Reply faster with auto-replies
IN THIS ARTICLE
Most of the support teams working with a large number of reviews use templates when replying to reviews.
In AppFollow you can simplify the support team workflow by setting auto-replies that will send a suitable reply to the review based on a rule set.
Minimal requirements for the auto-reply to be sent for a review:
- the app has Reviews&Replies integration with the store (App Store, Google Play, Amazon, Microsoft Console)
- the auto-reply rule is created
- the review doesn’t have a reply in the store yet
The auto-replies script runs every 10 minutes. Auto-replies will be applied to all reviews without replies received during the last 2 days.
Who can set auto-reply rules
User roles that have access to create tags and set filters for auto tags are:
- Admin
- User
- Reviews Manager
- Support Manager
How to set rules
To get started with setting auto-reply rules, you need to set a template.
To add a new rule you need to set a rule name and a combination of condition and action that determine what template should be sent.
Conditions
You can set an auto-reply to be triggered by review text, review rating or tag.
Review text / Translation / Language
| Condition |
Description |
|---|---|
| Review text is | the review equal to the specified text/translation/language |
| Review text is not | the review is not equal to the specified text/translation/language |
| Review text contains* | the review contains the specified text/translation |
| Review text doesn’t contain* | the review doesn’t contain the specified text/translation |
| Review text starts with* | the review starts with the specified text/translation |
| Review text ends with* | the review ends with the specified text/translation |
thank you|thanks|appreciate
The action will be triggered for the reviews that have any of these phrases.
Review ratings and review length
| Condition |
Description |
|---|---|
| Review ratings = | the review rating/length is equal to the specified number of stars/words |
| Review ratings != | the review rating/length is not equal to the specified number of stars/words |
| Review ratings < | the review rating/length is less then specified number of stars/words |
| Review ratings <= | the review rating/length is equal or less then specified number of stars/words |
| Review ratings > | the review rating/length is more then specified number of stars/words |
| Review ratings >= | the review rating/length is equal or more then specified number of stars/words |
Tag
| Condition |
Description |
|---|---|
| Any of the tags | reviews that have at least one of the selected tags |
| All of the tags | reviews that have all the selected tags |
Actions
Actions determine what template should be sent if a condition is met.
It is possible to reply with a certain template or a random template from a folder.
Templates
To get started with setting auto-reply rules, you need to add templates.
Go to Ratings & Reviews -> Templates and click ‘+Add New’.
Templates could be organized by apps and folders.
When adding a template, enter the following details:
- Template Name - give a template nice name.
- Template Text.
- Apps - select apps the template could be used.
If you set a certain app for a template, the auto-reply using this template will work only for this app:
- Folder - select a folder the template refers to.
- Tags - set what tags should be automatically applied for the replies review.
Automated report a concern
This option is particularly useful when your app receives a lot of spam reviews and you don't wan't to waste time reporting each of them manually. Spam reviews may contain some offensive language or have low rating. You can create a rule that will detect these reviews and report a concern for each of them.
Note that this is a paid option. You can apply for a free trial and add this option to your current plan.
Folders
You may receive many reviews of a similar topic, for example, it could be a bug report, feature request or feedback. Support managers often use templates to reply to such reviews.
But automatically sending the same reply to different users may sound unnatural.
A solution here is to set Folders with several suitable templates combined by a similar topic.
While setting a rule, select ‘Reply with Random template from Folder’.
When adding a folder, enter the folder name and the parent folder if necessary.
How auto-replies works
Publication modes
At AppFollow, we offer 2 different ways to auto publish replies:
1. Approval mode
Tick approval mode for your auto-replies will be saved as 'Pending approval' in our system. This way you can revise and edit the reply if necessary before posting it to the store.
To submit auto-replies, apply the filter by ‘Pending approval’ on the Ratings & Reviews page and once the reply is ready, click ‘Post’.
2. Auto-posting mode
When selecting Auto-posting option, all auto-replies will be published in the store without any pre-moderation. Make sure you have set up the reply rules correctly before choosing this mode!
We would appreciate any feedback and suggestions on how we could improve auto-replies. Especially we need to know what auto-reply rules would you like us to add.
Please feel free to share your opinion with our support team!