Google Business Tool: Collect and Reply to Google Reviews

Name: TailorTalk
Availability: InStock
Author: TailorTalk

The Google Business Tool connects your Google Business Profile to your TailorTalk agent. The agent can then send customers the link that opens Google's review form for your business, on WhatsApp, Instagram or your website, and reply to the reviews you get.

Setting Up the Google Business Tool

Open your agent's tools and choose Google Business.
Click + Connect Google Business Profile and sign in with the Google account that owns or manages your Business Profile.
Allow TailorTalk to manage your Business Profile. TailorTalk uses this access to read your business profiles and their reviews, and to post replies when you turn that on.
Pick the business profiles the agent can collect and reply to reviews for. A business profile is marked Not on Google Maps yet until it is verified and published, because only then does Google give it a review link.
Save the tool.

To control when the agent asks for a review, say so in your agent's workflow, for example: "Once the customer confirms their order has arrived, ask how it went and share the review link."

To get a review QR code, open a business profile's ⋮ menu and choose Download QR. Write a short line for your customers, such as "Loved your visit? Tell us on Google", or pick one of the suggestions, and check the preview. Download card saves exactly what the preview shows: your line, the QR code that opens your review form, and your business profile's name, as a 5 × 7 in PNG ready to print for a table stand, the bill or a sticker. Remove a business profile from the same ⋮ menu.

How Your Agent Uses It

Your agent knows your business details from Google: name, category, address, phone, website, opening hours, upcoming holiday hours and your Business Profile description. It uses them to answer questions like "are you open on Sunday?" or "where are you?".
TailorTalk reads these details from Google every morning, so a change to your hours or holiday hours on Google reaches your agent within a day.
If your agent's workflow says something different, for example other opening hours, the workflow wins.
When the agent shares your review link, it sends the one Google provides for your business profile. It opens Google's review form, where the customer picks a star rating and writes the review in their own words.
With several business profiles, the agent asks the customer which branch they visited when it can't tell from the conversation.

WhatsApp Chat on Google

If your agent is connected to WhatsApp, open the saved tool and click Add to Google next to WhatsApp chat on Google. TailorTalk adds a WhatsApp chat option to each of your picked business profiles on Google, pointing at your agent's WhatsApp number, so people who find you on Google Maps or Search can tap Chat and talk to your agent straight away.

Google can take a little while to show the chat option on your listing.
Google offers WhatsApp chat only for some business types and countries. If it isn't offered for your business profile, you'll see a message saying so.
If your Business Profile has a text-message (SMS) number, Google shows that instead of WhatsApp. Remove it from your Business Profile first, then click Add to Google again.
To remove the chat option, edit your Business Profile on Google.

Asking Converted Customers for a Review

Ask converted customers for a review, under Google Business Settings, is on by default, so the agent asks for reviews on its own. Once a customer buys, books or confirms an order in the chat, the agent asks them once to review you on Google and sends the link.

Turn it off to have the agent share the link only when a customer asks or your workflow says to.

Replying to Google Reviews

Turn on Reply to Google reviews under Google Business Settings and your agent answers your reviews for you.

Every 30 minutes the agent checks your picked business profiles for reviews that have no reply yet, writes one, and posts it on Google as the business owner.
It replies in the reviewer's language, in the tone and with the business details from your agent's live workflow. A happy review gets a short thank-you that mentions what the customer liked.
For a review of 3 stars or fewer, it apologises without arguing and invites the customer to get in touch, using a contact detail from your workflow if there is one. It never promises refunds or discounts.
When you turn it on, unanswered reviews from the past week are answered too. Older reviews are left alone.
Reviews you have already answered yourself are never touched, and you can edit or delete any reply from your Google Business Profile.
Replies are only posted while your agent is active.

Staying Within Google's Review Rules

Google removes reviews that break its rules and can restrict a Business Profile that keeps breaking them, for example by blocking new reviews for a while. Google's policy does not allow you to:

offer discounts, free items or any other reward in exchange for a review,
ask only happy customers for a review (sometimes called review gating),
discourage or block negative reviews.

Write your instructions so the agent asks every customer at the same point in the conversation, not only the ones who seem satisfied.

Changing the Google Account

A Google Business tool stays connected to the Google account you first signed in with. To use a different account, pick a business profile you created later, or fix access that has expired or was removed, delete the tool and add it again.

Setting Up the Google Business Tool

Open your agent's tools and choose Google Business.

Click + Connect Google Business Profile and sign in with the Google account that owns or manages your Business Profile.

Allow TailorTalk to manage your Business Profile. TailorTalk uses this access to read your business profiles and their reviews, and to post replies when you turn that on.

Pick the business profiles the agent can collect and reply to reviews for. A business profile is marked Not on Google Maps yet until it is verified and published, because only then does Google give it a review link.

Save the tool.

To control when the agent asks for a review, say so in your agent's workflow, for example: "Once the customer confirms their order has arrived, ask how it went and share the review link."

How Your Agent Uses It

Your agent knows your business details from Google: name, category, address, phone, website, opening hours, upcoming holiday hours and your Business Profile description. It uses them to answer questions like "are you open on Sunday?" or "where are you?".

TailorTalk reads these details from Google every morning, so a change to your hours or holiday hours on Google reaches your agent within a day.

If your agent's workflow says something different, for example other opening hours, the workflow wins.

When the agent shares your review link, it sends the one Google provides for your business profile. It opens Google's review form, where the customer picks a star rating and writes the review in their own words.

With several business profiles, the agent asks the customer which branch they visited when it can't tell from the conversation.

WhatsApp Chat on Google

Google can take a little while to show the chat option on your listing.

Google offers WhatsApp chat only for some business types and countries. If it isn't offered for your business profile, you'll see a message saying so.

If your Business Profile has a text-message (SMS) number, Google shows that instead of WhatsApp. Remove it from your Business Profile first, then click Add to Google again.

To remove the chat option, edit your Business Profile on Google.

Asking Converted Customers for a Review

Turn it off to have the agent share the link only when a customer asks or your workflow says to.

Replying to Google Reviews

Turn on Reply to Google reviews under Google Business Settings and your agent answers your reviews for you.

Every 30 minutes the agent checks your picked business profiles for reviews that have no reply yet, writes one, and posts it on Google as the business owner.

It replies in the reviewer's language, in the tone and with the business details from your agent's live workflow. A happy review gets a short thank-you that mentions what the customer liked.

For a review of 3 stars or fewer, it apologises without arguing and invites the customer to get in touch, using a contact detail from your workflow if there is one. It never promises refunds or discounts.

When you turn it on, unanswered reviews from the past week are answered too. Older reviews are left alone.

Reviews you have already answered yourself are never touched, and you can edit or delete any reply from your Google Business Profile.

Replies are only posted while your agent is active.

Staying Within Google's Review Rules

Google removes reviews that break its rules and can restrict a Business Profile that keeps breaking them, for example by blocking new reviews for a while. Google's policy does not allow you to:

offer discounts, free items or any other reward in exchange for a review,

ask only happy customers for a review (sometimes called review gating),

discourage or block negative reviews.

Write your instructions so the agent asks every customer at the same point in the conversation, not only the ones who seem satisfied.