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Last updated: 6 October 2026
TL;DR
- The best reply to a Google review follows a fixed style guide per star rating: two to four sentences, a one-line compliment gets a two-line reply, and long replies quickly read as AI.
- Dealer groups only use real first names in the greeting and fall back to a neutral greeting such as "Hi there" when the reviewer name is initials or a username.
- Many dealer groups write warmer and less formal under four- and five-star reviews and more formal under one- to three-star reviews; premium dealerships often stay formal throughout.
- In Repmanager you record the style guide in the AI guidelines, with the form of address, the signature and whether contact details are included set separately per star band.
What is a style guide for review replies?
A style guide for review replies is a short set of agreements on how every reply sounds: length, tone, greeting, name and sign-off, split by star rating. It makes a reply at one dealership feel the same as a reply at the next, whether a colleague or an AI wrote it.
Why per star rating? Because a five-star review without text asks for something different than a two-star review about a missed appointment. Use one tone everywhere and you sound too heavy under a compliment and too light under a complaint.
This article is about form. What to say and why replying matters at all is covered in how to respond to reviews. The style guide is what dealer groups fill in at kick-off, and what the dealer groups working with Repmanager, mostly in the Netherlands, rarely change afterwards.
How long should a reply to a Google review be?
Two to four sentences is the length dealer groups pick most often. A short compliment gets a short reply: one sentence from the customer deserves two back. A rating without text gets one or two sentences. Longer is fine for a detailed experience or a complaint, but never longer than the review itself.
Length is the most underrated mistake. A customer writes "Great service!" and gets five sentences about company values back. That reads like a template, and these days mostly like AI. The other signals customers use to spot an AI reply are listed in signs your review reply was written by AI.
Do not repeat the review either. "We are delighted you were happy with our fast service and friendly welcome" simply echoes what the customer just wrote. Under a complaint it is worse: restating the complaint in different words adds fuel to the fire.
How formal should a review reply be?
There are two schools, and both work as long as you are consistent. Many volume brands write warmer and more casual under four and five stars, and more formal under one to three stars. Premium dealerships and more formal groups often stay formal throughout. In languages with a formal and an informal word for "you", such as German or French, this is a grammatical choice; in English it shows in word choice, contractions and the greeting.
The logic of the split: a compliment suits a warm, personal tone. A complaint benefits from a little distance and calm, so an angry customer does not read the reply as flippant.
Look at the brand too. A group selling two brands under one roof often keeps the tone per brand deliberately separate. Autobedrijf Nieuwendijk, a Dutch dealer group, manages 13 Google profiles for 8 sites because Renault and Dacia stay separate online, each with its own tone (see the Nieuwendijk case).
Should you use the reviewer's name?
Most dealer groups use the first name, because it feels personal. A smaller group deliberately uses no name at all. One rule everybody shares: real first names only. "Dear J.Smith", "Dear MH" or "Dear Silverfloat59" is the signal customers laugh at hardest.
If the name is unusable, the reply falls back to a fixed neutral greeting, such as "Dear customer" or simply "Hi there". Agree which one, so each dealership does not invent its own.
Vary the opening and closing as well. When ten replies in a row start with "Dear" and end with the same sign-off, a reader spots the pattern immediately.
Who should sign off a review reply?
"Team [brand] [dealership]" is the safe default for positive reviews. A real name under the reply only works if that person really belongs to that dealership. One central name under the replies of every dealership raises suspicion: who is that, and do they actually work here?
Under low ratings many dealer groups use the branch manager's name and role, without a greeting. That makes the reply personal and gives the customer a point of contact. Add one contact channel, not three. Which channel fits is covered in contact details in a negative review reply.
| Review | Length | Register | Reviewer name | Sign-off | Contact details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 stars, no text | 1 to 2 sentences | warm (formal at premium) | first name or neutral | Team [brand] [dealership] | no |
| 4 or 5 stars with text | 2 to 4 sentences | warm (formal at premium) | first name or neutral | Team [brand] [dealership] | no |
| 3 stars | 2 to 4 sentences | formal | first name or neutral | name and role, or team | often, or a question on what could be better |
| 1 or 2 stars | 3 to 4 sentences | formal | first name or neutral | branch manager's name and role | yes, one channel |
What does that sound like in practice?
