How Can a Small Business Use AI to Reply to Online Reviews?

Summary

The steps

1. 1

   Create the Review Reply Drafter agent

   An agent in Dave by voolama (hellodave.ai) is a reusable AI component that wraps an AI provider with a versioned Config JSON. Create the agent before building the workflow graph so it is available to select in the Workflow Editor. Only Admin and Create roles can create agents and agent versions. Sourced from the agents help documentation, DEV v0.11.0, confirmed 2026-08-30.

   The system prompt is the most important control. Three things it must do: (1) instruct the AI to write in the business's voice; (2) instruct it to address the specific point the reviewer raised; (3) explicitly prohibit promises, refund offers, disputed factual claims, and confidential business information. Setting temperature to 0.5 produces a friendly but consistent tone. The agents help documentation states temperature controls randomness in responses (0.0 = deterministic, 1.0 = creative).

   Do this

   • Navigate to Agents in the sidebar. Click New Agent.
   • Enter the name: Review Reply Drafter. Add a description: Drafts a professional reply to an online review in the business's voice for owner or team member approval. Add tags: reviews, customer-service, reply.
   • Click Create Agent.
   • Click the agent name to open its detail page. Click Create Version.
   • Enter a valid JSON object in the Config (JSON) editor: {"systemPrompt": "You are a professional customer service writer for a small service business. Write a short, professional reply to the online review in the workflow context. Thank the reviewer by name if provided. Address the specific point they raised. Use a warm, direct tone. Do not make promises, offer refunds, dispute factual claims, or reveal any confidential business information. Keep the reply under 100 words.", "model": "gpt-4o", "temperature": 0.5, "maxTokens": 200}
   • Validate the JSON before submitting: paste it into a browser console and run JSON.parse(). A SyntaxError means a formatting problem to fix first.
   • Click Create Version. The version appears as v1.

   Example

   The voolama content team uses a Review Reply Drafter agent with temperature 0.5 and maxTokens 200 for customer-facing content. On 2026-08-15, the team verified that temperature 0.5 produced replies under 100 words with a consistent professional tone across five test reviews of different sentiment types. The agents help documentation states: 'Version before editing. Always create a new version rather than mentally tracking changes. Old versions remain available if you need to roll back.'

   Best practice

   Lock the prompt from the Prompt Library once the wording is confirmed. The agents help documentation states that when a library prompt is locked to an agent, 'workflow designers cannot override it, the agent always uses its locked prompt.' This prevents any team member from accidentally removing the prohibitions against promises, refunds, or disputed claims. The agents help documentation also states: 'Test agent config before production. Before using a new agent version in a production workflow, test it in a draft or staging workflow instance to verify the system prompt, model, and parameters produce the expected output.'

2. 2

   Build the workflow graph with a Routing node

   The Workflow Editor in Dave by voolama (hellodave.ai) is a visual drag-and-drop canvas. No code is required. Only Admin and Curate roles can open the Workflow Editor and save workflow versions. Sourced from the workflow-editor help documentation, DEV v0.11.0, confirmed 2026-08-30.

   Position	Node type	Label	What it does at runtime	Creates a task?
   1	Start	Start	Entry point. Required exactly once per workflow.	No
   2	User Interaction	Paste Review	Staff pastes the review text and selects sentiment (negative or positive). Creates a task in the Task Inbox.	Yes
   3	Routing	Route by Sentiment	Logic-only. Reads the sentiment field. Routes negative to the Owner Review path, positive to the Team Review path. No task created.	No
   4a/4b	Agent Interaction (x2)	Draft Reply (Negative) / Draft Reply (Positive)	Invokes the Review Reply Drafter agent automatically on each path. No human involvement.	No
   5a/5b	Human Review (x2)	Owner Review / Team Review	Pauses the workflow. The assigned reviewer reads the draft and decides. Creates a task in the Task Inbox.	Yes
   6	End	Ready to Post	Terminal node. Both Human Review paths connect here.	No

   The voolama team added a Routing node to the production content workflow on 2026-08-15 and verified on that date that the node correctly routes instances along the matching output port edge based on the submitted field value, with no task created at the Routing node itself. The workflow-editor help documentation states: 'Routing nodes are logic-only conditional branching and data manipulation nodes, with no user or AI involvement.'

