Dont Sign an Agreement with Podium!!
I would recommend any other VOIP software paired with another review software over Podium all day every day. Podium was such a bad …
Starting at $249 per month
View PricingOverview
What is Podium?
Podium, formerly Repdrive, is a ratings and review management platform from the company of the same name in Provo, Utah.
Recent Reviews
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
Podium Essentials
$249
Cloud
per month 3 users
Podium Standard
$409
Cloud
per month Unlimited users
Podium Professional
$599
Cloud
per month Unlimited users
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.podium.com/pricing/
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $249 per month
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Podium?
Podium (formerly Repdrive) aims to help businesses make interaction with consumers simple and convenient by focusing on familiar communication channels they already use. According to the vendor, increased interaction with customers makes businesses more visible, improves business operations, and drives purchase decisions. Podium serves 130,000+ users across nearly 25,000 businesses.
Podium Competitors
Podium Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Podium, formerly Repdrive, is a ratings and review management platform from the company of the same name in Provo, Utah.
Podium starts at $249.
Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 9.9.
The most common users of Podium are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(90)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Users have reported a range of experiences with Podium, both positive and negative. On the positive side, many users find Podium to be a useful tool for managing their online reputation and generating customer reviews. They appreciate its ease of use in sending review invites via text messages, which has yielded better results compared to email surveys. The software has helped businesses boost their online presence by addressing the problem of not receiving enough Google reviews. By using Podium, companies have seen an increase in their average rating on Google and have stood out among their competitors.
Furthermore, users have found value in Podium's ability to automate necessary communications and save hours per week that would otherwise be spent on manual tasks. The software allows for custom automated messages, such as reservation reminders, service ticket notifications, and review requests. This automation not only makes businesses appear more professional but also helps them stay organized and efficient. Podium's payment function is also appreciated by users as it simplifies the process of collecting payments for special orders and memberships.
However, there are also several challenges that users have faced with Podium. Some users have reported difficulties during the installation process and a month-long onboarding period. Additionally, there have been complaints about unhelpful customer support and language barriers when seeking assistance. Users have encountered issues with linking phone numbers to the company phone and experiencing problems with form submission when integrating with WordPress.
Furthermore, some users find certain features of Podium to be limited or unnecessary. For example, the reviews tab is deemed pointless as users can simply send customers a link to their Google My Business review tab. Another limitation is that once customer information is uploaded, it cannot be modified or deleted, leading to mix-ups and errors in automated texts.
Despite these challenges, many customers highly recommend Podium for its reputation management capabilities, review solicitation tools, and live chat feature. It has proven valuable for businesses across various industries, helping them improve their online presence, streamline their communications, and enhance their customer experiences.
Intuitive User Interface: Reviewers have consistently praised Podium's user interface for its simplicity and ease of use. Many users have stated that the software is intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing anyone to quickly grasp and utilize its features effectively.
Flexible Message Customization: A significant number of reviewers have highlighted the value of being able to customize messages on Podium. Users appreciate the flexibility to send mass texts or individual messages, tailoring their communication approach based on their specific needs and preferences.
Top-Notch Customer Support: Numerous users have commended Podium's customer support as being highly responsive and helpful. The availability of support via chat has been particularly appreciated by customers, who find it convenient to reach out for assistance whenever they encounter any issues or require guidance.
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Poor Customer Support: Several users have expressed dissatisfaction with the customer support provided by Podium, describing it as unhelpful and sketchy. They have mentioned that their issues were not resolved in a timely manner and felt frustrated with the lack of assistance.
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High Pricing: Some users found the pricing model of Podium to be poor, stating that the software is considerably more expensive compared to other systems like Reputation.com. They feel that the cost does not justify the features and functionality offered by Podium.
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Difficulties with Setup and Onboarding Process: Users have reported difficulties with the setup and onboarding process of Podium, suggesting that it should not charge until the setup is complete. They have mentioned facing challenges in getting started with the platform and believe that a smoother onboarding experience would greatly improve user satisfaction.
Users highly recommend using Podium as a valuable tool for businesses. Despite its cost, users believe it is worth the investment and suggest exploring all the features and options available on Podium's home page for better understanding. They also recommend ensuring that Podium can integrate with all the software used by the business.
Podium is praised as a great tool for tracking customer conversations, follow-up, and live chats. Users suggest using it to its full potential in order to enhance client interaction. Many reviewers believe that Podium is the best product on the market for customer communication and driving revenue.
