Evalu8 Documentation

Evalu8 is a web-based reputation management service designed to help cultivate social media reviews of your company. The service is fully customizable to ensure a unique and personalized experience for your customers.

Evalu8 can be configured to function in two ways, depending on how you have set the Review Request Default setting in the Create Review Forms page.

If you have configured the system for Reviewers asked to enter star rating before proceeding functionality, the system functions as follows:

Once a customer has completed a business transaction with your company, you or a member of your staff can send that person a request for a review. You have your choice of sending the request by email, SMS text message or both. If the customer provides a positive rating of your company (above a threshold that you configure), the interface offers them a link to the social media platforms of your choice (for example, Facebook, Google or Yelp) to complete an online review. If the customer provided a rating that you don’t deem positive (based on the threshold you’ve selected), they are provided with a text box in which they can provide feedback directly to you. In keeping with changes to Google’s Terms of Service, the feedback form includes links to your social media site review pages. This feedback allows you to manage the customer experience.

This is a sample email that a customer would receive from Evalu8:

When the customer clicks on the link in their email or text message, they will be taken to this page:

If they choose to give your company a positive review (determined by a number of stars that you select), they will be prompted to provide a review of your company on a social media website:

If the review was not favorable (as determined by your account settings), the customer will be prompted to provide feedback on their experience using this page.

This feedback is immediately emailed to the Evalu8 account owner.

 

If you have configured the system for Reviewers sent straight to social links functionality, the system functions as follows:

Once a customer has completed a business transaction with your company, you or a member of your staff can send that person a request for a social media review. You have your choice of sending the request by email, SMS text message or both. The customer will receive an email or text message with links to the social media platforms of your choice (for example, Facebook, Google or Yelp).

This is a sample email they would receive from Evalu8:

When the customer clicks on the link in their email or text message, they will be taken to this page:

• 100% web-based interface. Requires no software installation and is accessible from any Internet connection.
• Works on desktop and mobile device platforms.
• Fully customizable. Graphics and text are easily modified to suit your business and industry.
• User customizable Good Review/Poor Review threshold (typically set to four stars).
• Automatically prompts customers who provide good reviews to visit your Facebook, Google or Yelp page to create a social media review.
• Easily manage poor reviews. The Evalu8 service allows you to request feedback on customer experiences that are perceived as less than optimal.
• In most cases, when a customer clicks on a social media icon while on a mobile device, the appropriate application will open and take them directly to the location where they can leave a review. This eliminates the need for customers to log in to their accounts.
• The Evalu8 system can be configured to provide your customers with the opportunity to review your business directly on social media, or to evaluate their experience using a five-star rating system.

• Account Administrator — The person at a company who is in charge of and oversees the operation of Evalu8, typically the business owner or manager.
• Staff Member — The account administrator can add as many staff members as they like. This list allows the messages sent to the customer to include the name of the staff member who served them.
• Customer — Someone who has chosen to do business with your company.
• Rating — A ranking of one to five stars that quantifies the perceived quality of a customer’s experience.
• Review — A message that explains and quantifies the experience a customer had with your company.
• Review Request — A message from Evalu8 that asks a customer to provide a rating of their business experience with your company.
• SMS Text — A Short Message Service text message.
• Social Link — A web address that is used to connect a customer to a social media site’s review page for your business.
• Web Browser — A computer program such as Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Opera or Chromium that allows you to connect to and navigate to Internet sites. A connection to the Internet is required.

1. When you subscribe to Evalu8, you will receive an email that contains a link to the website with your user name and a randomly generated password.

2. Click on the Evalu8 link to be taken to the main login page. Once at the main page, store the URL in your Favorites.

3. Enter your user information (email address) and your password
4. Press the green Sign In button to log into the Evalu8 Administration page.

1. From the master Dashboard page, select the Account Settings link to the right of your name.

2. This is the main Account Settings page. You should personalize your account information to ensure the best possible user experience with Evalu8.

Name: First and last name of the Evalu8 Account Administrator/store owner

Email: Primary email address

Mobile Phone: Primary cell phone number for Account Administrator

Company: Name of your company

Website: URL for your company website

Logo: You may upload a logo (JPG format) with a maximum resolution of 300 x 150 pixels. This image will be displayed once a customer follows the link sent with a Review Request.

Good Review Threshold:  The value in this field determines the threshold between a good review (which is forwarded to the Online Review page) or a poor review, which prompts the user to provide feedback to the Account Administrator by email for review.

Resend Review Request: Selecting Yes in this field will result in Evalu8 resending the review request if the customer does not provide a review within the number of hours specified in the Time Until Request Resend field.

