A one-hour checklist: answer every Google review you left sitting
Most spas collect reviews and never answer them. Here is a one-hour checklist to reply to every one, the words to use, and what to never say about a client.
You probably have reviews on your Google profile that nobody ever answered. Some are glowing, a few are lukewarm, and one might still sting. A prospective client reading them sees the silence as clearly as the stars, and it takes about an hour to fix.
Why it matters: a new client choosing between three spas reads reviews to answer one question, which is whether this place will take care of her. A thoughtful reply under a review answers that question in your voice. A wall of unanswered praise answers it in nobody's.
Set a timer. Here is the hour.
Minutes 0 to 5: get the list in front of you
- Open your Google Business Profile from the account that manages it, not a personal login.
- Go to Reviews and sort by newest.
- Count how many have no reply. Write the number down so you know how far you have to go.
If the count is large, do the newest 20 today and schedule a second hour next week. The recent ones matter most because they are the ones people read.
Minutes 5 to 15: write three templates you will actually edit
Templates save time but read as robotic if you paste them unchanged. Write three starting points and change one line in each reply.
Five stars, short review:
Thank you, Dana. So glad the deep tissue helped with that shoulder. We will see you next month.
Five stars, long review that names a therapist:
Thank you for taking the time to write this. I shared it with Lauren, and it made her week. Come back when the holiday stress hits.
Three or four stars:
Thank you for the honest feedback. You are right that the lobby was loud that afternoon, and we have moved the check-in desk since. I hope you will give us another visit.
Each one uses the client's first name, refers to something specific she wrote, and invites her back. That is the whole formula.
Minutes 15 to 40: work through the positive ones
Go top to bottom. For each review:
- Use her first name if it shows on the review.
- Mention the service or the therapist she mentioned.
- Keep it to two or three sentences.
- Do not add keywords or the name of your town. Readers can tell, and it reads like an ad.
Most owners can answer a positive review in about a minute once the templates exist. Twenty-five minutes covers a lot of ground.
Minutes 40 to 55: the hard ones
A critical review needs more care, and massage has one rule above all others: never confirm or discuss anything about the client's body, health or treatment in public. No "your sciatica," no "the injury you mentioned," no details of what happened in the room. You can be warm without being specific.
A reply that works for almost any complaint:
I am sorry your visit did not feel the way it should have. I would like to hear more and make it right. Please call me directly at the spa and ask for Jen.
Then stop. Do not argue about the facts. Do not explain your cancellation policy in a paragraph. The person you are writing for is the next reader, not the reviewer, and the next reader is checking whether you stay calm.
If a review is fake, off-topic or abusive, you can report it from the review's menu inside your profile. Google's prohibited content policy for reviews lists what qualifies, and it covers spam, conflicts of interest and harassment. Reply politely anyway while you wait.
Minutes 55 to 60: set up the habit so this never piles up again
- Turn on review notifications in the Business Profile settings so each new review reaches your phone.
- Pick one moment a week, say Monday after your first client, to answer anything new.
- Put the three templates in a note on your phone.
Where you stand
Across 70,932 massage and spa listings in our benchmark report, the median has 22 reviews and the average rating is 4.8. Only 20.3% have passed 100. Ratings in this category are high across the board, which means stars alone rarely separate you from the spa down the street. Replies are one of the few places a client can hear how you actually talk to people before she books.
Answering reviews also tends to bring more of them. Clients who see that the owner reads every one are more willing to write one. If your review count is the bigger problem, the reviews guide has the exact ask to use at checkout, and the Google Business Profile guide covers the rest of the profile in the same practical way.
The checklist, in one place
- Sort reviews by newest, count the unanswered ones.
- Write three templates: short praise, long praise, mixed.
- Reply to every positive review with her name and one specific detail.
- Reply to critical reviews with an apology and a phone number, never health details.
- Report the fake ones, reply anyway.
- Turn on notifications and pick one weekly time slot.
If you would rather someone handled reviews or any other one service for you, the free 14-day trial needs no card. See the free trial page or text or call (385) 386-3176.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, massage therapists and spas among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor