Reply to a review
Where does my review reply actually go?
The button on the review tells you where your reply is going, and the badge on the reply tells you how far it has got.
Respond means Synup can post the reply for you. That is Google Maps and Facebook, the two sources Synup holds a connection to. Respond on {source} means Synup cannot post there. It opens the review on that site so you can answer in your own account, and nothing you type in Synup reaches the customer.
A reply only counts as answered once it is posted. A draft, a reply waiting for Google, a reply waiting for your client and a reply that failed all still count as unanswered.
Key facts
| Where it lives | Reviews → All Reviews for one location, or the Review Inbox for a client. Both use the same review cards |
| Posts from Synup | Google Maps and Facebook, through the location's connection |
| Hands you off | Yelp, Tripadvisor and other collected sources show Respond on {source}, a link out |
| Reply states on the card | Draft, Awaiting approval, Pending, Failed, Rejected; a posted reply has no badge |
| Counts as replied | Only a posted reply. Draft, Pending, Failed and Rejected replies count as not responded |
| Checks before sending | Publisher requirements on every send; your own Content checks guidelines when they are turned on for the workspace |
| Who can send | Agency members with Reviews access. Client portal users can only write a draft or approve one |
Why this matters
If a reply has not appeared, check these three things: the review was on a site Synup cannot post to, the reply was saved as a draft and never sent, or the send failed and the card said so. The card shows all three, and the steps below say where to look.
Steps
Open Reviews and choose the location (or, for a whole client, open the Review Inbox). Find the review.
Read the buttons at the bottom of the review. Respond and AI Response mean you can reply here. Respond on {source} means you reply on that site.
On a Google or Facebook review, choose Respond. Write your reply, or choose AI Response to have Synup draft one for you to edit.
Read the line under the box. It tells you whether the reply meets the destination's own requirements and, if your workspace uses Content checks, how it measures against your guidelines. Choose Send when you are happy with the wording, or Request approval to ask the client first.
Look at the reply that now sits under the review. Its badge tells you what happens next (see the table below).
What the badge on a reply means
| Badge | What it means | Counts as replied |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Saved in Synup only. The card says "Draft, not visible on {platform} until sent." Send it with Send reply | No |
| Awaiting approval | A client wrote this reply in the client portal. It is held for your team to check and send | No |
| Pending | You sent it and the platform accepted it. Google checks owner replies before showing them; most appear within a few days | No, until it goes live |
| No badge | Posted and live | Yes |
| Failed | The platform or Synup refused it. The card says why and offers the next step | No |
| Rejected | The platform checked the reply and did not publish it. Edit it and send it again | No |
Two other words describe a request to your client rather than the reply itself. A reply is waiting for approval while the client has not answered, and approved once a client says yes. An approved reply is then posted through the normal send, so it can still end up Pending or Failed. Only posted means live.
When a reply fails
A reply that could not be posted is kept, marked Failed, and explained in one plain sentence under the text. The button that follows depends on the cause:
- Reconnect Google or Connect Google when the location's Google connection has expired, is missing, or the profile cannot be found. After you reconnect you land back on the same card.
- Retry when the cause was temporary, such as too many replies to one profile in a short time ("Wait a minute before retrying") or the platform not being reachable. If the connection is healthy again, a Connect button also becomes Retry.
- Edit reply, with no Retry, when Content checks blocked it. Change the wording so it follows your guidelines.
- No button when the review was removed from its source. Nothing can be posted to it.
The small information icon next to Failed says who sent the reply (your team, your client, Sydekick or an automation) and, for Content checks, which guidelines it did not pass.
To list every failed reply, set Other Filters → Status to Reply failed. See find the reviews that need attention.
Content checks before sending
Publisher requirements apply to every reply: it must have text and fit within the 2,000-character limit. If your workspace has Content checks turned on, an owner or admin can also write guidelines under Settings → Content checks → Review replies, and every reply is checked against them before it goes out.
- A required guideline that a reply does not meet blocks Send.
- A guideline marked can be sent anyway turns Send into Send anyway. Choosing it asks you to confirm and is recorded as sent anyway, not as passed. Only a person can do this; Sydekick and automations cannot.
- Drafts are never held. The checks are applied when you send the draft.
