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 Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 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
(1-6 of 6)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
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.
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
December 08, 2017
Podium is effective to
We use Podium to ask for a review from current and new customers in both sales an customer service. Podium solves the ability to solicit a review, provide the platform for a customer to submit the review and the immediacy of a review on social media.
- Creating an admin user [to be] able to create reports based on locations, users, etc
- Multiple locations are separate but [with] limited ability to combine them under one user
- Master user with ability to combine all locations
- Combined reporting for multiple locations
- Ability to add reviews to multiple social media platform
December 08, 2017
Stand at your mic and build your business with Podium
We use Podium to connect with patients after visits. The entire medical staff uses it and we have found that not only is it easy and convenient for us, it is quick and simple for patients to do reviews. We selected Podium when we were not getting results in asking patients to go to social media sites on their own and do reviews. Now, it is a text message to the patient; one click for the patient and the review can be do in 60 seconds.
- The strength of Podium is in ease of use for the reviewer.
- For the manager charged with customer service delivery at the highest level, Podium makes it easy for me to see the review first, respond accordingly and to quickly identify areas in which the staff needs help.
- It is quite a sufficient tool as it is.
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.