How to Respond to a Review That Mentions a Competitor

"Used to come here but [Competitor] down the road is cheaper and the staff actually smile."

This one lands differently from ordinary criticism. It's not just that you fell short — it's that someone stood in your business, compared you to a specific rival, and published the verdict on your own profile.

The instinct is to explain why the comparison is unfair. That's the trap.

Rule one: never name them back

Whatever you write, do not mention the competitor by name in your reply.

Three reasons, in increasing order of importance. It puts their name on your profile where future customers will read it, in a context that invites a search. It makes you look rattled. And any comment you make about another named business is a comment on record — one that could, if it's a claim about their standards, cause you real trouble.

Never write a competitor's name in a review reply. Not to correct the comparison, not to dismiss it, not even neutrally.

The good news is you never need to. "Other places" or simply not referring to it at all works perfectly.

The three types of comparison review

Type 1: Cheaper elsewhere

This is a price complaint wearing a comparison costume. Don't apologise, don't match the price in public, and don't criticise how they can afford to charge less. State what your price buys.

Thank you for the honest feedback. We're not the cheapest option around and that's a deliberate choice — [specific thing you do differently] costs more to deliver. It won't be right for everyone, and that's fair enough.

More on this in responding to reviews about price.

Type 2: Better service elsewhere

This one is worth taking seriously, because it's the comparison customers act on. Someone who has experienced both and preferred the other on service is giving you real information.

Thank you for being straight with me — that's hard to read and genuinely useful. If we didn't make you feel looked after, we didn't do our job. I'd like to hear more about what happened: [email] comes to me directly.

Type 3: They compared you favourably

The nice one — and still, don't name the competitor.

Thank you, that's a generous thing to say and we don't take it for granted. Glad the difference showed. See you next time.

Resist the urge to agree with the criticism of the other business, even mildly. "Yes, we hear that a lot about them" is the single most damaging sentence you can write in a review reply.

More examples

They switched away and said why

Sorry to lose you, and thank you for saying why rather than just disappearing. [Specific thing] is fair criticism and we're working on it. If you ever fancy giving us another go, ask for me — [name].

They're comparing you to a much bigger chain

Thank you for the feedback. We're a small independent, so some things we simply can't match — and others we do far better because of it. Sorry this visit fell on the wrong side of that.

The comparison is factually wrong

Thanks for the feedback. Just to clarify, we do offer [thing] — it may not have been made clear at the time, which is on us. Happy to explain properly if you'd like: [email].

You suspect it's the competitor themselves

Thank you for the feedback. We don't have a record of the visit described, but if we've got something wrong I'd genuinely like to know — please contact me at [email].

When it's not a customer

Reviews that criticise you and specifically recommend a named rival are occasionally written by that rival, or by someone connected to them. Signals worth checking: a brand-new account, no other review history, or a profile that's left five-star reviews for the competitor and one-stars for several of their rivals.

That's a conflict of interest under Google's policies and worth reporting with evidence — the process is in what to do when a competitor buys fake reviews.

Report it privately. Never accuse them in your public reply, even when you're confident. An accusation you can't prove makes you look worse than the review did, and if you're wrong it's a serious problem.

The useful part of these reviews

Once the sting fades, comparison reviews are the best free competitive research you'll ever get. A customer has done the work of trying both and telling you exactly where you lose.

Keep a note of what they name. If three separate people mention the same rival's speed, opening hours, or booking system, that's not a review problem — it's a business decision waiting to be made. And it's information your competitors are paying consultants for.

Reploi keeps replies consistent and neutral even on the reviews that make you want to argue — and surfaces the themes that keep coming up across all of them. Start free — 5 replies/month →