If you’re looking for some Grade.Us alternatives, then you’ve come to the right place!
We’ve rounded up some of the biggest alternatives to Grade.Us and reviewed them all for you here.
We’ve personally tried and tested each of these options to make sure we can give you the best possible advice.
The Grade.Us alternatives that we’re going to cover are:
Hey, that’s us!
Signpost
Trustpilot
Testimonial Tree
Each of these alternatives have their own pros and cons, and some will suit you better than others.
But before we dive into those, we thought it was only fair to cover Grade.Us itself.
Grade.Us — For Marketing Agencies
What is Grade.Us?
Grade.Us is a SAAS tool that enables you to check all your reviews from one “command center”.
You can also automatically prompt your customers to leave a review, and easily share those reviews on your site or social media profiles.
Grade.Us also offers white-labeling for marketing agencies. This includes the ability to create reports detailing the ROI of the customer reviews that you collect.
What does Grade.Us get right?
The biggest advantage that Grade.Us offers is its white-labeling service.
This means you can add your own branding to anything that your customers see. That includes the review form that you send to your customers, as well as the reports which you can send to stakeholders or clients.
White-labeling means that your customers will have a consistent experience. Rather than being sent to a third-party site or service, it feels like you’re leaving a review on that company’s platform.
This means customers are far more likely to actually leave their feedback.
White-labeling means that agencies who offer customer review services can present their results to their clients.
Rather than exporting the data out and creating a report from scratch, Grade.Us makes it quick and easy to create professional reports for your clients.
What does Grade.Us get wrong?
When you first sign up to Grade.Us, it can be a little overwhelming. There are a lot of different options to choose from.
This lack of focus means that it’s hard to understand how the product works right away, and there’s little in the way of on-boarding to help you out.
After playing around for a while, you start to slowly figure out how the product works. But if you’re looking to get up and running quickly, then perhaps one of the other Grade.Us alternatives is better.
In terms of third-party support, one of the big selling points of Grade.Us is the ability to monitor and respond to reviews in one place.
However, the “Links” feature of Grade.Us is currently in beta and only supports Facebook and Google. If you have reviews anywhere else you’ll have to leave Grade.Us if you want to respond to them.
Our thoughts on Grade.Us
Overall, Grade.Us is a fairly solid product. After you work past the initial learning curve, you’ll be able to easily collect reviews from customers.
Where Grade.Us truly shines, however, is with the white-labeling experience and reporting. This makes it a great choice for marketing agencies who offer this kind of service to their clients.
VocalReferences — For Solo Merchants
What is VocalReferences?
VocalReferences is a product we created to make it easier than ever to collect customer reviews and add them to your site.
You can use VocalReferences to collect testimonials from your customers. You’re also able to import via Facebook or with a CSV file (so most platforms are supported).
Once you have your reviews, you can embed a widget on your site with a few clicks. The customizable widget enables you to show off those well-earned reviews.
Finally, VocalReferences is designed to help you achieve a 5-star rating on Google’s search results.
What does VocalReferences get right?
One of the most effective features that VocalReferences offers is the 5-star rating on Google.
Having that 5-star rating on search results can drastically improve click-through rates. It makes you seem way more reliable to potential customers.
A lot of business owners aren’t clear on how to actually get that 5-star rating.
VocalReferences handles it for you with a click of a button. This can have an immediate effect on the success of your business.
Another highlight of VocalReferences is that the product focuses on just two things. You can collect reviews, and then you can show those reviews off.
This means you know exactly what you’re getting from the product, and you aren’t overwhelmed by a wide range of different features.
VocalReferences also provides an easy way to show off video testimonials. Videos are far more engaging and trustworthy than written reviews.
The VocalReferences badge which you can display alongside your reviews also helps to establish trust with potential customers.
VocalReferences also has some of the best customer support you can ask for. We’re always on hand to answer any questions you have, and we try to respond in a matter of hours.
What does VocalReferences get wrong?
The learning curve isn’t as steep as Grade.Us, but it might still take you a short while to get used to how VocalReferences works.
Also, while you are able to customize the testimonial widget that you can place on your site, you can only customize the widget in a certain way. It may be difficult to achieve the exact look you want.
Is VocalReferences a good Grade.Us alternative?
We’ve tried to be as unbiased as possible (not an easy feat when reviewing your own product!) with our thoughts on VocalReferences.
Our product focuses on helping you show off those glowing reviews that you’ve collected. As far as we’re concerned we offer one of the best products for that purpose.
The simplicity of our product also lends itself more to sole merchants as opposed to large organizations.
We offer a free trial, no strings attached, no credit card required.
Why not give it a go and see what you think?
Signpost — For Local Businesses
What is Signpost?
Signpost is a smart CRM designed to help local companies with almost every aspect of their business.
Their CRM enables you to automatically create a database of any contacts you make, whether by phone or email. You can then keep track of them in Signpost, and engage with them through the product.
By engaging your customers through Signpost, you also get the opportunity to ask for reviews and testimonials.
Signpost also offer a platform for you to accept card payments.
What does Signpost get right?
Signpost is a comprehensive platform, offering almost everything a local business needs to get up and running.
If you’re after one product that does everything, then Signpost is a good choice.
The best part about Signpost, however, is called Mia. Mia is the name of Signpost’s virtual assistant.
She’s able to connect your email, phone, and texts together and create a database of your contacts.
