How to Respond to a Positive Review With Examples

Positive online reviews can help businesses create solid marketing campaigns. They are considered the most effective advertisements today, as they provide truthfulness and a touch of personal experience that no creative advertisements can replicate. According to our recent article on online review statistics, 3 out of 4 consumers find advertisements misleading, so they'd rather check the reviews of a business before making their purchase.

The best thing about positive reviews is that the simple act of replying to them can boost your online reputation. However, some companies still disregard their hefty supply of positive reviews without realizing they're sitting in a pile of gold.

Why is responding to positive reviews important?

Positive online reviews work like double-edged swords. When used properly, they can increase the likelihood of purchase by nearly 4x. On the other hand, unanswered positive reviews can significantly affect customer satisfaction, retention, and brand loyalty.

Improve customer relationship

It's not a secret that online users' attention spans are significantly decreasing. In fact, on our recent blog about reviews with no comment, the average length of online reviews has dropped from 600 to 200.

So, what does this mean? If someone leaves a positive detailed review, note that they've dedicated time and extra effort to help your business. They could have easily skipped giving you a review since they paid for your services, but they took time to appreciate your company. The best you can do is to thank them.

Aside from this, a recent survey from Forbes showed that 99% of people say that receiving appreciation and gratitude creates a ripple effect of positivity. In line with this, a business owner who shows gratitude to their happy customers would get increased customer engagement, which would attract new customers and help you retain old ones.

Free testimonials

88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. This is why having testimonials from your loyal customers is a must for a successful marketing campaign.

Engagement is king when it comes to online marketing. Each positive review you share (e.g. on your social media) significantly increases your online engagement, creating excellent exposure for your brand. When shared on social media, a single positive review can reach thousands of online users who may be potential customers.

Boost your SEO

Responding to positive and negative reviews boosts the online search ranking of your website. However, it's imperative that you learn how to use category-based and location-based keywords in responding to positive and negative reviews, as it ensures that your website is indexed and ranked for relevant searches.

To learn more about using positive reviews for SEO, read our guide here.

Tips when answering positive reviews

Here's how you can make the most out of each online review.

Respond within 24 hours

Like other areas of your business, time is of the essence when responding to positive and negative reviews. Replying within 24 hours would help you maintain warm customers and retain your star rating.

We know this is easier said than done, especially if you'd start with a blank page for every review. Fortunately, an AI review reply assistant allows you to respond to every review within seconds. The AI would automatically detect the vital parts of each review and craft the best response.

Personalize the response

Mentioning the customer's name in your reply is essential. This personal touch boosts your rapport and relationship with your customer. The absence of their name would make reviewers feel like you're replying just for the sake of responding, which could cause more harm than good to your online reputation and star rating.

Despite using an AI review reply assistant, editing each reply and supplying the customer's name is essential as it would make customers feel like they’re talking to a real person. This would make the response feel more genuine, thus, more engaging to readers.

Don't use a fixed template over and over again

As mentioned earlier, adding a personal touch to your response helps boost customer relationships. So, refrain from using generic responses repeatedly.

Addressing individual aspects mentioned in the review shows your commitment to your customers. This would build trust, as you would show future customers that you attend attentively to each aspect (positively and negatively).

Use a professional yet natural tone of voice

Using a friendly tone of voice that would show credibility yet can connect to your customers is a must. Avoid using industry jargon and highfalutin words that may repel your customers. As much as possible, use emotional words for copywriting, such as absolutely, trustworthy, and terrific, as they are proven to encourage customers to take action.

When writing your response, remember that your goal is to connect with your previous guests while showing your credibility to future customers. This also applies to responding to bad reviews.

Reinforce positive aspects

Psychology has long proven that repetition of certain words allows the brain to draw and recall word associations easily. So, reiterate and reinforce your company's strengths mentioned in a positive comment.

For example, if a reviewer mentioned the phrase "affordable yet delicious dinner" and you repeat this in your response, the readers' brain would subconsciously associate your brand if they ever think of finding an "affordable yet delicious dinner." However, ensure you write it seamlessly through your response by writing additional comments so that you can retain your natural tone of voice.

Include relevant keywords to boost SEO

As mentioned a while ago, one of the essential benefits of responding to a positive and negative review is boosting your SEO and increasing your online ranking. Because of this, it's highly suggested that you learn how to fully optimize each of your replies so Google can easily optimize them. Click here to read our guide.

Responding to positive reviews: examples to get inspired

To help you and your team in crafting the best responses to positive reviews, we've compiled some of the best responses for positive reviews per industry and per review platform.

A positive hotel review response

Ariel, thank you for your positive feedback. We are delighted that our team was accommodating and that you found our location and pool enjoyable. We always strive to provide each guest with a safe and enjoyable experience, thus, our pool reservation policy. We're glad to know that you had a wonderful stay.
Best Regards,
The Fancy Hotel 
(written by MARA AI)

This is a great example of how you can respond to positive reviews on Booking.com. Notice how the response reinforced one unique element of the review – the special pool policy. Since this review is written during a pandemic, assuring the safety and protection of the guest is a must. Sure enough, you can highlight the customer service and location mentioned, but this won't strike a chord as much as their pool policy.

