Onboarding

When you sign up, GMBMantra runs a 5-step onboarding wizard that connects your Google Business Profile, syncs your data, and lets you pick which locations to manage. Here's what happens in each step, and what to do if something doesn't go as expected.

The 5 Onboarding Steps

1. 1

   Welcome to GMBMantra

   A short overview of what GMBMantra does — manage reviews, track performance, and engage customers across your locations. No input required; this step is informational. Click Get Started to move on.

2. 2

   Setup Permissions

   The wizard calls /api/user/permissions-check to verify the business.manage Google Business Profile scope was granted during sign-in. If it was, you'll see a green checkmark and the wizard auto-advances. If the scope is missing (you unticked the box on Google's consent screen), you'll see a red error with a Logout & Try Again button — sign out, sign back in, and tick every permission box on Google's screen.

3. 3

   Sync Your Business Data

   This step calls /api/onboarding/sync and pulls your locations, customer reviews, performance metrics (impressions, calls, direction requests), and recent posts from Google. A progress bar shows where you are — typically finishes in 15-20 seconds, longer for accounts with many locations. No action needed; the wizard advances automatically when sync completes.

4. 4

   Select Locations

   The wizard shows every verified location your Google account manages, with its star rating and review count. Tick the ones you want GMBMantra to actively manage, then click Enable Selected Locations. This calls /api/dashboard/toggle-user-location for each selection and sets the first one as your active location in the dashboard. You need to enable at least one location to finish onboarding.

5. 5

   All Set

   A confirmation screen with a quick recap of what to do next — reply to reviews, monitor performance, handle messages and Q&A. Click Go to Dashboard to close the wizard and start using the app.

Key Concepts

Permission check

Step 2 verifies the Google Business Profile scope (business.manage) is granted. If it's missing, the wizard blocks progress and asks you to sign out and sign in again — there's no way to grant the scope from inside GMBMantra, because Google only issues scopes during its own OAuth consent flow.

Sync time

The data sync in step 3 typically takes 15-20 seconds, but it can run longer for accounts with many locations or a large review history. The progress bar keeps moving so you know it isn't stuck. If sync fails for any reason, the wizard still advances to location selection and shows whatever locations were fetched.

Location selection

You can always change which locations are active later — the location picker in the dashboard top bar shows every location your Google account manages and lets you toggle them on or off. Toggling a location off keeps the data but stops automation and billing for that location. To pull in newly-added GBP locations from Google, click Refresh from Google on the location manager.

Reopening the wizard

If you close the modal early (before enabling at least one location), it'll reopen on your next dashboard visit. Once you've enabled a location and the backend records onboarding as complete, the wizard stops showing automatically.

Frequently Asked

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