Reputation management selection checklist: scope, evidence, exit terms

A reputation management selection checklist should end with a documented buying decision, rather than a collection of feature ticks. For an England business, start with the tasks and accounts the service would handle. Assign a decision owner who can accept a limitation or return the proposal for more evidence.

The checks below are proposed procurement steps. They record work to perform, not completed supplier assessments. No product receives a score or recommendation from this page.

What to take away

Fix the job before requesting a proposal

Name the accounts and tools the service would cover. For most England businesses that means Google Business Profile, Trustpilot and the other review sites the branches appear on, alongside the review-management software that would sit near them — suites such as Birdeye, Podium or ReviewTrackers, or profile tools such as LocalClarity. For each channel, write down the response time you expect for a public reply, who handles an escalation, and the record you expect to receive at the end.

Use an evidence column alongside each requirement. Record the dated supplier document or observation that supports it. An empty cell means the question remains open; it should not silently become a pass when the checklist is summarised.

An illustrative completed row set for a two-branch England retailer:

The second row stays open until the supplier names the approver in writing. Replace both illustrative rows with your own channels, evidence and dates before the checklist is used.

Check what the account arrangement permits

Where the proposal includes Google Business Profile, use Google's third-party policy to examine the exit arrangements, and record the date you checked it. The policy gives customers a route to regain exclusive control within seven working days of notice. That is a platform policy condition, not a universal contractual deadline for unrelated services. For every other platform in scope — Trustpilot or a review suite such as Birdeye or Podium — the exit route comes from the contract, so ask for the export format, who owns the account and the termination notice the contract requires.

Have the operator explain the handover steps in the proposed configuration. A written assurance and a successfully observed handover are different evidence states. Record which one the buyer actually has.

Review the data terms before connecting systems

The ICO's guidance on controller–processor contracts covers the terms needed where a processor acts for a controller, and its source is UK GDPR Article 28, read with the Data Protection Act 2018. Article 28 requires written terms on processing on documented instructions, confidentiality, security, subprocessors, assistance with data subject requests and the return or deletion of data at the end of the contract. The ICO page carries a notice that it is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act, so record the date you read it against the contract clause you rely on.

A supplier's standard document is evidence to review, not proof that it fits the proposed processing. Keep the actual workflow description with the contract so the reviewer can assess both together.

Require an observable acceptance exercise

Define a permitted task that matters to the business, such as taking a draft through approval in a controlled setting. State the starting permissions, expected endpoint and evidence to retain. Do not create fake public customer reviews for the exercise.

An exercise can establish that a task worked under its recorded conditions. It cannot by itself demonstrate higher sales, better customer sentiment or reliable performance across an unobserved year.

Close the decision with explicit conditions

Request comparable written charges for the same scope and commitment, including setup, recurring services and the VAT basis. Retain the quotation date and exclusions without supplying assumed prices for missing items. Match contract wording to the service that was actually demonstrated.

Before signing, list unresolved essentials and decide whether each requires rejection, further evidence or a documented condition. Give conditional actions an owner and completion date. Circulate the final scope, approved evidence and exit arrangements together so the operator inherits the same service the buyer evaluated.

Before you act

Common questions

What should a reputation management selection checklist end with?

A decision record kept with the scope file. It names the scope, any accepted limitation, the owner of each open point and the evidence behind each requirement.

How should evidence be recorded for each requirement?

Keep one row per requirement, with the dated supplier document or observation beside it, and leave the row open until that evidence exists.

What can an acceptance exercise demonstrate?

An acceptance exercise shows whether the supplier can carry a named task through your own accounts with the permissions, timings and errors written down. It cannot show how the service behaves across a full year, on every channel or at peak volumes, so record those limits as untested in the decision record.

What should the exit terms cover for each platform account?

Account ownership and who may revoke delegated access; the export format and frequency for client records; the notice period the contract requires; and what the supplier returns or deletes at termination. Google Business Profile adds its own seven-working-day route back to exclusive control, and that route applies to Google alone.