A review-response backlog

Why it matters

A review left unanswered is read by every future customer who scrolls past it. A calm, specific reply to a critical review shows the next reader how you handle a problem, and a short thank-you to a positive one shows someone reads them. Rivals' response habits are worth checking too: if they never reply, replying well is an easy way to stand apart.

The reviews watch loop is in build and not on sale. When it ships it will gather new reviews for you and flag the ones waiting for a reply. Until then, the manual routine below keeps the backlog under control, and the replies are always yours to approve and post.

What you need

• - Access to the review platforms where you are reviewed (Google Business Profile, Trustpilot, your shop platform)
• - A short tone guide: how you sign off, what you never say, who customers should contact
• - The facts for each critical review (the order, the job, what actually happened)
• - A named person who approves and posts replies

Setup

1. Export or copy every unanswered review with its date, rating and text into one sheet.
2. Add the internal facts for any critical review, so the reply can be specific and accurate.
3. Paste the sheet and your tone guide into the prompt below.
4. Read every draft, correct the facts, and post replies from the business account, starting with the highest priority.
5. Pass the recurring problems the model flags to whoever can fix them, and note the date you did.

The prompt

Paste this into any capable model, followed by the evidence you gathered in the setup.

You are helping a UK business clear its backlog of unanswered reviews.
Below are: a tone guide, and a list of unanswered reviews (platform, date, star rating, text, and any internal facts we have added).
Do this:
1. Sort the reviews into priority order: critical reviews with a specific complaint first, then other critical reviews, then mixed, then positive. Within each group, newest first.
2. For each review, draft a reply in our tone. Critical replies must acknowledge the specific point, quote it, state only facts we supplied, and offer a direct contact route. Positive replies should be short and specific to what the customer said.
3. Never offer a discount or gift in exchange for changing or removing a review, and never ask for a better rating.
4. List recurring problems that appear in more than one review, quoting each, and rate fixing each for effort (low/medium/high) and impact (low/medium/high).
5. Flag any review that looks like it may break a platform's rules, marked as a hypothesis, without accusing the reviewer.
Rules:
- Quote the evidence for every point, word for word, and say where it came from (which rival, which page or ad, which date I captured it).
- Label each point OBSERVATION (you can see it in the evidence) or HYPOTHESIS (your reading of why). Never present a hypothesis as a proven cause.
- Never invent a figure, a date, a price or a result. If the evidence does not show it, write "not in the evidence".
- Use British English and plain words.

Tone guide and reviews:
[paste here]

Doing it by hand today

Set a fixed slot each week to clear the backlog. Replies to critical reviews go first, and every reply is read by a person before it is posted.

Keep within the rules. UK law bans fake reviews and reviews that hide that they were incentivised, and the CMA's guidance sets out what businesses that publish reviews must avoid. Asking every customer for a review is fine; offering anything for a better one is not.

For trades and clinics, a reply that names the job or the treatment (without personal details) reads as genuine. For online shops, naming the product and the fix does the same.