Customer review management: our favorite software

It is a fact confirmed, especially by this 2017 study: many customers buy their products based on reviews on the Web. We can’t stress enough the importance of having a good digital reputation for any structure that wants to perpetuate its activity.

Customer review management software allows you to track customer reviews, generate new ones (e.g. through email campaigns), analyze reviews and manage them in the best possible way. They are therefore essential to optimize your digital reputation.

Every structure is confronted with the issue of customer reviews, but depending on the type of structure (e-commerce platforms, agencies, B2B or B2C activities…), the needs are not the same.

In this article, we present you the best solutions for managing customer reviews according to your needs!

What is a customer review management software?

Managing customer reviews is more than just a part of your overall reputation management. With the right software, you can get real value out of it, and not just in terms of reputation.

To do this, the best customer review management software offers the following features:

• Review Tracking: Review tracking software allows your team to stay on top of new reviews, validate positive points raised and look for solutions to problems identified by customers.
• Generation of new reviews: This is the optimization of the management of reminders or customer requests. The goal is to have a constant flow of (good) reviews. With the right software, you identify the right moments and the best way to solicit your customers.
• Intelligent review value management: With specialized software, you can determine when and on which platform the added value of an additional review will be most interesting (for example, on Capterra, G2 or Trustradius?).

Managing customer reviews starts with accurate tracking

To manage your customer reviews effectively, you must start by ensuring a precise and methodical follow-up, which is similar to tracking. Because you can’t optimize what you can’t measure.

Managing customer reviews is the next step after monitoring. It allows you to analyze the data from this monitoring and to draw consequences (actions to be taken and best practices to be implemented), particularly in relation to the objectives initially set.

A good review tracker therefore looks at both positive and negative reviews, but also at neutral reviews. A good tracking of customer reviews does not leave any out: it draws potential from each review left on any type of platform. This is essential to ensure effective management afterwards.

Top 10 customer review management software

#1 Reviewflowz: Ideal for B2B software and services companies

Easy to use, Reviewflowz is a great option for service companies and B2B software. Its detailed, easy-to-use dashboard puts everything in one place and has a search to find specific reviews.

Reviewflowz supports platforms such as Capterra and G2 and integrates with Slack, allowing your team to access the same information.

Reviewflowz offers 4 different plans:

• A free plan that tracks reviews for two company profiles, with the ability to add additional profiles for $5/each.
• A $20/month Lite plan giving access to statistics, analysis, and reports.
• A Premium plan at 50 euros per month, which allows you to follow an unlimited number of company profiles, and to follow the opinions of your competitors.
• An Enterprise plan, which offers all Reviewflowz features, and dedicated customer support.

#2 ReviewTrackers: Ideal for businesses that think in terms of local marketing

ReviewTrackers is ideal for businesses that think in terms of local marketing. It offers comprehensive tools for reputation management, customer experience analysis, local SEO and local list management.

The software offers effective analytical tools that can turn customer feedback into actionable information. ReviewTrackers also offers competitive market analysis.

ReviewTrackers offers a payment system based on the number of sites the customer wants to monitor: monitoring 1 site costs $119/month, 10 sites costs $52/month per site, and 100 sites costs $33/month per site.

We advise you to book a demo to get a quote, as the site is not very precise on the prices of the plans.

#3 Podium: Ideal for mid-market companies that need local marketing

Podium is an all-in-one notification management software that will delight mid-market companies that need local marketing.

It offers growth, customer communication and payment features. Podium has an excellent review generation engine and text marketing features. The dashboard is very easy to use and centralizes all information.

Podium proposes :

• An “Essentials” plan, at $249/month, with instant notification capture and SMS marketing. But it’s limited in the number of contacts and collaborators.
• A “Standard” plan, at $409/month, open to an unlimited number of contacts and collaborators, and offering integrations, personalization features and automatic invitations to leave reviews.
• A “Professional” plan, at $599/month that gives access to all of Podium’s features, including advanced automation features and multimedia marketing messaging.

#4 Birdeye: Ideal for franchises

Birdeye is the ideal customer review management tool for franchises. This software helps to collect reviews, send messages to potential customers and has a customer reference feature.

Birdeye offers several integrations and integrates with Google’ s private API to get direct customer reviews from Google.

For $299/month, Birdeye’s Standard plan offers review monitoring for over 150 sites, and integration with Google My Business. For $399/month, the Professional plan adds web chat functionality.

Birdeye also offers customized plans based on the number of locations and the needs of the business.

#5 Grade us: Ideal for more traditional businesses

Grade.us is a great option for traditional businesses because it seamlessly automates the reputation management process.

Grade.us can integrate with any review site, making it an asset to a wide range of industries. In particular, its blog has many pages of resources and information on managing reviews.

Grade us offers 4 different plans:

• A “Solo” plan, at $110/month/person, which provides access to an unlimited number of review sites, integrations, and email review campaigns.
• A “Professional” plan, at $60/month/person (for 3 people included, i.e. $180/month), which extends the functions of the Solo plan to several employees.
• An “Agency” plan, at $40/month/person (for 10 people inluded, or $400/month), which opens access to the API.
• A “Partner” plan, at $25/month/person (for 100 people included, i.e. $2500/month), which also provides single sign-on (SSO).

#6 Yotpo: Ideal for e-tailers

Yotpo is a great solution for online businesses. It offers comprehensive tools for review generation and subscriptions.

With Yotpo’s widgets and social sharing features, you can easily leverage customer reviews in creative ways on your website, Google and Facebook.

Yotpo’s free plan includes automatic email notifications. Yotpo offers 2 plans for brands in creation or development: the “Growth” plan, at $19/month and the “Prime” plan, at $119/month, which allows access to priority support.

The tool then offers two plans for installed companies: the “Premium” plan, which gives access to all integrations, and the “Enterprise” plan, which offers dedicated security systems, consultations, and managers responsible for customer success.

#7 Partoo: Ideal for franchises that rely heavily on Google Maps

is the ideal software for franchises that rely heavily on Google maps.

Partoo is powerful for managing and collecting reviews, as well as for talking directly with customers. It allows you to easily update online information (especially on google maps) and to optimize your website and your news on networks.

For companies with less than 20 establishments (shopkeepers, freelancers, and self-employed), Partoo offers a single rate of 60 euros per month, excluding taxes.

To know the rates of Partoo for companies with more than 20 establishments (brands, franchised chains, and networks), it is necessary to ask for a customized quote.