UK brands: plan a dashboard for multi-location reviews

What to take away

For multi-location reviews, treat the dashboard as a routing tool first: every alert needs a named owner and a reply deadline before you buy anything.
Freeze the location list and the permission groups before you connect a single review source.
Keep reviewer personal data inside the lawful basis you recorded, and treat the ICO's guidance as the starting reference.
Compare platforms using the same checksmeasure the time from review publication to alert, test which roles can view, reply to and export reviews, and confirm exports retain location identifiers.
Recheck alert rules after any change to location count, trading name or franchise agreement.

Build the location list before the dashboard

You cannot monitor what you have not named. Export every Google Business Profile location from the account that actually holds them, then reconcile that list against the trading list your finance team already uses.

Reconciling the location list

Export every Google Business Profile location
Reconcile against finance trading list
Fix drifted names, addresses, postcodes
Wrong postcode misroutes regional alerts
Grouping sets dashboard permissions

Confirm who owns each Google Business Profile, that each location is verified and that locations are grouped correctly. Use those groups as a starting point for dashboard permissions.

Route alerts by role and severity

An alert only helps if it lands with the person who can act. One poor rating at a single site and a cluster across ten sites need different recipients and different clocks. Write the routing table before you configure the tool, then copy it into the platform's alert settings.

Alert routing by signal and owner

Signal

New 1-2 star review: Branch manager
Rating below 4.0: Regional manager
Three low reviews in 7 days: Regional + central
Review volume down half: Marketing lead
Reviewer names staff: Head of people

Owner

New 1-2 star review: Same day
Rating below 4.0: Two days
Three low reviews in 7 days: One day
Review volume down half: Weekly
Reviewer names staff: Same day

First response

New 1-2 star review
Rating below 4.0
Three low reviews in 7 days
Review volume down half
Reviewer names staff

Signal	Illustrative threshold	Owner	First response
New review at one or two stars	Any	Branch manager	Same working day
Rating below 4.0	Rolling 30 days	Regional manager	Two working days
Three low reviews in seven days	Per location	Regional manager and central team	One working day
Review volume down by half	Month on month	Marketing lead	Weekly review
Reviewer names a member of staff	Any	Head of people	Same working day

Keep thresholds in a dated document. When the tool's defaults disagree with it, the document wins.

A six-step dashboard build

Freeze the location list and record the date you froze it, so later gaps can be traced.
Group locations by region, brand or franchise agreement, and assign permissions in blocks rather than one site at a time.
Connect Google Business Profile first, then add the secondary review sources your sector uses, such as Trustpilot, Feefo, Reviews.io, Tripadvisor or Facebook.
Load alert thresholds from the routing table, not from the platform's recommended presets.
Create a per-location Google review link for UK customers so branch staff can ask for reviews without dashboard access.
Run two weeks in parallel, with alerts going to one inbox and someone logging them by hand, then compare the hand log against the platform.

For an initial dashboard shortlist, consider Birdeye, Reputation, ReviewTrackers, BrightLocal, Podium, Yext and Uberall. Check each product against the same location, review-source, permission and export requirements rather than assuming their features are equivalent.

Handle reviewer data lawfully across sites

A review dashboard holds personal data: reviewer names, order references, sometimes a profile photo, and occasionally a named employee inside the review text. Record the lawful basis, set a retention period and restrict export rights to the roles that need them.

Branch groups are where this usually breaks. Reviewer details pasted into a group chat sit outside your retention rules and your access controls. The ICO's UK GDPR guidance hub is the reference point for accountability records. If your organisation is a data controller, check whether it must pay the ICO's annual data protection fee under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018; some controllers are exempt.

Decide where the dashboard sits

Central team or franchisee? A single account with role-based views suits company-owned chains. Franchise networks often need per-franchisee access, because the franchisee answers for the reply.

Test the split during the trial: create two users at different levels, then check what each can see and export. The wrong split means either franchisees cannot reply, or the central team answers for them and takes the blame.

Keep incentives out of branch targets

Part 4, Chapter 1 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 sets consumer-protection rules against fake reviews, and the Competition and Markets Authority can enforce those rules. Businesses publishing consumer reviews must take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove fake reviews; do not make incentives conditional on a positive review.

Rank branches on reply rate and time to first response instead.

Set a cadence and a stop rule

Review the alert log weekly, the routing table monthly and the platform list quarterly, and attach a stop rule to each. If alerts go unanswered past their deadline for two consecutive months, remove a platform or a location group rather than adding another owner.

Automation belongs after the routing works. The review management automation workflow sequence covers what to hand to a tool and what to keep manual.

Common questions

Do we need one dashboard per brand?

One account with role-based views usually covers company-owned chains. Separate tools make sense only when the brands have different owners, different review platforms or different data controllers.

How many alerts a week is manageable?

Count the replies your team already completes within deadline, then set thresholds that keep alerts below that number. If alerts outnumber replies for two months, raise the thresholds rather than appoint another owner.

Can franchisees see each other's reviews?

Usually they should not. Give each franchisee access to their own locations and publish a regional roll-up for the franchisor, so personal data exposure stays proportionate.