Paste the review, say what your business is and who is answering, and add what really happened if there is a story behind it. Hemmingway writes a short public reply: a thank you that mentions what they liked, or, for a complaint, what went wrong and what you have changed. You post it under the review yourself, on Google or wherever it was left.
The reply sticks to your facts. It offers no refund, discount or free meal you did not mention, and it does not invent an explanation.
What makes it work
- Write for the next customer. The reviewer has made up their mind. The reply is read by people deciding whether to book.
- Answer this review, not reviews in general. Mention the dish, the wait, the member of staff they praised.
- One apology, one fact, one change. Then stop. A long defence reads as an argument, even when you are right.
- Keep their details out of it. Do not mention what they ordered or paid unless they wrote it themselves. Move anything personal to email or the phone.
An example
Asked for a reply from Nadia, the owner of Marlow's, to a two-star review saying a booked table took 40 minutes, nobody said sorry and the food was good, with the facts that the restaurant was two staff short that Saturday and booked tables are now held for 15 minutes, a reply along these lines is what to expect:
Thank you for telling us, and I'm glad the food was good when it came. Forty minutes for a table you had booked is too long, and someone should have said sorry on the night. I'm sorry. We were two staff short that Saturday. We now hold booked tables for 15 minutes.
Nadia, Marlow's
Unfair reviews
For a review you think is unfair or false, give your side in one calm sentence and invite them to contact you. A reply does not remove a review. The review site has its own way to report one that breaks its rules, and defamation is a question for a lawyer.
For the private message that follows a complaint, use the customer service reply generator, and if the customer writes back angry, see how to reply to an angry email. The guide to customer service replies has more examples.
Common questions
Is the review response generator free?
Yes. Hemmingway has a free trial with no card needed, and this tool opens it with your answers filled in. You sign up once, and the reply is written in the chat.
Should you reply to negative reviews?
Yes, briefly. A calm reply that owns the problem and says what changed shows future customers how you deal with mistakes. Reply once and do not get drawn into a back and forth.
How do you respond to a positive review?
Thank them, mention the one thing they liked, and stop after two sentences. Paste the review in and the tool does that.
Will it sound like AI?
It is built not to. Hemmingway-1, the model behind it, came first on sounding like a person in our own blind test, Human-Likeness. Sign it with a real name, because a reply from "The Management" reads like a template whoever wrote it.