How to handle review responses across multiple locations
Reviews do not arrive in one place when you run 40 shops. They arrive at 40 shops. Some branches answer every one. Some have not answered since March. This page covers: who replies, how fast, what to say to a 1 star review, what never to put in a public reply, and how to clear a backlog without posting the same sentence 40 times.
Decide who replies: head office or the branch
Someone has to own the reply. Pick 1 of 3 ways and write it down.
Head office replies to everything. The replies stay consistent and nothing risky goes out. The cost is speed and detail. Head office does not know the Leeds branch had a burst pipe on Saturday, so the reply stays vague and the customer can tell.
The branch replies to everything. The replies are specific and fast. The cost is consistency. One manager writes 4 warm lines, another writes nothing for a week, and a third argues with a customer in public.
The split. Most groups end up here. Branches answer 4 and 5 star reviews. A regional manager or head office answers 1 and 2 star reviews. Nobody below regional level answers anything about injury, illness, discrimination or money.
Write the rule on 1 page and give it to every branch. If the rule only lives in someone’s head, it does not exist. Decide now who covers a branch while the manager is away, because that is where the gaps start.
- Head office replies: consistent, slower, less specific
- Branch replies: fast and specific, but the tone drifts
- The split: branches take 4 and 5 star, above branch takes 1 and 2 star
- Name a cover person for holidays and sick days
- Put the rule in writing, on 1 page, in every branch
Set a reply deadline every location can hit
Set 1 deadline for the whole group, not a different habit per branch. A simple version that works: 24 hours for 1 and 2 star reviews, 3 working days for 3, 4 and 5 star reviews. Weekend reviews count from Monday morning. That still lands inside the week that 81% of people expect a reply in, according to the review and rating statistics for 2026.
The deadline only means something if someone can see it being missed. You need a list of reviews with no reply, across every location, sorted by how long they have been sitting. Checking 40 profiles by hand is how the quiet branches get forgotten. The busy shop gets watched. The small one does not.
Old reviews are still worth answering. There is no cut-off date and no penalty for a late reply. Google emails the reviewer when you respond, so a 9 month old review still puts your answer in front of the person who wrote it, and in front of everyone who reads the profile afterwards. A late reply is better than an empty one. Just do not open with an apology for taking 9 months.
- 24 hours for 1 and 2 star reviews
- 3 working days for everything else
- Weekend reviews start counting on Monday
- Watch 1 queue of unanswered reviews, not 40 profiles
- There is no expiry date on a review reply
Work through a backlog of old unanswered reviews
Do not start at the oldest review and work forward. You will spend a week on 5 star reviews that said nothing.
Sort the backlog in this order and work down it. Most of the value sits in the first 2 groups. When you reach the old 5 star reviews with no text, a short thank you is enough, and you can stop when you run out of time.
Set a daily cap per person. 30 to 40 replies a day is realistic if the replies are real. Past that, people start pasting. Split the backlog by location group so 2 people are never answering the same branch. And do not publish 40 replies inside 1 hour on the same profile, because 40 replies with the same timestamp look automated to anyone reading the profile.
- 1 and 2 star reviews from the last 90 days, first
- Then older 1 and 2 star reviews
- Then 4 and 5 star reviews with written text
- Then old 5 star ratings with no text, in short batches
- 30 to 40 replies a day per person, no more
- Never post 40 replies to 1 profile in the same hour
Keep the tone the same without 40 branches posting the same sentence
Every branch should reply with the same manners. They do not have to use the same words.
Write a 1 page tone sheet and give it to everyone who replies. Put 4 things on it. First, 3 or 4 approved openings and closings, so nobody has to invent one. Second, a short banned list: never argue, never blame the customer, never use the reviewer’s full name, never promise a refund in public. Third, how to sign off, usually a first name and the branch, so the reply reads like a person. Fourth, 2 worked examples, 1 good and 1 bad.
Then rotate the wording. If every branch uses the same 3 sentences, your profiles fill with copies of each other and customers notice. The more locations you have, the more this shows.
This is the part GBPPromote’s review management handles directly. Replies are drafted in your own brand tone, templates rotate so 40 replies do not read identically, and a reply can be held as a draft for approval before it publishes.
- 3 or 4 approved openings and closings
- A short list of things nobody may write
- Sign off with a first name and the branch
- Rotate templates so replies do not match word for word
- Hold replies as drafts if you want head office to approve them
How to reply to a 1 star review, and what not to do
Reply to it. A 1 star review with no answer is worse than a 1 star review with a calm answer, because the next customer reads both.
Keep it to 3 or 4 sentences. Thank them for telling you. Say you are sorry about the experience without confirming details you have not checked yet. Give 1 way to reach a real person, an email address or a phone number that a human answers. Stop there.
