Podium is an all-in-one platform offering easy-to-use tools to help businesses grow.

With subscriptions starting at $249 per month, Podium offers a range of marketing services, app integrations, custom branding, website reporting, and other tools for small to large business owners.

Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about Podium and how it works today in our review.

What is Podium?

Podium, found at Podium.com, is a business services provider offering a range of packages and plans. You can use the all-in-one platform to manage customer relationships, grow your business, and interact with customers in an efficient way.

Here’s how the makers of Podium describe the platform:

“Podium is a platform that allows local businesses to easily communicate with, market to, and collect payments from their customers.”

Over 100,000 businesses use Podium to grow and manage customers, including small, medium, and large businesses.

Podium offers a simple, step-by-step onboarding process, documentation training, and phone and chat support to make the transition easier. Subscriptions are priced at $249 to $600 per month and include a range of services for businesses of all sizes.

Podium was founded in 2014 in Lehi, Utah. Today, the company has grown to serve businesses around the world. Podium earned $100,000 in revenue in 2019 and now has offices in Australia and Brazil.

How Does Podium Work?

Podium aims to provide an effortless customer experience that’s as easy as sending a text. The goal is to make it easier for customers to find and interact with local businesses.

Podium can make it easier for a business to appear first on local search results, for example. It can also make it easier for businesses to manage customers and maximize the value of each customer.

Today’s customers need to interact with businesses as quickly as possible. They’re used to ordering and getting the information they need with a few taps.

One perk of Podium, for example, is collecting customer reviews through texts. Podium can text customers who have recently made a transaction, then ask them for a review. When that review appears on Google’s listing, it bumps the business higher in search results while putting more social credit in front of potential customers’ eyes.

Getting found is only the beginning with Podium. Podium also makes it easier to draw customers in. Half of customers choose to do business with the first business that responds to them. Podium can respond to customer queries instantly, helping them make appointments, check inventory, and begin a relationship with your business.

When customers are ready to pay, Podium also makes it easy to collect payments, no matter how customers prefer to pay.

Other perks of Podium include templates, automated messages, shared appointment reminders, confirmations, scheduling, shared customer records, contact profiles, customer relationship management (CRM), and more.

Finally, Podium brings all of this information into a single platform that supports texts, emails, video chatting, and more. You can manage all of your customers, payments, and services from one convenient platform.

Podium Tools

Podium’s platform offers a range of tools separated into three main categories, including Growth, Communication, and Payments.

Growth

Podium can help you attract more customers and keep them coming back, allowing your business to keep growing. Podium offers Growth services like:

Reviews to improve your reputation

Website chat to capture website leads

Text marketing to grow your business with text campaigns

Communication

Podium also helps you communicate with customers. You can instantly respond to customer requests you receive through multiple channels, for example, proving to customers you’re a responsive business. Podium’s Communication tools include:

Inbox to manage all messages in one place

Channels to message through Podium, no matter where you’re found

Contact profiles to see every customer’s activity

Payments

Podium offers payments, including seamless payment processes to help you grow your business. You can contact customers to request payment, manage and receive payments through multiple methods, and use your hardware card readers to gather reviews and opt-ins, among other perks:

Payment services, including an easy way to modernize payment tools

Text payments, letting customers pay through a single text

Card readers, including hardware to gather reviews and opt-ins

Podium Customer Reviews

Podium has a customer review feature, encouraging customers to write reviews for your business to propel it higher in local search rankings. Local reviews can make or break a business. According to Podium, local businesses see over double the monthly review volume in fewer than 60 days.

With Podium’s review organization tools, you can make customer reviews your competitive advantage. You can make it easy to find and choose your business on Google, Facebook, and other platforms.

Plus, you can manage all of your reviews from a single dashboard. Podium’s dashboard lets you:

Automate review invites

Manage reputation across multiple sites

Free up time to focus on running your business

Send customers a simple review invitation via text, turning happy customers into your biggest advocates

Some businesses use Podium to improve a dismal rating, for example. Other businesses use Podium to look better than competitors by exceeding competitors’ ratings in local markets. Podium can improve a business’s online presence by organizing and optimizing reviews.

Webchat

Podium offers a web chat feature, letting you start customer interactions with text-based communication and helping you stay connected long after customers leave your site.

