Your online reputation is a confirmed ranking factor when it comes to local search results. As many already know – or at least suspect – a high number of positive online reviews on your Google Business profile can help you rank higher in Google search and map results, while poor quality reviews can hurt your local search rankings.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is heavily impacted by the number and quality of online reviews your business gets. The more positive reviews you have, the higher your business can climb in local search rankings, making it easier for customers to find you. However, negative reviews can hurt your brand’s image and push you down in search results. That’s where online reputation management software comes in handy — it helps you stay on top of reviews, boost your online presence, and grow your business.
Table of Contents
What is Online Reputation Management Software
Why Managing Your Online Reputation Matters
Best Reputation Management Software: Comparing Your Options
Honorary Mentions: Best Reputation Management Software for Niche Markets
Best Reputation Management Software: The Wrap-Up
What Is Online Reputation Management Software?
Online Reputation Management (ORM) software is your brand’s protector in the digital landscape. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools designed to monitor, influence, and manage your brand’s online presence across various platforms, including social media, review sites, and forums. By tracking brand mentions and customer feedback in real-time, ORM software empowers you to address both praises and complaints, mitigating potential damage and amplifying positive narratives.
Why Managing Your Online Reputation Matters
Online reputation management can be time-consuming to do manually, but there are tools that leverage automation to channel negative reviews to your company directly and positive reviews to public-facing profiles, including Google profiles.
Reputation management software can automate and streamline the process, allowing you to address negative feedback directly while displaying positive reviews on public platforms like Google. Below is a comparison of the top online reputation management tools available. As a bonus, we also include a few niche online review tools as “honorary mentions,” which might be a good fit for your business type or specific need.
Best Reputation Management Software: Comparing Your Options
Birdeye
Best for: Businesses of all sizes. Pick and choose the add-ons according to your needs and budget.
Pricing: From $299/mo.
Birdeye is a comprehensive reputation management tool that excels in automating customer feedback and online reviews. It offers a wide range of features, including review monitoring, survey distribution, and social media management. With its integration with various platforms, including Google, Facebook, and industry-specific sites, Birdeye provides a versatile and all-in-one solution for businesses across different sectors.
Key Features
Multi-Channel Review Management: Solicit, respond to, and amplify reviews across multiple platforms.
Centralized Dashboard: View and manage reviews from Google, Facebook, and 200+ other sites in one place.
Auto-Respond to Reviews: Utilize AI to auto-respond to reviews at scale, saving time and ensuring consistent communication.
Review Amplification: Boost your online presence by amplifying positive reviews across search engines, social media, paid ads, and your website.
AI-Powered Social Media Management: Generate social posts quickly, monitor engagement, and manage accounts across multiple locations from a unified dashboard.
Pricing
Birdeye offers a tiered pricing model, starting at around $300 monthly.
The cost varies depending on the number of locations you need and the features you choose. For example, the Starter plan offers Reviews, Listings, and Messaging for $299 per location with a prepaid annual plan. The Growth plan offers Reviews, Listings, Messaging, and Webchat for $399 per location with a prepaid annual plan.
Reputation.com
Best for enterprise-level businesses.
Pricing: Estimated to start at $500/mo. (pricing not published)
Reputation.com is a leading player in the reputation management space, especially for enterprise-level businesses. It focuses on managing and improving every aspect of a business’s online reputation, from reviews and surveys to business listings and social media.
Key Features
Review Monitoring and Generation: Aggregates reviews from across the web into a centralized dashboard for easy monitoring. Helps businesses generate more positive reviews by sending automated review requests to customers after interactions.
Content Scheduling and Publishing: Allows businesses to schedule and publish social media content across multiple platforms from one interface. Monitors social media channels for brand mentions, customer feedback, and industry trends to help businesses stay informed.
Customer Surveys with Feedback Analytics: Enables the creation and distribution of customer surveys to gather feedback on products, services, and overall experience.
Reputation Score Calculation and Benchmarking: Provides a proprietary reputation score that reflects a business’s overall online reputation based on reviews, social media presence, and customer feedback.
Customer Experience Management with Journey Mapping: Helps businesses map out and optimize customer journeys by identifying critical touchpoints and areas for improvement.
Pricing
Reputation.com doesn’t list its prices publicly, as it customizes pricing based on business size and needs. However, it is generally considered more expensive, starting at around $500 per month.
Podium
Best for small to mid-sized businesses that want an all-in-one platform that focuses on customer communication and online reputation
Pricing: Starting at $399/mo.
Podium stands out for its ease of use and focus on customer interaction. This tool is particularly popular among small to mid-sized businesses that want to enhance customer communication while managing their online reputation. With features like text-based communication, review generation, and payment processing, Podium ensures a user-friendly experience for all its users.
Key Features
All-in-one Platform: Manage all your messaging, payments, text marketing, phone calls, reviews, and third-party apps in one account— what Podium calls Swiss-army-knife style.
Text-Based Review Requests: Podium excels at driving customer reviews by sending automated review requests via text message. This approach significantly increases response rates and helps businesses quickly gather positive reviews.
Text-to-Pay: Podium offers a unique text-to-pay feature that allows businesses to send payment requests via SMS, enabling customers to pay directly from their phones. This feature simplifies the payment process and improves cash flow for businesses.
Lead Conversion: Podium’s webchat feature is designed to convert website visitors into leads by initiating conversations that seamlessly transition to SMS, allowing businesses to continue engaging with potential customers even after they leave the website.
Automated Workflows: Podium automates collecting feedback and reviews by triggering requests based on customer interactions or completed transactions. This creates a steady flow of fresh reviews, enhancing online reputation without requiring constant manual input.
