Manage your Google reviews: replying, AI suggestions, auto-replies
Who this is for: you've connected a Google Business Profile listing to a bubble (Getting started) and you now want to manage your reviews — reply manually, use the AI to generate suggestions, or let GMB Club reply automatically.
What you'll see: the Review Management page, how to reply to a review, how to use the AI Suggestion button, and how to configure Auto-replies per bubble (with the draft safety net and the negative-review exclusion).
Open the Review Management page
Two ways to get there:
- From the Dashboard → the "Review Management" card (orange icon, first in the grid)
- From the top navigation bar: Google Business › Reviews
You'll land on this page:
The reviews shown are those of the currently selected bubble (visible top right: Food'Alexandre › Lyon Bellecour). To manage another location's reviews, switch bubble in the top selector.
Page anatomy
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| "Review Management" title | Centered, with an orange star |
| Average rating / total reviews | Bubble stats. E.g.: 4.2 / 14 reviews |
| Orange help banner | Quick reminders: using AI Suggestion, draft mode, exclusion of reviews under 3 stars, etc. You can dismiss it with the "Got it" button on the right. |
| Status tabs | All, Responded, Unresponded, Drafts — each with a counter in parentheses |
| "Filter" button | To the right of the tabs, opens the filter bar |
| Review list | Cards with avatar, name, date, star rating, review text, and a Response block underneath |
Filter and sort reviews
Click "Filter" (top right, next to the tabs). A bar opens with 5 controls:
| Filter | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start date / End date | Date range for review publication (format mm/dd/yyyy) |
| Keyword | Searches within the review text (and the author's name). E.g.: type pizza to find every review that mentions pizza. |
| Response status | All reviews / With response / Without response |
| Sort by | Date (newest) (default), Date (oldest), Rating (highest), Rating (lowest) |
The "Clear filters" link in the bottom right resets everything.
Keyword tip: keyword filters are a reputation-management goldmine. Type an employee's name or a service name to surface every review that mentions it and get structured feedback you can act on.
Reply manually to a review
Spot a review with the "Not responded" status (or use the "Unresponded" tab at the top). Underneath the review text you'll see a light-gray block "RESPONSE - Not responded" with an orange "Respond" button at the bottom.
Click "Respond". The block turns into an input form:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| AI Suggestion | Button in the top right of the Response block. Generates a contextual suggestion (see next section). |
| Response field | Free-text field "Write your response...". No hard length limit (Google accepts up to ~4000 characters). |
| "Save" | Publishes the reply on Google Business Profile (immediate effect on the public listing). |
| "Cancel" | Closes the form without publishing. |
Good to know: your reply is publicly visible on Google under the customer's review, signed with the name of your listing. The customer also gets a Google notification that you replied.
Use AI Suggestion to generate a reply
This is GMB Club's main lever: save time on replies while keeping a human tone.
On any review (unresponded OR already responded if you want to regenerate), click "Respond" then "AI Suggestion" (top right of the response block). The button turns into "Generating..." with a spinner:
In 3 to 6 seconds, the text area fills with a generated reply. You can:
- Use it as is → click "Save"
- Edit it in the text area before publishing
- Regenerate it → click "AI Suggestion" again to get a variant
How the AI builds its reply
The AI relies on 4 sources, in priority order:
- The review text itself (did the customer mention a detail to echo? an employee to thank? a complaint to address?)
- The AI Instructions you set for this bubble (see Auto-replies below)
- The tone, language and length defined in the AI Settings
- The business context: sphere description and business type
Quality tip: if the suggestions feel off, the most powerful lever is to fill in detailed AI Instructions in
Settings › Auto-replies. The more specific (formal vs. casual, values to highlight, phrases to avoid), the more usable the output.
Turn on Automatic replies (AI)
You can let GMB Club reply automatically to new reviews as soon as they come in. Ideal for not having to think about it on positive reviews.
Default safety nets:
- Off by default. You have to explicitly turn it on.
- Reviews under 3 stars are automatically excluded from automation. They stay in the "Unresponded" tab and you handle them yourself.
- You can add a second safety net: save as draft instead of publishing directly. You then validate each reply by hand before it goes live.
Configure Auto-replies
Go to "Settings" (from the Sphere › Bubble selector or the top nav). In the left menu, click "Auto-replies" (under GOOGLE REVIEWS).
