Stop Wasting Happy Customer Reviews

I need reading glasses. I’ve come to accept this, even if I did just waste 20 minutes fiddling with my camera only to realise it was my own eyeballs that were failing to autofocus. In my quest to cover every flat surface with reading glasses, I came across the following exchange.

I’ve redacted the names here because I don’t want to shame anyone…but this sort of response to a genuine customer review is such a waste of potential!

Whether it was written by a real person or some sort of ecommerce response bot, it’s so painfully generic that it loses all meaning. 

“We are so glad to hear that you love { Product } because { Same Thing You Just Said }! { Generic Statement of Thanks! }”

When LLMs can churn these out in microseconds and spam them all over websites until the comments sections look like a bug-splattered windscreen on a country road…what’s the point? Maybe for a while it showed engagement with customers, but in 2026 I think it’s worse than not replying at all. It’s the enforced “Have a Nice Day!” of the web.

Here’s a better option: Be interesting. Be human. Say something real.

I’d suggest something like this:

You know your own audience! Say anything that includes some thankfulness with personality, and that differentiates this specific response from every other one on your site. 

Replying in public like this isn’t just for the individual customer. It’s also for everyone who reads the comments later, so it’s your chance to show people who you are and what it is like to deal with you.

Keep it short, make it specific to the individual, and if you can’t think of anything worthwhile to say, don’t be afraid to just leave it. There will be plenty more opportunities to come.