Small business · 1 of 4
Reply to a bad review without making it worse
A public reply that thanks them, owns the specific thing, says what changes, and invites them back. Under 80 words, five minutes. Then a template so the next one takes one minute.
The tool
ChatGPT
The one most people already have. Writing, explaining, planning, and now images and voice in the same app. The free plan is enough for this.
Get the reply
copy, paste into ChatGPT, change the parts in [brackets]
A customer left this review of my [bakery]: [paste the review]. Write a public reply under 80 words: thank them, own the specific thing, say what changes, invite them back. No excuses, no defensiveness, no discount.
What good looks like
A reply you would be fine with a hundred people reading. If it argues with the customer, ask for a calmer version.
Make the fix real
copy, paste into ChatGPT, change the parts in [brackets]
Now add one sentence saying exactly what we changed: [we retrained the Saturday staff on wait times]. Keep it under 90 words total.
What good looks like
Specific beats sorry. If it still says "we take this seriously," delete that line.
Save the pattern
copy, paste into ChatGPT, change the parts in [brackets]
Give me a short template for replying to any negative review, with blanks for the specific thing and the specific fix, so I can do the next one in one minute.
What good looks like
A template with two blanks. Fill the blanks honestly every time; the template is the easy part.
Watch out
Never argue with a customer in public, and never put a customer's name in a reply that they did not use themselves.
Now with your own thing. Same steps. The one on the fridge counts.