Users highly recommend Podium for its user-friendliness, great support, and simplicity. They advise fully implementing Podium in the business and getting the team fully on board with using it for asking reviews. It is also recommended to have friendly competition within the team both for the number and quality of reviews.
Overall, users advise trying Podium and taking advantage of its free trial period to experience its benefits firsthand. They suggest using it to gather feedback, create an online presence, and increase online reputation. Users praise Podium's integrations with other tools and emphasize the importance of being accountable with review invites, sending them right after customer interactions.
Although there are a few users who advocate against using Podium and suggest alternative platforms, many others find it to be a valuable addition to their business toolbox.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-21 of 21)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
March 11, 2024
Dont Sign an Agreement with Podium!!
I would recommend any other VOIP software paired with another review software over Podium all day every day. Podium was such a bad experience for us, even if they offered to give us free access I would not use it. In our experience, the onboarding took more than 2 months before we could use the phones and only the phones non of the other fancy features could be used. When we addressed this with customer support they were like, "idk" (I don't know). In my opinion, nobody from the Podium appeared to care. We were offered money back and instead, they accidentally charged our bank more money. In our experience, when we tried to address it, they sent us to collections. I just cant express how bad I think they were. I don't know how they are in business.
- Collections
- contracts
- marketing
- Onboarding
- Customer support
- Product
- Way overpriced
September 28, 2022
Podium: Messaging App for Businesses
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use Podium currently just to text customers, however, I'd like if we could use their phone service too (assuming you can call using your personal phone but under the podium #). I don't work on commission so I would prefer if customers weren't calling/texting my personal line after I clock out. With Podium, it's an app on my phone so I can still access text messages from customers at home if it is an emergency. I sell to customers who text in using our "chat system" on the website & it allows us to see what page the consumer was engaged on when they texted us. A lot of times we will get messages like "what is the price for this item?" & we can click the link shown in the chat to see what item they were looking at-it's really convenient! We have text lines for each of our locations, & although they all have a different phone #, on the business side we can see all messages from all locations at once & easily transfer them between locations since we do have two different types of stores with different merchandise, & a main location with the most inventory options in case someone texts into the incorrect location. You can see a leaderboard of all users & how many messages they have sent or how quickly they answered incoming messages which is super fun.
- Texting customers
- Reviews
- Customer support
- Quick access to incoming website inquiries & ability to reply just as fast
- Has loading problems sometimes
- Room for improvement: Be able to pin or star certain conversations to keep open for only the individual user who owns unless searched (max of 8 as not not clutter) to see to keep the open conversations among all users a bit clearer & separate pin/star function for the overall store for very important conversations (i.e. customer has a question that requires more experience-all users can see the question has been pinned for further investigation)
- Room for improvement: Be able to see who has seen a message on mobile platform
- Room for improvement: Some kind of indication/marker to all users on incoming, (first-time or webchat only) conversations that have not been answered within 45 mins- hour of operating hours
September 27, 2022
Terrible experience with Podium
I intended to use it to get reviews for my two e-commerce websites. I scheduled an appointment to get started. I asked a question about using it for both websites, and the person never got back to me. I asked the sales representative to help and got no help. In my experience, I received nothing from the service and still paid. In my experience, I have called four times asking for a refund and never got a response. I feel this is a terrible company.
- Sales person closes the deal
- Customer service answers the phone (even though, in my opinion, they don't help)
- Deliver on promises
- Call customers back
- Give refunds when no service was provided
I was hopeful about the service. I have a virtual assistant outside the country, and he always had issues sending texts to our clients. The idea was to have my assistant log in to Podium to send those texts. We really tried to work the service into our follow-up contacts with our clients. After many months (maybe a year), we tried to cancel the service because we did not feel we were getting the value for the $500-ish monthly charge. We were then given the option to go down to a lower-tier service for about half that amount. (Side note: We should have been on THAT program from the beginning.) So we gave that a try for a while. In the end, we decided that we were not even getting the value out of THAT lower-tier service. We tried to cancel, but in my experience, we were told this was an ANNUAL service, and we had to keep paying for a full year (for a service we wanted to cancel). It feels like I tried to cancel my cell phone but was told, "You can cancel your phone... but you have to pay full price for the next 12 months."
- In my experience, Send you bill for 11 months after you try to cancel.
