Welcome to StellaQuin

StellaQuin brings the Google reviews for every one of your locations into one place, so a real person can read each one and answer it. This guide covers everything in the app, in the order you are likely to need it, including the part that happens on Google before StellaQuin can do anything.

What StellaQuin does, and doesn't

• It reads your Google reviews, every location, every ten minutes, and shows the ones waiting for a reply first.
• It posts the replies your people write, as your business, through Google's own door.
• It tells the right person when a review arrives, by email, and gives everyone reports on how each location is doing.
• It never writes a reply for you and never posts anything on its own. There are no automatic replies and no "write it for me" button. An optional advisor can help the person answering think; the words are always theirs.

Who does what

People are free on every plan. Invite as many as your business needs; only the number of locations sets the plan.

The three pages you'll use most

• Reviews: one list across all your locations, the ones waiting for a reply at the top, with the reply box beside each review.
• Locations: the Google connection, every location with its status light, who looks after it, and its approval rule.
• Reports: every location side by side for any period, with a CSV download and scheduled report emails.

Finding this guide again

In the app, Help at the bottom of the left-hand menu opens this guide in a new tab, so you can keep it beside the app. The public pages are also at stellaquin.app/help.

Setting up your Google Business Profile

StellaQuin works with Google reviews, and Google reviews live on a Google Business Profile: the listing that appears when someone searches for your business or finds it on Google Maps, with your hours, photos, rating and reviews. If your business already has one that you manage, skip to Getting started. If not, this page takes you from nothing to a verified profile that StellaQuin can connect to. Everything here happens on Google's own pages; Google doesn't charge for any of it.

What you need

• A Google account: the sign-in you'll use to manage the profile. A free Gmail account works. If your business uses Google Workspace, a work account such as [email protected] is better, because it stays with the business if a person leaves.
• Your business's name, address, phone number and category, exactly as you want customers to see them.
• A way to receive Google's verification: usually a video of your premises, sometimes a phone call, a text, an email, or a postcard to the address.

Step 1: Create a Google account (if you don't have one)

1. Go to accounts.google.com and choose Create account, then For work or my business.
2. Enter your first and last name, then choose a sign-in: a new Gmail address, or Use your existing email to sign in with an address you already have.
3. Choose a strong password. Google asks for a phone number for recovery; give one you control, because it's how you get back in if you ever forget the password.
4. Finish the steps Google shows. You now have a Google account.

Tip: use an address the business controls, not a personal one, and keep its recovery phone and email up to date. Whoever holds this account holds the business's profile.

Step 2: Create or claim the Business Profile

1. Signed in with that Google account, go to business.google.com and choose Manage now (or Add your business).
2. Type your business name. If Google suggests an existing listing with your name and address, choose it: that listing already exists (customers may have been reviewing it for years) and you're claiming it. If nothing matches, choose Create a business with this name.
3. Choose your business category: the one thing you mainly do ("Bakery", "Dental clinic", "Plumber"). You can add more categories later.
4. Say whether customers visit your location. If yes, enter the street address. If you serve customers at their place (a plumber, a cleaner), say so and enter the area you serve instead.
5. Enter your phone number and website if you have one.
6. Google now asks you to verify the business (next step). You can also fill in hours, photos and a description now or later from the profile's menu.

If your business has several locations, add each one the same way, from the Businesses list at business.google.com (Add business). Each location gets its own profile, its own reviews, and its own verification. When you have ten or more, Google offers to import them from a spreadsheet.

Step 3: Verify the business

Google won't show your profile, let you reply to reviews, or let StellaQuin post replies until it's verified: Google has to be sure the business is real and that you're entitled to manage it. Google chooses the methods it offers each business; the common ones are:

• Video: you record a short video on your phone, walking from a street sign or the storefront into the premises and showing something that proves you run it (a sign with the name, equipment, a till, the back office). Google reviews it, usually within a few days.
• Phone or text: Google calls or texts the business number with a code you type in.
• Email: a code to an address on the business's own domain.
• Postcard: a card with a code mailed to the address, which takes up to two weeks. Enter the code at business.google.com when it arrives.
• Live video call: a short call with a Google representative.