Time Until Request Resend: The value you enter here (in hours) determines how long the Evalu8 system will wait before sending a second request for a review. The system only sends one follow-up request and follow-ups are sent only between 12 noon and 5pm EST to avoid texting at odd hours of the day or night.

Alert Me When a User Submits: These buttons determine whether the Account Administrator will be notified when Good or Poor reviews are submitted.

Submit Button: Once you have made changes to your account settings, please press the green Submit button to save your changes.

Signup Date: This field shows the date you signed up for Evalu8.

Billing Frequency: Indicates the option you chose for payment: Monthly, Quarterly or Annually.

Periodic Amount: Indicates the payment amount for each billing cycle.

Logo for Review Forms: This is the logo you have uploaded for your company.

Review Link: This is a link to a non-personalized version of your company review request page. You can include this link in your email signature, on your website and in social media posts.  

Review Link (Text): This is the text of the company review request page link. You can embed this into your webpage or use it for social media or an email signature.

To change your login password, click on Account Settings from any screen, then click on the green Change Password tab.

Once you have selected the green Change Password tab, the following page will load:

To change your password, you must first enter your current password in the Password field.

You may enter a new password to log in as the Account Administrator. The same password must be entered in both New Password fields.

The password must be a minimum of eight characters, include at least one number, one special character and one uppercase character.

We encourage you to use a randomly generated password that conforms to the criteria outlined above.

When done, press the green Submit button to save your new password.

 

To change the text of the Review Request forms, click on Account Settings from any screen, then click on the green Create Review Forms tab. Once you have selected the green Create Review Forms tab, the following page will load:

Review requests are populated with the information stored in the Account Settings and Staff Members tabs in order to provide a personalized experience for your customer. Your company name, the score and the staff member’s name will appear automatically. If you choose to revise this text, please retain OurCompany, OurScore and OurFirstName as placeholders for that information. The Evalu8 software will accurately replace those placeholders with the appropriate information in the outgoing message.

Initial Rating Request: This text is displayed on the Evalu8 site after the customer accepts a request for a review. Here they are given the opportunity to rate your company on a scale of 1 through 5 stars.

Poor Response Text: This text is displayed if your customer rates your company any number of stars below the value set in the Account Settings Good Review Threshold field. In accordance with Google’s Terms of Service, you should mention that links to your social media sites are included at the bottom of the page.

Social Media Request Text: This text is displayed if your customer rates your company any number of stars equal to or greater than the value set in the Account Settings Good Review Threshold field.

Text for Requests Straight to Social Links: This text is displayed if you have requested that your customer post a social media review of your company without the need to provide a rating.

Review Request Default: These options control the default functionality of Evalu8. If you want your customers to provide a rating (out of five stars), select “Reviewers asked to enter star rating before proceeding.” If you want Evalu8 to send a social media review request directly, please select “Reviewers sent straight to social links.”

Submit: Once you have made changes to the Create Review Forms fields, click the green Submit button to save your settings.

To change the wording included in the email and text messages sent to your customers, click on the green Text for Request Messages tab in the Account Settings menu. Once you have selected the green Text for Request Messages Tab, the following page will load:

The review requests are populated with the information stored in the Account Settings and Staff Members tabs in order to provide a personalized experience for your customer. When editing, please use the OurCompany, OurFirstName, OurLastName, LinkURL, CustFirstName and CustLastName fields as placeholders for that information. The Evalu8 software will replace those fields in the outgoing messages.

The text sent as an email request must be formatted using HTML markup code in order to be displayed properly. The following codes are available:
<br> — Carriage return

<b>text</b> — Displays text as bold print

<i>text</i> — Displays text in italics

<font color=red>text</font> — Displays text in red. Other color options include blue, green, yellow, orange, magenta, aqua, violet and pink.

<font size=5>text</font> — Displays text as very large. Options are: 1, very small; 2, small; 3, normal; 4, large; and 5, very large.

NOTE: Font Size and Color commands can be combined in a single line, e.g., <font size=4 color=blue>text</font>.

We will be happy to help you format this properly if you are not familiar with HTML.

Text for Emails Requesting a Review: The text in this field will be what your customer sees as the body of the email review request set by Evalu8.

Text for SMS Requesting Reviews: The text in this field will be what your customer sees as the message they receive when you request a review using an SMS text message.

Submit: Once you have made changes to the Create Review Forms fields, click the green Submit button to save your settings.

To add websites to your account for social media review, click on the green Social Review Links tab under Account Settings.

