The review response templates

Your review replies are not customer service. They are a sales page that the next customer reads before they call you.

The four-move structure

1. Name them and thank them

   Use their first name. It signals a human read it.

2. Say the specific thing

   Reference the actual job, product or visit. This is the move that defeats the generic problem, and it takes eight words.

3. Add one line of value for the reader

   Remember the audience is the next customer, not the reviewer. A detail about how you work is worth more here than another thank you.

4. Close without a pitch

   No discount codes, no "book again", no link. The review page is not the place.

Five stars, no comment

Thanks [FIRST NAME], glad we could help with the [JOB]. Appreciate you taking the time to leave a rating.

Five stars, with detail

Thanks so much [FIRST NAME]. [SPECIFIC THING THEY MENTIONED] is the part we care most about getting right, so it is good to hear it landed.

For anyone reading this: [ONE SENTENCE ABOUT HOW YOU WORK, e.g. "we always send a photo of the finished work before we leave site"].

Thanks again from all of us at [BUSINESS].

Three stars, the most valuable one

A three-star review is a customer telling you the exact thing to fix, in public, for free. It is also the review the next customer reads most carefully, because it reads as the honest one.

Thanks for the honest feedback [FIRST NAME]. You are right that [THE THING THEY RAISED] was not good enough, and that is on us.

Here is what we have changed since: [THE ACTUAL CHANGE].

If you are willing, I would like to put it right. I am on [PHONE] and I will pick up.

[YOUR NAME], [ROLE]

One star

Reply within 24 hours if you can. Stay short, stay calm, and move the conversation off the platform. You are writing for the reader, not the reviewer.

I am sorry, [FIRST NAME]. That is not the standard we work to and I understand why you are frustrated.

I would like to understand what happened and make it right. I am on [PHONE] or [EMAIL], and it will come straight to me.

[YOUR NAME], [ROLE], [BUSINESS]

Never do these in a one-star reply

• Never dispute the facts in public. You will look defensive even when you are right.
• Never mention the amount they paid, their address, their medical details or anything else they did not put in the review themselves. In regulated sectors this is a legal problem, not just a bad look.
• Never threaten legal action to get a review taken down. Review suppression is prohibited under the FTC rule.
• Never reply while angry. Write it, leave it an hour, then send it.

The review you believe is unfair or fake

Reply anyway, and reply calmly. The reader cannot tell who is right, so they judge on tone alone. A composed reply to an unfair review is one of the strongest trust signals on your whole profile.

Thanks for flagging this. We have checked our records carefully and cannot find a job matching these details, so there is a chance this has reached the wrong business.

If we have got that wrong, please call me on [PHONE] and I will look into it personally. We take every complaint seriously.

[YOUR NAME], [BUSINESS]

Operating rules

• Reply to every review, including the plain five-star ones. Partial coverage looks like you only reply when you are unhappy.
• Set a standing slot: same time, twice a week. That comfortably beats the one-week expectation.
• One named person owns replies. Two people replying produces two voices on one profile.
• Never paste the same sentence twice on the same profile. Read your last five replies before writing the sixth.