How Your Law Firm Can Automate Responses to Google Reviews with ChatGPT & Zapier
- Brent Harkins
Google Reviews are important to your law firm for many reasons; online reputation, social proof, and local SEO being a few. For local SEO and the Google Map Pack, the three most important ranking factors are relevance, distance, and prominence.
Relevant outcomes pertain to those that closely align with the search inquiry. Hence, it’s crucial for your Google Business Profile to contain comprehensive, precise, and thorough details regarding your location and the range of services you provide. Distance is the proximity of a user from your business. Prominence is the culmination of a business’ reputation, digital presence, and star rating.
To have a prominent Google Business Profile, it is critical to request reviews from clients and customers of your law firm. Law firm reputation management is one of the best ways to influence your prominence in the eyes of Google and improve your local search results against other practices. It is also reported that engaging with reviews has an influence on your rankings so responding to your Google reviews is a necessary task for your law firm. This can be a rather remedial task that is not where an attorney’s time is best spent but with a few tools, you can automate this.
What You Will Need to Automate Your Law Firm’s Response to Reviews
- Google Business Profile
“GBP” as it is commonly called is a free platform every law firm should have set up for their practice. Optimizing your law firm’s Google Business Profile is also a necessity so that your practice’s information is both accurate and attractive. We’ve simplified this down to 5 tips on how to improve your law firm’s Google Map Pack rankings. - Zapier
Zapier is one of the most powerful tools available as it can connect and automate thousands of tasks and workflows. Not only that, it is a freemium product that is very cost effective. To automate your review responses, you will need the Starter level that includes multi-step Zaps and filters for $20 a month. - ChatGPT
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm but very few attorneys are harnessing the full power of the platform. Another freemium product, you will need to purchase usage credits to OpenAI’s API platform. At the time of writing this, each AI response will cost you one cent. You will also need to create an API key to connect the platforms. This can be done under your user profile.
Comprehensive Guide to Set Up Zapier to Post Replies to Google Reviews Using ChatGPT
Now that you know the platforms needed to execute, it’s time to set up your automation. Assuming you have the necessary access and privileges complete, there are six steps within this automation.
- Set Up a New Zap in Zapier
- Initial Trigger
- Select “Google My Business”
- Choose the “new review” event
- If required, log into your account
- Add a Filter (optional but recommended)
- Filter out low-rated reviews (e.g., 3 stars or lower) to handle them individually
- Integrate OpenAi’s GhatGPT
- Connect your OpenAI account to Zapier
- Input required details
- Model: Choose “DaVinci003” for the highest quality of writing.
- Prompt: Craft a message that directs ChatGPT on how to respond. Include the review’s star rating, reviewer’s name, and other relevant details. (e.g., “Respond to this Google review. Do not include an explanation of why or what you’re saying. Just include the response. This was a [Number Rating] star rating left by [Reviewer Name] for the [insert law firm name}.
[Comment]”) - Temperature: Set to 0.7 (default)
- Maximum Length: Set to 750 for concise replies
- No need to modify other advanced settings
- Add delay
- Introduce a delay (e.g., 93 minutes) before the automated response is posted to avoid appearing instantaneously automated
- Connect to Google Business Profile
- Search for “Google My Business” in Zapier
- For the event, choose “create reply.”
- Connect the review name from the initial data with the ChatGPT response for the reply content
- Publish the automation
Why Law Firms Should Automate Replies to Google Reviews for Enhanced Reputation Management
A robust online presence is no longer just an asset, but a necessity. For law firms, in particular, Google Reviews act as a testament to their credibility, quality, and client satisfaction. The relationship between Google Business Profile prominence and the volume and quality of Google Reviews is profound. As explained, relevance, distance, and prominence collectively influence a firm’s local SEO and its visibility on the Google Map Pack.
Automation and AI present a groundbreaking solution to a recurrent challenge: efficient and effective engagement with reviews. While the importance of garnering reviews cannot be overstated, the management and response to these reviews are equally pivotal. It ensures prospective clients witness active engagement and also aids in enhancing a firm’s Google ranking.
The aggregation of Google Business Profile, Zapier, and ChatGPT offers a potent solution. GBP acts as the foundational platform, Zapier as the automation hub, and ChatGPT ensures the quality of the responses. This trio eliminates the need for manual intervention while retaining personalization and quality.
In essence, this comprehensive guide elucidates how law firms can harness the power of AI and automation for reputation management. By adopting this innovative approach, firms not only save time and resources but also strengthen their online prominence. In the realm of legal practice, where reputation is paramount, this blend of technology and client engagement is the future of digital outreach and branding. If your law firm wants to improve their local SEO and use of technology, contact Cardinal Concepts to speak with our team of legal marketing experts or we recommend our blog, Why Attorney Reviews Matter and How to Get More of Them.
