Publish reviews and reply to them

Reviews written on your own review page arrive unpublished, so you read them first and choose which to show. You can reply to any review and have a reply drafted for you. You cannot change what a customer wrote: the words, the stars and the name stay as they are. You can also add reviews customers gave you in person or on Google or Facebook, and published reviews can fill the testimonials on your pages by themselves.

Before you start

• Some reviews, from asks or your review link. See Ask customers for reviews.

Steps: publish or hide a review

1. Open Sites › Reviews. The line at the top shows your average, for example "4.6 out of 5 from all 23 reviews customers left, shown or hidden · 12 on your pages".
2. On the Reviews tab, read each review.
3. Press Publish on the ones to show. The button then reads Published; press it again to hide the review.
4. A hidden review still counts in your average. Your pages never claim to show every review, and the average they show includes the ones you hid.

Steps: remove a review for a reason

A review a customer wrote cannot be deleted or edited. To take it out of your average as well as off your pages, it has to be one of these: spam or fake, abusive or hateful, not about your business, sharing private details, or the reviewer asked you to remove it.

1. Press the bin icon on the review.
2. Choose the reason and press Remove. The review shows Removed: with the reason, and "not counted".
3. To count it again, press Put back. It stays hidden until you press Publish.

A low rating is not a reason to remove a review.

Steps: reply to a review

1. Press Reply on the review, write your answer and press Save reply. You see "Reply saved. It shows under the review on your pages."
2. For a suggested reply, press Draft with AI. The suggestion appears above the reply box under Suggested reply.
3. Press Use to publish it as it stands, Edit it to change it first, or Regenerate for another.
4. For a review a customer gave on Google or Facebook, the button is Copy reply instead: the app cannot post there, so paste it under the review on Google or Facebook yourself.
5. To change a reply later, press Edit reply. Saving an empty reply removes it.

Steps: add a review a customer gave you

1. Press Add one by hand.
2. Type Their name, choose the stars, and choose where they gave it: In person, by email or on a card, On Google or On Facebook.
3. Type what they said, in their words.
4. Tick A customer gave us this review, and these are their words. We did not write it or change it. The Add button stays grey until you do.
5. Press Add. You see "Added. It shows on your pages as added by" and your business name.

What happens next

• Replies show under the review on your pages.
• A review you added by hand shows on your pages as Added by your business name, never as a Google or Facebook review, and does not count towards your average.
• A review written through the link in your ask shows as Verified customer when the customer paid through your checkout or booked a visit themselves on your booking page that you marked completed, before you asked. Orders and appointments you add yourself never count. Other reviews written on your review page have no label.
• Reviews you added by hand before this change show Not shown until you confirm it is genuine. Press Confirm it is genuine on each one you know a customer gave you; it then shows on your pages as added by you. Delete any you cannot vouch for.
• A reply written by your assistant is labelled "Answered by your assistant" in your list, so you can see which ones it wrote.
• Reviews left on Google or Facebook stay there. To show one on your pages, add it by hand.
• A drafted reply is metered as AI text, usually a fraction of a cent.

Steps: show reviews on your pages

1. Open a page with a testimonials section in the editor. A website's Reviews page has one.
2. Hover the testimonials section and press Use my real reviews.
3. The section fills with your published reviews, best first, and keeps up as new ones come in. Its rating line reads, for example, "4.6 out of 5 from all 23 reviews customers left here": it counts every review customers left on your review page, shown or hidden. Use Show on the section's controls to change how many appear.

For agencies

Manage reviews inside each client with Sub-accounts › Open.

For clients of an agency

Your review page and your replies carry your business name. The platform's name never appears on them.

Troubleshooting

A new review is not on my site. It arrived unpublished. Press Publish. Also check the page's testimonials section is set to Use my real reviews.

A review I added by hand is not on my site. It needs your confirmation first. Press Confirm it is genuine.

I want to change a customer's review. You can't. You can hide it, reply to it, or remove it for one of the reasons above. If the customer wants to change it, ask them to write a new one.

"Couldn't write a reply just now." The suggestion could not be made at that moment. Try again, or write the reply yourself.

My reply does not appear on Google. Replies to Google and Facebook reviews have to be pasted there by you. Use Copy reply, then paste it under the review.

The testimonials still show the example quotes. The section is not switched to your real reviews. Hover it and press Use my real reviews. With no published reviews yet, publish one first.

Related

• Ask customers for reviews
• Edit a page in the editor
• Create and manage a website