Auto-replies

An auto-reply is a rule that answers reviews for you. You choose the locations or brands it covers, and the star ratings and review types it applies to. You also choose the engine: your saved reply templates, or Pulse AI writing each reply. Matching reviews are then answered on a schedule, without anyone opening the feed.

Before you start

• Auto-replies post to Google only — specifically to reviews on connected Google profiles. Reviews from Facebook, TripAdvisor, iFood or any other source are never answered automatically.
• Automation is not available on the Freemium plan.
• A connected Google integration is required. See Google Business Profile.
• Creating, editing and deleting rules requires full Reviews access on a team that also covers the locations or brands the rule uses.
• Rules only post while the account is on a paid plan or an unexpired free trial that is within its user and location quotas. See Rules that exist but never post.
• Template-based rules need at least one saved template. See Reply templates.

Where to find it

Reviews → Automation, which opens on the Auto-replies tab, or go to https://app.pluspoint.io/reviews/automation/auto-replies.

Create an auto-reply rule

1. Select Add new auto-reply.
2. Enter a Name. This is only shown in the rules table, so name it after what it does — for example, 5 stars with comment — flagship brand.
3. Choose the scope. Select Brands or Locations, then pick the entries the rule should cover. A rule must have at least one brand or one location.
4. Choose the Rating values that trigger the rule. At least one value is required.
5. Choose the Review type values: With comment, Without comment, or both. At least one is required.
6. Choose the reply engine: Templates or Pulse AI.
7. Complete the fields for the engine you picked — see the two sections below — then select Save.

Scope: brands or locations

• The Brands and Locations options only appear if you have access to at least one brand.
• A brand-scoped rule covers every location in that brand, so you do not have to list them one by one.
• Only locations that have a Google profile are offered, because that is the only place a rule can post. A location missing from the list needs its Google profile connected first — see Profiles.
• You only see locations and brands your teams let you write to for the Reviews module.
• Brands are created in Account settings. See Brands.

Reply from templates

Select Templates as the engine, then:

1. Pick one or more entries in Linked templates. At least one is required. Create new template in the same list opens the template editor without leaving the rule.
2. Decide whether to turn on Apply to past unreplied reviews. It is off by default.

How a template rule behaves:

• When several templates are linked, the rule picks one at random for each review, so your Google profile does not fill up with identical text. Link three or four variations of the same message for the best result.
• [name] and [location] are filled in from the review. See Reply templates for how to write wording that reads well with or without a reviewer name.
• With Apply to past unreplied reviews off, the rule only answers reviews that arrive after it was created. Turn it on to sweep older unanswered reviews as well.

Templates are the right engine when you want to know exactly what will be published: a thank-you for 5-star ratings with no comment, for example. Reviews that say something specific deserve a reply that addresses it, and that is what Pulse AI is for.

Reply with Pulse AI

Select Pulse AI as the engine, then:

1. Optionally write Custom instructions (optional) — up to 500 characters.
2. Turn on Enable Pulse AI auto-replies for new reviews if you want the rule to post by itself. This toggle is off by default, and a rule with it off never posts anything.
3. Optionally turn on Send recovery form. Replies to reviews the rule covers that are rated 1 to 4 then end with a link to a private form where the reviewer can leave their contact details; five-star reviews are answered without it. The toggle is unavailable on a rule whose only Rating value is 5, and appears only on plans that include Surveys. See Recovering unhappy reviewers.

Pulse AI rules only ever answer reviews that arrive after the rule was created. There is no option to sweep past reviews with Pulse AI.

What to put in Custom instructions

Use the field for what only your business knows:

Test the voice before you switch a rule on

You can see exactly what a rule’s instructions produce without publishing anything:

1. Save the rule with Enable Pulse AI auto-replies for new reviews off.
2. Open All reviews, select Reply on a review the rule would match — same location, rating and review type — and select the wand button, then Write reply.
3. Read the draft. Adjust Custom instructions (optional), save, and generate again until the tone is right.
4. Turn the toggle on.

Write reply applies the matching rule’s instructions even while the auto-posting toggle is off, and works on reviews from any source, so you can test against a TripAdvisor or Facebook review as well. See Replying to reviews. This is also a good permanent set-up when you prefer a person to press Publish: the team gets a consistent voice, and nothing goes out unread.

Read your first week of automated replies in the feed before you leave a rule unattended.

Example set-ups

Rules are most useful in combination. Each rule handles one situation, so keep their scopes distinct.

A review that no rule matches stays unanswered: there is no fallback rule, no default reply and no notification.

When rules run

Replies are posted on a schedule, not the instant a review arrives, but never more than about a day later.

Which reviews a rule answers

A review is answered only when all of these are true:

• It is on a connected Google profile.
• Its star rating is one of the rule’s Rating values.
• Its review type matches the rule’s Review type values.
• Its location is covered by the rule, directly or through a brand.
• It has no reply yet, from anyone — including replies written directly in Google Business Profile.
• It is not flagged as deleted.
• It arrived after the rule was created, unless a Templates rule has Apply to past unreplied reviews on.

Once a reply exists, no other rule touches that review.

Replies posted by a rule appear in the feed with a Pulse AI avatar rather than a team member’s name. They count towards the reply rate on the Performance tab of Review analytics.

Edit or delete a rule

Select a row to open it. With full Reviews access covering every location and brand on the rule, it opens as Edit auto-reply. Otherwise it opens as Auto-reply details, read-only.

To try a new rule safely, scope it to one location first, check what it posts in the feed after the next scheduled run, then widen the scope.

Rules that exist but never post

Rules stay visible and editable even when the account is not eligible to run them, and there is no in-app warning. A rule posts nothing when any of the following is true:

Troubleshooting

Related articles

• Reply templates
• Replying to reviews
• Recovering unhappy reviewers
• All reviews
• Google Business Profile
• Brands
• Review analytics