Until verification finishes, the profile shows Pending in your Google list, and in StellaQuin the location shows an amber light with "Google hasn't verified this location yet, so replies can't be posted." You can still read its reviews.

If Google refuses or asks for more, follow the instructions it gives; the usual reasons are a name that doesn't match the signage, an address that isn't a staffed premises, or a category that doesn't fit.

Step 4: Give the right people access

The Google account that creates the profile is its primary owner. Other people can be added without sharing a password:

1. At business.google.com, open the business, then its menu (three dots) and choose Business Profile settings, then People and access.
2. Choose Add, enter the person's Google account email, and pick a role: Owner (can do everything, including adding others) or Manager (can edit the profile and reply to reviews, but not remove owners).
3. They get an email and accept.

For StellaQuin, the Google account you'll connect must be an owner or manager of every location you want in StellaQuin. One Google account can manage many businesses and locations.

Step 5: Keep the profile healthy

• Keep hours, phone and address correct; Google may suspend profiles that look wrong or duplicated.
• Follow Google's review policies: never offer anything in return for a review, never ask only happy customers, and never post reviews of your own business.
• A suspended profile shows a red or amber light in StellaQuin with Google's reason and what to do; fix it on Google and StellaQuin picks it up at the next check.

How long it all takes

Creating the account and the profile takes about fifteen minutes. Verification takes anywhere from minutes (phone, email) to two weeks (postcard). You can connect StellaQuin before verification finishes and read reviews while you wait; replies become possible the moment Google marks the location verified.

Moving from another tool

If another product manages your reviews today, nothing about it changes when you connect StellaQuin: both read the same Google profile. Replies you post from either appear on Google. When you're ready to stop the other product, disconnect it there; your profile, reviews and replies stay on Google, and StellaQuin keeps working.

Getting started

Setting up takes about five minutes and needs no call with us.

Your account

On a brand-new installation the first visit shows Set up StellaQuin: your name, email and a password of at least 10 characters. That account is the owner of your organization. If someone invited you, open the link in their email instead: it asks you for a password and signs you in, already part of their organization.

After that, every visit shows Sign in. Forgot your password? emails a one-time reset link to the address you type, if it has an account.

Connecting Google

1. Open Locations in the left-hand menu.
2. Press Connect Google. Google's own sign-in page opens in the same tab. StellaQuin never sees your Google password, now or later.
3. Sign in with the Google account that manages your Business Profile (an owner or manager of the locations; see Setting up your Google Business Profile). If you have several Google accounts, make sure you pick the right one.
4. Google lists what StellaQuin asks for: to manage your business listings. Press Continue (or Allow). Allow everything on that screen; without it, Google doesn't grant lasting access and you'll be asked to try again.
5. You come back to Locations. The panel at the top shows a green light, "Connected as" your Google address, and how many locations were found. Below it, every location the account manages appears with its rating and the last 30 days of reviews.

The connection is to the Google account, not to one location. Every location that account manages is found, and any location you add on Google later appears here by itself within ten minutes.

If Connect Google isn't shown, this StellaQuin is still waiting on Google's approval for its connection. Meanwhile Try it with sample businesses lets you use everything with made-up businesses and reviews.