Three examples in the style dealer groups choose. Notice what is missing: no repeat of the review, no gushing opener, no promise about timing.
5 stars, "Quick and tidy MOT, no fuss": "Thanks, Sandra. Good to hear the MOT went smoothly. See you next time! Team [brand] [dealership]"
3 stars, "Car was ready on time, but nobody called back": "Dear Henry, thank you for your honest review. We are sorry you were left waiting for a call. May I ask what we could have done better? [name], branch manager"
1 star, "Called three times, never spoke to anyone": "Dear customer, we are sorry you found us so hard to reach. That is not how we want to treat customers. Could you email us at [one channel]? We will pick it up personally. [name], branch manager"
What you should and should not promise under a complaint is worked out in how to respond to negative reviews.
Do you tell customers a reply was automatic?
No. Dealer groups that reply with AI do not mention it. The reply is in their house style, it gets read, and it remains their reply. What customers do notice is a poor style guide: repetition, wrong names and overlong text.
How much you automate is a separate choice. Most groups start with automatic replies to four and five stars and leave the rest to a person. The trade-offs are in which reviews to answer automatically. Who handles which review is settled with clear agreements within your team.
How do you set this up in Repmanager?
You record the style guide in the AI guidelines, first for the entire organisation. Only deviate per dealership where needed, for example for the signature or a brand with its own tone. Note that a location with its own settings overrides the organisation settings.
- Open AI guidelines and choose the entire organisation. Under Brand voice, set the Tone (for example Friendly), the Reply length to Medium (two to four sentences) and the Personalization level to Always use name or Avoid personal names.
- Enter your neutral greeting under Fallback salutation, for reviewers without a usable name. Choose a Branded sign-off and fill in the Team name.
- Under Review handling, keep Allow repeating the review off (it is off by default) and switch on Special handling for star-only reviews with a short reply length.
- Under Per-rating behavior, set the form of address, the signature and whether contact details are included separately for the four-to-five-star block and the one-to-three-star block. A three-star review falls in the one-to-three-star block, where you can also ask what could have been better.
- Under Advanced instructions, leave Custom greetings empty if the AI may vary the closing itself, or add up to eight. Under Example replies, add two replies your own team wrote to positive reviews.
- Click Save and check a few real reviews with Generate with AI in the review detail. Nothing is posted until you click Send.
Replies that should go out automatically are then set up in a reply rule. The rule decides when a reply goes out, the guideline decides how it sounds. How the AI reply generator uses all this is explained on the feature page.
What usually goes wrong with the style of review replies?
Every dealership its own style. Without a shared base, one dealership writes "Hiya!" and the next "Dear Sir or Madam". Set the style centrally first.
One name under every dealership. A central name that works nowhere makes customers wary. Use the team name instead.
The wrong language. A one-word review such as "Top" is sometimes detected as the wrong language. Set your main language as the Language fallback for reviews without recognisable text.
Double replies. Dealerships that keep replying in Google next to the tool end up with two replies under one review. Agree who replies.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use emojis in a review reply?
You can, but most dealer groups switch them off. A smiley under a complaint always lands badly. If you want them, limit them to positive reviews.
Should you reply to a five-star review without text?
Yes, briefly. A thank-you of one or two sentences is enough. More on that in responding to positive reviews.
Do you reply in the reviewer's language?
Yes. The AI detects the language of the review and replies in the same language. Only for reviews without recognisable text does it fall back to your language fallback.
Ready to set up your style guide?
Managing reviews for several dealerships or brands? In a 15-minute demo we show how to record the style guide per star rating and per dealership.
