Answer every review in your voice
Reviews land, you mean to answer them that evening, and three weeks later eleven of them are sitting there with nothing underneath. The quieter cost is the customer who'd have written a good one and never got asked. Below is the workflow I built: it drafts a reply to every new review in your own words, holds back anything risky, and asks the right customers for a review once a job is done.
The question
this build answers
How do I reply to every Google review in my own voice and ask happy customers for a review, without doing it by hand every evening?
From the first trigger
to the finished job.
The working version, step by step.
Watch for new reviews
The trigger polls your Google Business Profile once an hour. Anything that already carries a reply is dropped right here, so no review ever gets a second reply from the workflow.
Draft in your house style, then check it in code
A model drafts a reply naming the specific thing the customer mentioned, in the house style you wrote into Settings. I wrote plain code to read the draft after that: it trims the length, strips out any phone number or email address the model slipped in, and catches promises like refunds or discounts.
A low rating always goes to a human
I put that rule in the code rather than the prompt, so it overrides whatever the model decided. Two things have to be true before a reply goes public: it passed the guardrails, and you've switched automatic posting on.
Keep a record either way
Every draft gets written to a sheet, posted or held back, with the reason attached if it was held. I built that log so you'd have something to read before trusting the workflow with the next one.
Ask after the job, not before
A separate webhook fires when your job system marks a job complete. I kept the rules in plain code: an opt-out, a job that didn't finish cleanly, a missing email address, or a customer already asked this quarter all stop the request, and outside your chosen hours it waits for morning.
Going through n8n's review
Draft Google review replies with AI and ask happy customers for a review
This one is going through n8n's review. My creator page lists every template of mine that's already live, so you can see what else is available while this one clears.
See my templates on n8nWho this is for
Owners of small service businesses with a Google Business Profile: a trades firm, a clinic, a garage, a small agency. If you have more reviews than you have evenings, this is the one to run.
Why both switches ship off
A safe draft only posts once you've switched automatic posting on, and a written review request only sends once you've switched that on too. I left both off on purpose, so the first move out to the public is always yours, after you've read a week of drafts.
What it costs to run
I count one model call per new review for the reply draft, on top of whatever your Google Business Profile, Slack, Sheets and Gmail accounts already cost you.
Before you spend anything
The fit matters.
Who should not build this
If you already reply to every review the same day and never miss one, there's no backlog for this to clear.
If you don't have a Google Business Profile you can manage, the trigger has nothing to watch, and this doesn't apply yet.
Yours to keep
What lands
on your desk.
- The workflow set up in your own n8n, on your own Google Business Profile
- Your house style, your escalation rating and your review link written into two Settings nodes
- The guardrail checks wired in: length, banned words, contact details and the low-rating override
- Both switches, posting and sending, left off until you've read a week of drafts
See the work
Open the proof.
Published case studies of running systems. Each links to the thing itself.
A few useful
answers.
Does it post replies automatically?
Only once you switch automatic posting on. It ships off, so out of the box every draft that passes the guardrails lands in Slack for you instead.
What stops a bad reply going out?
Plain code checks the draft's length, strips any contact details the model added, and catches promises like refunds or discounts. A low rating always goes to a human, whatever the model decided.
Does it ask every customer for a review?
It skips anyone who opted out, a job that didn't finish cleanly, a missing email address, and anyone already asked that quarter.
Can I read what it would have said before switching anything on?
I'd run it a week with both switches off and read the sheet first, exactly how I set it up myself.
A little further down
the same path.
Related builds for the rest of your business.
Make this work for you
Your tools.
Your working version.
Want this built and handed over working? Tell me what your version needs to do. One line is enough to start.
Start a brief