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Reputation Management and Reviews — StudioM Platform Guide

Who this guide is for: Anyone who wants to collect more reviews, monitor their online reputation, and respond to Google and Facebook reviews. Time to read: Approximately 12 minutes

What Is Reputation Management?

Your online reviews are one of the most powerful tools you have for attracting new customers. The Reputation section of your StudioM platform helps you:

  • Collect more reviews — request reviews from happy customers automatically or one at a time
  • Monitor reviews — see all your Google and Facebook reviews in one place
  • Respond to reviews — reply directly from the platform without opening Google or Facebook
  • Protect your reputation — route unhappy customers to a private feedback form instead of a public review
  • Display reviews on your website — embed a review widget to build trust with visitors

How to Get There

Navigate to: Reputation (left sidebar)

Need StudioM Support for This? Connecting your Google Business Profile and Facebook page to the platform is a setup task managed by StudioM. If your review platforms aren't connected, or if you've changed your Google or Facebook account, contact us to reconnect.

Sending Review Requests

How It Works

  1. You send a review request to a contact via SMS or email
  2. The contact taps the link and lands on your review page
  3. They rate their experience
  4. If they rate 4–5 stars: They're directed straight to your Google (or Facebook) page to leave a public review
  5. If they rate 1–3 stars: They see a private feedback form — their concern is captured internally, and it never becomes a public negative review

This "review funnel" approach protects you from hasty negative reviews while making it easy for happy customers to share their experience publicly.

The best way to collect reviews is to set up an automated workflow that sends a request after a positive experience — when the customer is most satisfied.

Common trigger events: - Appointment status changed to "Completed" - Invoice marked as "Paid" - Opportunity stage moved to "Closed Won" - Tag added: "Service Complete"

To set this up: 1. Go to Automation → Workflows 2. Create or open a workflow with the relevant trigger 3. Add a Wait step (e.g., wait 2 hours after completion) 4. Add the Send Review Request action 5. Choose SMS or Email, and select your template 6. Save and Publish

→ See the Workflows guide for step-by-step workflow instructions.

Recommended timing:

After This Event Wait Before Sending
Appointment completed 2–4 hours
Invoice paid 1–2 hours
Project delivered Same day or next morning
Product purchased 3–7 days (give them time to use it)
No response to first request 7 days (one follow-up only)

Requesting Reviews Manually (One Contact at a Time)

For individual follow-ups: 1. Open the contact record 2. Click Send Review Request in the contact action buttons 3. Choose SMS or Email 4. Edit the message if you want to personalise it 5. Click Send

Bulk Review Requests

Send to multiple contacts at once: 1. Go to Contacts and filter to your target group (e.g., tag = "Service Complete") 2. Select the contacts using checkboxes 3. Click Actions → Send Review Request 4. Confirm — requests go out to all selected contacts

Important: Never send more than 2 requests to the same person for the same transaction (one initial + one follow-up). Bombarding clients with review requests damages the relationship.

Customising Your Review Request Message

  1. Go to Reputation → Settings → Review Request Templates
  2. Edit the SMS template and the Email template separately
  3. Use merge fields to personalise:
  4. {{contact.first_name}} — their name
  5. {{business.name}} — your business name
  6. {{review_link}} — the unique link that takes them to your review page

Example SMS:

Hi {{contact.first_name}}, thanks for choosing {{business.name}}! We'd love your feedback — it only takes 30 seconds: {{review_link}}

Monitoring Your Reviews

The Reviews Dashboard

Go to Reputation → Reviews to see all your reviews in one place.

What you can see: - All Google and Facebook reviews in a unified feed - Your average star rating - Total review count - How many reviews have been responded to vs. not - Reviews over time (chart)

Filter by: - Platform (Google, Facebook, or both) - Star rating (1–5 stars) - Response status (replied / not replied) - Date range

Responding to Reviews

Reply to reviews directly from the platform — no need to open Google or Facebook separately.

