BURLINGTON, Vt. -

Reputation management and social media engagement platform Widewail has launched an SMS-driven review generation tool that it says “gives businesses another lever to pull to automatically and continually generate content via SMS.”

The tool is called Invite, and Widewail says it delivers a timely review response strategy that keeps customers engaged, satisfied and loyal.

Stating that customer reviews are becoming a strong influencer on a business’ success, Widewail says it is helping organizations use customer reviews as one of their most important marketing assets.

“We are living in a new world where the trust of customer reviews — anonymous or not — drives buying decisions as much as, or more than, a brand marketing message,” Widewail founder and chief executive officer Matt Murray said in a news release. “Volumes of business today, in every industry, are gained or lost because of positive or negative reviews.”

The company adds that more local businesses and franchises are looking to operate a digital storefront for all or some of their products and services. Because of that, they have become dependent on others’ shared opinions to attract customers and maintain a positive reputation.

But online reputation management has become more complex, according to Widewail, and that is because of multiple platforms that host reviews, the volume and unpredictability of review and social content, and the lack of staff to manage an effective response strategy.

Widewail says its product “eases the operational burden” of reputation and engagement management. It also “maximizes” reviews to show publicly how a company is dedicated to customer service and satisfaction, which Widewail says is “the ultimate purchasing decision factor.” 

“Widewail is enabling companies of all sizes in all markets to apply a strong review generation and response strategy across multiple platforms that builds their reputation, provides personalized support, and drives growth without piling on additional tasks to existing staff,” Murray said.

Murray continued, “We are giving our customers critical tools and services to strengthen their reputation, not drown in customer review content and influence.”

Widewail's Invite is a subscription-based review generation tool that is now available. Onboarding for new and existing clients takes less than an hour, and through a dashboard, customers can track customer review status, volume, and Widewail’s Invite product performance.

The company says it has seen 132% growth in its customer base over the past year.

Invite is the latest addition to the company’s existing reputation management platform, which features:   

— Instant notification via text with a copy of a negative review and a suggested human-authored response to publish or edit

— Continuous monitoring of stores’ review sites on Google, Yelp, Facebook, and other industry-specific sites

— Access to real-time analysis and reporting across monitored sites

— Sentiment scoring for Facebook and Instagram

— Side-by-side comparisons among profit-centers

— Q&A seeding and management on the location’s Google My Business page