Grade.us

What is Grade.us

Grade.us is a software platform designed for marketing agencies to manage online reviews for their clients. Its main purpose is to help agencies offer review management as a service, creating a new source of revenue. The platform provides tools to automate the process of asking for reviews, monitoring reviews across many websites, and using positive reviews in marketing. It is a white-label solution, which means an agency can put its own brand and logo on the platform, making it look like their own software when they show it to clients. Grade.us focuses on making work efficient for agencies that handle many businesses at once. The company was created to fill a need for multi-location and agency-focused review management and is now part of the Semrush suite of digital marketing tools, which gives it strong backing in the industry.

Grade.us Features

Grade.us offers a complete set of features for managing a business's online reputation. Here are the main features:

• White-Label Platform: Agencies can customize the platform with their own branding, logo, and domain. This creates a professional and seamless experience for their clients.
• Review Acquisition Funnels: Create and automate campaigns to ask customers for reviews via email and SMS. The system guides happy customers to leave reviews on important sites like Google and Facebook.
• Review Monitoring: The dashboard collects reviews from dozens of websites into one place. This saves time from checking each site manually for each client.
• Review Marketing: Automatically stream the best reviews to a client's website using a widget. This helps build social proof and trust with new website visitors.
• Negative Feedback Management: The system can catch unhappy customers before they post a negative review online, giving the business a chance to solve the problem privately.
• Agency Dashboard: Manage all clients from a single dashboard. It is easy to add new clients, organize them, and see their performance at a glance.
• Reporting: Generate professional reports for clients that show the progress of their online reputation. Reports can be automated and branded with the agency's logo.

Grade.us Pricing Plans

Grade.us offers several pricing plans designed to grow with an agency. The plans are structured based on the number of business locations or clients you manage.

• Solo Plan: This plan is for freelancers or small agencies just starting with review management. It typically includes all core features for a small number of clients.
• Agency Plan: Aimed at growing marketing agencies, this plan supports a larger number of clients. It often includes more advanced features and customization options.
• Enterprise Plan: For large agencies or brands with hundreds of locations, this plan offers volume pricing, dedicated support, and advanced API access.

Each plan builds on the previous one, allowing agencies to scale their services without changing platforms.

Grade.us Free Plan

Grade.us does not offer a permanent free plan. However, they provide a 14-day free trial for new users. The free trial gives full access to the platform's features, allowing agencies to test the software with a few of their own clients. This trial period is useful to understand how the automation, white-labeling, and reporting work before committing to a paid subscription. No credit card is required to start the trial.

How to use Grade.us

Getting started with Grade.us is a straightforward process for agencies.

1. Sign Up for a Trial: First, create an account for the 14-day free trial on their website.
2. White-Label Your Account: In the settings, add your agency's logo, colors, and custom domain. This makes the platform look like your own tool.
3. Add Your First Client: Add a client's business profile. You will need to enter their business name, address, and connect their review site profiles like Google Business Profile, Facebook page, and Yelp.
4. Create a Review Funnel: Design a landing page where you will send customers to ask for feedback. You can customize the text and branding.
5. Launch a Campaign: Start an email or SMS campaign to invite recent customers to leave a review. You can upload a list of contacts or integrate with a client's CRM.
6. Monitor Reviews: Use the dashboard to see all new reviews as they come in from different sites.
7. Set Up a Website Widget: Install the review stream widget on your client's website to display their best reviews automatically.
8. Generate Reports: Schedule monthly reports to be sent to your client, showing them the value of your service.

Pros and Cons of Grade.us

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Grade.us.

Pros:

• Excellent for Agencies: The platform is built from the ground up for agencies, with strong multi-client management and white-labeling.
• Saves Time: Automation for review requests and monitoring significantly reduces manual work.
• Easy to Resell: The business model makes it simple for agencies to package and sell review management as a profitable service.
• Comprehensive Reporting: The reports are professional, easy to understand, and can be branded for clients.

Cons:

• Pricing: For a single business, the cost can be higher than some direct-to-business competitors. It provides the most value for agencies managing multiple clients.
• Learning Curve: While user-friendly, mastering all the customization and campaign settings can take some time.
• Limited Direct Integrations: It relies heavily on Zapier for connections to many other software tools, rather than having many built-in direct integrations.

Grade.us integrations

Grade.us offers integrations to connect its review management capabilities with other business tools. The primary way to connect is through Zapier.

• Zapier: This integration allows you to connect Grade.us to thousands of other applications. For example, you can automatically send a review request from Grade.us whenever a customer is marked as 'closed-won' in a CRM like Salesforce or when a new invoice is created in QuickBooks.
• Direct Integrations: The platform may offer a limited number of direct integrations with popular marketing and business software. Check their integration marketplace for the most current list.
• API Access: For custom solutions, Grade.us provides an API to build your own integrations.

Grade.us Alternatives

There are several other platforms that offer review management services. Here are a few alternatives:

• Birdeye: A very broad platform that includes reviews, listings, webchat, and payments. It is an all-in-one solution but can be more complex and expensive than Grade.us.
• Podium: Focuses on customer interaction through messaging. It combines review management with webchat and SMS marketing, making it great for businesses that want to communicate directly with customers.
• ReviewTrackers: A strong competitor with powerful analytics and reporting features. It is often used by larger brands and enterprises that need deep insights from customer feedback.
• GatherUp: Similar to Grade.us, GatherUp is also popular with agencies. It offers a solid set of features for review generation and marketing with a slightly different user interface and pricing structure.

Grade.us API

Yes, Grade.us provides a REST API for developers. This allows agencies and businesses to integrate Grade.us data and functionality into their own applications, dashboards, or workflows. For example, you can use the API to pull review data into a custom client dashboard or trigger review requests from a proprietary CRM system.

To get access to the API, you typically need to be on a higher-tier plan (like an Agency or Enterprise plan). The API key can be generated from within your account settings, usually in a section labeled 'API' or 'Developer'.

Here is a simple example of an API call using cURL to fetch business profiles:

curl -X GET 'https://api.grade.us/v1/profiles' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'

For full details, you should consult the official Grade.us API documentation on their developer portal.

Grade.us Affiliate program

Grade.us offers a partner program that allows agencies and marketers to earn commissions. While specific details of a public affiliate program can change, they typically have a reseller or agency partner program.

Under this model, partners can earn a recurring commission for each new customer they refer to the platform. The commission is often a percentage of the subscription fee paid by the referred customer. To join, you usually need to apply through a partner page on their website. After approval, you receive a unique referral link and access to a dashboard to track your referrals and earnings. Payments are typically made on a monthly basis via PayPal or bank transfer once you reach a minimum payout threshold.

If you cannot find a public affiliate sign-up page, it is best to contact their sales or support team directly and inquire about their partnership opportunities.