What is Reputation Manager?

Reputation Manager (RM) is a tool that makes it easy for you to manage your online reputation.

Online reviews are among the most important factors in a successful local search strategy. Research identifies three key ways that a proactive online reputation management strategy can help local businesses:

Improve consumer trust

Searchers feel more confident in a business’s ability to deliver great service if they have a high review score and review quantity — this helps businesses to convert more inquiries into sales. According to BrightLocal research, 57% of consumers will only use businesses that have '4 or more' stars. Discover more about this here.

Improve click-through rate

Google returns star ratings and review counts in their local search results. Searchers are more likely to click through to a business with a higher star rating and review count. Interestingly, a business gets 25% more clicks from Google’s Local Pack by going from a 3-star rating to a 5-star rating. Read more on this here.

Improve rankings

Having more positive reviews than your competitors helps make sure your business is returned for a local search. Currently, local search experts believe reviews account for 16% of all local ranking signals. Learn more about this here.

In the past, it’s been difficult for online marketers to influence online reviews. After all, marketers don’t typically have face-to-face interactions with customers, and rarely dictate processes around customer interactions — this is why Reputation Manager was built. The platform sends intelligent review invites to customers, giving the business the best possible chance of receiving new online reviews that meet top review sites’ guidelines.

It also provides detailed reporting and customer feedback for internal use, which helps you develop your business over time.

There are four parts to Reputation Manager:

1. Review Insights

Get a complete picture of your online reputation at a glance, with review data pulled together from all the sites your customers use to leave feedback.

Track your average star rating and total review count over time, and see exactly how your review growth trends across all sources or by individual site. Break down your ratings by star count and compare performance across review sources like Google and Trustpilot to spot patterns and opportunities.

Filter by source, date range, or review type to dig into the details, then use these insights to prioritize where to focus your review generation and response efforts.

2. Manage Reviews

Keep track of your reviews across the review sites that matter to you in one easy-to-understand report. See every review from across your connected sites in one central list, filterable by source, star rating, and date range. Take action by viewing each review on their source site, where you can respond directly.

Once your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) and Facebook accounts are connected to your review monitoring report, we will check for new reviews every day. You'll also be able to respond to reviews on these sites directly from within this report.

Reports are fully white-labeled, making it easy for agencies to share with clients.

3. Review Generation

Grow and enhance your reputation by generating more reviews on the sites that are important for your business.

Create email or SMS campaigns to contact your customers and invite them to give feedback on your service (using a 0-10 NPS rating), then direct them to your chosen sites to submit reviews. Or utilize a request URL to direct customers straight to a landing page requesting a review.

Every email, landing page, and URL can be customized with the logo, colors, and text to match any brand. We also have Link and Kiosk Modes available to capture reviews at the point of sale, and beyond.

4. Reviews Widgets

Beautifully display your customers' reviews from across the web on your own pages to deliver powerful social proof and increase conversion rates.

With Showcase Reviews, you can use Reputation Manager as an end-to-end solution for managing reviews. Monitor Reviews → Get Reviews→ Showcase Reviews.

Choose one of our widget styles, select the reviews you want to publish, and use the customization options to match your business's brand and style. Once you’re happy, just copy and paste the lightweight embed code into your site.

To learn more about building a five-star reputation with Reputation Manager, enroll in BrightLocal Academy for free today.

If you're new to reviews, check out this free course in Brightlocal Academy - A Beginner's Guide to Generating and Managing Reviews.

Some useful next steps: