Monitor competitor reviews and ratings

A rating on a map changes quietly. A competitor collects a run of five-star reviews, or a bad week drags a neighbour from 4.6 to 4.2, and you only notice by accident. Pinsonar keeps each collected version of a listing, so the change shows up as a signal.

Set it up once

1. Scan the area and the niche that matter to you. This is your first snapshot.
2. Rescan the same area after some weeks. Areas collected less than 60 days ago for the same query are not collected again, so use the Rescan button in the report when you want a refresh.
3. Open the bell at the top right of the application.

What you see

• Smart alerts, sorted by importance, with filters for critical, warning and information levels. They report sharp drops in a rating, negative reviews, a competitor starting paid promotion and changes of prices and promotions.
• Change feed, a timeline of what the neighbours did: who changed prices, who updated promotions, who gained reviews.
• History tab of a card: the rating and the number of reviews at each collection of the listing.

A routine that works

Once a week, open the change feed and the critical alerts. For any competitor that moved, open the card and read the Reviews tab: what do people praise, what do they complain about? The review topics on the card sort the comments into service, staff, prices, waiting, cleanliness and atmosphere, and compare the shares with the area average.

Then compare with yourself: if a neighbour is criticised for waiting, and you answer calls quickly, that is something to say in your own listing.

Limits to remember

• A signal needs two collections of the area, so the first rescan is the first time changes can appear.
• Reviews are as public as on the map; deleted reviews disappear from the next collection.
• The data is not guaranteed to be complete or exact.

See also change alerts and history.