Once you have selected the green Social Review Links tab, the following page will load:

To add a social media website to your account, click on the green Add Social Link tab. The following page will load:

You may want to watch our YouTube video that explains the process of adding social media links to your Evalu8 account: https://www.Evalu8.net/adding-social-sites-to-Evalu8/

Social Site: This is a pull-down list of supported social media websites. You can currently select from Facebook, Google, Yelp. If there is a review site that you would like added, please submit your suggestion as a feature request.

URL for Your Reviews: This is the web address that will be opened when a customer chooses a social media site to submit an online review.

Facebook:

• Using a web browser on a desktop computer, go to your company Facebook page.
• Click on Review on the left side of the page.
• Copy the URL from the address bar including the https:// prefix up to and including the word “reviews.” Do not copy the text after that, e.g., https://www.facebook.com/pg/MobileEdge/reviews/.
• Paste the URL into the URL For Your Reviews field.
• Click the green Submit button

A YouTube video of the Facebook link acquisition process is available here: https://youtu.be/2WRp2Bbz6k4

Google:

• Using a web browser (in this case, we recommend Chrome) on a desktop computer, navigate to Google Maps.
• Search for your company by name.
• You will see matching companies and locations auto-populate.
• Click on the shortcut that matches your company.
• Copy the URL in the address bar including the https:// prefix, e.g., https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Mobile+Edge/@40.8250685,-75.7089993,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c44cd68c946881:0xa0fe3b2bc90b36be!8m2!3d40.8250645!4d-75.7068053
• Paste the URL into the URL for Your Review field.
• Click the green Submit button

A YouTube video of the Google link acquisition process is available here: https://youtu.be/JEwlyN63sqA

Yelp:

• Using a web browser on a desktop computer, open www.yelp.com.
• Search for your company by name and city.
• Choose your business from the list.
• Copy the URL from the address bar including the https:// prefix up to, but not including the first question mark, e.g., https://www.yelp.com/biz/mobile-edge-lehighton-2.
• Paste the URL into the URL for Your Review field.
• Click the green Submit button

A YouTube video of the Yelp link acquisition process is available here: https://youtu.be/ishP_1Rtgco

Sort Order: This field allows you to change the order of the listed review sites. You can enter a number (from one to five) that determines which social media site is shown first.

Submit: Once you have made changes to the Create Review Forms fields, click the green Submit button to save your settings.

Note that we have the ability to add additional social media platforms if you wish. Just let us know and we will do our best to accommodate your need.

To add the names of staff members at your company, click on the green Staff Members tab under Account Settings. Please note that these entries will only be used to help you customize your messages to your customers. Staff members added here will not receive separate account logins or any other functionality.

Once you have selected the green Staff Members tab, the following page will load:

Edit Staff Members Information Fields

Name: First and last name of an employee. This information will be used to allow you to customize your communications with your customers. 

Email: The email address of the staff member you are adding.

Current: Check this box if the staff member is a current employee of your company. If a staff member leaves your employ, you can edit their account field and uncheck this box. This will remove their name from the Add Review Request Sent By field.

Submit: Once you have made changes to the Create Review Forms fields, click the green Submit button to save your settings.

This section of Evalu8 allows you to manage the review request process. You can create new review requests and monitor the status of requests that have been sent.

To access the Review Requests area, click on the blue Review Requests tab under the Evalu8 logo. The following page will load:

From the main Review Request tab, click on the green Add Review Request icon to request a review from a customer. Once you click the green button, the following page will load:

A YouTube video of the Add Review Request process is available here: https://youtu.be/wFxag95mG5c

Default Review Option:

This field shows you the default setting for the Review Request you are sending. The options are:

Reviewers asked to enter star rating before proceeding
or
Reviewers sent straight to social links

When the Review Request is set to provide a star rating, the system will prompt your client to provide a rating of their experience with your company using the star rating system.

When the Review Request is set to go straight to social media, the initial email from Evalu8 will invite the customer to review your business transaction directly on the social media page(s) for which you have configured links.

Add Review Request Fields:

You need only submit the phone number or the email address of your customer. If you fill in both fields, a review request will be sent to both.

Staff Member: This pull-down list includes the names of all the active employees in your Staff Members list. Select the name of the employee that best suits the interaction with the customer.

Customer Name: Your customer’s first and last name. Pay close attention to spelling accuracy in these fields.

Phone: Your customer’s SMS text-enabled mobile phone number. You do not need the 1 prefix.

Email: Your customer’s email address.

Miscellaneous: This is an open field that you can use for your reference. Many Evalu8 clients add the customer account number or the transaction invoice number in this field. This information will not be shown to the customer at any time during the review request process.

Override Default Review Option: By selecting YES, the system will send a Review Request that is the opposite of what is shown in the Default Review Option field at the top of this page. If you leave this set to NO, the system will send a Review Request using the settings shown in the Default Review Option field.