- In my experience, Charges you annually for a service you use months
- In my experience, They are great at billing you for the wrong amount
- They should stand behind their product. I feel if someone cancels, they should be able to cancel.
- In my opinion, the accounting department never seems to have their stuff together
- In my experience, it is hard to get a human on the phone, unless they are signing you up.
September 08, 2022
Product Malfunctions
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our company acquired this service as its parter with our dealer program. We had the miss-fortune to encounter massive issues within the platform and anxiety cripples when you know you have a contract for a year. This review is not intended to harm the company but to help them understand from the customer's stand point how they are lacking, and also to offer future customer's of podium understand what they are in for. First of all Installation was a nightmare, it took them a full month to properly onboard, I was asking for help via email and support was copying and pasting previous emails, or they were setting me up in a call with sales team to ask me to upgrade my plan, Huh?...
The account manager we were supposed to get never reached out until we started asking to cancel the service. After this they allocated a new person which was super helpful creating cases to all the issues we were finding a long the way.
The account manager we were supposed to get never reached out until we started asking to cancel the service. After this they allocated a new person which was super helpful creating cases to all the issues we were finding a long the way.
- Campaigns tab has a massive issue when downloading the results of each TXT campaign the columns do not migrate to what you see on the portal.
- Automated inbox rules are fully useless, first they can't be customized and second of all they do not drive incoming traffic correctly to each bucket.
- Inbox is impossible to organize all of your customer will be dumbed in one bucket.
- Phone number can't be linked to current company phone some clients mentioned they see it as a Spam Contact form lead connections glitch massively.
- Our website its on Wordpress and we had to constantly check if the leads were coming in. As of today we don't know how many customers we lost. Although our volume wasn't huge we did get a customer emailing saying he submitted the form and no one contacted him. Critical issue.
- The use case for the reviews tab its pointless as anyone can send the link for their GMB review tab. Podium should consider customizable micro-sites to make it branded and avoid bad reviews.
- Once a customer's information its uploaded into the system it CAN'T be modified nor deleted. We don't know how many of our customers went through this mix up hence why we were very careful with campaigns. We notices two clients having mixed up information. So when Automating a text it was another's client name but their phone and name were correct. Critical issue to call a client a different name just because of an error of automation.
- Templates where very useful but had to use as we manually had to review that the issue mentioned above was not interfering with the data of the customer and their name
- Txt camapigns
- Automated Txt
- Platform performande and Editability
- Troubleshooting and Customer service
- Feedback reciprocity and funding on improvement of platform
September 06, 2022
Probably best suited for a very large company.
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Podium for text messages from customers who go to our website, review links to Facebook and Google and intra-office-to-field-technicians communication. This solved our problem of not getting enough reviews on Google that we needed. We don't advertise at all, so we needed our Google numbers up. We also use it to text our customers who want text messages only. For us in the office, it creates a lot more work than we think it's worth, it's very hard to keep up with incoming text messages when we also have so many phone calls, tons of emails and only 6 people to answer phones.
- Canned text
- linked to Google reviews
- ability to attach documents to text messages
- There should be a way to block spam.
- There should be a way to delete messages.
September 02, 2022
MAKING THE MOST OF PODIUM
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Podium to contact customers regarding payments, reviews and general communication needs. We wanted to up our review score on google. I also found it to be great to have the option for customers to pay on the secure link through their phone. I enjoy the feature of being able to connect with the customer through text/
- send payments request to customers
- letting me know the payment has been made
- having the funds deposited into our account timely
- sending text messages right away
- the customer service people are not good at answering the questions you have. they are just looking up the answers on a computer. i don't feel that they are actually using the product. i called in with what i thought would be an easy answer from someone that uses it and i finally figured it out on my own weeks later.
- i wish the credit card processing fee was just a little cheaper. i get a better rate when the customer is in the office paying.
- i would like to see it automatically send review invitations without me having to input everyone for the day.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Podium integrates with our POS seamlessly. We are able to deliver custom automated messages to our members for reservation reminders, class reminders, notifications of completed service tickets, notifications of special orders to pick up, membership payment reminders as well as review requests. These custom automated messages save us hours a week and complete necessary communications that would otherwise be forgotten. We appear more professional to our customers while we save on payroll hours. Podium also allows us to cut down on phone calls by inviting our customers to reach out via text instead of time consuming phone calls. We also use the payment function to easily collect payments for special orders and memberships. Since joining Podium 2 years ago our customer reviews have grown exponentially and we currently have a healthy 4.7 star average on Google.