You'll see 5 controls:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Language | Default language. The AI automatically matches the language of the review (an English review gets an English reply), but this is a useful fallback. |
| Enable automatic responses (toggle) | The AI will automatically reply to reviews ≥ 3 stars as soon as they're detected, shortly after publication. |
| AI Instructions | The most important field. Describe tone and style. Real example: "Reply in a cordial, direct tone, use the first name if available. Mention our quality commitment when relevant. Always use formal language." |
| Max sentences | 3 sentences (default), 5, 7, 15, 30. Most bubbles run on 3-5. |
| Signature (optional) | Added at the bottom of every reply. E.g.: "The Food'Alexandre Lyon team" |
| Save as draft (toggle) | If on: generated replies land in the "Drafts" tab instead of being published. You need to click "Validate response" to publish them. |
Don't forget to click "Save" at the bottom of the page after editing.
Once turned on, what to expect
- Continuous fetching: GMB Club polls your new reviews throughout the day. A review freshly posted by a customer usually lands in "Unresponded" within a few minutes.
- Retroactive at activation: your unanswered reviews from the past two weeks are also processed gradually. Beyond that, older reviews stay in "Unresponded" as a safety measure — you catch up by hand if you want.
- For each ≥ 3-star review without a reply, the AI generates and applies a response based on your instructions, shortly after detection.
- If draft mode is off: the reply is published on Google directly. You can still edit it afterwards via "Edit".
- If draft mode is on: the reply appears in the "Drafts" tab of the Reviews page with a "Draft – awaiting validation" banner. Click "Validate response" to publish.
- Reviews ≤ 2 stars land in "Unresponded" with no automatic action.
Manage drafts
The "Drafts" tab (on the Review Management page) lists every AI-generated reply waiting for validation. On each card:
- The review text
- The proposed reply (pre-filled field)
- An orange "Validate response" button → publishes as-is on Google
- An "Edit" button → opens editing to adjust before publishing
- A "Delete response" button → throws away the draft (the review returns to "Unresponded")
Recommended approach: leave draft mode on for the first 2-3 weeks to calibrate your AI Instructions. Once you're confident the replies come out the way you want, turn draft mode off to go fully automated.
Edge cases
Negative reviews (1-2 stars)
They are always excluded from automation, as a safety measure. The logic: a negative review usually needs a personalized reply (apology, gesture, invitation to reconnect privately) that the AI can't calibrate without business context.
To handle them efficiently:
- Go to the "Unresponded" tab
- Sort by "Rating (lowest)"
- Reply manually, using "AI Suggestion" as a starting point and editing by hand
Regenerate a reply that's already published
On a review that's already been answered, you'll see an "Edit" button below the reply. Click it → the text area opens with the current content. You can either edit by hand, or click "AI Suggestion" to propose a new version. Click "Save" to update the reply on Google.
See a published reply on Google
On every responded review card, the "RESPONSE" block displays the text as it appears on Google (with the "Responded on X" date). To double-check on Google directly, search for your listing on Google Maps and look at the review: your reply appears right below it, signed with the listing's name.
Common issues
AI Suggestion is slow or doesn't fire → The AI can have a delay. Give it 10s. If nothing happens, close and reopen the reply form.
The AI always replies the same way and it sounds flat → Your AI Instructions are probably empty or too generic. Go to Settings › Auto-replies and write a rich instruction set: tone, style, example phrases to use, things to avoid.
I don't see the AI Suggestion button → Make sure your bubble has a Google listing connected (Settings › Connections). Without a listing, the Review Management page is empty.
My new reviews don't show up within minutes
→ It's normal to wait a bit: Google sometimes takes a few minutes to make a review available on their side. Give it about fifteen minutes. If nothing after 30 min, check your listing is still connected (Settings › Connections › Google Business Profile) — the session may have expired and you need to reconnect.
I turned on Auto-replies but nothing publishes → Likely cause: the "Save as draft" toggle is on. Your replies are sitting in the "Drafts" tab. Either turn draft mode off, or validate them by hand.
I want all my old reviews answered automatically. How? → By default, only your unanswered reviews from the past two weeks get caught up at activation. To retroactively process all your older reviews, write to us at [email protected] with your bubble name — we'll kick off the run by hand for you.