Submit: Once you have made changes to the Create Review Forms fields, click the green Submit button to save your settings.

Customer Name: This is the first and last name you entered in the Add Review Request tab.

Email: This is the email address you entered in the Add Review Request tab.

Phone: This is the cell phone number you entered in the Add Review Request tab.

Staff: The member of the staff assigned in the initial feedback request.

Date: This is the date you sent the Review Request.

How Sent: This field shows how the Review Request was sent.

Pink — Not yet sent.

Yellow — Sent Review Request by email and text.

Green — Sent Review Request by email only.

Violet — Sent Review Request by text message only.

Failed — Either the phone number or email address information cannot be used to send the Review Request.

Date/Time to Resend: This is the date and time the Review Request will be resent if the customer does not click the provided Review Link. The system only sends one follow-up request and follow-ups are sent only between 12 noon and 5pm EST to avoid texting at odd hours of the day or night.

Reviews: Click on the customer name to see details of the Review Request and the Customer Feedback.

Rated:

Rated — The customer has given their transaction with you a rating within Evalu8.

Not Rated — The customer has not responded to your request for a review.

Clicked To: The name of the social media website the customer clicked on to give you a review.

Trash Can: Click this icon to remove the Review Request.

Once you have created a number of review requests, Evalu8 provides several options to review and sort the information.

By default, Review Requests are listed in the order they were sent.

Not Rated: Shows all Review Requests that have been sent for which the customers have not responded with a rating.

Rated: Shows all Review Requests that have been sent for which the customers have responded with a rating

Unsent: Shows any Review Requests that have not been sent by the Evalu8 system.

Text: Shows all Review Requests that have been sent using only a cell phone number.

Email: Shows all Review Requests that have been sent using only an email address.

Search Field — You may enter any part of the the customer record in this field — their name, phone number, email address or content in the Information field. Click Search after you have entered the criteria you want.

Once a customer submits a review using the star system, you have the option of receiving a notification by email. This option can be toggled on or off in the Account Settings tab under the Alert Me When A User Submits options.

For Positive Reviews: You may want to thank your customers for a positive review and invite them back to your store in the future.

For Negative Reviews: Evalu8 offers your customers an opportunity to provide you with feedback on a transaction that is perceived as negative. If you have received feedback on a negative review (as determined by the Good Review Threshold setting in the main Account Settings tab), you should reach out to the customer to understand and remedy the situation.

Completed Reviews are visible by clicking on the blue Manage Review tab under the Evalu8 logo. Once you click the tab, you will see the following page:

Manage Reviews Screen Fields

Export: Clicking the Export button will allow you to save the visible information in a spreadsheet format. You can choose from the following format options:

• CSV: Comma Separated Values
• TXT: Text file with each value separated by a tab
• JSON: JavaScript Object Notation

Eyeball icon: Click this icon to see the Review Request Record.

Your Name: Customer name.

Email: Customer’s email address.

Rating: The rating the customer gave you in Evalu8.

Mobile Phone: The customer’s phone number (if you provided it).

Date/Time: The date and time that the customer submitted a review using Evalu8.

Clicked To: The social media website the customer visited using the Evalu8 link.

Garbage Can icon: Deletes the Request Record. Note that this does not delete a review posted on a social media website.

Once you have a number of reviews, Evalu8 provides several options for reviewing and sorting the information.

You can view your reviews by rating, using the five shortcut buttons at the top of the screen.

You can also search the Review record using the Search by Keyword function. Enter the text you want to search for, then click Search.

The first page you see when you log in to Evalu8 is the Dashboard. This page provides a fully interactive view of your account’s review activity.

Reviews by Week (Last 10)

This bar graph shows how many reviews you received per week for the last 10 weeks prior to the current week.

Average Rating By Month This Year

This chart shows you the average review rating you received each month, and the total number of reviews for each month.

Clicking on the Average Rating or Count values brings up a quick-access list of the reviews for that month.

Breakdown by Rating

 

This pie chart shows the percentage of reviews you received based on the number of stars given.

You can click on the fields at the bottom to toggle displaying that value on and off.

You can click on each piece of the chart to see a quick-access list of the reviews that match the associated number of stars.

Requests this Year by Week

This bar graph shows the number of Review Requests you and your staff have sent each week for the past year.

Clicking on each bar will let you see a quick-access list of the reviews that have been sent.

Responded/Not Responded This Month

 

This pie chart shows the ratio of Review Requests that have received responses to those that have been ignored for the past month.

Review Requests Sent by Employee this Month

This pie chart shows how many review requests have been sent by each employee account in the Evalu8 system and how many have received replies.

