Overview
Most support teams work with a large number of reviews that often cover similar topics. Reply Templates speed up the process by allowing you to send replies with just a click – but there's also a way to completely automate the reply process.
In AppFollow, you can streamline the support workflow by setting up Auto-replies. Auto-replies instantly send appropriate replies to reviews that match a predefined set of criteria. Read on to learn how to set up an Auto-reply rule, choose the necessary conditions for the rule, and how to manage your Auto-replies.
In case you would like to use Auto-replies together with the Zendesk App integration, please set up the rules in the Zendesk Workspace. This allows us to send you the information about the review being responded to with automation in accordance to the scenarios below:
1. Auto-Reply Scenario: We check and wait up to 15 minutes for your auto-reply to post. If it posts within this time, we send both the review and reply to Zendesk. If it doesn’t post in time or the automation rule relies on semantic tags, only the review is sent without the reply.
2. Pending Approval Scenario: If your reply is pending approval, we send just the review to Zendesk without the pending reply.
Minimal requirements for Auto-replies to work:
- The app has an active Reply to Reviews integration.
- The Review fits the criteria of an existing Auto-reply rule.
- The Review doesn’t have a reply in the store yet.
The Auto-reply script runs every 10 minutes. When you set up a new Auto-reply rule or update an existing one, Auto-replies are applied to all reviews without replies received during the last 14 days.
Who Can Create Auto-reply Rules
User roles that have access to create Auto-Reply rules are:
- Admin
- User
- Support manager
Learn more about roles in our article about User Roles.
How to Create Auto-Reply Rules
To get started with creating Auto-reply rules:
- Create a set of Reply Templates which you'll use as your Auto-reply text.
- Expand the Reply to Reviews section in the left-hand navigation panel and click "Auto-replies".
- Click "+Add New Rule" at the top right of the page.
- Enter a name for your new rule.
- In the "If" section, select the Review conditions which should be met for your rule to work. Learn more about Conditions in our article on Auto-reply Conditions
If you add several conditions within one rule – all of them must be met for the rule to apply.
- In the "Then" section, select which action should happen when a Review matches your rule's conditions. Learn more about Auto-reply Actions further in this article.
- Set the rule Priority.
- Choose a Publication Mode: Approval or Auto-posting. Learn more in our article on Auto-reply Publication Modes.
- Click "Save Rule".
Auto-reply Actions
Actions determine which template is sent when a Review meets an Auto-reply condition. It's possible to reply to a Review with a:
- Specific Reply Template
- Random Reply Template from a predefined template folder
- Report a Concern Template
Read on to learn more about each of these Auto-reply actions.
Reply With a Template
To set up an action with a Reply Template, create a set of templates which you'll use as your Auto-reply text. Learn more about creating templates in our Reply Templates article.
When you choose a specific template as your reply text, the template is sent to every Review which meets the rule's conditions.
If the selected Reply Template was set up to work for specific apps only, then the Auto-reply rule will also work only for the apps selected in the Reply Template settings.
Reply With a Random Template from a Folder
When you receive several reviews on the same topic, Reply Templates help you send a response quickly and spend more time on trickier cases. However, sending the exact same message over and over again isn't ideal. To give your messages a more human touch, set up Auto-replies with random Reply Templates. This will ensure that the exact same replies don't get posted one after the other, and your replies will appear more diverse to anyone browsing your app's reviews.
To set up Auto-replies with random Templates from a Folder:
- Create a set of Reply Templates.
- Create a Folder to store Templates that answer the same question.
- Go to the Auto-replies page and create a new Auto-reply rule.
- Set the action to "Reply with Random Template from Folder".
- Select the Folder from which you want to send your Auto-replies.
- Save the Auto-reply rule.
- Now, every time a Review meets the Auto-reply rule's conditions, a random Template will be sent.
Create Template Folders for different topics and languages. This will allow you to have a solid collection of ready-to-go replies for any situation.
Reply With AI-Powered Rephrasing and Translation
With the Rephrasing and Translating tools, you can automatically generate varied and personalized replies, significantly enhancing the quality and effectiveness of your responses.
- Rephrase Templates with AI: Automatically generate variations of existing reply templates, ensuring that responses are less repetitive and more personalized.
- Translate Templates with AI: Automatically translate reply templates into different languages, making it easier for global teams to manage reviews.
These features are available exclusively for Enterprise plan users, as they are part of the automation tools included in this tier.
Benefits
- Simplified Template Management: Users can create a single template, which AI will rephrase or translate as needed, reducing the time and cognitive load associated with managing multiple templates.
- Dynamic Replies: The AI-driven features ensure that each reply is slightly different, reducing repetitiveness and enhancing the perception of a human touch.
- Enhanced Response Quality: Responses are automatically aligned with your company’s tone and style, improving customer satisfaction and the overall quality of interactions.
- Efficient Multilingual Support: The AI can automatically translate templates into the language of the review, facilitating seamless communication with users worldwide.
How to Use
When managing auto-reply rules, you’ll notice new badges added to the available actions. These badges indicate where AI-driven options are available.
- Select "Reply with template" or "Reply with random template from folder":
2. Two options will appear - Rephrase or Translate:
You can only choose one option at a time—either Rephrase or Translate, not both simultaneously. The option to select both is on the roadmap for later development.
3. After selecting your desired AI option, the system will automatically perform the chosen action, such as translating the template into the review's language or rephrasing the template for a more personalized response:
Automatically Report a Concern
If your app gets a lot of spam or inappropriate reviews, you end up spending a lot of time reporting them, and less time working with your more valuable reviews. Save time by setting up Auto-reply rules to report inappropriate and offensive reviews automatically. These reviews may contain offensive language or have low ratings, so you can create a rule that detects these criteria and reports a concern automatically.
Report a Concern is a premium feature. If you would like to enable it, please reach out to our Support Team.
To automatically Report a Concern:
- Make sure you have set up the Report a Concern integration.
- Click "+Add New Rule" on the Auto-replies page.
- Enter the name of the new rule.
- Select the conditions which a review should meet to be fall under this rule.
- Select Reply with "Report a Concern" as the action.
- Choose the type of report that you want to submit: off-topic, spam, offensive material, or something else.
- Select a template that will be sent to the store when the report is submitted.
- Click "Save Rule"
💡 By default, all accounts have a standard "Report a Concern" Template Folder that you can use for Auto-reply rules. If you deleted yours by mistake, you can create a new set of templates for each of these situations. Need the original messages? Just send us a message and we'll be happy to share them with you.
Semantic Tag and Semantic Sentiment Auto-replies
Use Semantic Tags and Semantic Sentiment to cover a larger scope of Reviews that fall into a specific category. With the help of machine-learning algorithms, Semantics-based replies provide more accurate results than rules based on a fixed set of keywords and ratings. Semantic Analysis works for up to 20 languages, so your Auto-replies are good to go, no matter the language.
With Semantic Automation rules, you can set the Auto-reply to be triggered by:
- Specific topics (bugs, subscriptions, ads)
- The user's tone of voice (positive, negative, neutral, mixed)
Copying Rules between Workspaces
You can copy a specific auto-reply rule from one workspace to another, with just a few clicks! To do so, go to the Auto-replies page and find the rule you wish to copy. Right beside the title of your rule, you will see three buttons. Choose the middle button with the copy icon:
Once you click the copy button, a pop-up for you to select the workspace you wish to copy the rule to will show up. Choose the workspace you wish and click "Copy".
All done! Now your auto-reply rule has been copied to another workspace in a matter of seconds, with just a few clicks.