Local Business

10 Local Business Customer Rating and Review Platforms

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as the successor.

Want to get more customer reviews? There are plenty of reasons to do so. They help build brand awareness, increase credibility, and improve search rankings. Plus, they let you know the customer’s mindset about your business, and its products or services.

Because consumers rely on the influence of others like themselves, ratings and reviews can serve as a powerful marketing tool, to increase in-store or online traffic and sales.

One of the best ways to get customer reviews is through the use of software platforms designed specifically for that purpose. Here are ten such platforms, priced with local small business budgets in mind.

1. Grade.us

Grade.us

Grade.us uses a “review funnel” process to solicit reviews.

Grade.us provides a way to ask and remind customers to review your business using what it calls a “review funnel” process.

With the platform, you can:

  • Drive customers via a customizable landing page or embeddable widget on your website to a conversion funnel that routes them to review sites specific to your location or industry;
  • Increase review volume and quality by using an automated email sequence that asks, reminds, and guides customers through the review process;
  • Intercept unhappy customers before they leave a negative review;
  • Monitor third-party review sites for new reviews;
  • Share positive reviews to social media and publish them on your website;
  • See results with monthly reports;
  • Automatically stream 4- and 5-star reviews on your site.

A free tool also lets you “grade” your business, to see where it stands regarding customer reviews on a range of third-party sites.

Grade.us free review tool.

Grade.us free review tool.

Pricing: Free. Premium plans start at $25 per month. An agency program is also available.

2. GetFiveStars

Get Five Stars

Get Five Stars features the Net Promoter Score.

GetFiveStars is a customer feedback and online review platform that helps you listen, evaluate, and market your customers’ experience with your business.

The platform automates the customer feedback process, to capture your Net Promoter Score, customer testimonials, and online reviews. You can also manage and monitor your online reputation, to see reviews posted to third-party sites.

It automatically requests and tracks customer feedback, prevents bad reviews, and pushes positive testimonials out to your website. It also encourages happy customers to leave online reviews across the Internet.

The system sends a customized email to start the feedback process after you enter your customer’s email address, which you can do by entering addresses one at a time or uploading a list. It asks customers to rate how likely they are to refer your business to a friend and to comment on their experience.

A testimonial widget, embedded on your site, displays customer testimonials. The platform allows for manual control of the testimonials, or you can automatically set it for feedback above a specific rating score.

Lastly, the system sends email alerts when customers rate you below a certain threshold, enabling you to follow-up to and prevent negative online reviews from appearing publicly.

Pricing: $29.95 per location. An agency program is available as well.

3. ModernComment

ModernComment

ModernComment is a social media marketing review platform.

ModernComment is a social media marketing platform that helps businesses grow through word-of-mouth referrals. It allows you to reach beyond your current customer base by enabling customers to tap into Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, to promote your business.

A survey, which you send via email, requests and captures customer feedback and automatically generates a written recommendation. You can track review and recommendation activity through a reporting dashboard.

Pricing: $599 per year plus a $49 setup fee per location. A free trial is available.

4. Power Reviews Express

Power Reviews Express

Power Reviews Express is the small business version of Power Reviews.

Power Reviews Express is the small business version of Power Reviews, an enterprise-class rating and review system. Designed primarily for ecommerce merchants, it works with platforms such as Shopify, 3dcart, Zoovy, and Miva Merchant.

Pricing: Premium plans start at $99 per month. A free trial is available.

5. Yotpo

Yotpo

Yotpo bases its review process on “Five Pillars.”

Yotpo pitches itself as a “customer content marketing platform” that generates reviews, social Q&A, and rich media, to drive traffic and increase conversions for ecommerce businesses.

The platform includes tools designed to improve and boost customer content on what it refers to as “Five Pillars,” which include:

  • Customer content generation;
  • On-site conversion;
  • Marketing;
  • SEO;
  • Retention and engagement.

Pricing: Premium plans start at $25 per month.

6. Reziew

Reziew

Reziew is intended for use by ecommerce merchants.

Reziew is a cloud-based solution that allows online (ecommerce) businesses to collect, manage, and benefit from consumer reviews. The platform is available in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

You must first integrate the platform to product pages on your site by pasting a small JavaScript tag, to capture and display customer reviews.

Pricing: Premium plans start at $115 per month.

7. Rating System

Rating System

Rating System offers customer review and Q&A functionalities.

Rating System’s software allows your customers to share feedback on your website through a rating and review widget. It also features a question and answer widget that lets customers ask questions about your products during the path to purchase. It integrates with Salesforce, for CRM purposes, and provides post-purchase email functionality, to encourage reviews.

Pricing: Free. Premium pricing starts at $30 per month.

8. Shopper Approved

Shopper Approved

Ecommerce merchants and local businesses can both benefit from the Shopper Approved platform.

Shopper Approved offers three review categories: ecommerce merchant, product, and local business.

The local business version lets you collect reviews in a variety of ways, such as print media, receipts, QR codes, phone survey, emails, and mobile devices. Once the platform collects a review, it syndicates it to different online locations that include search engines, social networks, and local directories.

The platform flags negative reviews before customers post them online. When a customer leaves a bad review, you have the opportunity to respond privately, to try and resolve the issue.

Upgrading to the “Local Plus” version lets you manage and update your local business information on more than 60 major local online directories, all from a single dashboard. This includes your NAP, hours of operation, about us, photos, videos, menus, and special offers.

Pricing:

  • Merchant or product reviews start at $597 per year;
  • Local business reviews cost $99 per month per location;
  • The “Local Plus” upgrade costs $199 per month per location;
  • A free trial is available.

9. Re-Vu

Re-Vu

Re-Vu offers a WordPress rating and review plugin.

Re-Vu offers a WordPress plugin designed capture and display customer comments and feedback.

Pricing: $9.95 per month

10. Gigya

Gigya

Gigya includes a WordPress rating and review plugin as part of its marketing platform.

Gigya, an online marketing platform, also offers a rating and review plugin, for WordPress. Customers can post a review and share it with their social networks. Before posting, they must authenticate with a verified social identity.

Pricing: The plugin is only available to Gigya customers. Pricing is not listed on the company website.

Paul Chaney
Paul Chaney
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