Negative-review alerts: email, Telegram and WhatsApp
Set up ReputeMap's negative-review alerts step by step: choose which stars alert you, add email recipients, connect Telegram or WhatsApp, test, and fix problems.
How alerts work
Alerts tell you about a bad Google review within minutes of ReputeMap detecting it, so you can reply before the next customer reads it. Everything on this page happens on one screen in the app: Alerts in the main navigation. Only owners and admins of the workspace can change alert settings. Everyone else can see how alerts are set up and work the alert history.
If you haven’t connected a Google profile yet, start with Connect Google. No account yet? Start a 14-day free trial; setup takes about 3 minutes.
WhatsApp and full access: Telegram and WhatsApp alerts are on every plan. WhatsApp connects once your workspace is on full access — any paid plan. On a trial, press Connect WhatsApp and the page offers Start full access: your trial ends that day, your plan starts, and the connection continues right away. While our business number finishes Meta’s review, each new number is switched on by our team, usually within a day — the number’s row on the Alerts page tells you when it’s live.
What triggers an alert
- An alert fires when ReputeMap syncs your Google reviews and finds a new review at or below the star rating you chose.
- Reviews that already existed when you connected a location are imported silently. You won’t get a flood of alerts about old reviews.
- A review that already has your reply when ReputeMap first sees it doesn’t alert. There’s nothing left to do.
- Each review alerts once. Every channel that is switched on gets that alert.
- Alerts are set for the whole workspace, not per location. Each alert names its location in the first line.
The status pill at the top of the page tells you the truth about your setup at a glance:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| On · 1–3★ · Email + Telegram | Alerts are live for those stars on those channels |
| Paused | The “Send alerts” switch at the top is off. Nobody is being alerted |
| Not live yet · connect Google | No Google location is syncing yet, so nothing can alert |
| Not live · no channel on | Every channel is off. Switch one on |
While setup isn’t finished, a short checklist at the top (“Finish setting up alerts”) walks you through the remaining steps and then folds away.
Choose which reviews alert you
Under Which reviews should alert you? pick one of four options:
| Option | You’re alerted for |
|---|---|
| 1★ only | 1-star reviews |
| up to 2★ | 1- and 2-star reviews |
| up to 3★ (default) | 1-, 2- and 3-star reviews |
| up to 4★ | everything except 5-star reviews |
Most businesses start with up to 3★. A busy location that gets many 3-star reviews may prefer up to 2★. A premium service may want up to 4★. The setting saves by itself. If a save ever fails, a Retry link appears next to it.
Email is on from the first day. You don’t need to do anything to get alerts as an owner or admin.
- On the Email card, type an address and press Enter or comma. To add several people at once, paste a list: commas, semicolons, spaces and new lines all work, and “Name <address>” entries are understood.
- An address that isn’t valid is marked in red and skipped. Remove it or fix it.
- If you list nobody, alerts go to all owners and admins of the workspace. As soon as you list at least one address, only the listed addresses get them, so add yourself too.
The subject line reads “New 1★ review — Downtown”. The email has the reviewer’s name, the review text and a link that opens that review in your inbox. When the alert carries a reply drafted by AI, the subject ends in “reply drafted”, for example “New 2★ review — Downtown — reply drafted”, and the email quotes the draft. See Reply from the alert below.
Telegram
Telegram alerts come from ReputeMap’s own bot, @ReputeMapBot. There is no bot to create and no token to paste.
On your phone
- On the Telegram card press Connect Telegram.
- Telegram opens on the ReputeMap bot. Tap Start.
- Return to the Alerts page. It updates by itself and shows the chat as connected. The bot confirms in the chat too.
On a computer
- Press Connect Telegram. Telegram opens in a new tab. If you use Telegram on this computer, press Start there. If the browser blocked the new tab, press Open Telegram on the card.
- No Telegram on this computer? Scan the QR code on the card with your phone’s camera and tap Start on the phone.
- The page updates by itself.
For a team group
- Press Connect Telegram, then Add to a team group instead.