The Locations page at a glance

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| (*) Google Business Profile                     [Check now] [Test] [Disconnect]    |
|     Connected as [email protected] · 4 locations                              |
|     Last checked for new reviews 3 minutes ago. StellaQuin checks every 10 minutes.|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Locations                                              4 included · 5 on your plan |
| (*) Corner Coffee Co.         ★★★★☆ 4.2    3 waiting   [Managers & approvals] [x] |
| (*) Downtown                  ★★★★☆ 3.9  All answered  [Managers & approvals] [x] |
| ( ) Lakeview  not verified    ★★★★☆ 3.9    1 waiting   [Managers & approvals] [x] |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

• The light on the connection: green, connected and working; red, Google refused the connection (the line beneath says why; Reconnect usually fixes it); gray, not connected.
• Check now asks Google for new reviews right away instead of waiting for the next ten-minute check. Test asks Google who the connection is, and updates the light. Disconnect removes the connection and everything StellaQuin stored from Google (see Your data).
• Each location's light: green, verified and replies can be posted; amber, Google hasn't verified it or someone else claims it, so replies can't be posted yet (the line beneath says what Google wants you to do); red, StellaQuin couldn't read it on the last check.

Inviting your team (optional)

Open Team, enter a person's email and name, choose a role (admin, location manager or viewer), and press Send invite. They get an email with a link that works once and expires in 7 days; the same link is shown to you to copy. For location managers and viewers, then open Locations, press Managers & approvals beside each of their locations, and tick them. See Accounts and your team.

Your first reply

1. Open Reviews. The list shows every location's reviews, the ones still waiting for a reply at the top.
2. Pick a review. It opens on the right with the reply box beneath it.
3. Write your reply and press Post reply. It goes to Google as the business. Google checks replies before showing them, so the review shows Waiting on Google's check for a few minutes, then Live on Google.

Everything about the inbox is in The review inbox.

Checking the connection later

The Locations panel shows when StellaQuin last checked Google and whether the connection is working. If Google ever stops accepting the connection (for example because the Google account's password was changed, or StellaQuin was removed in the Google account's settings), the light goes red, the reason is shown, and Reconnect Google fixes it; nothing else needs doing.

Locations

Every location the connected Google account manages is listed on the Locations page. Each row shows the location's name and address, a status light, Google's live rating and total number of reviews, how many reviews are waiting for a reply, and, for admins, who looks after it and whether it's included.

Status lights

Included

Your plan covers a number of locations (one on Free; see Plans and pricing). Each included location appears in the inbox, in reports and in alerts. When Google has more locations than the plan covers, the extra ones are listed but left out, grayed, until you include them or move to a larger plan. Untick Included to leave a location out on purpose (a closed branch, a listing you don't want in StellaQuin); its reviews stop being fetched and are removed from StellaQuin.

The line at the top right says how many are included and how many the plan covers.

Managers & approvals

Press Managers & approvals beside a location to open its settings:

• Who looks after it: tick the location managers and viewers who should see this location. Managers see its reviews and reports, reply to them, and get its alerts; viewers see and read. Admins see every location already, so they aren't listed. Invite people first from Team.
• Group or region (optional): a label such as "North region" or a brand name, shown under the location. Use it to tell apart several businesses under one Google account.
• Approvals: "Replies to reviews with this many stars or fewer need approval." Off means everyone posts their own replies. Choose a number of stars and a location manager's reply to a review at or below it waits for an approver instead of posting. See Approvals.

Changes save as you make them.

A new location

Add it on Google (see Setting up your Google Business Profile). It appears in StellaQuin by itself within ten minutes, included if the plan has room, with the last 30 days of its reviews. Nothing is typed into StellaQuin.

A location that disappears

If the Google account stops managing a location (it was removed, or the account lost access), the location and its reviews leave StellaQuin at the next check. Your own records about its reviews (who replied, notes, flags) are kept.

Several businesses under one Google account

One Google account often manages more than one business: a bakery with three branches and a coffee shop, say. All of them appear here, in one list, one inbox and one report. Use Group or region to label them by business and the location picker in the inbox to look at one at a time.

The review inbox

Reviews is where the daily work happens: every included location's reviews in one list, the ones still waiting for a reply at the top, and the reply box beside the review you pick.

