Customers can leave reviews of your business. Reviews from your customers can provide valuable feedback for your business. You can reply to reviews, which can help build customer trust.
Verify your business
Important: You can't reply to reviews from third-party sources.
Before you can respond to reviews, your business must be verified. After you verify your business, you can reply to reviews directly from:
- Your homepage on the Google My Business app.
- Your Business Profile on Google Maps.
How it works
Important: If you use your Google Account for work or school, make sure your organisation turns on the following services for your account: Google My Business, Google Search or Google Maps. If you have any issues, contact your administrator. Learn how to find your administrator, turn on services, and apply policies to different users.
You post publicly as your business when you reply to reviews. Replies may not appear across Google immediately. However, reviewers will get a notification when you reply to their review. After they get the notification, they have a chance to read your reply and update their review.
Tip: Customers on older mobile devices and operating systems might have issues leaving reviews. To fix the problem, customers should update their operating system and Google Maps app version.
Review reply visibility
- When you reply to a review, your response appears below your customer's review on Google Search and Maps under the label 'Response from the owner'.
- People can find both the customer review and your response when they look at your reviews on Google.
Important: If you use your Google Account for work or school, make sure your organisation turns on the following services for your account: Google My Business, Google Search or Google Maps. If you have any issues, contact your administrator. Learn how to find your administrator, turn on services, and apply policies to different users.
You post publicly as your business when you reply to reviews. Replies may not appear across Google immediately. However, reviewers will get a notification when you reply to their review. After they get the notification, they have a chance to read your reply and update their review.
Reply to reviews on Google My Business
- On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google My Business app.
- Tap Customers
Reviews.
- Tap the review to respond to.
- Write a response and tap Send
.
Reviews.
.Reply to reviews from Google Search or Maps
- On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app
or use Google Search
.
- You can open your Business Profile in two ways:
- Google Maps: In the top right, tap Account Circle
- Google Search: Enter your business name in the search bar.
- Google Maps: In the top right, tap Account Circle
- Tap Reviews.
- For the review that you'd like to reply to, tap Reply.
- Edit your reply: Tap More
- Delete your reply: Tap More
- Report an inappropriate review: Tap More
.
Write a helpful reply
Business owner responses help you build relationships with customers, but they’re also public. When you reply to your customers, keep these guidelines in mind:
- Be nice and don’t get personal. This isn’t just a guideline, it’s also a good idea as a business owner. It's difficult to win an argument with a frustrated customer and you want to leave a positive impression. Keep your responses useful, readable and courteous. In addition, responses should comply with our local content policy.
- Keep it short and sweet. Users are looking for useful and genuine responses, but they can easily be overwhelmed by a long response.
- Thank your reviewers. Respond to happy reviewers when you have new or relevant information to share. You don’t need to thank every reviewer publicly, since each response reaches lots of customers.
- Be a friend, not a salesperson. Your reviewers are already customers, so there’s no need to offer incentives or advertisements. Tell reviewers something new about your business, or share something that they might not have learned from their first visit.
Best practices for negative review replies
- Negative reviews aren't necessarily a sign of bad business practices. For example, the customer may have had mismatched expectations. Reviews can also help identify points on how to improve future customer experiences.
- Do not share personal data of the reviewer or attack them personally. This includes on Maps, on other services or in the real world. Instead, suggest that they contact you personally through Google My Business messaging, or by email or phone, to resolve the issue. A positive post-review interaction and your reply shows prospective shoppers that you really care and often leads the customer to update their original review.
- Investigate the reasons behind the reviewer’s negative impression of the business. Check your records for the reviewer and their experience with your business.
- Be honest. Acknowledge mistakes that were made, but don’t take responsibility for things that are out of your control. Explain what you can and can't do in the situation. Show how you can make uncontrollable issues actionable. For example, bad weather caused you to cancel an event, but you monitor the weather and provide advance cancellation warnings when possible.
- Apologise when appropriate. It’s best to say something that demonstrates compassion and empathy.
- Show that you’re a real person by signing off with your name or initials. This helps you come across as more authentic.
- Respond in a timely manner. Doing so shows that you pay attention to your customer’s experience. You can use the Google My Business app to reply promptly.
If you believe that a Google review violates the posting guidelines, you can flag it as inappropriate. Learn more about flagging reviews as inappropriate.