  1. Find the review in Reputation → Reviews
  2. Click Reply
  3. Write your response (or use the AI suggestion — see below)
  4. Click Submit — your response posts to Google or Facebook in real time

Response Guidelines

Review Type Approach
5-star positive Thank them by name, mention the specific service, invite them back
4-star positive Thank them and acknowledge any implied room for improvement
3-star neutral Thank them, acknowledge their concern, offer to discuss offline
2-star negative Acknowledge, apologise, provide a resolution path
1-star negative Stay professional, acknowledge, invite them to contact you directly to resolve

Example positive response:

"Thank you so much, [Name]! We're so glad you had a great experience with us. We look forward to seeing you again soon!"

Example negative response:

"We're sorry to hear your experience didn't meet your expectations, [Name]. We'd love the opportunity to make it right — please reach out to us at [phone/email] and we'll sort this out for you."

Key rules: - Always respond — ignoring reviews (positive or negative) looks unprofessional - Stay calm and professional on negative reviews — future customers will read your response - Never argue or be defensive in a public response - For negative reviews: acknowledge, apologise, and take the conversation offline

AI-Assisted Review Responses

The platform can draft review responses for you using AI.

  1. Go to Reputation → Settings → AI Responses
  2. Toggle on AI Responses
  3. Set the mode:
  4. Draft mode — AI writes a response for you to review and post manually (recommended)
  5. Auto-post — AI posts responses automatically
  6. Set the AI tone (Professional, Friendly, Apologetic, etc.)
  7. Save

Recommendation: Use Draft mode so you have a chance to review before posting. Auto-post saves time but removes human oversight.

Flagging Fake or Spam Reviews

If you receive a review that's clearly fake, spam, or from someone who was never your customer:

  1. Open the review in the platform (or go to Google Business Profile directly)
  2. Click the three-dot menu on the review → Flag as Inappropriate
  3. Select the violation category (spam, fake content, conflict of interest, etc.)
  4. Submit

Google reviews its flagged reviews within 3–30 days. Honest reviews are rarely removed, even if they're negative and unfair-feeling. For persistent fake review campaigns, contact StudioM Support and we can advise on escalation options.

Review Widgets — Showing Reviews on Your Website

Display your best reviews on your website to build trust with visitors.

Creating a Review Widget

  1. Go to Reputation → Widgets → Create Widget
  2. Configure:
  3. Which platforms to show (Google, Facebook, or both)
  4. Minimum star rating to display (e.g., only show 4+ stars)
  5. Display style: Carousel, Grid, or List
  6. Number of reviews to show
  7. Colours and fonts
  8. Preview your widget in real time
  9. Click Get Embed Code

Adding the Widget to Your Page

  1. Open a page in the page builder
  2. Add an HTML element
  3. Paste the embed code
  4. Save and publish the page

The widget updates automatically as new reviews come in — no maintenance needed.

Need StudioM Support for This? If you want to add a review widget to a page StudioM built for you, contact us and we'll install it.

Best Practices

  • Ask at the right moment — the best time to request a review is right after a positive experience while the emotion is fresh
  • Keep the message personal — a personalised request gets a much higher response rate than a generic one
  • Make it easy — one tap should take them straight to your review page; don't add unnecessary steps
  • Respond to every review — positive and negative. It shows you're engaged and professional
  • Don't incentivise reviews — offering discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews violates Google's terms of service

Common Questions

Q: Can I ask customers to update or remove a negative review? You can reach out to a customer privately to resolve their concern — if they're satisfied, they may choose to update or remove the review themselves. Never ask directly for removal, as this can be seen as manipulative.

Q: Why isn't my Google Business Profile connected? The connection may have been lost (this happens if Google tokens expire). Contact StudioM Support to reconnect.

Q: The review funnel is routing 4-star reviews to the internal form instead of Google. Can I change the threshold? Yes — the positive/negative rating threshold is configurable. Contact StudioM Support to adjust it.

Q: Can I get notified when I receive a new review? Yes — set up a workflow triggered by "Review Received" that sends you an internal SMS or email notification.

Q: Do I need to respond to every review? You don't have to, but it's strongly recommended. Businesses that respond to reviews appear more trustworthy and engaged to potential customers reading your reviews.

Need Help?

Contact StudioM Support any time.

  • Email: support@makoa.us (update with your actual support email)
  • Live Chat: Available inside the platform

Related guides: Workflows (Automations) · Contacts and CRM