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 — never on Freemium. The account must also be 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.
• [location] is replaced with the location name stored on the profile the review came from, and [name] with the reviewer’s first name. When the reviewer left no name, the single space before [name] is dropped, so Hello [name]! publishes as Hello!.
• With Apply to past unreplied reviews off, the rule only considers reviews updated at or after the moment the rule was created. Turn it on to sweep older unanswered reviews as well.

Reply with Pulse AI

Select Pulse AI as the engine, then:

1. Optionally write Custom instructions (optional) — up to 500 characters. Use it for the things a generic reply cannot know: how to sign off, which channel to send complaints to, what you never promise in public.
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.

Two things about Pulse AI rules that are easy to miss:

• Custom instructions work even when the toggle is off. They also shape the reply produced by Write reply in the AI assistant on any review — from any source, not only Google. A rule with auto-posting off is a good way to give your team a consistent AI voice while keeping a human in the loop.
• When several Pulse AI rules match the same review, the newest matching rule’s instructions are used.

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

Pulse AI rules have no Apply to past unreplied reviews option. They only ever consider reviews updated at or after the rule’s creation time.

When rules run

Automatic replies are fast, not instant: template rules post within about half an hour of a matching review arriving, Pulse AI rules within about an hour. When a review runs longer than five words and its language has not been detected yet, the rule waits so it can answer in the right language — for up to 24 hours after the review was imported, then replies anyway.

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. When both types are selected, no text condition is applied.
• Its location is covered by the rule, directly or through a brand.
• It has no reply yet, from anyone.
• It is not flagged as deleted.
• Fewer than five reply attempts have already failed on it.
• For a Templates rule with Apply to past unreplied reviews off, it was updated at or after the rule’s creation time.

A review that no rule matches stays unanswered: there is no fallback rule, no default reply and no notification. When several rules match the same review, whichever scheduled run reaches it first replies. 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.

There is no test or preview action. To sanity-check a new rule, scope it to one location first, watch 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
• All reviews
• Google Business Profile
• Brands
• Review analytics