Podium Pricing Overview

Podium integrated well with our point of sale software and had all the features we were looking for in a service of this type. would have been great if it actually worked.

The pushy and underhanded sales tactics and general lack of customer service were beyond belief. It's impossible to get a straight answer up front as to what the service will cost, but once you get on a sales call, you're hit with the "sign right now and get a discounted rate of ____". We weren't interested in being forced into a contract, so we declined at first. Later, we went back, negotiated a reasonable rate, and agreed to a month-to-month plan to try the service out. It was a fail from the start. We have multiple locations and were paying to have separate numbers for each, but the integration only worked at one. Weeks turned into months as we were shuffled between account reps, helpdesk, tech support, managers, etc. Every time we'd try to resolve the issue, we'd wait days for responses only to eventually be given new contact information for someone else who would be looking into it for us. After 3 months of paying for a service that only worked in a fraction of our locations, we sent an email to every contact we had for the company indicating that they had one week to correct the issue or we would be dropping. We heard nothing from them, so after the week, we emailed to cancel. At this point, we get the classic "what can we do to get you to stay?" customer service rep, but stayed firm - we were done paying for a service we weren't receiving. That SHOULD have been the end of it, but the next month... we were charged again. We reached out and were told it was a billing mistake. But then we were charged again.... and again. Three additional months of charges and a billing department that claimed it was unable to process refunds. We had to fight to get our money back and were prepared to simply file a chargeback with our bank. Start to finish, it was the worst customer service experience we've ever had with a B2B company.

None. We dropped them and are glad to be done. The best part of our relationship with podium was when we dropped them and moved on to a competitor that provided superior customer service.

Taking the conversation from a web chat to a text chat is amazing. We have had multiple transacting clients come from an initial chat on Podium through our site. The immediacy and personal-ness of it speaks volumes to our clients. I also love being able to easily ask for reviews on google and Facebook. It has given us a simple tool to increase reviews drastically. We are also just at the beginning stages of implementing the feedback aspects of the software, and we are enjoying that we are not having to create a new tool or pay for a new software for that.

The software is awesome, and we can afford it as a company, but I don't know how reasonable the pricing is for an individual entrepreneur. Also, I get almost no contact from our account rep. I don't know who it is, and the ones I have known seem to change regularly. In other words, I don't feel any personal connection to the company, or that they know us, our account, or even care if we exist. I also don't love their rigid contract. That contract feels like by locking you in, they don't have to go overboard to keep your business, and that shows in the lack of interaction we get from them.

We have benefited from taking a web chat to a text conversation. We used to have a different software that meant you had to stay on that particular webpage in order to chat. Now, the customer can pop in, shoot over a question, and we can take the conversation offline wherever they may go.

They are well funded and have armies of salespeople at all the tradeshows. Chances are they can spend some money on you or give you free stuff. They have a good logo. The software is easy to use.

It seems they are preying on older small business owners who don't understand how the internet works. Almost everything Podium does you can already get for free from Facebook or Google. And if you want CRM-type services, there are myriad cost-effective options that are more robust for your team to use.

We actually get more reviews now without Podium than we ever did when we had their service. We just had to train our staff to ASK in the right way while the customers are still in the store. And we feel it's actually better not to quarantine negative reviews the way Podium does. A rare, public negative review gives our staff the chance to shine and actually resolve the customer concern for all to see.

I like having the ability to have multiple communications channels integrated in one place, to respond to customers enquiries in no time, to get more reliable feedback, and also to increase the chances of hearing back from customers once they leave our dealership.

I don't like the price. From a small business perspective, it's a valuable but pricey tool. Especially when you have competitors hitting the market with new products at a much lower price.

Podium allowed me to improve the overall communication with our customers. We are a much better company now because we can understand ourselves and most importantly, we now how our customers and the general public see us.

Instantaneous business impact. Many more leads from our website, with a much more direct channel of communication with patients as opposed to traditional email forms. Many helpful tools (webchat, leads, review solicitation in one easy link, internal feedback, payments, etc)

Nothing! It offers lots of great business tools in one convenient spot. A little pricy compared to competitors, but we feel the value is worth it at this time.

Instant communication with patients, especially right now during COVID. It was invaluable while our office was closed for 3 months. We have realized benefits from increased internal feedback to identify issues and complaints that otherwise have gone non-verbalized, increased reviews, increased patient satisfaction with the ease of text booking, and have been able to implement our virtual check-in COVID protocols and forms via Podium.

Podium integrates with my CRM when no one does and we are able to speak to our clients in a timely fashion. It has also dramatically increased our collection ability for past due receivables.

I definitely would like a lower cost to the monthly fee as well as the per transaction charge on payments but I'm pretty sure I would say that regardless of the cost.

We solicit previous clients (with their permission - make sure you get that in writing!), Accept payments on past due accounts receivable balances, communicate with clients regarding product inquiries and it keeps us from having to use our own cell phones!

Easily capture lots of google reviews! It also easily allows our sales department to reach out to customers to get their feedback. Has helped us quickly build up our organic reputation.

Kinda pricey? Honestly still learning where there could be improvement.

Review gathering and being able to clearly see all reviews. Also helps assist our sales dept with understanding the value and importance of collecting reviews and positive feedback from customers. Wish we could measure ROI of reviews collected.

How efficient and effective it is, know when and what my costumers want

The alerts to my phone, email every time I’m assigned a costumer

Knowing what my costumers want and feel about us