- Automated text reminders
- Automated text payment requests
- Automated text review requests
- Stopping automated texts when the event has been canceled in our POS.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use it to communicate with customers and team members. When we have scheduled customers, we use Podium for text reminders. We use it to get and track new reviews, and we started using the credit card payment system as well. Both through text and card readers.
Before Podium, we were having trouble getting customer reviews. We spent a lot of time on the phone with reminder calls and tracking down payments. Now we have a steady stream of reviews coming in, and business has increased considerably because of them. We hear on a regular basis that new customers are using us because of our reviews. We have eliminated a tremendous amount of time that was being spent making phone calls and trying to track customers and payments down. Simply texting them and collecting payments on the spot is saving approximately 30 hours a week of admin time.
Before Podium, we were having trouble getting customer reviews. We spent a lot of time on the phone with reminder calls and tracking down payments. Now we have a steady stream of reviews coming in, and business has increased considerably because of them. We hear on a regular basis that new customers are using us because of our reviews. We have eliminated a tremendous amount of time that was being spent making phone calls and trying to track customers and payments down. Simply texting them and collecting payments on the spot is saving approximately 30 hours a week of admin time.
- Get Reviews
- Communicate with Customers
- get credit card payments
- have a customer history of all communications. we have found this extremely valuable
- Some way to filter out the spam messages coming in.
- There used to be a report that showed keywords from reviews. Unfortunately, it went away and was not replaced.
June 13, 2022
Communicate how your customers want you to
We wanted to open up our communication channels with our customers to better accommodate their communication preference. We currently use it to solicit for reviews of our business on social media, we compare our rating across online platforms with competitors, we offer the ability to start a text conversation to get questions answered and we can view and respond to incoming inbox messages through Facebook and Google in one place with a larger team.
- Combines social channels and allows communication across multiple in one place
- It offers a much higher open rate of messages than email
- It syncs with our visitors' phone numbers and allows us to contact them immediately after their visit
- Stop harassing your current customers to upgrade their account when they are already a customer.
- Have had issues with website pop-ups after installing the text support bubble widget.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I'm 2 weeks into the first month and it's still not set up. The setup call was focused on connecting to google my business, which was not our priority. They send us emails, and we respond, but no one responds to actually help. I wouldn't mind the delay in setting up, except they charge you from the day you sign the contract, so we're halfway in the first month and nothing to show for the $449.00 we paid. From the little bit, I was able to set up on my own, it does not work as the salesperson described. I was sold on this service as a live chat/communication platform that would bring text, email, and live chat all into one box. It does not work this way. It is not a live chat. Customers open the chat on the site and then it moves to text on their phone. I have yet to figure out how emails will come in and no one has told us how to get our text rights released for our phone number, so we can't even use what we have set up. Incredibly disappointed at spending 449.00 for something that has been no benefit to us so far and with the lack of support, not looking like we'll get anything out of it, so we've already requested it to cancel.
- asking for reviews
- support
- clear sales pitch
November 10, 2021
Podium Rocks Communication
We use Podium, integrated with Service Titan as well as on its own to contact customers as well as to request reviews. It is one of my favorite contact methods, so I personally use it all day every day
- Immediate contact
- Request Reviews
- Allows customers to choose how they contact, either by cell phone, or through Google very easy for customers
- I get a lot of weird phone calls through podium maybe make it so calls cannot go through? Never ever answered a call thru podium. Always weird numbers. likely spam
- Often times people CANNOT use the review link. This is an ongoing issue that we cannot resolve.
- Sometimes folks can write in but we cannot respond nor see how they wrote in
November 06, 2021
Deceptive sales from [...] account Executive
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Podium has a really sharp looking web chat plug-in. The Google review tool is nice, but unless you are handling hundreds of reviews per month, the pricing is very steep.
- Sharp looking web chat
- Poor pricing model
- Non-existent customer support
- Misleading sales
- No phone number
- No-call no-show on appointments
July 22, 2021
Podium is an important tool for every business
At Achieve Today, we use Podium as a tool to help our customers write a review of their experience with their education easily. Our students love our solution and education, but sometimes sharing that experience with others can be daunting. Podium makes it easy.
- Makes reviews easy
- Manage reviews and respond
- Track reviews across multiple sources easily
- I really would love the ability to show all review sites for the customer to choose from as the first option, rather than taking them through the flow. Podium allows you to push customers to specific sites, which is valuable. But I would also like the option to switch to display all sites so the customer can choose.
September 30, 2020
Before buying, look at the negative reviews!
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We needed two features that Podium offered: 1) To have a live chat on our website to engage with clients, and 2) to assist our employees in requesting and securing reviews from actual customers and users of our products. It was being used by the Service and Sales department, which encompasses more than half of our employees.
August 07, 2020
Great reputation managment
We use Podium for reputation management online. We send out review invitations through our POS at the time of sale. Customers leave reviews on Google, Facebook, or other sites that they choose. This app has helped us advertise that we are the highest rated furniture store in our area. We also use them to communicate with our customers in a live chat via our website.
- Reviews
- Customer communication
- Reputation management
- Goggle visibility
- Price
July 28, 2020
Podium has increased our business dramatically!
Podium is used at my company to get reviews from our customers. It is so easy to use and has made a huge difference in our online presence.
- Easy to use.
- Helps with SEO.
- Customers like it.
- Staff members like it.
- The cost is a bit high.
- No direct phone number for support.
- Does not work with Yelp.
We utilize Podium across multiple channels of our organization. They fall under the following categories:
- Billing and Payments
- Sales Development and previous client acquisition
- Customer Service
- Forward thinking
- Rapidly responsive
- Integration with POS
- Very expensive
- Becoming more geared to enterprise-level clients
July 23, 2020
My Podium Review
We use Podium for text-based interactions with clients from both our sales and service side of our business. It addresses two problems: 1.) We are able to have customers directly text us from our website when browsing our inventory and 2.) We can interact with customers using text without having to use our personal cell phones.
- The UI is easy to use and simple to learn. Anyone can grasp the software quickly and get up and running fast.
- Easy to maintain multiple conversations at once in an organized manner.
- Ability to send attachments via text is A+.
- The notification system is clunky.
- Conversations seem to have to be manually refreshed once new messages come in.
October 11, 2018
Podium = more reviews for your business!
We are using Podium across our retail organization that sells furniture to consumers. We send a link to every customer who purchases from us. The link asks the customer to rate us on either Google or Facebook. We are getting about a 10% return on this which is getting us the important reviews we need online so when potential customers look at us they see our great rating!
- Podium sends a link directly to our customer's cell phone or email and with one click the customer can leave us a review.
- Every time there is a review made I get an email alert so I can answer it.
- There is a good backend website that shows all of our requests, reviews, ratings, etc.
- It would be nice if after a certain amount of time that you designate, a reminder text or email could go to the customers that did not do the review the first time.
November 14, 2017
Podium gets results and boosts our online reputation
Podium is used by the sales departments of all six dealership locations within our auto group. In the automotive retail business dealerships which choose not to ask all of their customers to review them online end up misrepresented with a larger share of their upset customers using review sites as a forum to vent or leverage the dealership's reputation against them to get something they want; while a relatively small percent of happy customers don't think to write a review. Podium gives our salespeople an easy and effective tool to ask every customer to write a review so that car shoppers who read reviews as part of their online research will get a more balanced and accurate feel for the experience they can expect to have when they come in.
- Podium is intuitive and easy to use. All the dealership employee has to do is open an app, enter in the customer's name and cell phone number, and hit 'send'. Simplicity and ease of use translate into greater buy-in and utilization.
- From a consumer's perspective Podium makes it really easy to write a review. It gives the customer the option to write a review on any number of review sites determined/provided by the dealership. When they select the review site they wish to post on, the customer is taken directly to the page where they can give a star rating and write about their experience.
- From an administrative perspective, it is very easy to set up and manager new users, manage which review sites are listed, and view helpful reports.
- If Podium could find a way to report back from Google and other review sites when a user referred to that review site by Podium actually posted a review and tie those reviews to the person who sent the invite to the customer, that would help to add another layer of accountability and recognition to salespeople who are following the process.
- I'd like to see Podium add a service where they respond to positive reviews on behalf of the dealership and provide suggested responses to bad reviews which the dealer could accept, reject, or edit and post.
- Another functionality that could improve the Podium product would be a tie-in to social media. A way to share reviews on Facebook, invite the customer to follow up on social media, and perhaps even a way to take a picture of the customer with their new car and post it to our page.