Podium

What is Podium

Podium is a communication and marketing platform designed for local businesses to manage their entire customer journey. Its core purpose is to consolidate all customer interactions—from webchat, text messages, social media, and online reviews—into a single, unified inbox. This allows businesses to capture leads more effectively, communicate efficiently, and improve their online reputation. Founded in 2014 by Eric Rea and Dennis Steele, Podium is headquartered in Lehi, Utah. The platform uses AI and automation to help businesses respond to leads faster, schedule appointments, collect payments, and request reviews, ultimately aiming to help them grow their revenue and build a loyal customer base.

Podium Features

Podium offers a suite of tools to manage customer interactions and drive business growth.

• AI Employee: An automated assistant that works 24/7 to engage with leads. It can answer common questions, qualify potential customers, and schedule appointments directly into your calendar, ensuring no opportunity is missed.
• Podium Inbox: A centralized dashboard that gathers messages from every channel, including SMS, website chat, Google Business Profile, and Facebook. This allows your team to manage all conversations from one place, improving response times.
• Review Management: This feature automates the process of getting more online reviews. It sends review invitations via text message to customers after a purchase or service, making it easy for them to leave feedback on important sites like Google.
• Webchat: A website widget that converts passive website visitors into active leads. Instead of a traditional live chat that ends when the visitor leaves, Podium's Webchat moves the conversation to a text message thread, allowing for continued communication.
• Podium Payments: A feature that simplifies the payment process. Businesses can send a secure payment link directly to a customer's phone via text message, offering a convenient way to pay for services or products.
• Campaigns: A text message marketing tool that enables businesses to send promotions, announcements, and updates to their customer list. This helps drive repeat business and maintain customer engagement.

Podium Pricing Plans

Podium offers several pricing tiers tailored to businesses of different sizes and needs. Specific pricing is typically provided through a custom quote.

• Essentials: This plan is designed for small businesses looking to manage their online reputation and centralize communications. It generally includes core features like the Podium Inbox and Review Management tools.
• Standard: Aimed at growing businesses, this tier builds upon the Essentials plan by adding features like Webchat and text message marketing Campaigns. It provides more tools for lead generation and conversion.
• Professional: This is the most comprehensive plan, suited for larger businesses that require advanced capabilities. It often includes the full suite of features, including the AI Employee, advanced analytics, and more extensive integration options.

Podium Free Plan

Podium does not offer a permanent free plan, but it does provide a free trial for businesses to experience the platform's capabilities. The trial typically includes access to key features such as the unified inbox, webchat functionality, and the ability to send a limited number of review invitations. This allows potential users to see how the tools can help them capture leads and manage communications before committing to a paid subscription.

How to use Podium

Getting started with Podium is a straightforward process designed to quickly integrate into your business operations.

1. Account Setup: First, sign up for a Podium plan that fits your business needs and complete the initial account configuration.
2. Connect Your Channels: Link your business accounts, such as Google Business Profile, Facebook, and your company website. This allows Podium to pull messages from these sources into the central inbox.
3. Install Webchat: Add the Podium Webchat widget to your website by pasting a small code snippet. This immediately enables you to start capturing leads from site visitors.
4. Configure Automations: Set up automated rules. For example, create an automation to send a review request via text message a few hours after a customer makes a purchase.
5. Train the AI Employee: Customize the AI Employee with information about your business hours, services, and common customer questions to ensure it provides accurate responses.
6. Manage Conversations: Begin using the Podium Inbox to respond to all incoming leads and customer inquiries from one central location.

Pros and Cons of Podium

Pros:

• Centralized Communication: Consolidating all customer messages into one inbox saves time and ensures faster responses.
• Increased Reviews: The automated review request feature is highly effective at boosting a business's online reputation on Google and other platforms.
• Effective Lead Capture: The text-based Webchat is excellent for converting website traffic into actionable leads.
• User-Friendly Interface: The platform is generally intuitive and easy for team members to learn and use.

Cons:

• Cost: Podium can be more expensive than other single-solution tools, which may be a challenge for very small businesses.
• Feature Tiers: Some of the most powerful features, like the AI Employee, are only available on higher-priced plans.
• SMS Focus: The platform is heavily reliant on SMS communication, which may not be the preferred channel for all customer demographics.

Podium Integrations

Podium integrates with a wide range of business software, helping to automate workflows and sync data across different platforms. These integrations connect with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, industry-specific management software, and more.

• ServiceTitan Integration: For home service businesses, this allows for seamless booking and customer data synchronization.
• Salesforce Integration: Syncs leads and customer conversations from Podium directly into the Salesforce CRM for better tracking.
• DMS Integrations: Connects with various Dealer Management Systems (like VinSolutions or DealerSocket) for auto dealerships.
• Zapier Integration: Allows you to connect Podium with thousands of other apps to create custom automated workflows.
• QuickBooks Integration: Helps streamline invoicing and payments by connecting communication with accounting.

Podium Alternatives

• Birdeye: A direct competitor that also offers review management, messaging, and webchat. Birdeye often competes on its comprehensive feature set for managing the entire customer experience.
• Weave: A communication platform popular in the healthcare industry, especially with dental and optometry offices. It offers similar features like VoIP, messaging, and payments but is more specialized.
• Drift: A conversational marketing platform that focuses heavily on B2B sales. While its webchat and AI chatbot features are similar, Drift is geared more towards sales teams in the tech sector rather than local service businesses.
• Intercom: A powerful customer communications platform that provides live chat, bots, and email marketing. It is highly customizable but can be more complex and is often used by SaaS and online businesses.

Podium API

Yes, Podium provides a developer API that allows businesses to build custom integrations and connect Podium's functionality with other software tools. The API enables developers to programmatically access and manage data such as conversations, contacts, reviews, and locations. To get an API key, you typically need to be a Podium customer. The key can be generated within the developer settings of your Podium account dashboard. More information and detailed documentation can be found on Podium's developer portal.

Example API Call (Conceptual):

const fetch = require('node-fetch');

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  headers: {
    Accept: 'application/json',
    Authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'
  }
};

fetch('https://api.podium.com/v4/inbox/conversations', options)
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(response => console.log(response))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

Podium Affiliate program

Podium offers a Podium Partner Program for agencies, consultants, and technology providers who wish to refer clients to the platform. Partners can earn commissions or revenue share for new customers they bring to Podium. The program provides resources, support, and co-marketing opportunities to help partners succeed. The specific commission rates and payment structures are typically detailed upon acceptance into the program. To join, you can apply through the official Podium Partner page on their website. If you cannot find a direct affiliate link, it is recommended to contact their partnerships or sales team to inquire about becoming a referral partner.