Introduction

9 out of 10 consumers read online reviews before making a purchase and nearly 62 percent will not buy from a company that censors business reviews. Moreover, brands that receive only one or two stars on review platforms such as Yelp or Google risk losing 86% of their prospects.

Not only is researching a brand already part of the average purchasing process, but studies also show over 90% of customers use search at every stage of their customer lifecycle. Another 85% use social channels to discover and decide whether to make a purchase.

Sweeping unfortunate events under the rug won’t do much. The smallest businesses and their consumers have an online presence thanks to the internet. It doesn’t take much to bring news to the limelight and make it viral, especially if it’s a negative one.

The actions that you undertake as a business do shape your brand’s reputation. For instance, if you decide to embezzle millions of dollars, put cyanide in your donuts or openly support weapons smugglers, these actions will have a marked impact on your reputation.

Though you control your business’s information to some extent, you don’t control everything and practically you can’t.

This leaves your reputation in the hands of those running your company and more precisely in the minds of those who perceive your company. A restaurant may have had a reputation problem for years because once a waiter was having a bad day.

But how can a business keep track of every comment or question posted online? It’s humanly impossible. Are you thinking to get your hands on a magic lamp?

You need a system that helps build your business in a positive light, while also allowing you to quickly address any negative feedback before it escalates. The best way to keep an eye on what people talk about your business is with a reputation management service.

What is an Online Reputation Management Service?

Survey reports reveal that a company’s online reputation is responsible for at least half its market value. To ensure your business is accurately represented online, you need an online reputation management (ORM) service.

ORM services are specific to what people are saying online, on review sites, forums, groups, or social media.

It involves monitoring any conversations about your brand, responding to questions or comments, and addressing any negative feedback that might damage your reputation.

As this is already such a large part of a brand’s reputation, reputation management, and online reputation management services are practically the same thing. Through these efforts, you can strengthen the credibility of your brand and positively influence purchase decisions.

For instance, Nike has a great reputation for timely, effective social media reputation management. They have a dedicated Team Nike support account on Twitter that responds to comments and feedback in almost real-time.

How to Find the Best Online Reputation Management Service

With so many different online reputation management companies to consider, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Not all of these will be ideal for your business. The following methodology will help you narrow your focus to just one or two top options, based on your precise needs and select reputation.com alternatives.

• Ethical Practices and Methods

Ethical methods are techniques to increase a brand’s reputation through actions like social media monitoring, positive review management, and SEO content creation.

Generally, these are proactive ways of responding to customers directly and putting more information out there which accentuates your company’s positive attributes.

• Maximum Transparency

Improving a company’s online reputation is not something out of this world. It takes real work doing measurable and demonstrable things. A reputable ORM should be able to explain these things clearly and concisely.

Your reputation management service should be able to describe the “what” and “how” of their work for you. It is better to set the terms & conditions mutually rather than cry over spilled milk.

• Channel-Specific Solutions

There is no standard recipe for all. The type of business you have and your current reputation will dictate the best option for you.

A startup company with no online presence will not need the same ORM strategy as a well-established brand with a huge digital footprint.

For example, Go Fish Digital is great for Yelp reviews. This is perfect for businesses like restaurants and auto services that rely on Yelp as their primary reputation driver.

• Industry-Specific Expertise

Look for an online reputation management company that has experience working with similar brands to your own. Some companies specialize in B2B or enterprise-level organizations, while others are best for small businesses.

There are online reputation services made for specific industries that lean heavily on customer reviews, like retail, healthcare, hospitality, and automotive brands. Find a reputation manager that offers a solution for your business type because they know that industry well.

Reputation.com Alternatives

Most people use Reputation to help them with customer segmentation, dashboard, and feedback management, but it might not be the right choice for you.

Looking for an alternative to Reputation?

Whether ease of use, affordability, user rating, or value for your money is your priority, there are a lot of other tools out there that could be a great match for your needs.

To ensure your business is accurately represented online, take a look at the following reputation.com alternatives:

1. Xoopah

Maintaining multiple platforms for customer communications such as Google My Business, Website Chats, Email Marketing, and SMS campaigns has always been a hassle, especially for start-ups and budding enterprises.

