Blue Collar Labs

← All prompts

marketing

Bad review reply — calm, professional, no defensiveness

A 2-star review just landed. Here's how to write a reply that protects your reputation and gets the conversation offline — without arguing in public.

Updated May 2, 2026 · Works with any ·
reviewsreputationcustomer

The prompt

A customer left a [N]-star review on [PLATFORM — Google / Yelp / Angi / etc.] saying:

"""
[PASTE THE REVIEW VERBATIM]
"""

What actually happened, from our side: [YOUR HONEST VERSION — the AI doesn't share this, just uses it for context]

Are any of the customer's specific claims factually wrong? [YES + WHICH ONES / NO]
Did we make a mistake we should own? [YES + WHAT / NO]
Has the customer reached out to us directly first? [YES / NO / DON'T KNOW]

Write a public reply that follows these rules:
- **First sentence**: thank them for the feedback. No sarcasm.
- **Second sentence**: acknowledge the specific issue they raised. Don't restate the whole review — just the core complaint.
- **Third sentence**: state our side calmly, without arguing. If they got a fact wrong, correct it once, gently. If we made a mistake, own it.
- **Fourth sentence**: invite them to call [SHOP PHONE] or email [SHOP EMAIL] so we can make it right.
- Sign off with [YOUR NAME], owner / manager.

Hard rules:
- Do NOT use the phrase "we're sorry you feel that way."
- Do NOT lecture them or list everything we did right.
- Do NOT mention the price, payment status, or any other customer's experience.
- Do NOT call them by name in the reply (their handle is enough — it's a public forum).
- Maximum 5 sentences.

The audience for this reply is NOT the angry customer. It's the next 50 prospects who will read it before deciding whether to call you.

What this is for

Most shops do one of two things with bad reviews: they ignore them (which looks like guilt) or they argue in public (which looks worse). This prompt gives you a third option — a calm, professional reply that demonstrates to future customers that you handle problems like a pro. The reply is for them, not for the angry reviewer.

How to use it

  1. Don’t reply the day the review goes up. Sleep on it once. Then come back and run this prompt.
  2. Be honest in the bracketed “what actually happened” field — the AI uses it to know whether to lean toward owning, correcting, or just acknowledging.
  3. Read the output twice. If it sounds the slightest bit defensive, ask the AI to “rewrite it 30% more neutral and 30% shorter.”
  4. Post it. Then call the customer directly — most of the time, when they see you replied calmly, they’ll talk.

Pro move

After 90 days of using this prompt, look back at the reviews where the customer either updated their rating or removed the review. You’ll see a pattern: it almost always happens when the public reply was short, calm, and offered a real way to talk offline. Save those exact replies as templates for the next round.

Got a better version?

Send it in — we'll publish improvements.

If you tweak this prompt and get sharper results, share what you changed. Good edits get credited.

Submit an improvement More prompts →