 

You can click on any of the chart bars to see a quick-access list of the associated Reviews or Review Requests.

The Evalu8 team is here to ensure that any questions you may have are answered efficiently. As such, we have implemented an advanced ticket-based support system. If you have a question about the Evalu8 services or need help with a function, this is the most reliable way to contact the team. When you complete a support request, staff members are notified automatically. This process is significantly more reliable than sending an e-mail or text message to a specific team member.

For Technical Support

1. Click on the blue Contact Us tab beneath the Evalu8 logo at the top of the page.
2. Select Support under the Type of Request field.
3. Enter a message subject. Some very basic information in this field will help us efficiently route your support request to the correct team member.
4. Let us know what you need help with in the Details section of the request. Please be as specific as possible.
5. Attachment: If you would like to upload a file with your support request, click on the Choose File button. This will open a tab on your computer and allow you to choose a file to upload. Navigate to the file location and select the file you want to open. After you have selected the file, you will see the file name in the Attachment field.
6. Priority: Let us know how severe the problem is by checking one of the four boxes in this section.
7. When you have completed all the information, click the green Submit button to send us your message.

New Feature Requests

The team at Evalu8 is always interested in your feedback and new ideas for the product. If you have an idea for a way to improve the functionality of Evalu8, you can use the Contact Us page to send us details. We can’t promise to add every feature that is suggested, but we will certainly try to implement as many as possible to optimize the performance and flexibility of the Evalu8 platform.

To Submit a Feature Request

1. Click on the blue Contact Us tab beneath the Evalu8 logo at the top of the page.
2. Select Feature Request under the Type of Request field.
3. Enter a message subject. Some very basic information in this field will help us efficiently route your support request to the correct team member.
4. Let us know what you need help with in the Details section of the request. Please be as specific as possible.
5. Attachment: If you would like to upload a file with your support request, click on the Choose File button. This will open a tab on your computer and allow you to choose a file to upload. Navigate to the file location and select the file you want to open. After you have selected the file, you will see the file name in the Attachment field.
6. When you have completed all the information, click the green Submit button to send us your message.

We have implemented a real-time Changelog so that you can see changes to the Evalu8 service in real time. The Changelog includes brief information on new features, process changes and any bug fixes that we implement.

The view the Changelog, go to the main Evalu8 page and hover your mouse over the Help menu item at the top of the page. A drop-down menu will appear. Click on Changelog.

Once you select the Changelog, you will see a list of changes and modifications we have made to the Evalu8 service.

Each item in the Changelog is clickable and brings up additional and more complete information about the update. In some cases, there will be screenshots and links to further explain the enhancement or bug fix.

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the Evalu8 support team by clicking on blue Contact Us tab within the administration page.

A key to the success of Evalu8 is ensuring that all members of your staff fully understand the importance of actively participating in all parts of the process. Demonstrating how Evalu8 works is the best way to explain to your staff the importance of collecting the appropriate information.

Preparing Your Customer

There are many ways to ask for a review of a business transaction. We have found that simply asking the customer if it would be OK for you to send them an email or text message is the easiest. This can be done during or after payment for the services.

Making Evalu8 part of Your Company Culture

Social media reviews are a very powerful marketing tool. Both positive and negative reviews, and how they are handled, can demonstrate your company’s commitment to quality work and attention to detail. While we won’t be able to please every customer every time, how we handle their experience is important.

In order to harvest as many positive reviews as possible, it’s crucial that every member of your staff understands the need to support your commitment to the use of Evalu8.

Monitoring

As the Administrator, you have the option to be notified by email when you receive a rating or review. Good ratings are an excellent pat on the back and poor ratings are a great way to improve the sales and customer service process.

In order to maximize the benefit of Evalu8, the Administrator should review ratings and feedback several times a week. The Dashboard provides quick and easy access to an overview of your customers’ experience and provides quick access to poor review feedback that must be addressed.

What Has Worked for Other Evalu8 Customers

• Send the rating request soon after a customer leaves your business.
• Send rating requests as part of the “end-of-day” or “opening” process. Do not leave them for “whenever there is time.”
• Place reminder signs behind the sales counter.
• Review Evalu8 data at your weekly/monthly staff meetings.
• Develop a rewards/bonus program around Evalu8 ratings (most reviews, highest review completion rate, etc.).
• Immediately share good ratings with your staff members.
• Address poor feedback quickly and personally. If a customer isn’t happy, review their experience with your staff and then call the customer and discuss. When handled properly, even if the customer didn’t get the product they wanted or service they expected, they will have respect for your efforts to remedy the situation.