According to Podium, the webchat tool can generate up to 11x more inbound leads from your website. Some of the perks of Podium’s webchat feature include:

Collect quantity and quality leads

Collect lead information from customers before the conversation even starts

Allow your team to focus on delivering great customer experiences and closing deals

Connect the way customers prefer; webchat immediately takes the conversation to text, helping customers stay connected while allowing you to manage the conversation like you manage everything else in your inbox

Turn leads into customers without leaving the conversation box; Podium lets you deliver great experiences, close deals, collect payments, gather reviews, and drive repeat business within the same conversation

Marketing Campaigns

Podium claims to be the only channel with a 98% open rate with text campaigns that deliver immediate responses and measurable results.

With Podium, a single text can drive thousands in revenue. You can send a text to your customers about a discount code or promo, for example.

Podium offers marketing perks like:

Launch campaigns in minutes from the Podium platform

Create custom campaigns or start with a template

Market to customers without cutting into your busy schedule

Always send the right message, targeting specific groups of customers with content personalized to them

Grow your audience and your business with multiple opt-in opportunities, allowing your subscriber list to build itself and giving you an ample base of potential customers

Designed with compliance in mind

Inbox

Podium’s inbox tool lets you manage all incoming messages and communications from a single place. You can manage customer requests, customer payments, and lead inquiries without leaving the Podium, for example.

Some of the perks of Podium’s inbox include:

Serve customers better by working smarter, allowing you to spend more time on your business

Get every message right where you and your team can see it, helping you respond 5 times faster no matter how customers reach out

Automate everyday tasks to save time for your team

See message status, change assigned employee or location, and manage customers from a single place

Manage customers via text, a platform that customers prefer significantly over other methods

Use the Podium mobile app to keep your whole team up to date, no matter where you’re at

Channels

Podium organizes multiple channels into a single platform, centralizing third party messaging apps and email to help your team stay focused. You can communicate using the channels customers prefer – without the hassle of managing multiple channels on multiple platforms.

Some of the perks of Podium’s channels include:

Avoid tap-jumping and manage everything from a single Podium interface

You and your team can efficiently manage every channel from one convenient inbox

Keep leads from slipping through the cracks, helping potential customers find your business from several different channels

Serve each lead quickly without the hassle of monitoring multiple tools

Have better conversations with customers, and give customers the responses they need in the channel where they originally messaged you

Businesses use an omnichannel approach to reach as many customers as possible. However, this can make it difficult to manage the customer experience. Podium makes it easy. It’s modern, all-in-one customer relationship management.

Payments

Podium also makes it easy to manage payments. Payments made through Podium gather more reviews, generate higher quality leads, and centralized customer data to communicate and market in a better way.

Some of the perks of Podium’s payment system include:

Manage customer payments via text, requesting payment from customers through text message

Receive payments through multiple methods

Use Podium’s hardware card readers to gather more leads and opt-ins

Use Podium Payments to get insight into your customer’s buying preferences, letting you use effective, targeted outreach in the future

Get paid faster through text, because 95% of texts are opened within 15 minutes

Request reviews after payment to turn your best customers into your biggest advocates

Accept all payment methods, including swipes, dips, tabs, and mobile wallets using the Podium Payments hardware device

Podium is Personalized for Different Industries & Businesses

Podium is available for small, medium, and large businesses across a range of niches and industries.

Some of the different industries and businesses that can use Podium include:

Auto: Podium can help automotive businesses hit sales quotas by driving leads and simplifying communication. In fact, Podium was founded to help the co-founder’s father improve the reputation of his tire business. His father had plenty of happy customers, but only the handful of angry customers were leaving bad reviews, lowering his reputation. Podium helped turn good customers into the business’s biggest advocates.

Retail: Podium can help retail businesses attract new customers by improving the online reputation of the business and matching it with a personalized customer experience, helping to attract leads and turn them into customers.

Home Services: Home services businesses, including contractors, hot water technicians, painters, and other home services, can use Podium to keep up with demand without being overwhelmed.

Professional Services: Podium helps professional services businesses deliver a better experience, respond to clients faster, and eliminate unnecessary busy work. Professional service providers can manage payments, contact clients, and manage their business through Podium’s platform.

Healthcare: Podium can help your healthcare business – like a local clinic – become the highest-rated option in the area while improving the patient experience and increasing retention.

Dental: Podium can deliver an unmatched patient experience for dental customers, increasing retention and reducing stress for staff.

Financial Services: Financial services providers can get more customers, credit applications, and accounts by improving their reputation, showing customers they can be trusted to manage their finances.

Agencies & Partners: Agencies and partners can use Podium’s best-in-class platform to simplify the customer journey.