She’ll then automatically message them to engage them throughout the customer journey. Not only that but she’ll ask them for reviews when the time is right.
Signpost’s automation is a big selling point for time-strapped business owners.
What does Signpost get wrong?
If you’re looking for a Guide.Us alternative, then chances are you want a product to help you collect customer reviews and then show them off to prospects.
While you can collect reviews with Signpost, that’s only a small feature of the product.
Signpost is more of a CRM, in the same vein as Pipedrive or Insightly. If you’re wanting a simple solution to manage your feedback, Signpost may be too complex for your needs.
Due to the expansive product, Signpost is also fairly expensive. At $299 a month, it’s 10x the price of VocalReferences.
The product offers a lot of functionality. If you’re only looking for the review side of Signpost, however, then you might end up paying a lot of money for features you won’t be using.
Is Signpost a good Grade.Us alternative?
Signpost claims that it can automatically help you to generate more reviews, saving you a lot of time and effort.
But reviews are only a small part of the product offering.
If you’re in the market for an all-in-one CRM solution for your local business, then Signpost is a good Grade.Us alternative.
If not, then you may need to look elsewhere.
Trustpilot — For Enterprise Organizations
What is Trustpilot?
Trustpilot is one of the biggest names in the world of customer reviews and testimonials.
A Trustpilot Business account enables you to track and respond to reviews left on Trustpilot by your customers.
You can also encourage existing customers to leave a review by sending out invites.
Finally, Trustpilot enables you to showcase your reviews with a range of embeddable widgets.
It’s essentially a one-stop shop for managing customer reviews.
What does Trustpilot get right?
Trustpilot’s main selling point is that people have heard of it. Chances are your customers will know what Trustpilot is, and may have even used it for reviews in the past.
This means that they will immediately trust the testimonials they see when you showcase your feedback.
It also means they might be more likely to leave a review for you in the first place.
Trustpilot’s product is very sleek and polished. It’s fairly easy to navigate and needs little in the way of on-boarding.
Finally, Trustpilot chooses to focus purely on managing customer reviews, meaning you aren’t paying for features you don’t need.
What does Trustpilot get wrong?
If you want to make the most of your customer reviews, you need to show them off.
Trustpilot’s free plan only lets you collect and respond to reviews. If you want to display them on your site, you need to upgrade to their Lite plan.
The trouble is that the Lite plan will cost you $349 a month (billed annually). For smaller businesses or solo projects, that’s a pretty big price to pay.
Considering the product doesn’t offer much more than other Grade.Us alternatives, you may need to look elsewhere if you’re on a budget.
Is Trustpilot a good Grade.Us alternative?
Given the hefty price tag, it’s safe to say that Trustpilot is aiming itself at larger, Enterprise companies.
If you have the money available to you, then the price may be worth paying for the brand recognition that comes with Trustpilot.
If, however, you can’t justify the high cost, then you should probably start off with another Grade.Us alternative.
Testimonial Tree — For Customer Support
What is Testimonial Tree?
The final Grade.Us alternative on our list, Testimonial Tree is an online reputation management service.
You can invite your customers to leave a review, or gather reviews together from other platforms like Facebook or Google.
Finally, Testimonial Tree enables you to display your reviews on your website via their widget.
What does Testimonial Tree get right?
The team behind Testimonial Tree pride themselves on providing the best quality customer service.
In fact, nearly all of the own reviews from their customers mention the great service they received.
While we haven’t experienced the customer service for ourselves, it’s worth being aware of. If you ever have some sort of mishap with a review, then you need to get it sorted ASAP. Good customer service will help you manage it.
The product itself offers everything you need to collect and display your reviews. It doesn’t try to do too much at once, which means you can focus on improving your reputation.
The price, at $30 a month for the basic plan, isn’t too expensive for smaller businesses.
What does Testimonial Tree get wrong?
While the basic plan is fairly cost effective, it’s worth pointing out that the various plans on offer are limited by the number of reviews you can request.
The $30 plan only lets you request 100 reviews a month. If that’s not enough, it’s a big leap up to $100 a month.
You’ll also have to pay more to unlock some key features, such as importing testimonials from third-party sites, and using your own branding.
The on-boarding flow when you first sign up to Testimonial Tree is also lacking.
You’re shown a dashboard that doesn’t really explain the best way to get started. It’ll require a bit of playing around before you start seeing any value.
Is Testimonial Tree a good Grade.Us alternative?
Testimonial Tree’s basic plan is a great Grade.Us alternative for those looking to manage their reviews on a budget.
However, the price soon starts to increase the more you use the product, so you need to be prepared to pay more.
Overall, it offers everything you need to manage your reviews, and for that reason it’s worth considering.
The Best Grade.Us Alternative?
It’s hard to say which of these Grade.Us alternatives is the “best”. Instead, it’s probably better to think of it in terms of which is the best fit for your needs.
For small businesses, or even those lone wolves among you, VocalReferences is the clear choice.
It focuses on helping you to collect more customer reviews, and then show those reviews to prospects. It doesn’t try to do too much at once.
It’s also reasonably priced for those wanting to improve their testimonials on a budget.
Not only that, but it enables you to share video testimonials, which are far more trustworthy and effective than text-based ones.
There are lots of great Grade.Us alternatives out there, but we firmly believe that VocalReferences is the way forward for small business owners.
Why not get started today?