The page at a glance

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [All locations v] [Search ( / )          ] [1★ 2★ 3★ 4★ 5★] [Newest first v] [Check now]|
| Needs a reply 6 | Waiting for approval 1 | Waiting on Google 0 | Customer updated 0 |   |
| Replied 15 | Flagged 0 | All 22                                                          |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Jordan P.            ★★☆☆☆          | Jordan P.                                 ★★☆☆☆   |
| Northside · 2 hours ago             | Northside · 2 hours ago                           |
| Waited forty minutes past my...     |                                                   |
| [Waiting 2 hours]                   | Waited forty minutes past my appointment and      |
|                                     | nobody said why.                                  |
| Sam R.               ★★★★★          |                                                   |
| Downtown · yesterday                | Your reply (press r)                              |
| Quick, friendly and on time...      | [                                               ] |
| [Replied by Maya · Live on Google]  | Saved replies: [Sorry about the wait] [Thank you] |
|                                     | 0 characters          Posted as the business...   |
|                                     | > Advisor · advice for you, never your reply      |
|                                     | [Post reply]                                      |
|                                     | ----------------------------------------------    |
|                                     | [Flag] [Mark unread] [Not assigned v]             |
|                                     | Team note (only your team sees this) [          ] |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+

On a phone the list fills the screen and a review opens over it; All reviews at the top goes back.

Filters, across the top

• Location: All locations, or one. The number beside a location is how many of its reviews wait for a reply. Location managers see only their own locations here.
• Search: finds words in the review, the reply, the reviewer's name or the location. Press / to jump to it.
• Stars: press one or more star buttons to show only those ratings. Press again to clear.
• Sort: Newest first, Oldest first, or Lowest rating first.
• Check now: asks Google for new and changed reviews right away. StellaQuin checks every ten minutes on its own; this is for when you don't want to wait. It also compares your list with Google and removes any review Google no longer has.

The counter strip

Each counter is a filter. The numbers always cover the location you've chosen, whatever filter is on.

A review in the list

Each card shows the reviewer's name (or "A Google user" when Google hides it), their stars, the location, when it was written, the first lines of the review, and badges:

• Waiting 2 hours / 3 days: how long an unanswered review has waited. It turns red after two days.
• Waiting for approval, Sent back: see Approvals.
• Can't reply here: the location isn't verified on Google yet.
• Waiting on Google's check, Live on Google, Rejected by Google: where the reply stands. A rejected reply broke one of Google's rules (usually a phone number, a web address, or language Google filters); edit it and post again.
• Customer updated, Flagged.

A purple dot marks a review nobody on your team has opened yet.

The selected review

On the right: the reviewer, their stars, the location and date, and the whole review. When Google provides the reviewer's photo it's shown; nothing is copied, it's loaded from Google each time.

The reply box

• Your reply: write here. Press r to jump to it. The count beneath shows characters; Google allows up to 4,096 bytes, and around 320 characters reads best, so the count turns amber beyond that and red if Google would refuse it.
• Saved replies: your own words for the things you say often, offered for the review's rating. Pressing one puts its words in the box, with the customer's first name and the location filled in; change anything you like. See Saved replies.
• Save as saved reply: after writing a reply you'd use again, keep it. The name and location you typed become fill-ins.
• Advisor: an optional helper for the person writing, when your organization has connected one. See The AI advisor.
• Careful mode: when it's on, a note beneath the box checks your words as you write. See Careful mode.
• Post reply: sends the reply to Google as your business. If the location's rule says this reply needs approval, the button reads Send for approval instead and the reply goes to the approvers.

After posting, the reply shows beneath the review with who wrote it and when, and the badge follows Google's check. Edit reply changes it on Google; Delete reply removes it from Google after asking.

If the review has no written text, the box still works: a short thank-you for the stars is worth posting.

Your own records

Beneath a line under the reply:

• Flag / Flagged: mark a review to come back to. The Flagged counter collects them. Press f.
• Mark unread: puts the purple dot back, so a teammate notices it.
• Assign to (admins): hand the review to a teammate. Their name shows on the card.
• Team note: anything your team should know ("Called them on Tuesday; refund sent"). Only your team sees it; it's never posted. Saves when you leave the field.