Pricing
Podium’s pricing starts at $399 per month for the Core Plan and $599 per month for the Pro plan, with more comprehensive packages with AI add-ons available at higher price points.
Reviews.io
Best for eCommerce businesses
Pricing: Good news! There’s a free option that offers some customer insights and review features. Paid packages start at $99 per month with more robust tools and options.
Reviews.io is a reputation management tool focusing primarily on collecting and showcasing customer reviews. It’s an ideal choice for eCommerce businesses, as it integrates seamlessly with major eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Magento. Reviews.io also offers advanced features for managing Google Seller Ratings and creating user-generated content.
Key Features
Focus on Attributes: Use actionable data from product and company review invites with additional questions to enhance the shopping experience, drive personalization at scale, and improve product performance.
Survey Data and Reporting: Surveys provide the tools to deliver targeted messaging and product change that speaks directly to audience interests and needs.
UGC Management Tools: Manage photo reviews, videos, and Instagram mentions all in one place—or tag products in any image to create shoppable UGC galleries for individual products or brand categories.
AI-Powered Review Management: Streamline your review collection and review replies with AI. Our tools improve efficiency and provide deep analysis, transforming your review management strategy.
Pricing
Of course, the free version can get you started, but the paid package pricing starts at $99 per month, making it one of the more affordable options on this list. Additional features like video reviews and Google Seller Ratings come at higher tiers.
Yext
Best for businesses with multiple locations or those that rely a lot on local search.
Pricing: The Premium Package is $999/year and includes PowerListings+ and Review Monitoring.
Yext is known for its powerful business listing management, which directly influences local SEO. Beyond just review management, Yext ensures that business information is accurate across various online directories. This makes it a top choice for businesses with multiple locations or those heavily reliant on local search.
Key Features
Business Listing Management: Yext enables businesses to manage their online presence across multiple directories, search engines, and social platforms, ensuring that accurate and up-to-date information is consistently displayed everywhere customers are looking.
Review Monitoring and Response: Yext’s review monitoring and response tools allow businesses to easily track and manage customer feedback across various platforms, providing timely responses to build trust and improve customer satisfaction.
Local SEO Enhancement: Yext enhances local SEO by optimizing business information such as name, address, phone number, and more across all online channels, boosting visibility in local search results. By leveraging structured data and location-based strategies, businesses can improve their search rankings and attract more local customers.
Analytics and Reporting: Yext provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that offer insights into customer interactions, listing performance, and overall brand visibility across digital platforms.
Voice Search Optimization: Yext prepares businesses for the growing trend of voice search by ensuring that their information is optimized and structured to be easily found by voice-activated devices. This feature increases the chances of a business being discovered through popular voice search platforms like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.
Pricing
Yext’s pricing starts at $999 per year for the Premium plan, which includes PowerListings+ and Review Monitoring, plus the ability to generate personalized responses, track trends, and request reviews from customers. It is generally more cost-effective for businesses with multiple locations.
Honorary Mentions: Best Reputation Management Software for Niche Markets
While the tools above are the industry leaders, several other reputation management software options cater to specific business types or offer unique features. Here are a few worth considering:
Best Free Reputation Management Software: Marketing Miner
Marketing Miner works with SEO auditing, link prospecting, keyword research, brand monitoring, keyword suggestions, and more. This platform has more than 50 online reputation tools in total, with a free package that lets you get a project up and running with several monitoring features.
Best Reputation Management Software for Agencies: Grade.us
Grade.us is designed for marketing agencies that manage the reputations of multiple clients. It offers white-label solutions, allowing agencies to brand the software as their own. Key features include review monitoring, reporting, and multi-location management.
Best Reputation Management Software for Small Business: NiceJob
NiceJob is tailored for small businesses, focusing on automating the review collection process. It integrates with various platforms and offers affordable monthly pricing, starting at $75. Its simplicity and effectiveness make it ideal for businesses starting with reputation management.
Best Reputation Management Software for Online Businesses: Trustpilot
Trustpilot is a globally recognized review platform that allows businesses to collect and display customer feedback. It’s popular with online businesses, especially in the eCommerce space, for building trust and credibility with potential customers.
Best Reputation Management Software for Trades Contractors: Signpost
Signpost is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool with robust reputation management features. That means it pulls double duty to help contractors like electricians, plumbers, and other service businesses gather reviews, automate follow-ups, and improve customer engagement, making it a strong contender for this sector.
Best Reputation Management Software for Restaurants: OpenTable
While primarily known as a reservation platform, OpenTable offers robust review management features for restaurants. It allows restaurant owners to manage customer reviews directly through the platform, ensuring that positive experiences are highlighted.
Personal Online Reputation Management Tools: BrandYourself
BrandYourself is a tool designed for individuals who want to manage their personal online reputation and protect their privacy. It offers reputation monitoring, content suppression, and social media management. This tool is ideal for professionals who want to ensure their online presence reflects their personal brand.
Online Reputation Management Tools for Hotels: Revinate
Revinate is specifically designed for the hospitality industry. It offers reputation management tools tailored for hotels, including review monitoring, guest feedback surveys, and reputation reporting. It’s a top choice for hotels looking to enhance their guest experience and online reputation.
Best Reputation Management Software: The Wrap-Up
Choosing the best reputation management software for your business depends on various factors, including your industry, business size, and specific needs. While the tools we’ve covered here are among the best in the market, assessing each option is essential based on the features that matter most to you.
Whether you’re a small business looking for an affordable solution, an agency managing multiple clients, or a large enterprise needing a comprehensive tool, there’s reputation management software out there to fit your requirements. Investing in the right tool will help you protect and enhance your online reputation, ultimately driving more traffic, conversions, and revenue for your business.