Due to the lack of an all-in-one customer interaction management solution, SMBs find it difficult to satisfy the new generation of consumers who prefer interaction via texts and chats rather than voice calls or look for easy contactless payment modes.

Need to know about a solution which does that all and more? Xoopah has all the traits you have been looking for a thousand years.

Through Xoopah, SMBs can streamline their consumer journeys and provide an enhanced digital experience. With all the different customer interaction tools they were previously using Xoopah has offered a comprehensive solution to that. You can focus on what matters the most, managing customer relationships, rather than managing platforms:

Due to covid, many businesses with strong local roots were also forced to go digital or otherwise they were on a verge of shutting down with unbearable losses. Xoopah has removed the technological hurdles for SMBs by providing a platform that balances hi-tech with hi-touch.

Xoopah ensures the transaction is convenient for both you and your customer. Reduce average payment time & improve collection rates by onboarding a complete, one-stop payments tool for.

all your payment-related tasks. You can process payments, refunds, chargebacks, & add-ons easily with Xoopah’s Payments tool.

What do businesses love the most about Xoopah?

• Build a consistent online presence with this comprehensive business platform
• Customer management made it easy to help local businesses succeed
• Stay on top of the business game by effortlessly booking appointments
• Effectively manage promotional campaigns
• Streamline payment processes by providing contact-less payment options to your customers

2. Birdeye

It is an all-in-one experience marketing platform that provides multi-location businesses with the data and tools to deliver great experiences at every step of the customer journey. Using the Birdeye platform – AI, messaging, and automation tools – businesses are delivering great customer experiences to 100 million people.

Over 80,000 businesses use Birdeye every day to attract new leads with listings, reviews, and referrals, convert them into customers with webchat and payments and delight those customers with surveys, ticketing, and insights – all in one place.

Birdeye has been serving businesses and enterprises spread over a wide spectrum of industries from healthcare to real estate including financial services, legal, automotive, retail, hospitality, insurance, and many more.

If your small business does not have enough online reviews or needs to get more reviews on various platforms, Birdeye should be a top choice for you. Birdeye’s pricing starts at $250 per month but it also offers a free trial.

3. Webimax

WebiMax offers every online reputation management service a business needs, plus digital marketing services. For companies looking to improve their reputation, WebiMax uses a multipronged approach to identify and counter harmful reviews or content that is damaging a company’s reputation.

Some reputation management companies specialize in one service, such as helping your company get new consumer reviews, or offering a few services, like content creation or review management, WebiMax handles it all.

Its services include search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, online PR, web design, lead generation, and local marketing. The ability to tap into all of these services can help ensure your strategies are consistent and are delivering a high ROI.

WebiMax does not require clients to sign a long-term contract. Instead, work is done month to month, which means you don’t have to keep paying for a service that isn’t delivering results for your business.

Due to its flexible, comprehensive services and great customer support, WebiMax is a good option for small businesses as the best online reputation management service. Its pricing starts at $400 per month. Though it does not offer a free trial, you can request a free SEO consultation.

4. Podium

Podium is not your typical reputation management company. Instead of offering “typical” ORM offerings, it takes a more proactive approach with an automated way to garner reviews and one that is incredibly effective.

Text with customers, get more reviews, collect payments, send text marketing campaigns, and centralize your communications, all with Podium. There are case studies and testimonials from Podium explaining how businesses went from 3,000 reviews to over 50,000 online reviews after using automated messaging.

For example, if a customer just purchased an item or service from you, Podium will send them a text message asking for a review. Your customer can click on a link in the text that sends them to Google, Facebook, or whatever site your industry relies on and they can leave a review for you.

Starting with $289 per month, Podium offers three pricing plans including essential, standard, and professional. You can also enjoy a free 14-day trial of Podium.

Conclusion

Keeping a close tab on your business reputation is critical to digital success. Internet is the first place people turn to when searching for information about a person, company, product, or service, and a big portion of their online research involves browsing online reviews.

Whether you are a startup building a reputation from scratch or an existing company repairing a damaged brand image, online reputation management services have you covered. Choose the one that has experience with similar businesses and industries to avoid surprises, confusion, and random shots.