These records are StellaQuin's own and are kept for as long as you like, even after the review itself ages out of the 30-day window.

Keyboard

When nothing is waiting

The list says Every review is answered. New reviews appear as they arrive; the Locations page shows when StellaQuin last checked.

The last 30 days

Google allows apps like StellaQuin to keep review content for at most 30 days, so the inbox shows the last 30 days and the line at the foot of the list says so. Older reviews stay on Google, where you can always see them; StellaQuin's own records about them (who replied, notes, flags) are kept. See Your data.

A link straight to one review

Alert and approval emails carry a Reply or Open button that opens the inbox on that one review. If it has aged out, or belongs to a location you don't look after, the inbox says so.

Saved replies

Saved replies are your own words for the things you say often: a thank-you for five stars, an apology for a long wait, an invitation to talk in private. They're a starting point, not a shortcut past the customer: pressing one puts the words in the reply box for you to read and change, and nothing is posted until you press Post.

Saved replies are part of every paid plan.

Using one

In the reply box, the Saved replies row offers the replies that suit the review's rating, most used first. Press one and its words appear in the box with the fill-ins completed for this review. If the box already has text, the saved reply is added beneath it. Change anything you like, then post.

Fill-ins

Write these in a saved reply and they're completed for each review:

So "Thanks so much, {first_name}, for the five stars! See you again soon at {location}." becomes "Thanks so much, Sam, for the five stars! See you again soon at Corner Coffee Co."

In careful mode the name fill-ins are left out and the sentence tidied: the same saved reply becomes "Thanks so much for the five stars! See you again soon at Corner Coffee Co." One saved reply serves both modes; you never need two versions. See Careful mode.

Making one

Either from Settings → Saved replies → New saved reply, or from the reply box: Manage opens the same panel, and Save as saved reply opens it with the reply you've just written already filled in, the customer's name and the location turned back into fill-ins.

Each saved reply has:

• Title: what you'll see on the button, such as "Sorry about the wait". Up to 60 characters.
• The reply: the words, with any fill-ins. Up to 4,096 characters, Google's limit.
• Suits which ratings: press the stars it fits. A thank-you suits 4★ and 5★; an apology 1★ to 3★. Leave all unpressed and it's offered for every rating.

Edit changes one; the bin icon deletes it after asking. Up to 200 saved replies per organization.

Who can change them

Admins and location managers make, edit and delete saved replies; viewers see them but can't change them. Every change is noted in the Activity log.

Most used first

Each time a reply is posted that started from a saved reply, that saved reply's count goes up, and the list shows "used 12 times". The reply box offers the most used first, so the ones your team actually relies on are at hand.

Reports

Reports shows how every location is doing, in five views, for any period you choose. Everything from Google is computed at the moment you open it, never from an archive, so the numbers are what Google holds right now.

Each view is a set of cards, and every card is built the same way: a title and what it measures, the headline figure in large type with a short descriptor, a line saying whether that is better or worse than the comparison period (▲ green for better, ▼ red for worse), and then the chart itself, with its axis, gridlines and a legend. Hover any bar, point or slice for its numbers in words.

Choosing a period, and what to compare with

Across the top: This week (from Monday), This month, Last 30 days, This quarter, This year, or Custom with two dates (up to two years).

Compare with sets what "better or worse" means:

• the period before: the same length of time just before the period (the 30 days before the last 30 days).
• before StellaQuin: the same length of time ending the day Google was connected, so you can see what has changed since you started answering reviews here.

Refresh asks Google again. PDF downloads the whole report, all five views, as a PDF file laid out for paper (the cards exactly as you see them, each view on its own pages). CSV downloads the Overview table as a spreadsheet. Connect a system (admins) leads to Settings, where Power BI, Domo or a spreadsheet can pull these numbers on a schedule (see Connected systems).