The response not only showed gratitude to the reviewer but also highlighted a unique policy of their company that other hotels may not have.

To know more about how you can respond to Booking.com reviews, click here.

A positive restaurant review response example

Jayvee, thank you for your kind words and feedback. We are delighted you enjoyed the large portions of food and found it quite tasty! We understand the inconvenience of long lines, and we'll see that our service will improve in this area. We strive to provide a home-like atmosphere for families, including kid-friendly meals, ramps, and elevators for wheelchair accessibility, so thanks for recognizing these. We appreciate it!
Best Regards,
The Fancy Restaurant
‍(written by MARA AI)

The best way to respond to a Google review of a restaurant is to emphasize the comments about the food taste and the serving size, as these are the most crucial elements that can determine the decision-making process of a future customer. Aside from this, the response also highlighted their sense of inclusivity by highlighting their facilities.

Most importantly, this response also took note of the negative remark regarding the long queue but responded in a positive way that reinforced their commitment to their customers.

Here’s a complete guide on how you can respond to Google reviews in seconds.

A positive eCommerce review response example

David, thank you for your great feedback! We are thrilled to hear that we were able to remedy your issue in a timely manner and appreciate your kind words about our "No Returns Necessary" Guarantee. We strive to be a top-notch online clothing brand and are delighted that you had a positive experience with us!
Best Regards,
The Fancy Store
‍(written by MARA AI)

This is an excellent way to respond to a Trustpilot review of an eCommerce shop. While the core of the review is actually an error on their end, they have fashioned it in such a way that their exceptional service, timeliness, and special "No Returns Necessary" would be highlighted. The use of words like timely and top-notch also effectively instill confidence among readers, so much so that the readers may not even remember that the store committed an error but would go on purchasing their products because of their "No Returns Necessary" policy.

Furthermore, the response recognizes that online visibility in search engines is critical for webshops. The response used vital keywords "top-notch online clothing brand" seamlessly, allowing Google to index their Trustpilot webpage for searches like "top online clothing brand," "top online clothes," and more.

Click here for our complete guide on responding to Trustpilot reviews.

A positive app review response example

Thank you for your positive review! We're delighted that you appreciate the high quality of our editing filters and our user-friendly interface as we really strived to make the app compatible to both beginners and experienced editors.
Best Regards,
The Fancy App
‍(written by MARA AI)

This photo editing app’s reply is a great example of how to respond to an App Store review. The review itself of the satisfied customer is really simple and straight forward, but the response was able to turn it into an awesome review. It was able to pinpoint the two key features photo editing users are always looking for–the editing filters and user-friendly interface and positioned them as the key strengths of their app.

Aside from this, the line “beginners and experienced editors” was able to identify their target market and use relevant keywords in one line. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced editor, once you read this response, your initial thought would be that it would also work for you as it did for other users.

To know more on how to can manage 5-star ratings on the App Store, click here.

A positive local business response example

Thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to share your experience. It is very gratifying to know that the crew took special instructions into account and did an excellent job protecting your furniture and even your new home's floors. We strive to be the best moving company in Sterling, Virginia, through our quality customer service. Thank you again for your review.
Best Regards,
The Fancy Movers
‍(written by MARA AI)

Responding to 5-star reviews in your Google My Business listing is also essential for local service providers. Aside from highlighting the experience of satisfied customers, it's also essential to use location-based SEO keywords to boost your local search rankings.

In this response, the reply was able to highlight two of the unique elements of the review–following special instructions from customers and protecting not just the item but the location assigned to them. Notice that there are other areas of the review, such as the boxes, the truck, and the timeliness, but since these areas are pretty common for moving services, the response focused on the unique elements of the review. Most importantly, it included the top local search keyword "best moving company at Sterling Virginia" seamlessly in their response.

It's worth noting that while this response is excellent, without a fully-optimized Google My Business profile, potential customers would not be able to avail of their services. To learn more on how you can optimize your GMB profile, click here.

Generate responses to positive reviews with a click of a button

Writing the best responses to positive reviews also has its fair share of difficulty. Each response must maintain the same enthusiasm level, exhibit consistent commitment, and never show repetition. Doing all these would TRULY take time and effort.

Fortunately, our AI review reply generator can help you write a unique response for each positive review with just one click of a button. Through our online reputation management tool, replying to each customer feedback only takes seconds.

The MARA AI review reply generator automatically determines the vital elements of each review and writes engaging and fully-optimized replies. It also allows you to choose from a wide variety of responses, so you can ensure that each of your responses corresponds to your brand voice and company values.

The MARA AI review reply assistant is an online reputation management tool that enables you to:

• Reply to positive reviews 3x faster without using a common template;
• Respond to individual aspects of each review, thus, making your customers feel appreciated;
• Increase online visibility and reputation through SEO-ready replies;
• Write each reply in the customer’s source language to boost customer relationship;
• Achieve a 100% response rate to attract more customers; and
• Improve customer retention by providing a consistently high-quality response to previous customers.

Make your positive reviews your best marketing assets. Click here to register for a FREE MARA account and start replying to your customers in the easiest and fastest way possible.