Recipe: reply to customer reviews

Paste or upload your new Google reviews and get a polite reply for each one, in the customer's own language. Then save your style as a skill, so next time you only paste the review.

Time needed	10 minutes
You need	A Hermes agent connected to an AI model and a few reviews (copied from Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor...)
Result	Ready-to-post replies saved in a file, and a skill that writes them your way every time

You post the replies, not Hermes

Hermes only drafts. Read every reply before you post it, especially for angry customers: you know what really happened, Hermes does not.

1. Collect the reviews

Copy the reviews into a text file, one after the other, with the name and the stars. Upload it in FILES → workspace (see Hermes reads a contract for you). For one or two reviews you can also paste them straight into the chat.

Our test file, reviews-to-answer.txt, had four reviews for a bakery: two happy ones (Portuguese and English), a mixed one in Spanish, and an angry one in Portuguese about a birthday cake that was not ready:

Review 1 - Maria S. - 5 stars
Os melhores pasteis de nata da Povoa! Atendimento sempre simpatico. Voltarei com certeza.

Review 2 - James P. - 5 stars
Lovely little bakery. The sourdough is fantastic and the coffee is great value. Staff speak good English too.

Review 3 - Lucia G. - 3 stars
El pan esta muy rico, pero tuvimos que esperar 20 minutos un sabado por la manana y no habia sitio para sentarse.

Review 4 - Pedro M. - 1 star
Encomendei um bolo de aniversario para sabado as 10h e nao estava pronto quando cheguei. Tive de esperar 40 minutos e ninguem pediu desculpa. Uma vergonha!

2. Ask for the replies, with your rules

Say what you never want in a public reply. Promises ("we will give you a discount", "it will not happen again by Monday") are the most common problem. In CHAT we wrote:

Open workspace/reviews-to-answer.txt: four Google reviews of my bakery. Draft a reply to each one, in the same language as the review. Short, warm and polite, signed 'Marta, Sunrise Bakery'. Do not promise anything (no refunds, discounts, free items or dates) and do not argue. For unhappy customers, apologise and invite them to talk to us at the shop. Save the replies in workspace/review-replies.md.

1. The Spanish review gets a reply in Spanish: thanks for the praise of the bread, an apology for the wait and the lack of seats, and an invitation to talk in the shop.
2. The angry review gets a sincere apology in European Portuguese, without excuses, and an invitation to come and talk.
3. Hermes sums up what each reply does, and in which language.
4. It confirms that no reply promises a refund, a discount, a free item or a date, nor "more seats" or "faster service".

All four replies are in the file review-replies.md in FILES → workspace. For example, the reply to the 1-star review:

Olá, Pedro. Lamentamos sinceramente a experiência que teve com a sua encomenda do bolo de aniversário e o tempo que teve de esperar. Pedimos desculpa pelo incómodo. Gostaríamos de falar consigo pessoalmente: se puder, passe pela pastelaria e procure-me, para podermos conversar.

Marta, Sunrise Bakery

3. Save your style as a skill

Typing the same rules every week is tedious. A skill keeps them for you. In the same chat:

Good. Save this way of answering reviews as a skill called review-replies: reply in the language of the review, short, warm and polite, signed 'Marta, Sunrise Bakery'. Never promise refunds, discounts, free items or dates, never argue. For unhappy customers, apologise and invite them to talk to us at the shop.

1. Your request.
2. Hermes creates the skill (Skill Manage).
3. In our test the first two tries were refused because the skill's short description was too long; Hermes shortened it by itself and the third try worked. You do not need to do anything.
4. The rules now stored in the skill. The skill appears on the SKILLS page.

Hermes may also tell you about advisory warnings (missing version, author...). They are about optional details and do not stop the skill from working.

4. Use the skill next time

Click New chat (on the right of the chat), so Hermes starts without the conversation above, and paste the new reviews without any rules:

Two new Google reviews. 1) Claire D., 3 stars: Croissants delicieux, mais un peu chers, et le cafe etait tiede. 2) Tom R., 1 star: Bought a birthday cake yesterday and it was dry. I want my money back!

1. Hermes opens the skill by itself (Skill View("review-replies")).
2. It adds the new replies to the same file, under the earlier ones.
3. The French review got a reply in French, the English one in English, both signed Marta, Sunrise Bakery.
4. No promises: Tom asked for his money back, and the reply apologises and invites him to the shop, but does not promise a refund.

This is the reply Hermes wrote to Tom:

Hi Tom, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback, and we're very sorry your birthday cake was a disappointment. That's not the experience we want for a celebration. We'd love to talk it through with you, so please come by the shop and ask for Marta.

Marta, Sunrise Bakery

Check that it worked

We checked all six replies against our rules:

• Language: each reply is in the language of its review (Portuguese, English, Spanish, French).
• No promises: no refund, discount, free item, date or change (seats, speed) is promised in any reply.
• No arguing: the replies do not contradict the customers (Pedro said nobody apologised; the reply neither confirms nor denies it, but apologises now).
• Signature: all six are signed Marta, Sunrise Bakery.

Note that the reply to Tom does not mention his refund request at all. If you do want to offer something, decide it yourself and add it to the reply before posting.

Make it yours

• Change the signature and rules: "Update the review-replies skill: sign as 'The Sunrise team' and always mention our phone number for complaints."
• Ask for two versions of difficult replies: "Give me a short and a longer version for the 1-star review."
• Every Monday, paste the week's reviews and say only "New reviews:".

Common problems

The reply is in the wrong language

Reviews with very few words, or written in two languages, can be ambiguous. Tell Hermes which language to use for that review.

Hermes promised something I cannot do

Delete that part, and add the case to the skill: "Update the review-replies skill: never mention delivery times."

Hermes did not use the skill

Mention it: "Use the review-replies skill." Check on the SKILLS page that it exists and is enabled. See Teach Hermes a skill.

Hermes changed the skill by itself

Hermes can improve its own skills after a task. In our test, after the second chat it added a note to the skill to append new replies to the file instead of overwriting it. You can read or edit the skill on the SKILLS page.

Next steps

• Teach Hermes a skill
• Recipe: answer customer questions from your own FAQ
• Recipe: a week of social media posts in one message