Review requests and response alerts

Honest note: this is mostly rules-based software (alerts, scheduled requests, reports), with AI used for keyword and sentiment detection. The numbers come from the vendor's own case study. The case is for a chain with a corporate marketing team (61 platform users, 41 locations), so what transfers is the playbook: alerts, asks, replies and weekly reports. Exact menu paths for the Ask Tool aren't published in ReviewTrackers' public help, so that step names the feature rather than a click path. The Settings paths below come from ReviewTrackers' own FAQ document and may have changed, so confirm in the app.

Prerequisites

• A ReviewTrackers account (sales-quoted) and an admin login.
• Admin access to your Google Business Profile (and Facebook page, if used).
• A list of locations, the people who should get alerts (general managers, regional managers, owner), and customer emails or phone numbers if you'll send review requests.
• Review requests must follow each review site's rules: ask every customer, don't offer rewards for reviews, and don't filter out unhappy customers.

Step-by-step setup

Step 1. Connect your review sources. Sign in as admin, click Settings (top right) → Integrations. Next to Google click Connect, choose the Google profile that holds all your locations, and finish the login. For Facebook, click Connect in the Facebook section and select the page. Allow the sync to run overnight; reviews should appear within 24 hours. Check Settings → Locations for any integration issues.

Step 2. Add your team. Go to Settings → Users → Add New User and follow the prompts to add each manager and the owner.

Step 3. Create review alerts for the right people. Go to Settings → Alerts → Add New Alert. Pick the user who should receive it, the email type, the review type (for example only reviews under 3 stars, as in the case), the source(s), and the locations, then click Create. You can also build alerts from a user's profile: Settings → Users → pick the user → Alerts → Create a new alert. ReviewTrackers describes alert timing (immediate, daily, weekly or monthly), email or SMS, and Immediate Keyword Alerts that notify you when a chosen word appears in a review (for example "cold", "wait", or a promotion name). The case reports 173 custom alerts across 41 locations; start with 1–3 per manager.

Step 4. Launch review requests with the Ask Tool. In the product, open the Ask Tool (feature name; no public click path). Build a request by email or SMS, personalise it with merge tags (business name, location, customer name, with a fallback like "Valued Guest"), preview it live, and send. Quick Send handles up to 50 recipients at a time. Add Drip Campaigns to automatically remind people who got a request but haven't reviewed. Create QR codes for tables or printed receipts, and an Ask landing page for your site or a kiosk. Point requests at Google, since the case notes 76% of its reviews are on Google.

Step 5. Answer every review. Assign who replies (the case has corporate marketing respond to all reviews, positive and negative). For reviews under 3 stars, reply publicly and invite the guest to contact you so you can make it right. You can reply from the product where your plan includes responses, or directly on Google: search your business, click Read reviews → Reply, type and click Reply (you must be a verified owner or manager). Replies are screened and can take up to about 10 minutes to appear.

Step 6. Send weekly score reports. In Ratings & Reviews, set your filters (locations, sources, time period) and click Scheduled Exports. Choose Review data or Location Performance, add recipients with the + sign, pick the delivery schedule and time, add a subject line if you like, and Save. Use it to send each location its weekly score and a combined summary to leadership.

Step 7. Set a simple goal. The case set 4.3 stars as the goal for each location and tied a quarterly bonus to it. Copy the idea (a visible target per location) but check the rules: don't make staff rewards depend on getting reviews in a way that pressures customers.

Easier: let your AI do it

ReviewTrackers has no official Claude, ChatGPT or Grok connector we could confirm, so setup is manual. Use the Copy-paste prompt to write alert rules, review-request wording and reply templates, then paste them into the product.

What success looks like

A manager gets an alert within minutes of a bad review and replies the same day. New reviews arrive steadily because every location asks. You send one weekly report instead of collecting scores by hand. Compare response rate and review count to your own starting numbers.

Common issues & fixes

• Reviews missing: reconnect Google or Facebook under Settings → Integrations. If you changed a password, you must reconnect.
• Too many alerts: narrow by star rating, source or location, or switch to daily/weekly summaries.
• Review requests ignored: shorten the message, use a QR code at the point of sale, and use a Drip Campaign reminder.
• Mixed ratings across listings: check Settings → Locations for sync issues.

Optional: Maintenance

• Monthly: review which locations are below your response-rate target and coach them.
• Quarterly: update keyword alerts for new menu items, promotions or recurring complaints.

Copy-paste prompt

I manage [NUMBER] restaurant locations. Write:
1. A review request email (under 70 words) and SMS (under 160 characters) with merge-tag placeholders {{first_name}}, {{location_name}} and [REVIEW LINK]. Thank the guest for dining with us; do not offer rewards.
2. A public reply template for 4–5 star reviews (2 sentences) and one for 3 stars (3 sentences, acknowledging the issue).
3. A public reply for 1–2 star reviews (under 70 words) that apologises, doesn't argue, and invites the guest to contact [EMAIL/PHONE] so we can make it right.
4. A list of 10 keywords for review alerts (for example: cold, slow, rude, dirty, wrong order, allergy, undercooked, wait, manager, refund).
Tone: warm, calm, specific. Don't invent policies, compensation or facts about the visit.

Sources

• Case: ReviewTrackers customer story. Credit: Ted's Montana Grill's marketing team (vendor-published).
• ReviewTrackers: Ask Tool overview, Drip Campaigns, Review alerts and Immediate Keyword Alerts, Frequently Asked Questions (vendor PDF: users, alerts, integrations, scheduled exports), Pricing and Packages
• Google reply path: Google Business Profile Help