A reply to every review, good or bad, helps the next customer choose you. With Google connected, each new review on the Google tab has a reply already drafted underneath it, written by AI from the review and the job.
Nothing is ever posted on Google until someone presses Post.
What a draft does
- Thanks them for something they actually said: the leak, turning up on time, the tidy job.
- Names the kind of work you did, like “the boiler service”, taken from the job in ServiceM8 when it can find it. People reading your profile then see the sort of jobs you do.
- Now and then mentions the area you cover, as where you work (“we’re just down the road in Winchester”), never as where the customer lives.
- Is signed with the name under Who the thank-you is from on the Messages tab, or “The team at” your business.
What a draft never does
- Mention prices, their address, what was wrong in their home, or anything private they didn’t write themselves.
- Mention the star rating, or ask them to change their review.
- Offer anything, or name a member of staff.
For three stars or fewer, the draft owns the problem, says sorry where it’s due and invites them to get in touch, without going into the job in public. The review also comes to your ServiceM8 Inbox marked as needing you. Ringing the customer before anyone replies in public is usually the better first step.
Posting a reply
- Read the draft in the box under the review. Change anything you like.
- Press Post reply on Google.
It goes to Google straight away and moves to “Your reply” on the tab. Google allows up to 4,000 characters.
New draft writes it again from scratch. Or clear the box and write your own.
The area you cover
The How drafted replies are written card at the top of the Google tab has a box for the area you cover, such as “Winchester”. Press Save. New drafts use it. Press New draft on any review to rewrite it with the area.
Drafts are written for reviews from the last four months that don’t have a reply yet, a few at each check.