What not to do. Do not argue the facts in public, even when you are right. Do not repeat their order number, booking reference or what they bought. Do not write “we have no record of this visit”. Do not offer money or a free replacement on the public page, because other customers read the page and will ask for the same. Do not ask them to take the review down in the reply. Do not reply twice.
Report a review to Google only when it actually breaks Google’s rules, for example spam, a fake review from a competitor, or abusive language. A review being unfair is not grounds, and reporting it will not get it removed.
- 3 or 4 sentences, then stop
- Apologise for the experience, not for facts you have not checked
- Give 1 real contact point and move it off the public page
- Never argue, never deny, never offer money in public
- Report a review only when it breaks Google’s rules
What to do when a review names a member of staff
Handle a good one and a bad one differently.
If a review praises a named member of staff, use the first name in the reply and tell that person. It costs nothing and the staff member will remember it.
If a review complains about a named member of staff, do not confirm in public that the person works for you. Do not say what you have done about it. Do not say what you are going to do about it. That is an employment matter and it stays private, whatever the review says. Reply in general terms, say you are looking into it, and move the conversation to email or a phone call.
One thing to watch across a group: the same first name coming up in bad reviews at the same branch over several weeks. That is a management problem, not a reply problem, and answering each one politely will hide it from you. Flag repeats to whoever runs that branch.
- Praise by name: use the first name and tell the person
- Complaint by name: never confirm the person works there
- Never describe disciplinary action in public
- Reply generally, then take it to email or a call
- Track repeat names at one branch over several weeks
When to escalate, and what never to put in a public reply
Escalate the same day when a review mentions any of these: an injury or illness, a claim of discrimination or harassment, a threat of legal action, a data or payment problem, a child’s safety, a regulator, or a journalist. Send it to a named person, not to a shared inbox that nobody owns.
Hold the public reply until that person has seen it. A holding reply of 2 sentences is fine. Silence while you check is better than a wrong answer you cannot take back.
Never put any of this in a public reply: the customer’s full name, their phone number, email or address, an order, booking or account number, anything medical, a staff member’s surname, an admission of fault before anyone has checked, a money offer, or any comment on a live legal matter. Assume the reply is permanent and public, because it is, and assume someone can screenshot your reply on its own, with the review cut off.
- Escalate injury, illness, discrimination, legal threats and payment problems
- Send it to a named person within the same working day
- A 2 sentence holding reply is fine while you check
- Never publish names, order numbers, contact details or medical detail
- Never admit fault in public before anyone has looked into it
Fix the profile mistakes that cause the same complaints
Do not only answer your reviews. Count what they complain about.
If 6 branches keep getting “it said open and it was closed”, the problem is the opening hours on those profiles. Replying politely 60 times does not fix it. The same goes for a wrong phone number, a service you stopped offering, a car park that no longer exists, and a menu price that changed 4 months ago.
Once a month, group the last month’s complaints by what they are about rather than by which branch they came from. Anything that shows up at 3 or more locations is a data problem you can fix once. Hours, categories, services, attributes, menus and photos can all be changed across every location you pick in 1 bulk update instead of profile by profile.
This is the step most groups skip, and it is the one that stops the same complaint coming back next month.
- Group complaints by cause, not by branch
- Anything at 3 or more locations is usually a profile field
- Wrong hours and wrong phone numbers cause repeat 1 star reviews
- 23 profile fields can be changed across selected locations at once
- Do this monthly, not once a year
How to tell whether replying is moving the rating
Be honest about what a reply can do. It does not directly raise your star rating. It changes what the next customer thinks when they read the profile, and it gives an unhappy reviewer a reason to update their score.
So do not measure replies by the lifetime average. A shop with 800 reviews will barely move that number in a year, and you will conclude nothing is working. Measure the numbers in the table below instead, per location, not as a group average.
Give it 90 days before you read anything into it. And do not credit a rating jump to replies alone. If the rating moved in the same month you fixed the hours and retrained the evening shift, the replies were 1 of 3 causes.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
| The number | What it tells you | What is a bad sign |
|---|---|---|
| Reply rate per location | Shows which branches are actually doing the work | 1 or 2 branches stuck well below the rest |
| Days to reply | Tells you if the deadline is real or on paper only | The number rises every month |
| Rating of new reviews only, last 90 days | Moves fast enough to show change | Flat while the backlog gets cleared |
| New reviews per month per location | Shows whether people are being asked at all | A branch with almost no new reviews |
| Lifetime average rating | Useful for the profile, useless for measuring a change | You are using it to judge a 90 day effort |
- Read every number per location, not as a group average
- Give it 90 days before you judge it
- Do not credit a rating change to replies alone
Put every location’s reviews in one list
The rules on this page only work if you can see the backlog. That is what the inbox is for.
