leave they told me I'm locked in for a year...I can't cancel. Did I get a customer service rep call to ask how they could improve the service or our experience with the service, nothing.

Avantages

We use it for communicating with our patients and our office.

Inconvénients

It is very expensive. I have had it for three years and found out that every year the contract auto renews. I am not stuck paying for NO customer service and constant sales calls for another 11 months. I wish I went with a company that still has a heart. The only way to talk to them is through reviews!

Avantages

I like the integration with my website adding real-time chat and being able to receive texts for my landline. Being able to seamlessly continue a conversation on my cell phone is great.

Inconvénients

Cost was the main problem I had with the software.

Avantages

Podium has been a great tool for our company. It's kept us connected with customers when especially during the recent weeks of floor traffic closure. It's easy to keep track of sales staff response time and information to verify timely responses as well as other opportunities to coach for improvement if needed. Very easy to use and based on feedback easy to set up.

Inconvénients

I haven't found anything missing or in need of improvement at this time. I personally use it more for a monitoring of activity and rarely use it to actually respond to messages.

Avantages

Assign conversations to specific employees

Inconvénients

Customer service and responsiveness!
They will still try to charge you for four months after you cancel and have notified them in writing.

Avantages

Ease of use. Very easy to slip in and send a message. I also like the integration with our CRM software

Inconvénients

Cannot sent to multiple people. For example, there are times when I need to send a message to husband and wife. I can't do that via podium, so I am forced to go tot my cell phone, which is not ideal for my job title.

Avantages

All messages from social media, Google and the webchat come into one inbox, and can be easily handled by the sales team and review requests can be automatically generated.

Inconvénients

Integration for automated reviews had a hiccup for one of the locations that took some time to correct. Also, sometimes the request texts are duplicated.

Avantages

How it has helped us drive tons of positive reviews to our online profiles while also capturing negative feedback so we can act on it quickly and make things right. It integrates with Service Titan which is also wonderful.

Inconvénients

Reporting is spread across their site in a confusing manner until you get used to it.

Avantages

the system is very user friendly and the reports for our leads are great to use

Inconvénients

The system could send multiple of the same leads

Avantages

The software was easy to use and navigate, there were some good reporting features to see how each employee was rating.

Inconvénients

This may work well for other companies but we did not get the response we were hoping for. Very little of our client base bothered providing reviews. In the beginning we had a little traffic but it quickly dwindled to almost nothing at the end.

Avantages

Podium helps us track our Google reviews, collect payments, and communicate with customers

Inconvénients

The support from the company is sometimes very slow. They also sometimes do not have answers to my questions and do not care to help me find a solution.

Avantages

I appreciate how easy it is to navigate through the different pages and separate my message boards from my coworkers. The program is fast and efficient and I have not experienced any issues.

Inconvénients

On a rare occasion, customers have reported that they were unable to open links sent through podium. It is my belief that this was likely user error on their end as I have not experienced this issue.

Avantages

I was hesitant to get Podium at first, thinking that the older staff I had would not use it or have a hard time with it. I was very pleased with the results after the first couple months. It easily integrated with our point of sale system and ALL of our staff used the link to request feedback from our customers. Simple to use!

Inconvénients

Every now and then we will get spam texts to Podium.

Avantages

Podium is the best review software I’ve come across. They make it so easy to request, monitor and respond to reviews. We have it set up for review requests for texts and for Facebook reviews to come through. It helps keep reviews in one place and track. They also have the greatest customer service and are incredibly helpful.

Inconvénients

Something I would like the least is the amount of time it has taken for us to set up a new branch. It’s been a week or two yet we’re having minor issues. It would be a major issue if our reps weren’t nice but they make it easy and we know they’re doing everything they can.

Avantages

I appreciate the simplicity of it's functionality to reach customers directly and collect reviews.

Inconvénients

I dislike that the integration for the version of Profit that we operate is not functional. We have to send out reviews manually, which can be a hassle.

Avantages

I love the texting capabilities with podium. When a customer signs up for an appointment with my booking software (Acuity) they get a text from a real phone number that they can respond to. Other services send a text from a number that does not accept responses. This has by far been the best feature with podium for my business.

Inconvénients

Getting the initial integration setup was a bit more complicated than I would expect, but once the integration was setup it has been smooth sailing.

Alternatives envisagées 

Swell et Birdeye

Pourquoi passer à Podium

Podium seemed to have a lot stronger CSM team to help me get things rolling.

Avantages

easy communication with clients and monitoring. love the emojis!

Inconvénients

Nothing bad to say about Podium! very good software!

Avantages

We like the ease with which we can communicate outbound with our customers from our busy repair business. The native integration with our point-of-sale software for triggering review requests direct to our customer's smartphone. The inbound lead generation from our website and Google search. We've become much more productive and Podium has become an essential tool in our business.

Inconvénients

Nothing in particular. Ongoing enhancements have resolved the issues we had in the early days.

Avantages

The software seems like it would be good if you wanted to spend additional money to integrate with existing systems or if you have a dedicated IT team.

Inconvénients

During the sales I was lead to believe automation would be easy with the software but found the only available automation was if you used their payment system, not workable for my business. They have horrible customer service. Immediately after starting with Podium I found the software would be unusable for my business. I tried to work through the onboarding team to see if there was something I was missing but couldn't get a response and when they finally responded I was unable to get any answers. When I asked to cancel my account they refused a refund and will be charging me for a second month as their terms state 30 day notice.

Avantages

As a multi-location business we needed a solution to cover our unique geographical needs and integrate directly with our CRM. Podium was one of the few that could handle those requirements. Their team handled the whole integration for us and now it is fully automated and harvesting reviews at a record pace. Fantastic support and dedicated account rep.

Inconvénients

I wish it would integrate with Yelp, Angies List and a few other platforms.
The cost is a premium.

Avantages

Was very easy to communicate with customers and send reviews to them as well

Inconvénients

There was a few Glitches every so often where we could not use for a couple hours but most cases it we could just refresh and it would go back to working again!