How do I setup auto-response rules within my Birdeye account?
With Birdeye, automatically respond to reviews using certain custom rules. To know more about creating auto-response templates, read this help article: How does Birdeye's review response template feature work?
SETTING UP AUTO-RESPONSE RULES (SINGLE LOCATION ACCOUNT)
To set up auto-response rules, click on the 'Settings' tab on the left navigation rail, then click on 'Reviews,' and select 'Auto-reply rules.'
Now, on the new page, you have the ability to customize and add new rules. Here are elements you can customize:
ELEMENTS | DETAILS |
---|---|
Reviews From | Select the review source for which you want to configure auto-response. Select from Google, Facebook, Birdeye, Direct Feedback or 'Any source'. |
Rating Is | Select the star ratings for which you want to add the rules. Star ratings are not available for Facebook reviews and direct feedback. For Facebook, you can select 'Recommended', 'Not recommended' or both options. For 'Direct Feedback', by default, you will see the 'has no rating' option under the 'review rating' drop-down menu. |
Review Text Is | Select 'is present' if there is a review text, otherwise select 'is not present'. You can also select both the options if you want to apply the rule to reviews no matter whether a review comment is present or not. |
Templates |
Select an auto-response template that corresponds to this rule. NOTEYou can add up to ten templates to auto-respond to reviews. Birdeye automatically replies to reviews using the added templates in random order. |
Post reply after a delay of | When posting an automated reply to reviews, you can set a time delay for the response, starting at 5 minutes and going up to 24 hours. |
ADDING A NEW RULE
To add a new rule, click on the '+ Add rule' button at the bottom left. If you add multiple rules, you can drag and drop rules to rearrange them based on priority.
SETTING UP AUTO-RESPONSE RULES (MULTI-LOCATION ACCOUNTS)
Birdeye allows multi-location business owners to create location-based rules to manage auto responses efficiently. Both enterprise and location-level users can create these rules within the account. To set up auto-response rules, click on the 'Settings' tab, go to 'Reviews,' and click on 'Auto-reply.'
Note:
You will view two Auto-reply rules that will be disabled by default. To enable the rule, hover on 'Three-dots', select 'Actions', and click on 'Enable'.
To create a new rule, click the ‘Add Rule’ button in the top right corner.
Start by using the pencil icon to give a name to the rule. Next, select the locations for which you want to create this rule.
Now, you have the ability to add conditions to the rule.
NOTE:
Users have the ability to create multiple conditions within a single rule. If a review satisfies more than one condition, the condition which is ranked higher will be applied.
You can customize a condition using the elements detailed below:
ELEMENTS | DETAILS |
---|---|
Reviews From | Select the review source for which you want to configure auto-response. |
Rating Is | Select the star ratings for which you want to add the rules. Star ratings are not available for Facebook reviews and direct feedback. For Facebook, you can select 'Recommended', 'Not recommended' or both options. For 'Direct Feedback', by default you will see 'has no rating' option under the 'review rating' drop-down menu. |
Review Text Is | Select 'is present' if there is a review text, otherwise select 'is not present'. You can also select both the options if you want to apply the rule to reviews no matter whether a review comment is present or not. |
Templates | Select an auto-response template that corresponds to this rule. NOTE: You can add up to ten templates to auto-respond to reviews. Birdeye automatically replies to reviews using the added templates in random order. |
Post reply after a delay of | When posting an automated reply to reviews, you can set a time delay for the response, starting at 5 minutes and going up to 24 hours. |
To add a new condition, click ‘Add condition’ at the bottom left. You also have the ability to edit and delete conditions and change the ranking of a condition within a rule by using the drag indicator on the right bar.
A newly created rule (with one or multiple conditions) would be visible on the auto-response rules page. All the rules created will have the ‘Rule Name’, ‘Location’ assignment details,’ ‘Last Updated’ and ‘Created by’ information buckets.
To view rule history, delete or disable a rule, hover over the three-dot icon next to the rule, and click on the ‘Actions’ drop-down menu. If you want to make edits to the rule, click on the ‘Edit’ button.
IMPORTANT
You have the ability to 'Enable' a disabled rule using the three-dot icon.
If you want to view rule history for all the rules added to your account, click on the ‘View rule history’ button on the top right corner. All edits with user information would be visible bucketed under the ‘Month’ view.
TIMING OF AUTO-RESPONSE
Responses to reviews are typically posted about an hour after the reviews are aggregated and made available on the Birdeye platform. This delay is useful as it ensures that the responses do not appear automated to the customers who wrote the reviews.
There may be some reviews for which automated responses may be posted while for others, users may submit manual customized responses. Users can identify the reviews where automated responses are posted easily as these responses will carry a 'Response auto-posted on <review site name>' stamp below the review.
HANDY TIP
As a best practice we recommend that you auto-respond to 1 and 2-star reviews with Apology templates, handle 3 and 4-star reviews manually, and auto-respond to 5-star reviews with 'Thank you' templates.