Location managers see their own locations only, in every view.

Overview

The report opens with a plain sentence written from the numbers, for example: "The last 30 days: 53 new reviews across 4 locations (41 the 30 days before). 34 still unanswered, most at Lakeview (10). 12 were one or two stars. Northside answers most (46%). Downtown's new reviews average 3.9 stars, down from 4.4." It's the report in one breath; everything below it is the detail.

Beneath it, the cards for all your locations together:

Then the table of every location, the one that most needs attention first: most reviews waiting, then the lowest average of new stars, then the lowest rating. Order by switches to most waiting, lowest rating, most new reviews, lowest answered, or slowest to reply. Hover any column heading for what it means.

Over time

Four cards, per day (periods up to a month), per week (up to six months) or per month (longer), for all locations or one chosen from the menu:

• New reviews: a bar for each day, week or month, with Max, Avg and Min lines labeled at the right edge.
• Average stars: a line of the average stars of each period's new reviews, on a 0 to 5 axis, with the whole period's average as a dashed line. Rising reviews with falling stars is the pattern to catch early.
• Answered: a line of the share of each period's reviews that has a reply, against an orange Goal 100% line.
• Time to reply: a bar per period of the typical hours from a review to its reply, with the average as a dashed line. Lower is better.

Ratings

Reviews grouped the way customer-satisfaction scores group them: customers who gave 5 stars are promoters, 4 stars passives, and 1 to 3 stars detractors. The score is promoters minus detractors as a share of all reviews, from −100 to 100; above 50 is excellent, below 0 means more unhappy customers than delighted ones.

The Score card shows the score, what it means in words, how it compares with the comparison period, and a donut of promoters (green), passives (yellow) and detractors (red-orange) with the counts and shares beside it. Score by location shows each location's split as one bar with the counts inside and the score at the end, best first. Stars given by location does the same for all five star levels, with the average at the end. Detractors over time charts the one- to three-star reviews per day, week or month as bars, with the promoter share as a green line on the right-hand axis.

Locations

The leaderboard. Google rating, ranked puts every location in order on a 0 to 5 bar. Answered by location shows each location's new reviews as answered (blue) and waiting (orange), with the share at the end. New reviews by location compares this period with the comparison period as grouped bars. Time to reply by location ranks the locations fastest first. The table beneath has every figure: review total, new reviews (and before), average stars of new with the change, answered, and time to reply. The line above names the leader.

Team

Who answered reviews in the period, from StellaQuin's own record of each reply (which is kept for as long as you like, so this works for any period). Replies by person is one bar per person, most first; Time to reply by person ranks them fastest first, with each person's fastest and slowest beneath their name. The table beneath has the figures:

Only replies posted from StellaQuin are attributed to a person; a reply made directly on Google can't be.

Downloading

PDF downloads the whole report for the chosen period as one file: the Overview, Over time, Ratings, Locations and Team views, each starting on its own page, drawn exactly as they appear on screen. CSV downloads the Overview table, including the comparison period's figures, as a spreadsheet file.

To feed these numbers to another system on a schedule (Power BI, Domo, a shared spreadsheet), see Connected systems.

Report emails

For the people who read reports rather than the inbox, an admin can schedule a report email at the bottom of the page:

• How often: Off, Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Quarterly.
• Format: how the report arrives.
  • The report as a PDF, attached: the whole report, every view, drawn as you see it on screen, attached as a PDF. The email itself carries a one-paragraph summary and the per-location table.
  • Pictures in the email, plus the PDF: the Overview appears as a picture right in the email, so the reader sees the cards without opening anything; the full PDF is attached as well.
  • A spreadsheet (CSV), with a table: the numbers per location as a table in the email and as a CSV file attached, for people who want to work with the figures.
• On: the weekday (weekly) or the day of the month, 1 to 28 (monthly and quarterly; quarterly goes out in January, April, July and October).
• Around: the hour it goes out.
• To: the recipients' email addresses, separated by commas. Up to 20. They don't need StellaQuin accounts.

