Review and reply to social reviews
On this page
Read reviews from your connected accounts in the Engage inbox and reply to them publicly.
Before you start
- Connect an account that has reviews: a Facebook Page, Google Business, Google Play, App Store or G2 account.
- Check you're in the right workspace.
Open the feature
Choose Engage in the left sidebar. Under Accounts, select your review account, then open the type menu (it starts on All Conversations) and choose Reviews.
Steps
- Choose the Open tab to see reviews you haven't dealt with yet.
- Click a review to open it. You'll see the star rating, the reviewer's name and their review.
- Type your response in Write a comment....
- To reuse text you've saved, click Saved Replies (the bookmark icon) and pick a reply. The list shows the replies available in the workspace you're in. Edit it to fit the review.
- Click Reply.
- Click Mark as close on the review's card to move it to Closed.
Expected result
Your response appears under the review in the inbox and is posted publicly on the network. The review moves to Closed when you mark it.
Example
A customer leaves a 2-star Google Business review about slow service. Select your Google Business account under Accounts and choose Reviews. Click the review, type "Thanks for letting us know, and sorry for the wait. Please contact us so we can make it right." in Write a comment... and click Reply. Then click Mark as close.
Limits and permissions
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Google Play provides written production-app reviews through its API; star-only ratings are not available. Google Play auto-replies must be 350 characters or fewer after personalization. App Store responses may take time to appear publicly; pending responses are treated as existing replies.
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To send a different saved reply for each Google Business Profile, Google Play or App Store star rating, use Automation Rules and Review rating is. See Configure an Engage automation rule. This applies to newly discovered reviews and skips existing responses.
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Google Play reviews can have one developer reply in Engage. Duplicate copies of a customer review do not count as your reply.
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G2 reviews are read-only. You can read them in Engage but can't reply.
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You can't delete Google Play, App Store or G2 reviews from Engage.
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If Reviews is greyed out, none of your selected accounts support reviews.
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If an account needs reconnecting, replying from it is turned off until you reconnect.
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Replies to reviews are public, so don't include private details like order numbers or phone numbers.
Troubleshooting
- You can't see any reviews: check you've selected a review account under Accounts, then try the All tab.
- The reply box is missing: G2 reviews can't be replied to from Engage.
- The reply box is greyed out: the account may need reconnecting. See Reconnect a social account.
- You're not sure your reply went through: check the review before replying again, so you don't post the same reply twice.
Open an existing reply
Opening an ad-comment reply or a review reply loads its parent thread where available. After sending a supported reply, the thread refreshes so you can check the result. Reply permissions and network limits still apply. If the parent or post is unavailable, check the conversation on the social network before sending again.
Pending review automation
For new Google Business, Google Play and App Store reviews, temporary preparation failures remain pending and retry automatically while the channel can be polled. The inbox shows pending automation. If delivery cannot be confirmed, the inbox shows that the auto-reply needs attention. Check the review on the platform before replying manually: the reply may already exist. Uncertain sends are held for verification and are not automatically sent again. Initial imports and old reviews are not backfilled.
Edited Google Business reviews
When a reviewer edits a Google Business review, Engage updates the same review instead of adding a new one, and the review moves back to Open. Its card shows Edited next to the time. Open the review and click Edited to see each earlier version with its stars and time. Google shows only the latest version publicly. If you already replied, Engage doesn't send another auto-reply. An edit can take a while to appear, because Google may delay it.