   Do this

   • Navigate to Workflows in the sidebar. Click Create Workflow. Name it Review Reply Pipeline and click Save.
   • Click into the workflow to open the Workflow Editor.
   • Drag a Start node onto the canvas.
   • Drag a User Interaction node below Start. Rename it Paste Review. In the Properties Panel, configure a review_text field and a sentiment field (values: negative, positive).
   • Drag a Routing node below. Rename it Route by Sentiment. Configure two output ports: sentiment = negative routes to the negative Agent Interaction node; sentiment = positive routes to the positive Agent Interaction node.
   • Drag two Agent Interaction nodes, one for each path. Rename them Draft Reply (Negative) and Draft Reply (Positive). In each Properties Panel, under Agent Assignment, select Review Reply Drafter and its v1 version.
   • Drag two Human Review nodes. Rename them Owner Review and Team Review. Connect Owner Review to Draft Reply (Negative) and Team Review to Draft Reply (Positive).
   • Drag one End node. Rename it Ready to Post. Connect both Human Review nodes to this End node.
   • Click Save Version. The counter shows 8 nodes, 7 edges.

   Example

   The voolama team's production content workflow uses this exact Routing node pattern since 2026-08-15: a field value set at the User Interaction task determines which Human Review task is created downstream. The workflow-editor help documentation states: 'Use Information nodes for documentation. They do not affect execution but help future editors understand the design.' Add an Information node next to the Routing node with a note: 'Negative reviews go to Owner Review. Positive reviews go to Team Review. After approval, copy the reply from the Submitted Result field and post it on the review platform manually.'

   Best practice

   The workflow-editor help documentation states: 'Ensure all paths lead to an End node. Dangling paths may cause instances to hang at runtime.' Verify both Human Review nodes connect to the End node before saving. The workflow-editor help documentation also states: 'Save frequently. Each save creates a new version, so there is no risk of overwriting. If you make a mistake, a previous version is always available.'

3. 3

   Set the workflow to active and run the first review

   A workflow must be set to active status before team members can launch instances. A draft workflow cannot be run. Only Admin and Curate roles can change workflow status from draft to active. Only Admin and Use roles can view the Task Inbox and submit decisions. The tasks help documentation states: 'Tasks are intended for users who actively participate in workflow execution (Admin and Use roles).' Sourced from the tasks help documentation, DEV v0.11.0, confirmed 2026-08-30.

   After the Human Review task is approved, the approved reply text appears in the Submitted Result field of the completed task. The reviewer copies it and posts it on the review platform using the platform's own interface. Dave by voolama does not connect to any review platform directly.

   Do this

   • Navigate to Workflows in the sidebar. Find Review Reply Pipeline. Change its status from draft (gray badge) to active (green badge).
   • Navigate to Instances in the sidebar. Click Create Instance. Select Review Reply Pipeline and its v1 version. Click Launch.
   • Navigate to Tasks. Open the Paste Review task. Paste the review text into the review_text field. Select the sentiment (negative or positive). Click Approve to submit.
   • The Routing node runs automatically. The Agent Interaction node on the matching path runs automatically. Refresh Tasks after a few seconds.
   • Open the Owner Review or Team Review task. Read the Payload: it contains the AI-drafted reply. If the draft is accurate and appropriate, click Approve. If it needs revision, click Request Changes and add a Comment. If it is wrong, click Reject.
   • After approval, the instance status changes to completed. The approved reply text is in the Submitted Result field of the completed Human Review task. Copy it and post it on the review platform using the platform's own interface.
   • To verify the audit record: navigate to Admin, then Settings, then Audit Log. Filter by the instance ID. The log shows the Paste Review submission, the Routing decision, the Agent Interaction invocation, and the Human Review decision with the reviewer's user ID and timestamp.

   Example

   The voolama content team runs this three-step process on every AI-assisted content piece since 2026-07-01: paste the draft into a User Interaction task, route by content type using a Routing node, approve at a Human Review task. On 2026-08-15, the team verified that the Human Review task decision (Approve, Reject, or Request Changes) and the optional Comment both appear in the audit log export with the acting user's email and timestamp. See the Work a Task from Your Inbox quick-reference.

   Best practice

   The tasks help documentation states: 'Use comments to document your decisions. Even a brief note explaining why you rejected or requested changes helps workflow owners and other reviewers understand the history.' The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465, effective August 2024, ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/trade-regulation-rule-use-consumer-reviews-testimonials) makes businesses responsible for the accuracy of review responses. The Human Review task is the control point: the reviewer confirms the draft is accurate before it is posted. Export the audit log as CSV from Admin, then Settings, then Audit Log as part of the business's regular recordkeeping routine under IRS Publication 583 (irs.gov/publications/p583).

Roles and who does what in a review reply workflow in Dave by voolama

Where this advice stops