How to respond to Google reviews: 5 rules and examples. And how to turn on auto replies on Google Maps: the AI writes in your tone, on its own or after a manager approves, plus posts from your catalogue.
Before people walk into a store, they look it up on Google Maps: the rating, the latest reviews, and whether anyone answers them. A profile where a complaint sits unanswered looks abandoned, even if the store is open every day. And replying by hand to every review at every location is something few teams keep up with.
This article covers how to reply to Google reviews well, with examples, and how to set up auto replies to Google reviews with Looma. The AI writes in your tone, and you decide which replies go out right away and which a manager sees first. At the end, we cover automatic Google Business Profile posts that Looma publishes from your catalogue.
Google's own help for businesses says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence takes reviews into account: more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
A reply on its own does not lift your position, and nobody should promise that. But it works on the people reading your profile. In Google's words, replying shows customers that you value their feedback, and helpful replies help a business stand out.
Every store gets a bad rating now and then. But a shopper who sees a complaint with no reaction assumes they would be treated the same way. A calm reply with a solution takes that worry away.
A customer who got a reply is more likely to come back and recommend you. Others see that reviews here get read, and leave their own more willingly.
With several stores, reviews arrive every day, and answering each one on time becomes a job of its own. That's why most profiles reply in waves: once a month, when someone remembers.
Reply: «Andrew, thank you for telling us, and we are sorry for the trouble. A week for an exchange is too long and we will fix that. Message us in the website chat or give us a call: we will swap your size right away and help you find the pair that fits. The Run&Go team»
Reply: «Olivia, thank you for the kind words! We will pass them on to Max. Enjoy every mile in your new shoes! The Run&Go team»
Both examples come from our Run&Go demo store.
Ready-made drafts for the situations that come up most. Fill in the customer's name and the details from the review: a template with nothing specific reads as a brush-off, so adapt it every time.
«[Name], we're sorry you had to wait longer than we promised. We know how frustrating that is. Message us in the website chat with your order number: we'll check what happened and make sure your next order arrives on time.»
«[Name], thank you for letting us know, and we apologise for the mistake. We'll replace the item at our cost: message us in the chat or give us a call, and we'll arrange the exchange at a time that suits you.»
«[Name], we're sorry the visit left that impression. That's not how it should be, and we'll look into it with the team. It would help a lot if you messaged us in the chat with the day and the store where it happened.»
«[Name], thank you for the honest rating! We're glad you liked [what they liked]. As for [what they didn't like], you're right, and we're already working on it. We hope to earn all five stars next time.»
«Thank you for your review. Unfortunately, we couldn't find an order or visit with these details. If this happened with us, please message us in the website chat — we want to sort it out.» Stay calm and don't accuse anyone: other customers will read this reply. If the review breaks the rules, you can report it to Google (see the FAQ below).
«[Name], thanks for the five stars! We're glad you enjoyed it — see you again.» Even a rating without words deserves a short thank-you.
Looma doesn't paste a template: it writes a reply to the specific review, mentions what the customer wrote about, and follows your instructions. But the logic is the same — acknowledge, thank, offer a next step.
You connect your Google account and pick your stores. When a new review comes in, Looma writes a reply in the customer's language, in your tone and with your signature. What happens next is set separately for each rating, from one to five stars:
The most common setup: Looma replies to 4–5 stars on its own, and 1–3 stars go to approval. A thank-you for a good review doesn't need a person, but you want to see a complaint before the reply goes to Google.
The owner doesn't have to approve every reply. In the settings you can open the section to the Supervisor and Chat user roles. Your managers then see the reviews of their site, approve and edit replies, while connecting Google and changing settings stays with the owner and administrators.
You set the tone («Friendly» or «Formal»), the signature and your own instructions, for example: «for delivery complaints, suggest messaging us in the website chat». Looma pulls the address, opening hours and phone number from your profile itself, and adds them to the knowledge base of the AI assistant on your site, so the chat knows when the store is open too.
Posts appear right in your store's profile on Search and Maps. Google says fresh updates help people decide to visit, and it archives posts older than six months. So a profile where nothing new appears looks frozen. Few stores keep it up: every time you need a topic, a picture, and to remember next week.
Looma publishes posts on its own, 1–2 times a week, and takes the topic from your catalogue:
The AI writes one or two sentences, only from your feed: name, features, description, price. No delivery terms, warranties or promotions that aren't in the data. Looma builds the picture from its own template: the product photo on a white field, bands in your widget colour, your logo from the Google profile, and a badge with the discount or price. The post button leads to the product page. Only in-stock products are used, and the same product doesn't come up more than once in 60 days.
Want to see every post before it goes out? Switch publishing to «After my approval», and posts will wait in the Posts tab next to your reviews.
The integration is available on every plan. You only pay for the AI's work, in credits from your balance, like every other Looma feature:
It shows as a separate line in your usage, «Google Business: reviews and posts».
The step-by-step guide with every setting is in the documentation.
Yes. Google gives verified business profiles an official API for replying to reviews, and Looma works through it. The reply appears on behalf of your business, just like one you write by hand.
Briefly and without arguing: thank them for writing, acknowledge the problem, apologise for the experience and offer a concrete next step — message the chat, call, exchange the item. Sort out the details in a private conversation, not in the public reply. See the templates above for examples.
No, a business owner can't delete someone else's review. If a review breaks Google's rules — fake, offensive, spam, a conflict of interest — you can report it from your business profile, and Google will review the report. Ordinary criticism from a real customer stays, so it's better to reply to it calmly.
No. The tone and signature are yours, and the pause before publishing removes the instant-bot effect.
The language of the review. A customer who writes in Spanish gets a reply in Spanish, even if your site is in English.
Set those ratings to Approval. Then no reply to them goes to Google until a manager publishes it, and any draft can be edited by hand or rewritten by the AI.
No. You pick all the stores you need from one list, and their reviews come into one section. Posts go out to all connected stores at once.
Yes, it's a separate switch in the integration settings. That's also where you choose one or two posts a week.
Sign-up is free. Connect your profile, pick your stores, and replies and posts start appearing on their own.
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