GBPPromote’s multi-location review management puts every review from every location into one inbox, with the city and store code on each row. You can filter by star rating or by which reviews still have no answer, drafts wait for approval if you want head office to check them, and you get an alert when a low rating lands at any branch.
Pricing starts from $5.33 per location, with no location minimum and no cap. There is a 3-day free trial, or you can book a demo and see the inbox with your own locations in it.
- 1 inbox for every location, with city and store code per row
- Filter by rating or by reviews with no reply
- AI drafts replies in your brand tone, templates rotate
- Approval step before anything publishes
- Alerts when a low rating lands at any location
Review responses across multiple locations, answered.
Should head office or each branch reply to Google reviews?
Most groups split it. Branches answer 4 and 5 star reviews, because they know what happened and can be specific. A regional manager or head office answers 1 and 2 star reviews, because those need a consistent, careful reply. Anything involving injury, illness, discrimination, legal threats or money goes above branch level every time. Whichever way you choose, write it down on 1 page and give it to every branch, and name who covers a branch when the manager is away.
How fast should you reply to a Google review?
Within 24 hours for 1 and 2 star reviews, and within 3 working days for the rest. Reviews that land at the weekend can start counting from Monday morning. The deadline only works if someone can see it being missed, so you need one list of unanswered reviews across every location rather than 40 separate profiles to check. The quiet branches are the ones that slip, because nobody is watching them.
Is it too late to reply to a review from a year ago?
No. There is no cut-off date and no penalty for replying late. Google emails the reviewer when you post a response, so even an old review puts your answer in front of the person who wrote it. It also sits on the profile for every future customer who scrolls down. Reply normally and do not open by apologising for how long it took, because that draws attention to the gap.
How do you stop 40 locations posting the same reply?
Give everyone the same manners, not the same sentence. A 1 page tone sheet with 3 or 4 approved openings and closings, a short banned list, and a sign-off format gets you consistency without copy and paste. Then rotate the wording. GBPPromote drafts replies in your brand tone and rotates templates, so 40 replies do not read identically, which is the thing customers notice when they check 2 branches of the same brand.
What should you say to a 1 star review?
Keep it to 3 or 4 sentences. Thank them for telling you, say you are sorry about the experience without confirming details you have not checked, and give 1 way to reach a real person. Then stop. Do not argue the facts in public, do not repeat their order or booking details, do not say you have no record of the visit, and do not offer money or a free replacement on the public page.
Can you get a bad Google review removed?
Only if it breaks Google’s rules, for example spam, a fake review from a competitor, abusive language or content that has nothing to do with the business. A review being unfair, wrong or upsetting is not grounds for removal, and reporting it will not get it taken down. Assume the review is staying and write a reply that reads well to the next customer. GBPPromote does not remove reviews. Only Google can take a review down.
What should you do if a review names one of your staff?
If it is praise, use that first name in the reply and tell the person. If it is a complaint, do not confirm in public that the person works for you, and never say what action you have taken or will take. That is an employment matter and it stays private. Reply in general terms and move it to email or a phone call. Watch for the same name repeating at one branch over several weeks, because that is a management issue rather than a reply issue.
How many reviews should you reply to per day when clearing a backlog?
30 to 40 per person a day, if the replies are genuine. Past that, people start pasting the same line. Work the backlog in order: 1 and 2 star reviews from the last 90 days first, then older 1 and 2 star, then 4 and 5 star reviews with written text, then old ratings with no text in short batches. Do not publish 40 replies to the same profile inside 1 hour, because the identical timestamps look automated.
Does replying to reviews improve your Google ranking?
Google says responding to reviews is good practice and that reviews matter in local results, but nobody can promise you a rank increase from replies alone. The clearer benefits are that the next customer reads a business that answers, and an unhappy reviewer sometimes updates their score after a good reply. Measure the reply rate, days to reply, and the rating of new reviews over the last 90 days rather than the lifetime average, which barely moves.
What is the best way to manage review replies across multiple locations?
Get every review into one list with the unanswered ones at the top, then apply one written rule about who replies and how fast. Checking each profile separately is what lets the quiet branches fall behind. GBPPromote puts every review from every location into one inbox with the city and store code on each row, filters by rating or reply status, drafts replies in your brand tone for approval, and alerts you when a low rating lands. Pricing starts from $5.33 per location with no minimum.
See it on your own locations.
Connect your Google account, let the first scan run, and every location has a score by tomorrow. 3-day free trial, no card.