Press Send a test email first: it sends the report right now, in the format chosen and to the addresses in To (or to your own address when To is empty), without saving anything, so you can see in your inbox exactly what the recipients will get. (With Off selected it covers the last 30 days; otherwise the last complete day, week, month or quarter.) Then press Save; the note beneath confirms when it goes out.

A daily report covers yesterday; weekly the previous Monday-to-Sunday week; monthly the previous calendar month; quarterly the previous quarter. The email itself is short, one line saying which report it is ("Here is your weekly reviews report for Harbor Street Bakery, the week of…"), the picture if that format was chosen, and the attachment; the breakdown is in the report, not repeated in the email. If the report can't be drawn one time, the spreadsheet goes out instead with a line saying so. The Activity log notes each sending.

Report emails are part of every paid plan.

Accounts

Light or dark

Your name at the top right opens your account menu. Appearance there switches the app between Light, Dark, and Device (follow whatever your computer or phone is set to, the default). The choice is remembered in this browser, for you alone; it changes nothing for anyone else and nothing about your emails or reports. and your team

Organizations

Every account belongs to an organization: your business, with its own people, Google connection, locations, saved replies, settings and activity log. Organizations are separate from one another; none can see another's.

Settings → Your organization sets its name, which appears in the app, in emails, and as the {business} fill-in in saved replies.

Roles

Approver is a switch on a location manager or viewer, set on the Team page: they may approve replies that wait for approval at their locations. The owner and admins approve already.

People are free on every plan, including Free. Only the number of locations sets the plan.

Inviting someone

Team, at the top:

1. Email, and optionally their Name.
2. Role: Admin (owner only), Location manager or Viewer. A line beneath explains the role chosen.
3. May approve replies that need approval: the approver switch.
4. Send invite. StellaQuin emails them a link and shows the same link to you, in case they don't see the email or you'd rather send it another way. The link works once and expires in 7 days.

Until they accept, the list shows Invited, not joined yet; New link makes a fresh one. For location managers and viewers, open Locations and tick them under Managers & approvals for each of their locations; until then they see nothing.

The team list

Beside each person: their role (change it from the drop-down), the Approver switch, Reset link (emails them a one-time password-reset link and shows it to you), Remove two-factor (owner only, for someone locked out), and the bin icon to remove them, which signs them out at once. Their saved replies, notes and replies stay with the organization.

Only the owner can make, change or remove an admin. The owner's own role doesn't change.

Your own account

Open your name at the top right:

• Email alerts…: which reviews reach you by email (see Email alerts).
• Change email…: asks for the new address and your password. It becomes your sign-in address and where emails reach you.
• Change password…: asks for your current password and a new one of at least 10 characters. Changing it signs out every other browser where you were signed in.
• Two-factor sign-in…: see below.
• Sign out.

Forgotten passwords

On the sign-in screen, Forgot your password? emails a one-time reset link (valid 7 days) to the address typed, if it has an account; the answer is the same either way, so the form can't be used to find out who has an account. An admin can also press Reset link beside a person on the Team page.

Two-factor sign-in

Anyone can add a second step to their own sign-in: a 6-digit code asked for after the password, so someone who learns your password still can't sign in. Choose where the code comes from:

• An authenticator app (Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, 1Password and others). Works without email or signal; the stronger choice.
• Your email: each sign-in emails a code to your account's address. Nothing to install; keep that inbox protected.

With an app

1. Two-factor sign-in… → Set up with an app.
2. In the authenticator app, add an account and scan the QR code; if you can't scan, type the key shown beside it.
3. Enter the 6-digit code the app shows and press Turn on.
4. StellaQuin shows eight recovery codes. Copy or download them and keep them safe; they aren't shown again. Each signs you in once if you lose your phone.