Podium Features & Benefits

Overall, Podium aims to “make it almost too easy to do business with you.” By attracting new customers, retaining those customers, and managing the customer experience from start to finish, Podium can help businesses grow and succeed.

Some of the advertised features and benefits of Podium include:

Get New Customers on Repeat: Podium can help you build an online reputation that new customers can’t ignore, then deliver experiences to keep customers coming back again and again. New customers can interact with your business quickly, get instant information about inventory, and pay – all in minutes through the Podium platform.

Deliver a Better Experience Every Time: Podium offers seamless functionality from first impression to payment, helping businesses respond faster and smarter to queries. You can use Podium to instantly answer customers’ questions, prove you’re a responsive business, and retain customers.

Grow Your Business Instead of Your To-Do List: Many business owners get lost in the tedium of managing a business, including behind-the-scenes paperwork and juggling multiple platforms. Podium aims to simplify things, helping businesses grow their business instead of their to-do list. Businesses can use Podium to minimize the back and forth with customers, helping business owners stay focused on what matters most to their business.

Used by 100,000+ Businesses: 100,000+ businesses already use Podium, including everyone from small, local businesses to larger, nationwide companies. One Mattress Firm manager, for example, claims Podium has led to higher average tickets, better customer experiences, and larger average purchases, among other perks.

Step by Step Onboarding: Podium offers step-by-step onboarding, including a simple experience to introduce your business to the benefits of the Podium platform.

Phone & Chat Support: Podium offers full support via phone and chat, making it easy to get the answers you need whenever you need them.

Documentation Training: Podium has a resource center to help train team members and staff on how to maximize the benefits of Podium.

14 Day Free Trial: Podium offers a 14-day risk-free trial with no strings attached. You can try Podium to see if it’s the right fit for your business before signing up for a full Podium subscription.

Podium Subscriptions & Pricing

On the official website, Podium.com, they offer three subscription packages, including Essentials, Standard, and Professional. Pricing ranges from $249 to $649 per month.

Here’s how pricing and subscriptions break down:

Essentials ($249 / $289 Per Month)

• $249 per month when paid annually, or $289 per month when paid month-to-month
• Ideal for small businesses who are getting started, as well as self-employed individuals
• Supports 1,000 contacts and up to 3 team members
• Capture online reviews instantly
• Access text-based website chat
• Easy-to-use text marketing
• 100s of app integrations
• Simple and secure payment processing

Standard ($409 / $449 Per Month)

• $409 per month when paid annually, or $449 per month when paid month-to-month
• Unlimited contacts and unlimited team members
• Ideal for businesses that are expanding, online and in person
• Podium’s most popular plan
• All of the benefits of Essentials
• Personalized setup and onboarding
• Website reporting and customization
• Automated review invitations
• Customized branding

Professional ($599 / $649 Per Month)

• $599 per month when paid annually, or $649 per month when paid month-to-month
• Unlimited contacts and unlimited team members
• Ideal for advanced business solutions for a mature business’s needs
• All of the benefits of Standard
• Automations that streamline tasks
• Round robin lead routing
• Personalized automated FAQs
• Multimedia marketing messages

Podium 14-Day Free Trial

All Podium subscriptions have a free 14-day trial. You can sign up for any plan for free for 14 days to determine if you like it. If not, you can cancel Podium without charge or further penalty.

About Podium

Podium was founded in 2014 in Lehi, Utah by co-founders Eric Rea and Dennis Steele.

The company earned $100 million in revenue in 2019 and has 1,300 employees worldwide. In 2018, Podium opened an office in Australia. In 2019, they opened an office in Brazil.

Podium was originally known as RepDrive. The company rebranded to Podium in 2015.

Podium co-founder Eric Rea was motivated to launch Podium after his dad’s tire shop was facing a frustrating problem: his tire shop had plenty of happy customers, but only the handful of angry ones were leaving reviews. Eric made a product that made it easier to collect reviews from happy customers just by sending a text.

Today, Podium continues to help businesses around the world manage customer interactions via text, organize reviews, manage customers, and grow their business in the most efficient way possible.

You can contact Podium via the following:

• Online Form & Text: https://www.podium.com/contact-us/
• US Headquarters: 1650 W Digital, Lehi, UT 84043
• Australia Office: Level 7, 222 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Final Word

Podium is a customer relationship management platform designed to help businesses grow, interact with customers efficiently, and manage their business from a single platform.

Based in Utah, Podium has grown to power 100,000 businesses around the world, including small to large businesses.

To learn more about Podium or to sign up for a free 14-day trial with Podium today, visit the official website at Podium.com.