Review Corpus Intake and Sentiment Baseline (Onboarding)

Review Corpus Intake and Sentiment Baseline (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Inventory every review surface the client's customers actually use before touching a dashboard

   List Google Business Profile, Facebook, industry-specific directories, and app stores, then confirm which ones the client's sales team hears about in live deals. A 40-location agency client rarely needs the same surface list as a single-site clinic.

2. 02

   Pull 12 months of review history into one export and count volume by month

   Monthly volume reveals whether the client has a steady 8 reviews per month or a spike pattern tied to seasonal campaigns. Platforms such as EmbedMyReviews and Rebrand Bot both ingest this history, but the export format differs, so normalize to a single CSV before import.

3. 03

   Tag every review from the last 90 days by theme, not by star rating

   Themes like 'billing confusion' or 'technician arrived late' tell a delivery story that a 4.2 average hides. Ratings alone will not tell the account team which operational fix moves the number.

4. 04

   Score baseline sentiment separately for each surface and each theme

   A client can sit at 4.6 on Google and 3.1 on a niche directory that feeds AI answers. Record both numbers in the onboarding doc so the first quarterly report has a real comparison point.

5. 05

   Document which review platforms the client's team already responds to and how fast

   Median response time is the single easiest metric to improve and the easiest to prove. If the client replies in 9 days, a 48-hour target becomes a visible early win.

6. 06

   Flag any review that names a competitor, a lawsuit, or a regulator

   These carry legal exposure and should route to the client's counsel before any agency reply goes out. Set the escalation contact in writing during onboarding, not during the first crisis.

7. 07

   Confirm white-label boundaries in writing before the first client login is created

   Some platforms allow full rebranding of domain, logos, and email infrastructure, while custom service providers operate as a behind-the-scenes vendor. Decide which model the retainer supports and state it in the scope doc.