What is our primary use case?
Since the company that I work for, Axi Finance Romania, is in the financial services sector, we had inaccurate holidays and holiday hours on Google Maps and Apple Maps that were causing negative customer reviews and driving foot traffic to closed locations. We eliminated negative reviews related to incorrect hours and drove a 19% increase in appointments booked via local branches' web pages. We also used the Knowledge Graph to map each advisor to their respective branch and applied global updates for holiday hours that published across 200+ directories instantaneously.
With over 50 branches and 100 mortgage advisors that provide credit cards and mortgages, we needed to ensure accurate branch hours, local phone numbers, and advisor profiles across all search platforms. Yext Digital Presence Platform helped us significantly. We were able to update the holiday hours on both Google Maps and Apple Maps, and the Knowledge Graph helped us connect the advisors with the location that they were managing.
What is most valuable?
The Yext Knowledge Graph was one of the features that we valued because it is a structured and AI-ready database that holds all verified brand facts and maps relationships between entities, linking a specific consultant to a prospect. Direct Listing Syncing was another feature that we loved. Reviews and Reputation Management was something that helped us greatly as a centralized dashboard for monitoring customer reviews across 80+ platforms, where AI responses were generated automatically and review solicitation requests were issued. Yext Pages, the SEO-optimized local landing pages generator built with automated schema markup connected to the Knowledge Graph, was also valuable. Duplicate Suppression was another specification for automated scanning across publisher directories to identify, merge and suppress incorrect duplicate listings.
Direct Listing Syncing, the Yext Knowledge Graph, and Yext Pages were the most impactful features because they improved our organic results and had a positive impact on our business.
From a search visibility and organic traffic perspective, there was a 33% increase in Google Business Profile view counts and map impressions. There was also a 24% increase in direct customer actions such as website clicks, phone calls, or direction requests. Additionally, there was a 60% reduction in local data management hours by admins.
What needs improvement?
The platform can be improved by optimizing the automated AI responses and providing different templates of responses available in the review and reputation management section. Additionally, allowing various integration types would be beneficial. Although Yext Digital Presence Platform has API integrations with 200 publishers, allowing other types of integrations such as those connected through a CDN would enhance functionality.
Regarding the user interface, there are no concerns. However, with reporting, it would have been beneficial to have direct integration to Data Studio or other reporting systems where we could grab data and display it in a more friendly, visual way.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Yext Digital Presence Platform in different companies and the cumulative period would be over three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The platform is very stable and the uptime is almost 100%.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability was not yet discussed in our company, but it might be a topic for us in the near future.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support was very professional and helpful, and the expertise that they brought to the table was excellent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have not used other solutions previously.
How was the initial setup?
The Yext Knowledge Graph was one of the features that we valued because it is a structured and AI-ready database that holds all verified brand facts and maps relationships between entities, linking a specific consultant to a prospect.
Single-click updates in the Knowledge Graph replaced manual updating across hundreds of individual directory logins or spreadsheet uploads.
What about the implementation team?
In terms of governance and security, everything was in place. During the security tests that were conducted by our local team and also their partner, there were no breaches in the platform and the information security team approved the integration and usage of this solution.
The complexity of the project was moderate to high because it required tight alignment across digital marketing, regional operations, and data engineering teams. It took us between two to four months for fully data mapping, AI integration, and multi-location rollout, alongside API integrations that were developed. The pricing was reasonable, and the support was excellent and helpful throughout the process.
What was our ROI?
There was a 65% reduction in administrative hours that were focusing on data management, and we saw a 33% increase in Google Business Profile view counts.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated BirdEye and BrightLocal.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend that prospective customers build use cases and scenarios of what they are looking to achieve, meet with other parties and competitors of Yext Digital Presence Platform, and also create a direct diagram with benefits and costs so they could compare them one by one and see what the best solution is for them.
No platform is perfect, and that is why I provided a rating of 9 out of 10, because there are things that can be improved and features that can be optimized over time.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
