Overview
Kory Ladd, Director of Sales & Client Services at Dallas SEO Dogs, was looking for a reliable reputation management SaaS provider for his digital marketing agency. Dallas SEO Dogs is an award-winning digital marketing and reputation management agency.
Dallas SEO Dogs has received more than 14 different awards and commendations for its services.
They have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Their track record shows they practice what they preach.
The Challenge
Dallas SEO Dogs had a challenge.
They needed a robust online review management platform for their agency, one that offered the level of customization and support that the agency needed to grow its client roster.
“Before we started with Grade.us (nearly 3 years ago), we were using another review management platform.
At that time, the platform was outdated and had very limited features. The most frustrating thing was that every time we had a new client and needed to create a new profile, we could not do this ourselves; we had to contact our rep, and they would create it for us.
On top of that, the service was very overpriced ($75/profile), especially for the lack of features and functionality.”
This obviously had a detrimental impact on their customer service. Dallas SEO Dogs was forced to manage parts of their client’s review management campaigns that should have been automated. Instead of focusing their attention on creating value (in the form of reviews, conversions, and revenue) for their clients, they were forced to battle administrative tasks on a daily basis.
This software actively took cash out of their pockets.
They knew they needed to make a change, so they decided to switch to Grade.us. The platform immediately addressed their pain points; later on, Dallas SEO Dogs decided they wanted to make a change yet again. The main driver for the switch.
Cost.
Dallas SEO Dogs wanted a cheaper alternative that could produce the same results as Grade.us with the same reliability.
This created an immediate problem.
“In the spring of 2020, we decided to explore other review management platforms, specifically and only, to find something a bit cheaper. We found one that appeared to be a platform with the same features and functionality as Grade.us.
During the consultation and demo call, we asked about a few specific features that we must have, as well as the other features that are necessary for our team to efficiently manage our clients’ accounts on a day-to-day basis.
We were told that all of these critical items were part of their platform, and few could be implemented for us as needed. We signed up, quickly made the switch, and transferred our clients from Grade.us to [our new provider].
Very quickly, we discovered that the features we needed were not what we expected, and some of the other custom requests were not able to be provided.
Essentially, we were just being told what we wanted to hear so we would sign up. This situation perfectly matches the phrase ‘you get what you pay for.’”
Their new providers sold them on their platform but failed to deliver the results they needed. Their new platform vendor wasn’t as mature, robust, or reliable as they were previously led to believe.
The Solution
Dallas SEO Dogs decided to switch back to Grade.us. Did this mean the platform could meet their needs? Kory Ladd outlined their experience once they returned to Grade.us.
“Grade.us has helped us develop and implement several review management campaigns for a number of locations across several diverse industries including, medical, hospitality, and home services. We have utilized many of the features including agency white-labeling, customized reports, and on-site widgets.”
The most valuable part of the platform turned out to be the parts that helped their agency win more clients. Working with Grade.us, they found the stable and mature platform they needed to develop their agency review management services.
“The most valuable feature for us beyond the email campaigns is the ability to create custom domains for each campaign’s landing page. Each client is able to have their own unique domain that contains their business name, and we feel like this is a great feature to highlight when presenting our review management packages to potential clients.”
Grade.us‘ white-labeled solution was simple enough for their agency to implement but flexible enough for Dallas SEO Dogs to customize on an individual basis.
“The custom domain masking has definitely been an extremely beneficial discovery for us. We were formerly with a company that did not offer this feature and were elated to discover Grade.us did. The set-up was easy and convenient, which was also a bonus.”
The Results
The problems with feature selection, customer service, and support have vanished. Dallas SEO Dogs has a feature-rich solution that’s oriented around their clients’ needs. The white-labeled platform gives their agency the tools and resources they need to scale their service without adding administrative costs.
“Grade.us solved the problem because it provides a very user-friendly platform with all of the features that an agency needs and many more. The best thing is that we can manage it easily without needing to contact support for simple things.
Though, if you do need support, the Grade.us support team is phenomenal! They reply within minutes and make sure everything you need is taken care of, almost always the same day or less.”
Their agency wasn’t aware of the control they had with Grade.us until they lost it.
“The ability to have a considerable amount of control over the campaign and landing page design has been an important factor for us which we didn’t realize we had until it was gone. We can implement design changes effortlessly on each campaign. We were able to make these changes independently.
We previously used a different review management service, and we were displeased with the limited amount of customization we had. We would need to reach out to their support for minor tweaks and improvements, and this was extremely inefficient for us. Grade.us allows us to make the edits quickly, which eliminates the need for the back and forth communication.”
What does this newfound efficiency mean for their agency?
Success!
With the right platform, they can generate more conversions, increased revenue, and a reliable stream of reviews for their clients and their agency. They started as a small SEO company with 4 employees in 2006. Today, they’re an award-winning digital marketing powerhouse with 30+ experts and specialists.
