A rule has exactly 1 trigger. It is the question the rule asks of every review as it arrives, and the answer is yes or no. Pick the narrowest trigger that catches what you mean.
The trigger menu in the rule editor listing every review trigger.
Rating is at or below
Fires on reviews with this many stars or fewer. Set it to 2 and it catches 1-star and 2-star reviews. This is the trigger for anything that needs a person fast: flag it, assign it, notify the team.
A review with no stars never matches, with one exception: a Facebook recommendation that does not recommend you matches when the trigger is set to 2 or lower.
Rating is at or above
Fires on reviews with this many stars or more. Set it to 5 for "every 5-star review", or 4 for the happy half. This is the trigger for thank-you replies.
A review with no stars never matches here either.
Rating with no words
Fires on a star rating that came without any text. Many sites allow a rating on its own. A short, warm reply works here, because there is nothing specific to answer.
Review is on a site
Fires on reviews left on the sites you tick. Pick at least 1. Each site in the list says whether a reply posts or is copied by hand:
- Replies post to the site.
- Drafts only. You copy the reply to the site.
The Sites picker of the Review is on a site trigger, with the posting line beside each site.
Use it to give one site its own treatment, for example a different thank-you for Facebook recommendations. A recommendation has no stars; it only matches Rating is at or above when it recommends you and the trigger is set to 4 or higher.
Review looks suspicious
Fires on reviews that land in an unusual burst: 5 or more reviews from authors new to you on one location within 24 hours. That is the pattern of a coordinated attack, or of a campaign someone ran on your behalf. It fires on the review that completes the burst and on each one after it, not before.
The right actions are Flag for your team and Notify the team. Do not reply to a suspicious review automatically: a reply can make a fake review look answered and real.
Private feedback
Fires on feedback a customer sent you privately instead of posting a review. It is never public, so a reply action on this trigger writes a draft for you to send by email and never posts. See Private feedback.
Review is exactly a keyword
The whole review must match one of your keywords, nothing else around it. Matching ignores case and surrounding spaces, but nothing else may be in the review. Useful for 1-word reviews like "Great" or "Terrible".
Review contains a keyword
Fires when any keyword appears anywhere in the review. Matching ignores case. Separate keywords with Enter or a comma.
Keyword triggers are the place a rule most often catches the wrong thing. "Wait" catches "worth the wait". "Cold" catches "cold drinks were great". Run the backtest and read the matches before you switch it on.
Choosing between triggers
- For a mood, use a rating trigger. Stars are the customer's own verdict.
- For a topic, use a keyword trigger, and test it.
- For a site, use the site trigger.
- For trouble, combine: a low-rating rule that flags, and a suspicious rule that notifies.
What this costs
Matching is free, whatever the trigger. A rule spends 1 credit per action it takes once it matches. See Rule actions in detail.