115628264043449781854Q: Client Onboarding etc
I run an agency and I am choosing a tool for Google Business Profiles and reviews for local businesses. Short answers please, five points:
Client onboarding: Can a client connect their Google profile with one link (no login sharing, no screen share)? How many clicks does it take for the client?
Geo map: Do you have a geo-grid heatmap per keyword?
Review requests: Can I send requests by email and WhatsApp (or SMS) from the tool? Is there a drip setting (limit per day or week, follow-ups)?
AI review replies: Replies must never be posted automatically. The AI only suggests, and the business owner edits and posts. Is “suggest only” possible, and is it the default?
What else matters? What would you add that an agency should know before choosing (limits, extra costs, data hosting in the EU, German language)?
Oliwia_RatingCaptain
Oct 21, 2026A: Client onboarding. The client never shares their Google password, and they can disconnect Google at any time. There is no standalone link they can open later on their own phone. Two ways: (1) You stay logged into Rating Captain Local and click Link Google account. On that same browser the client picks their Google account and allows Business Profile access — a few clicks on Google’s consent screen, no password shown to you. (2) The client adds your Google user as a Manager on the Business Profile in Google. You then connect your own Google account. No screen share and no login sharing.
Geo map. Yes. Each keyword has its own geo-grid rank map. The default grid is 9×9 (81 points) over a 5×5 km area, colored by position.
Review requests. Email: yes, from Rating Captain Reviews. WhatsApp: no. SMS: yes, but only with a separate SMS credit pack — base plans include no SMS volume. Drip: email follow-ups are none, one, or two extra sends, spaced 10, 5, or 2 days apart. There is also a daily cap and a monthly cap. This is not a long multi-step WhatsApp drip.
AI review replies. Suggest-only is the default. Generate reply fills a draft. Nothing is posted until a person publishes it. Automatic posting is a separate switch (“Enable AI Automatic Responses”) and stays off until someone turns it on. Leave it off and replies are never posted by themselves.
What an agency should know. AppSumo is Rating Captain Local (profiles, map, posts, AI replies). Review invitations are a separate product, Rating Captain Reviews. Local AppSumo tiers: locations 5 / 10 / 25 / 50 / unlimited; keywords per location 10 / 25 / 150 / 300 / 1000; AI credits per account 200 / 1,000 / 2,500 / 5,000 / 15,000 (more can be added); rank history 90 days on tiers 1–2 and 365 days on tiers 3–5. Reviews email volume depends on that plan’s monthly and daily cap. SMS is extra. The app UI is available in German (Reviews also has Swiss German). AI replies can be written in the review’s own language, including German. Production hosting is AWS in eu-central-1 (Frankfurt). Team members can be added, and report links can be white-label.