How to reply to a negative review: public reply examples for the App Store, Google and review sites

The replies

The line marked “Subject” tells you where each one goes; delete it after pasting. The parts in brackets are the parts to change, and the support address is the part never to leave out.

First lines, because that is what the next reader sees

A public reply has no subject line, and on most store pages a long reply is cut after a line or two until someone taps to read more. So the first line is the reply for most readers: put the outcome or the fact in it, not a greeting and a paragraph of thanks.

• Thank you for reporting this, and I am sorry [Product] [did the thing].
• You are right, and this is fixed in [version number].
• Good news: [Product] does [the thing], and here is where to find it.
• I am sorry you had a bad experience. For anyone reading: [the fact].
• Update: [the problem] is fixed in [version number], out now.

What makes a public reply work

• Write for the next reader. The reviewer has mostly made up their mind. The person deciding whether to buy has not, and they are reading to see how you behave when something goes wrong.
• Name the problem. The bug, the screen, the version. “Sorry for any inconvenience” reads as if it was pasted under every review, and usually it was.
• Move it to email. A public back-and-forth never goes well. A private one often ends with the problem fixed, and sometimes with the review updated.
• Reveal nothing about them. No purchase dates, no plan, no quoting their emails, not even to prove a point. On the App Store you usually do not know who they are; on other sites you might, and it is still not yours to publish.
• Sign it with your name. A person replying lands differently from “The Team”, and for a solo founder it is also the truth.
• Keep it short. Google Play currently limits developer replies to 350 characters, and a reply that fits there reads well everywhere else.

And what not to write:

• “If you had read the documentation…” Correcting the reviewer in public, however politely, reads as arguing. State the fact for everyone instead.
• “We checked, and you never contacted support.” It reveals account details and calls them a liar in one sentence.
• “Please change this to five stars.” Ask them to consider updating their review once the problem is fixed, never for a rating.
• Anything you would not want screenshotted. You can edit a reply later, but not before someone has read it.

The reply is public; the fix happens in your inbox

A good public reply ends with an email address, which means the real work moves to your inbox: the customer writes, you fix it, you tell them, and then you go back and edit the public reply. That last step is the one that gets lost, because nothing connects the email thread to the review it came from.

Moorline does not read App Store or Google reviews; it works on email. What it does is keep that customer’s conversation on your list until the problem is handled and they have been told, and “told” is your cue to update the public reply as well. Before you answer a review that says your support is slow, the Logbook shows how fast you actually reply, so the answer says something true. And when the review was angry, the email that follows usually is too: how to respond to an angry customer email covers that reply.

Questions people ask