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 Pricing Overview
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
(91)
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
(1-25 of 42)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
March 11, 2024
Dont Sign an Agreement with Podium!!
- 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
- 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 28, 2022
Great for review generation. Not so great with customer support.
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Builds Google reviews
- Texting platform that makes communication with customers so much better.
- Payment system is quite easy to use and the card readers are easy to use
- Campaigns. Need explain to user better how to reach ALL of your contacts
- Need to have better customer support and ease of calling support. Text support is way to slow to respond. A texting service and I refuse to text support.
September 27, 2022
Terrible experience with Podium
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 03, 2022
Happy but Wanting
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- The payment functions are easy to use and customers like it.
- The integration with Facebook makes it easy to convert messages to leads.
- Our entire team finds it easy to use.
- The mobile app from an admin standpoint is not as informative as the browser version.
- The inboxes and where things end up are often confusing, it is often hard to find conversations.
- If Podium had document signature options and surveying functions it would be a one-stop shop.
September 02, 2022
MAKING THE MOST OF PODIUM
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- 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.
September 02, 2022
Simple View
- Another source for the public to reach us directly
- Allows us to communicate directly with the customer who cannot come in
- Provides us with follow up contact information
- Filter out spam
September 02, 2022
Did you Podium today?
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Easy interface
- Customizable templates
- Easy to request firm reviews
- Quick and easy processing of payments
- Maybe enable a video message
- Allow for workflow integration, intake docs, onboarding, etc.
August 30, 2022
Step up to Podium for one of the best means of communicating to your clients and staff
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Maintains conversations indefinitely, so we are able to go back to confirm details from conversations.
- Provides the ability for our company to have a 'team' messaging platform where we can communicate with one another via single person to a single person, groups where we can add/subtract members of the group... this is invaluable to our organization.
- Until today(!), we could 'share' or forward a message to one another; oddly, that feature disappeared just today, so I'm hoping it's a glitch!
- I would LOVE the ability to search messages by keyword. Often, I remember a conversation and wish to copy/paste from it, but only remember a keyword, not the name of the client.
- I HATE the way the conversation is automatically assigned to the last person who messaged a client after the message has been closed and then reopened. Just because one of our interns delivered a repair and sent the google review link does NOT make him/her that client's consultant.
- Currently, Podium opens a huge sidebar on the right with details about the conversation, client's data, etc., and this is automatic. If I WANT that info, I'll click on the bubble; in the meantime, leave the chat window wide.
August 30, 2022
We've somewhat fallen out of love with Podium
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Credit card payment processing.
- Text communication between our field techs, office, and customers.
- It helps generate online reviews but we need to be able to track who sent out the invitations like we used to.
- We need to be able to once again track who sent the Podium review invite when we also send a credit card payment request.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- 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
- 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
- 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.
May 19, 2022
Don't take no for an answer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Harass you
- ignore you when you turn them down
- listen to your clients
- learn to take no for an answer
- bugging the crap out of me will not change my mind
May 16, 2022
Waste of Time and Money
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Don't know of anything
- it was a complete waste of my money in my experience.
- Truthfulness from the sales staff.
- promp responds from support staff.
- willingness to work with customers when Podium falls so very short of what is promised.
- Getting the setup done in a timely manner. If they can't onboard, don't charge until the setup is complete.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Set Up & Training
- Customer Service
- The Ability to Properly Handle Bank Transfers in a Timely Manner
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- asking for reviews
- support
- clear sales pitch
February 22, 2022
Way to much for services and no ROI
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Website is sharp
- Customer service is horrible from my experience.
- Cancellations terms are sketchy I feel.
- Lack of contact information on website.
November 10, 2021
Podium Rocks Communication
- 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
- 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
- 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