Sentiment routing

Protect your brand by routing 5-star customers to public platforms while directing 1-3 star feedback to private resolution channels.

Overview

RatingFlow’s smart sentiment routing system is the core of our reputation protection strategy. It segments customer feedback before it goes public, ensuring that satisfied customers amplify your brand while unsatisfied customers get direct support.

Sentiment routing acts as a shield for your business, allowing you to address complaints privately before they become permanent public damage.

How sentiment routing works

The system operates on a simple but powerful principle: route customers to different destinations based on their satisfaction level.

1. Customer receives review request

   Your customer receives a review request via SMS, email, or scans a QR code at your location.

2. Initial rating on RatingFlow page

   Before going to any public platform, the customer first rates their experience on a RatingFlow-hosted page using a star rating (1-5).

3. Smart routing decision

   Based on their star rating, the system instantly determines the next step.

4. Route to appropriate destination

   • 4-5 stars: Redirected to public review platforms
   • 1-3 stars: Directed to private feedback form

The two paths

5-star path

Public review platforms

Customers who rate 4-5 stars are automatically redirected to public platforms where their positive feedback helps your business:

Supported platforms:

• Google Maps/Google Business Profile
• Facebook Reviews
• Trustpilot
• Yelp
• Industry-specific review sites

Benefits:

• Automates growth of social proof
• Improves local SEO rankings
• Increases visibility in the Local Pack
• Builds trust with potential customers

This is your 5 star reviews generator in action.

1-3 star path

Private feedback form

Customers who rate 1-3 stars are diverted to a private internal feedback form instead of public platforms:

What happens:

• Customer sees a private form asking for details
• Feedback goes directly to business owner
• No public review is created
• Owner can respond and resolve the issue

Benefits:

• Prevents unfair or emotional rants from going public
• Provides opportunity to save the customer relationship
• Protects your public star rating from temporary issues
• Gives you valuable improvement insights

This is your negative feedback shield.

Why this matters

Protect brand integrity

Filter out unfair or emotional 1-star rants before they become permanent fixtures on your public profile. Not every complaint deserves to be immortalized online.

Save customer relationships

When you catch negative feedback early and private, you have the chance to make things right. Many customers who were upset initially can be converted into loyal advocates.

Boost local SEO

A higher volume of positive reviews directly correlates to higher rankings in the Local Pack and Google Maps search results.

Increase revenue

Businesses with a 4.5+ star rating generate significantly more revenue than competitors with lower ratings.

Sentiment routing is not about hiding all negative feedback. It’s about giving yourself the opportunity to address issues privately before they impact your public reputation permanently.

Customizing your routing rules

Rating thresholds

You can adjust where the split happens:

• Conservative: Only 5-star goes public, 1-4 goes private
• Balanced (default): 4-5 stars go public, 1-3 goes private
• Aggressive: 3-5 stars go public, 1-2 goes private

Platform selection

Choose which public platforms to prioritize:

• Send all positive reviews to Google for local SEO
• Rotate between multiple platforms for diverse coverage
• Prioritize industry-specific review sites

Private form customization

Customize what you ask on the private feedback form:

• Open-ended: “What went wrong?”
• Specific issues: Checkboxes for common problems
• Contact preference: How should we reach you?
• Resolution desired: What would make this right?

Best practices

Respond quickly to private feedback

The faster you respond to negative private feedback, the more likely you are to save the customer relationship and prevent them from posting publicly elsewhere.

Don’t ignore patterns

If you’re consistently getting the same complaint in private feedback, it’s a sign of a real problem that needs fixing in your business.

Follow up after resolution

Once you’ve resolved a private complaint, you can follow up and ask if they’d be willing to share their updated experience publicly.

Be transparent with staff

Make sure your team understands that you’re trying to capture all feedback, not hide negative comments. This should improve service quality, not mask poor performance.

The goal of sentiment routing is continuous improvement combined with reputation protection. Use private feedback as a learning tool.

The competitive advantage

Most businesses wait for negative reviews to appear publicly before responding. With sentiment routing, you’re intercepting problems before they damage your reputation. This proactive approach gives you a significant advantage over competitors who are stuck in reactive mode.

Ethical considerations

Sentiment routing is completely ethical and complies with all platform terms of service. You’re not:

• Removing or hiding reviews that have been posted
• Preventing customers from leaving reviews
• Manipulating review content

You’re simply creating your own funnel that gives you first opportunity to address concerns before customers reach public platforms. Customers can still leave reviews wherever they choose.