Widewail vs. Reputation.com: Review Management

Formerly known as ReputationDefender, Reputation.com is a leading online reputation management company headquartered in Redwood City, California. In 2011 it changed its name to recognize a shift from individual consumer support to enterprise services.

Rep.com claims to help businesses “manage every customer touchpoint,” with a number of products dedicated to review monitoring and response. Below we discuss their services alongside Widewail’s.

Experience

Reputation.com was initially conceived of as a way to protect young people from incriminating information posted on Facebook. During its tenure as ReputationDefender, it supported individuals by reaching out to data hosting sites on their behalf and requesting that unflattering information be removed.

The company evolved and in 2011 officially became a B2B service. Their distinguishing features include their all-in-one customer experience management platform, their reputation evaluation system called “Reputation Score,” and their reliance on AI. 

Reputation management was also the inspiration for Widewail, but our focus has always been online engagement.

We began in 2018 as the only company exclusively assisting businesses to manage and respond to their reviews. Since then we have expanded our services to support our clients interact with customers through Facebook posts and ads as well as Google Questions.

Ultimately, our purpose is to give businesses a voice in the conversations their customers are having online.

Review Generation

Widewail and Reputation.com both offer review generation services. Both providers utilize SMS and email for sending review requests.

At Widewail we prioritize SMS communication with customers as we have found it is most likely to lead to a review submission. Kiosk-based review submission is unique to Reputation.com.

The approach is universal, ask every customer if they would be willing to share their thoughts giving your business the best opportunity to collect as much feedback as possible.

To increase conversion Widewail personalizes each text with the customer name, representative, and store name.

Review Response

A number of Reputation.com products support clients who want to take an active role in managing their reputation.

Through a single dashboard, clients can manage their business listings, social media sites, and review solicitation. Customers also have the option to respond to their reviews through the dashboard and use templates provided by Reputation.com.

For customers who prefer a vendor to handle their reviews, Reputation.com offers a managed service.

This means that an in-house team at Reputation.com responds to reviews on a business’s behalf. They rely on “default templates” but maintain that all responses are unique. According to its website, Reputation.com answers reviews within 48 hours.

At Widewail we pride ourselves on providing hand-written responses to online reviews.

Not only do we respond to the majority of positive reviews within a few hours, we imbue our responses with personalized language and SEO-rich text.

We see negative reviews as a chance for businesses to either earn back a customer or provide additional context for future readers. Instead of posting a canned response, we work directly with our clients to address the reviewer’s concerns and de-escalate the situation.

Support

Reputation.com has a Contact Us form and a promised response within one business day. There isn’t a customer service number or email provided, but there is a chatbot on their website. 

Widewail customers engage directly with the people who support them. We can be reached through the Widewail platform, by email, by phone, or through our website chat. Our customers can expect to hear back from us quickly - usually within an hour. 

Reputation.com offers a variety of products targeted towards “large multi-location businesses.”

These include options for companies looking for tools to support their own efforts in shaping their online reputation or to partner with a managed service. While review monitoring and response is available for interested businesses, it can easily get lost in the mix of Reputation.com’s expansive options.

Online engagement is more than customer service. It is an opportunity: to engage with happy guests, to market your business, to improve your Google rank, and to make things right with upset customers. At Widewail, we partner with our clients to ensure that each review they receive is provided the individual attention it deserves.

Learn more about how we can assist your business here.