- Pick the group, then tap Start. You need to be allowed to add members to that group.
- Alerts are now posted in the group for everyone in it.
Good to know:
- The connect link works once and expires after 30 minutes. If it expires, press Get a new link.
- A workspace connects one Telegram chat at a time: a private chat or a group. To switch, press Disconnect and connect again.
- Test Telegram only sends a sample alert to that chat.
- In a private chat, a 1–3★ alert carries the reply the AI drafted, with ✅ Publish draft and ✏️ Edit & publish. A group gets the alert without publish buttons.
WhatsApp alerts come from ReputeMap’s own WhatsApp Business number, through Meta’s official Cloud API. You don’t need a WhatsApp Business account, Zapier or an API provider. See the availability note at the top of this page: the steps below apply once WhatsApp is open in your workspace.
On your phone
- On the WhatsApp card press Connect WhatsApp.
- WhatsApp opens with a short message to ReputeMap’s number already written: “Connect ReputeMap alerts” and a one-time code. Don’t change it.
- Tap Send.
- Return to the Alerts page. It updates by itself and shows your number as connected. You get a confirmation in WhatsApp too.
On a computer
- Press Connect WhatsApp. The card shows a QR code.
- Scan it with your phone’s camera. WhatsApp opens on the phone with the same message written.
- Tap Send. The page on your computer updates by itself. (If you use WhatsApp on the computer itself, “Have WhatsApp on this computer? Open it” does the same there.)
Sending that message is your OK to receive alerts on WhatsApp, and it proves the number is yours. The link works once and expires after 30 minutes.
Good to know:
- Test WhatsApp only sends a sample alert to every connected number and shows the result next to each one.
- The alert is a short message with the star rating, the location, the reviewer’s name, what they wrote, and an Open in ReputeMap button.
- Nobody reads replies sent to that number. To answer a review, open it in ReputeMap.
Add teammates
| Channel | How to add people |
|---|---|
| Add their addresses on the Email card. They don’t need a ReputeMap login | |
| Telegram | Connect a team group instead of a private chat, and add people to that group in Telegram |
| Up to 5 numbers per workspace, each connected from its own phone (below) |
WhatsApp alerts go to individual numbers, not to group chats, so every person connects their own phone:
- On the WhatsApp card press Add another number.
- Press Copy link for a teammate and send it to them in any chat. The copied text tells them what to do.
- They tap the link on their phone and tap Send in WhatsApp. Their number appears in your list.
The link works once, for 30 minutes. Every connected number gets every alert.
Reply from the alert
When a 1–3★ review lands, the AI drafts the reply inside the alert, in the language the review was written in.
- Email. The alert quotes the draft. Review & publish reply → is a personal, single-use link, valid for 7 days, that opens a page with no login: the review, the AI-drafted reply you can edit (tone chips) and one Publish to Google button. The Monday digest carries the same link.
- Telegram, private chat. The draft comes with ✅ Publish draft, which posts exactly that text in one tap, and ✏️ Edit & publish. A group gets the alert without publish buttons.
- WhatsApp. The alert only, with its Open in ReputeMap button.
Nothing is posted to Google until a person taps Publish, unless you switch on Auto-reply to new reviews (paid plans, 4–5★ by default). If you widen Auto-reply to all ratings, a 1–3★ review it has already answered still gets its alert: the email and Telegram say Replied automatically and show the text it posted, without publish buttons (how Auto-reply works). On the free trial, replies are drafted inside the first 2 alerts; on paid plans, inside every alert. How the language is chosen, rating-only reviews included: replying to Google reviews in other languages. Every way to reply from an inbox or a phone, compared: reply to Google reviews from your email or phone.
Send a test alert
Below the channels, press Send a test alert. One button tests every channel that is switched on and shows the result for each: which addresses, which chat, which numbers. If a channel failed, the note next to it says why and what to do. The test goes out even while alerts are paused, so you can check delivery before going live.
Tests are limited to 10 per hour per workspace, across all the test buttons.