With email

1. Two-factor sign-in… → Set up with email. A code is emailed at once.
2. Enter it and press Turn on; the recovery codes follow.

Codes from an app change every 30 seconds; if one is refused, check your phone's clock is set automatically. Emailed codes work once, for 10 minutes. Without your phone, email me a code instead on the sign-in screen works in its place. New recovery codes makes a fresh set and cancels the old one. Turning it off needs your password and a current code.

Locked out with no recovery codes: the owner can remove your two-factor from the Team page; you sign in with your password alone and set it up again. If the owner is locked out, contact support.

The Activity log

Activity (admins) lists what changed in the organization, who did it and when: Google connected, a location included, a reply posted ("Replied to a 2-star review for Northside, starting from the saved reply 'Sorry about the wait'"), an approval, a setting changed, a key made. It's your record; nothing in it is ever sent anywhere.

Your data

Google

You connect with Google's own sign-in. StellaQuin never has your Google password; Google gives it a permission you can take away at any time, from StellaQuin (Disconnect on the Locations page) or from your Google account's Security → Third-party apps.

What StellaQuin asks Google for: to read your locations and their reviews, and to post the replies your people write. Nothing else about your Google account is read or changed.

Reviews: the 30-day window

Google's rules for apps like StellaQuin allow review content (the reviewer's name and words) to be kept for at most 30 days. So:

• The inbox shows the last 30 days. The reviewer's name and words are stored encrypted and deleted 30 days after they were fetched. Reviewer photos are shown from Google, never copied.
• Reports ask Google for the period you choose at the moment you ask, and keep nothing.
• Reviews older than 30 days stay on Google, where you can always see them.
• Connected systems receive counts, stars and timings, never review text or names.

StellaQuin's own records

These are yours, not Google's, and are kept for as long as you like: who replied and when, flags, team notes, assignments, approval history, saved replies, settings, and the Activity log.

Disconnecting

Disconnect on the Locations page removes the Google connection and deletes every location and review StellaQuin stored from Google. Your replies stay on Google (they're part of your profile), and StellaQuin's own records stay here. Connecting again starts fresh.

What never happens

• Nothing you or your customers write is sold, used for advertising, or used to train anything.
• StellaQuin never posts a reply nobody wrote, and never contacts your customers.
• If you connect the optional AI advisor, a review goes to the provider you chose, under your key, only when a person presses a button (see The AI advisor). Nothing else leaves StellaQuin.

Sign-in security

Passwords are stored as hashes that can't be reversed. Two-factor sign-in is available to everyone (see Accounts and your team). Sign-in links and codes work once and expire. Repeated wrong passwords lock sign-in from that connection for a while.

The full details are in the privacy policy and the terms.

Troubleshooting

The Google connection

Locations

Replies

Email

Signing in

The AI advisor and connected systems

See the messages tables in The AI advisor and Connected systems.

Still stuck

Write to [email protected] with what you were doing, what you saw, and roughly when. Nothing about your reviews needs to be in the email; the Activity log tells us what happened when.

Plans and pricing

StellaQuin is a flat price by the number of locations. People are free: invite your whole team on any plan, including Free. There's no setup fee and no contract.

Prices are announced at launch. Early-access members get founding pricing.

What counts as a location

Each Google Business Profile location you include on the Locations page. Locations the Google account manages beyond your plan are listed but left out until you include them or move up a plan. A closed branch you untick doesn't count.

Moving between plans

Your plan is shown under Settings → Plan. Until online payment arrives, plans are set by arrangement; write to [email protected]. Moving up includes the waiting locations at once; moving down asks you to leave some out first. Nothing is deleted when a plan changes: settings, saved replies, notes and the Activity log stay.

Paying

Payment will go through Stripe on its hosted page, by card, monthly or yearly with a discount for yearly. Card details never touch StellaQuin. When it's live, Billing… in the account menu will open Stripe's customer portal to change the card, see invoices, or cancel.