Review Response Best Practices

Always Review AI Responses Before Publishing

AI-generated responses are a powerful starting point, but they work best when a human gives them a final check. Even high-quality drafts can occasionally miss context — for example, the AI might not know that a customer mentioned a specific employee by the wrong name, or that a complaint has already been resolved offline. A quick read-through takes 10 to 15 seconds per response and dramatically reduces the chance of publishing something that feels generic or misses the mark.

1. Open the Reviews dashboard and look for reviews with a status of 'AI Response Ready'.
2. Read the original review carefully, paying attention to specific details like names, dates, and experiences described.
3. Read the AI-generated draft and confirm it addresses the reviewer's key points.
4. Edit the draft if needed — add a personal touch, correct any details, or adjust the tone.
5. Approve and publish once you are satisfied with the response.

Customize Tone Per Brand or Location

Different businesses call for different communication styles. A casual coffee shop should not sound like a corporate law firm, and vice versa. ResponseIQ lets you set a distinct tone for each location, so AI-generated responses match the voice your customers expect.

• Professional — best for medical offices, law firms, financial services, and B2B companies.
• Friendly — ideal for restaurants, retail shops, salons, and hospitality businesses.
• Casual — works well for cafes, bars, fitness studios, and entertainment venues.
• Empathetic — useful for healthcare providers, veterinary clinics, and service recovery situations.

To change the tone for a location, go to Location Settings, select the location, and adjust the Response Tone dropdown. The change applies to all future AI-generated responses for that location.

Leverage Custom Instructions

Custom instructions give you fine-grained control over how the AI writes responses. This is where you can encode your brand's specific language preferences, policies, and personality. The AI reads these instructions every time it generates a response, so they have a significant impact on output quality.

• Mention the business name naturally in every response.
• Always thank the reviewer by their first name if it is visible.
• Never offer discounts or free items in a public response — direct the customer to contact you privately.
• Reference specific services or products mentioned in the review.
• Keep responses under 100 words for positive reviews and under 150 words for negative ones.
• End positive review responses with an invitation to visit again.

Patterns to Avoid in Responses

Certain response patterns can hurt your reputation even when the intent is good. Being aware of these pitfalls helps you edit AI drafts more effectively and write better custom instructions.

• Copy-paste responses — replying with the exact same text to every review signals that you do not actually read them. Vary your responses.
• Defensive language — phrases like 'that is not true' or 'you must be mistaken' escalate conflict and look bad to prospective customers reading your reviews.
• Over-promising — do not promise specific outcomes like 'we will make sure this never happens again' unless you are certain you can deliver.
• Ignoring the complaint — responding to a negative review with only 'thanks for your feedback' feels dismissive.
• Excessive length — walls of text in review responses are rarely read. Be concise and direct.