Reputation management

Open SEO, then choose Reputation. Reputation combines first-party patient feedback with Google Business Profile review monitoring and replies.

Owners and managers can configure the feature. Coordinators can read reviews, send a request, recover private feedback and respond. Analysts see aggregate reputation results without patient-level or reviewer-level detail. Telesales have no reputation access.

Configure requests

First connect Google Business Profile and enable at least one location — see Manage Google Business Profile. Requests cannot be switched on until one enabled location exists.

Then open Setup and configure:

• Timing — the delay after a fulfilled appointment, from immediately to 72 hours (two hours by default); one optional reminder, from 24 hours to 14 days after the first request (72 hours by default); and the patient cooldown before the same patient is asked again, from 30 to 365 days (180 days by default).
• Quiet hours — the days and hours during which automated messages may send. Review requests respect this window on every channel, email included. It is the practice-wide send window, so changing it here affects every automation, not only review requests.
• Channels — which of email, SMS and WhatsApp to use and in what order, with fallback to the next enabled channel. Each enabled channel needs a request message, plus a reminder message when reminders are on.
• Low ratings — the private-feedback threshold, from one to five (three by default).

Setup shows exactly what is still missing before requests can be switched on, and lists it before you save rather than after.

Languages

Choose a Default language. SmileLine writes to a patient in the language on their record, and uses the default when the record does not say. Only the default language's messages are required.

Switch Also send in on to add the second language. A patient whose record names a language you have not configured gets the default-language message rather than being skipped. Switching the second language off unlinks its messages when you save; the message templates themselves are untouched.

WhatsApp requests use an approved template.

Automatic requests are considered marketing messages. SmileLine checks the patient's current channel preference and provider-level blocks immediately before delivery. Reputation provider usage is included in the SEO & Ads add-on and does not consume the Core campaign-credit allowance.

The cooldown normally starts after the messaging provider accepts the first request. If SmileLine cannot prove whether the provider accepted it, the request shows Delivery unconfirmed and is not submitted again. An exact signed delivery callback can still confirm the outcome. Possession of the still-valid patient link is also delivery evidence: opening it activates the request without a resend and starts the ordinary expiry, reminder and cooldown clocks from that access.

If the provider later confirms that the first delivery failed before the patient opened the link or a reminder was accepted, SmileLine invalidates the link and reminder and releases that request's cooldown. A patient access or a successfully accepted reminder proves the invitation reached them, so a late failure for the initial message does not revoke that evidence.

Who receives an automatic request

SmileLine considers only appointments fulfilled after Reputation is enabled for that location. It does not solicit historical appointments imported from a practice-management system.

A patient is excluded when they are known to be a minor, are inside the practice's reputation cooldown, have already chosen Google from an earlier request, or have opted out or been blocked on the available channels. An unknown date of birth is not treated as proof that the patient is a minor.

You can also send a request manually to an eligible patient without relying on an appointment. The same consent, suppression, cooldown, quiet-hours and add-on checks apply.

The patient experience

Each request contains an opaque link that expires after 30 days. The active feedback page follows the request's English or Italian language. The patient sees two equal, neutral choices:

• leave a review on Google; or
• share feedback privately with the practice.

SmileLine does not show or hide the Google option based on a score. Choosing Google permanently suppresses future automated and manual review requests for that patient in the practice.

Private feedback can include a one-to-five rating and comment. A patient can keep the feedback linked for follow-up or make it anonymous to practice staff. Feedback at or below the configured threshold creates a recovery task for the next business period.

After private feedback is submitted, reopening the same unexpired link shows a completed confirmation instead of the form.

Google reviews and replies

Connecting Google, mapping locations and authorising reply publishing all happen on Manage Google Business Profile.

New Google reviews appear in the Reputation feed. A permitted team member can write a reply or, when the AI Assistant add-on is also enabled, generate a draft. AI output is always a draft: a person must review and publish it. If Google cannot publish a reply, SmileLine keeps the attempted text in the editor, shows safe recovery guidance, and lets the team member edit or try again.

Initial, manual and scheduled Google refreshes can populate historical reviews without replaying each review through outbound webhooks. Live Google notifications produce bounded change events, and a repeated notification for the same review version does not produce a duplicate event.

If the add-on is disabled

Existing first-party request and feedback history remains readable. The current Google feed remains visible only for as long as Google's API-content rules permit it without a refresh. SmileLine stops automatic and manual requests, reminders, Google synchronization and review replies, and outstanding patient links stop accepting submissions. Re-enable the add-on under Settings → Billing to resume operations.