Step 1
Connect and bring your list
We wire in your systems and move your opted-in subscribers over. One retailer brought about 9,000.
Podium alternative
AiPRL vs Podium: which one pays for itself?
Podium is built around texting, reviews and payments. AiPRL answers every channel, including the phone, from your own POS, catalog and schedule, and books the next step. A 7-showroom furniture retailer that switched from Podium reached 10 times more customers by text in its first full month, and the revenue the AI helped close that month was 9.6 times its fee.
What the switch returned
- $25,000
- a month in sales the AI helped close for a 7-showroom furniture retailer: 9.6× what it paid us (September 2026, confirmed by the retailer)
- 10×
- more customers reached by text in the first full month after switching from a texting inbox (7-showroom retailer)
- 16
- customers a day answered while the store was closed (7-showroom retailer)
One furniture & mattress retailer, 7 showrooms. Sales: September 2026, confirmed by the retailer. Text reach: the old inbox's last full month vs September 2026. After close: Aug 13 – Oct 27, 2026; base: 1,254 conversations. Source: AiPRL performance report, Oct 27, 2026, and the retailer's contact export.
Why stores switch
A texting inbox stops at text.
The phone still rings out after close. The answer to "where's my delivery?" still sits in the POS, so a person has to look it up. Your customer texts, then calls, then gives up and buys from the store that answered.
What AiPRL adds
- Answers the phone with AI — and books the visit
- Answers from your POS and catalog — order status, stock, price
- One memory across channels — phone, text, chat, social, email
- Results you can check — a performance report with strict definitions
Switch in three steps. Keep your subscribers.
Step 2
Go live, channel by channel
Chat and text first, then the phone. Your team sees every conversation.
Step 3
Compare the months
At 90 days, your last month on the old inbox against your month on AiPRL, with strict definitions.
Stay with Podium if
texting, review requests and payments are all you need, and your phones are already answered.
Switch to AiPRL if
calls go unanswered, the answers live in your POS or schedule, and you want every channel at every location to book the visit.
If nothing changes
After close, the call goes to the store down the road. A third of your conversations arrive then.
After the switch
Every customer answered and booked, at every location, and a month that pays for itself many times over.
How fast does the switch pay for itself?
At a 7-showroom furniture retailer, the revenue the AI helped close in its first full month was 9.6 times that month's fee. Your demo works the same math with your own numbers.
Can we keep our text subscribers if we switch from Podium?
Yes. A 7-showroom furniture retailer brought about 9,000 opted-in subscribers over and added roughly 2,000 more by October.
Does AiPRL answer phone calls?
Yes. It answers on your own numbers, books appointments and service visits, and hands off to your team with the whole conversation.