Cloutly

Cloutly is a reputation management platform designed to assist businesses in enhancing their online presence through the strategic collection and management of customer reviews. Founded in 2019 by Lachlan Fea and Joshua Heslin, the Gold Coast, Australia-based company originated from Fea's digital marketing agency, where the internal tool's success with clients prompted its development as a standalone product. The founders identified a market need for a more affordable and personalized alternative to existing enterprise-level review management tools, which they found to be transactional and costly for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The company's core business revolves around a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, generating revenue through tiered monthly subscriptions. Cloutly primarily serves service-led businesses, including multi-location franchises and SMBs, across various sectors such as hospitality, retail, home services, and professional services. The platform enables these clients to automate the process of requesting reviews from their customers via personalized email, SMS, and video messages. A key feature is its ability to centralize reviews from over 40 different sites, including Google and Facebook, into a single dashboard. This allows businesses to monitor, manage, and respond to feedback efficiently. The system also includes a feature to intercept negative feedback privately, giving businesses an opportunity to address customer issues before a negative review is posted publicly.

Functionally, the platform provides tools for creating customized, multi-step review campaigns and offers analytics to track performance. Businesses can embed review widgets on their websites to display social proof and build trust with potential customers. Other features include an AI-powered lead capture tool, an AI agent for web chat, competitor analysis, and team leaderboards to gamify the review collection process. In July 2022, Cloutly secured $500,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Unify Ventures and Palm Beach Ventures to expand its team and accelerate product development. By that time, less than a year after launching its MVP, the company had reached six-figure annual recurring revenue with over 150 paying business customers.

Keywords: reputation management, customer reviews, review management platform, SaaS, social proof, lead generation, customer feedback, online reputation, review collection, automated review requests, video testimonials, SMB marketing, multi-location business tools, customer engagement, brand credibility, AI lead capture, review aggregation, sentiment analysis, competitor benchmarking, customer experience