Podium vs Birdeye vs Starloop. Here’s A Full Review

What is the best online review management software available? If you’re asking this question, you’re concerned about your online reputation. And that is great—after all, your digital reputation is your greatest asset. And it’s worth protecting, whatever the cost.

With all the statistics on the importance of online reviews, it makes sense to use online review management software. But which is the best review management solution to use?

It can take a lot of time to review all the various review apps and their features. To help you, we have reviewed two industry leaders against one of the easiest ones to use. So you can make an informed decision, here is a review of Podium, Birdeye, and Starloop.

Let’s start with a brief overview of each before getting into all of the details of these three popular online review management software solutions.

Overview of Podium

Podium is a review messaging software combined with a messaging platform. It has automated features to help users collect more reviews. There is a wide range of features, many of which are aimed at improving customer engagement. With all of your customers’ digital communications in one place, it’s much easier to remain organized and improve efficiency.

Overview of Birdeye

As a reputation management platform, Birdeye is suitable for companies looking to boost their online presence. It does so with features that help increase the number of reviews a business receives and manage those reviews from one visually appealing dashboard. Birdeye connects to numerous industry-specific review sites across different industries, from dental to real estate and travel.

Overview of Starloop

Starloop is a straightforward and effective review management app. It combines review features for Google and Facebook. Users can save time with automation, and it becomes easier to monitor reviews with a detailed dashboard. Starloop takes the pressure off asking for reviews with its unique feature of planting a tree for every review its members receive.

Related reading: The importance of online review management.

A Review of Podium

With Podium, you can set up personalized automated messages to send to customers. This feature allows customers to leave reviews on Google, Facebook, and ten categories of industry-specific review sites. As new reviews come in, users receive notifications, and they can get in-depth reports of their reviews. Part of the reports is the opportunity to compare your review ratings with your competitors.

You can receive all of your messages from channels like Facebook Messenger, Zendesk, and more from one inbox. The inbox has a search option, the ability to filter messages and assign messages to employees once you have given them access. If you need to attach photos or other files to your messages, Podium can attach most file types.

Podium comes with video chat, webchat, and team chat for boosting communications with team members. You can send payment request messages and even create new marketing campaigns.

Podium Pros:

• Podium makes it easier for customers to leave reviews without having to go to other sites.
• Users experience a noticeable improvement with customer service.
• A very user-friendly interface.

Podium Cons:

• Not all of the users feel the price is fair for services that may not be necessary.

Related reading: What are the best alternatives to Podium?

A Review of Birdeye

Customers can receive automated review invites for Google, Facebook, and 150 other review sites from 12 different industries. Reviews from multiple locations can be viewed in one dashboard, and you can quickly share reviews on social media sites, boosting social proof. With a unified inbox, you can connect with all of your customers via web chat, video chat, and mass texting.

Birdeye does a good job at auto-syncing your business listings across 50 different locations, including GMB, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon Alexa, and the Internet Chamber of Commerce. Birdeye Pages ensures that all of your business information is complete and accurate. Both of these features are ideal for boosting SEO and rankings.

Another helpful feature is referrals. This feature enables customers to refer your business to friends and family. It also comes with surveys, a ticketing system, and a wide range of insights.

Birdeye Pros:

• It integrates well with existing systems such as CRMs.
• Good results for generating new reviews and leads.
• The analytics are beneficial for keywords.

Birdeye Cons:

• Many of the best features are only available in the premium package, and that’s almost $400 a month.

A Review of Starloop

First and foremost, you can’t ignore one of the best benefits of Starloop—it’s one tree for one review policy. Starloop sends automated text or email messages inviting your customers to leave reviews. The customer sees that a tree is planted if they write a review. Aside from the obvious impact on the environment, your reputation gets a boost as being a green company. Starloop says that its members triple the number of reviews they receive.

Starloop has also gained a reputation for being one of the simplest review management apps. It takes just minutes to set up and without any lengthy tutorials. Your dashboard gives you a detailed overview of all the reviews received from Facebook and Google. You also receive notifications so that you can reply quickly.

All the features of Starloop come with a 14-day free trial. The Pro package comes with a landing page. Starloop will soon add review widgets and API access. Another thing that Starloop has kept simple is the pricing plan. The monthly cost is only $194—regardless of how many locations or customers you have.

Starloop Pros:

• So far, Starloop has planted over 53,400 trees—that’s close to three times the number of trees in New York’s Central Park.
• You don’t need to sign a lengthy contract.
• It comes with a 30-day guarantee.
• The customer support is excellent both online and over the phone.

Starloop Cons:

• You don’t have features like analytics or competitive benchmarking.

Podium vs. Birdeye vs. Starloop— The Conclusion

So, how do Podium, Birdeye, and Starloop compare? All three review management apps have excellent features for reputation management.

Podium is popular for its ease of use and sentiment analysis. However, many users complain that there’s only an option of a year-long contract. Additionally, there’s no free trial. Considering the high cost of Podium, it seems that this is a steep risk—especially for small local businesses.

Birdeye is also a pricey solution. At least with Birdeye, you have a 30-day free trial to get a feel for some of the features. Unless you make full use of all the features, Birdeye might be a steep investment.

Neither Podium nor Birdeye can encourage customers to leave a review the same way that Starloop can. The ethical incentive of planting a tree is a genuine motivator. Also, the process of leaving a review is so simple that more customers are likely to complete the process. Compared to Podium and Birdeye, Starloop comes out on top for its simplicity and ease of use.

Another way that Starloop excels over Birdeye and Podium is its transparent pricing and policy. This leaves you more reassured about the service. Unlike Podium and Birdeye, Starloop has guaranteed results or your money back. What’s more, you’re not tied to a long contract.

We found that it may not have the rich features of Podium or Birdeye. Still, for cost-effective, quick, and easy results, Starloop is an absolute winner.