- If the checker cannot respond, the guidelines show as "couldn't verify" and Send waits. Choose Check now to try again.
Asking a client to approve a reply
There are two directions, and the second is the one an agency usually means.
- The client writes, you publish. A reply written in the client portal is always saved as a draft marked Awaiting approval. Your team is notified. Check the wording and use Send reply.
- You write, the client approves. Choose Request approval beside Send (or on a saved draft), pick the portal users who can see that location, add a note if you want, and send. The first person to approve posts the reply.
While the request is open the draft shows Awaiting client approval, who it went to and when, with Timeline, Remind and Withdraw. The client can approve and post, approve and schedule, or ask for changes. Approval posts exactly the approved text. If posting then fails, the approval stands and the card says it was approved but posting failed, so use the failed-reply steps above.
A request is refused while the draft still fails its content checks, if the review already has a posted reply, or if the review cannot be replied to here. The client email for a request is held for about ten minutes before it is sent.
The two kinds of review in your queue
Both sit in the same list. The difference is on the left: a review from a source Synup cannot post to has a greyed-out checkbox that says "Replies aren't supported for this source", so it cannot be included in a bulk reply either.
Google Maps
- Reply button
- Respond
- Who posts it
- Synup sends it to Google
- AI drafting
- Available
- Counts as replied
- Yes, once posted
Facebook
- Reply button
- Respond
- Who posts it
- Synup posts it as a Page comment
- AI drafting
- Available
- Counts as replied
- Yes, once posted
Yelp, Tripadvisor and other collected sources
- Reply button
- Respond on {source}
- Who posts it
- You do, on that site
- AI drafting
- Not available
- Counts as replied
- Only if a later fetch of that site brings your reply back
AI Response
AI Response reads the reviewer's name, rating and review text and writes two to four sentences, following the tone, guidelines and topics to avoid in the location's brand profile where one is set. It fills the reply box and stops: nothing is saved or sent until you choose Send. If a draft mentions a topic your brand asked to avoid, or comes back as notes rather than a reply, Synup refuses it and asks you to try again. Edit the draft before you send it; it does not know what you did about the problem. Discard clears the box and keeps nothing.
Editing or removing a reply you already sent
Sending again replaces what is there. Google keeps exactly one owner reply per review, so a second send overwrites the first. On Facebook, Synup edits the comment it already posted instead of leaving a duplicate. You can also delete a reply on Google and Facebook with the bin icon; Synup asks "Delete this reply? It will be removed from the platform too." That is a live change to something the public can see, so read the prompt.
What you'll see when it's done
- The reply under the review with no badge, once it is live
- Pending while Google checks it, followed by the badge disappearing on its own; Synup re-checks shortly after you send rather than waiting for the next daily sync
- The review counted as replied in the response rate and out of the Not responded list only once the reply is posted
Watch out for
- Google caps replies per profile. Sending many replies to one location in a short time can be refused with "Too many replies went to this profile just now." Wait a minute and use Retry.
- A reply can still be rejected. A platform may decline a reply after accepting it. The card shows Rejected and the person who sent it is notified; edit the text and send it again.
- Removed reviews cannot be answered. Those rows are marked Removed and offer only View source.
- Trustpilot. On some workspaces Trustpilot is connected through its own official connection and replies can be sent from Synup. Where that is not set up, a Trustpilot review shows Respond on Trustpilot.
- Reconnect before you retry. If Retry keeps failing on a Google reply, check the connection from the Connections button at the top of the page.
Questions people ask
I replied to a Tripadvisor review in Synup last week. Why is it not on Tripadvisor?
Check what the button said. If it read Respond on Tripadvisor, the reply was never sent from Synup. That control is a link to Tripadvisor, and the answer has to be written there in your own account.
The reply says Draft. Has the customer seen it?
No. A draft is visible only to your team. It reaches the customer when someone chooses Send reply on it.
The reply says Pending. Did it fail?
No. Google checks owner replies before showing them, and most appear within a few days with no action from you. If Google declines it the badge changes to Rejected.
Does AI Response send anything on its own?
No. It writes text into the box and stops. Nothing is saved and nothing reaches the publisher until you choose Send.
Why can I not select some reviews for a bulk reply?
Because Synup cannot post to their source. The checkbox is disabled on any review that offers Respond on {source}, and on any review that has been removed.