Yext is a New York-based technology company that specializes in online brand marketing. Founded in 2006, they primarily assist businesses with updating online directory listings. Location-related information such as addresses, phone numbers, hours, business categories, business photos, and staff bios can be synced across multiple websites using Yext.
Keeping this information consistent is vital for both customer service and search engine optimization (SEO).
While directory listings are Yext’s forte, they also offer review monitoring for an additional cost.
Below we provide a summary of Yext’s review monitoring capabilities and how they stack up compared to Widewail’s.
Yext has spent most of its fourteen years focusing on online listings. While it has expanded to offer other services, such as Amazon Alexa integration, voice search optimization, and review monitoring, online directory management is its bread and butter.
Conversely, Widewail is fundamentally a reputation management company. Our core product, Engage, offers review monitoring and response and in 2019 we launched Engage Plus, extending our reach to Facebook posts and ads as well as Google Questions.
Ultimately, our mission is to help businesses engage with their customers online in meaningful and proactive ways.
Negative review approval:
Yext notifies a business whenever they have a review. The business then has the option to visit the Yext dashboard, where their reviews are aggregated, and the business owner is able to respond as they see fit.
To be clear - Yext does not respond to reviews on a business's behalf. The Widewail team does.
Additional features such as “Sentiment Analysis” helps Yext subscribers to craft an appropriate response.
At Widewail, our dedicated team of review response specialists answers reviews with custom responses on a business’s behalf, imbuing responses with personalized language and SEO-rich text. Our responses are not canned.
We notify businesses about negative reviews and then use their feedback to author a response that addresses the reviewer’s concerns and de-escalates the situation.
Our goal is to help businesses provide excellent service to their unhappy customers while moving unflattering conversations offline as quickly as possible.
If you are interested in learning more, our Ultimate Guide to Review Response covers our review-response techniques in more detail.
We take on the responsibility of review response so that businesses can focus on their customers.
Yext offers review monitoring as part of their “Premium Package,” the most expensive of the four packages they offer.
There are no la carte options, to access review monitoring you will need to sign up for directory listings, Powerlistings+, Yext Analytics, and Yext Pages if you want access to review monitoring.
Widewail’s Engage Package includes review monitoring and response for Google, Yelp, Facebook, Cars.com, DealerRater, CarGurus, and Edmunds - the last 4 being automotive-specific and relevant to our car dealer clients.
All of our products come with our reporting tool which allows businesses to view their performance comprehensively or sorted by date, profit center, and location. We have straightforward pricing determined by the business's monthly review volume.
Widewail’s Group Report:
At Widewail, we want our customers to be able to reach us however it’s most convenient for them. Whether through online chat, email, Facebook, or phone, our Customer Support team is available to help. We pride ourselves on getting back to our customers quickly - usually within an hour.
It’s evident that online directories are Yext’s primary product and review monitoring is an add-on feature. While Yext provides a convenient option for businesses to view reviews in one place, they offer a comparatively limited response service.
Ultimately, Yext is an excellent option for businesses interested in maintaining consistent information across online directories, but their offerings are less comprehensive when it comes to online reputation management.
In short, Yext is a software platform, Widewail is a managed service.