Read the alert history
At the bottom of the page every alert is listed with its stars, reviewer, location, the start of the review, and where it was delivered:
- a channel icon with sent means it went out on that channel,
- failed means it didn’t, and the channel’s card explains why,
- no recipients means the channel had nobody to send to at that moment.
Open review takes you to that review in the inbox, where you can draft a reply with AI and publish it to Google. Acknowledge marks the alert as picked up, so the rest of the team can see that someone has it. Owners, admins and analysts can acknowledge.
Turn a channel off, or pause everything
| To do this | Do this |
|---|---|
| Pause all alerts for a while | Turn off Send alerts at the top of the page. The pill shows “Paused”. Your settings and connections stay |
| Stop email alerts | Turn the Email switch off |
| Stop Telegram but keep the chat connected | Turn the Telegram switch off |
| Disconnect Telegram | Press Disconnect on the card, or send /stop to the bot in that chat |
| Stop WhatsApp but keep the numbers | Turn the WhatsApp switch off |
| Stop WhatsApp on one phone | Reply STOP from that phone, or press Remove next to the number |
At least one channel has to stay on. If you try to switch the last one off, the page asks you to pause alerts with the switch at the top instead. If the last WhatsApp number or the Telegram chat goes away, alerts keep going to your remaining channels.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pill says Not live yet · connect Google | No Google location is syncing, so there are no new reviews to alert on | Connect Google and pick your locations |
| Pill says Not live · no channel on | Every channel is switched off | Turn on Email, Telegram or WhatsApp |
| Pill says Paused | ”Send alerts” at the top is off | Turn it back on |
| No alert for a review you can see on Google | Its rating is above your star line, it was already there when the location was first imported, or it already had a reply | Check Which reviews should alert you? Old and already-answered reviews never alert |
| Alert emails don’t arrive | The list has other addresses but not yours, or the mail was filtered | Add your address on the Email card, send a test, check spam |
| ”Telegram alerts stopped” | Someone sent /stop, or the bot was removed from the group or blocked | Press Reconnect and tap Start again. Until then alerts go to your other channels |
| ”That link expired” (Telegram or WhatsApp) | Connect links work once, for 30 minutes | Press Get a new link |
| A number shows “Replied STOP — gets no alerts” | That phone replied STOP on WhatsApp | Press Reconnect to send that person a new link, or Remove |
| ”That phone is already connected” | The connect message was sent from a number that’s already on the list | Send it from the phone you want to add, or press Cancel |
| ”All 5 numbers are in use” | A workspace can have up to 5 WhatsApp numbers | Remove one, then add the new one |
| A warning under one WhatsApp number | WhatsApp couldn’t deliver the last alert to that phone | Follow the note, for example: check that WhatsApp is installed and up to date on that phone |
| ”WhatsApp didn’t send the last alert — the problem is on our side” | Something broke on ReputeMap’s side | Nothing to do. We’ve been notified, and your other channels keep working |
| Pressing Connect WhatsApp shows WhatsApp alerts come with full access | Your workspace is on the free trial | Press Start full access (your plan starts today) — the connection continues right away. Or use email and Telegram until the trial ends |
| A number shows our WhatsApp number is still in test mode | Meta is still reviewing our business number; new numbers are switched on by hand | Nothing to do — usually within a day; the row updates by itself |
| ”You’ve sent 10 test alerts in the last hour” | The hourly test limit | Try again a bit later. Your settings are saved |
| No Connect buttons, settings greyed out | Only owners and admins can change alert settings | Ask an owner or admin of the workspace |
| ”Connected via your own bot” on the Telegram card | An older setup that used your own BotFather token | Press Switch to ReputeMap bot and tap Start. Alerts keep going to your bot until you do |
Still stuck? Write to us from the contact page and tell us which row you’re on.
Next steps
- Reply to the review the alert pointed at: The review inbox.
- Understand Google’s own notifications and where they fall short: Google review notifications.
- Channel guides: Telegram and WhatsApp.
ReputeMap is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google, Telegram, WhatsApp or Meta.