How to Analyze Reviews for Improvement

Seeing an aggregated star rating gives you a pulse check, and handling the super negative comments is crucial. But what separates the good bakeries from the great? It’s taking a step back to understand the hidden patterns in your reviews, both positive and negative. That’s where ongoing, structured analysis comes in.

At the time of publication, there are two ways to start turning review data into business intelligence:

The Low-Cost, Labor Intensive Option: Visit takeout.google.com to download your GBP reviews. Let an LLM tool like ChatGPT or Gemini consolidate the various JSON files and then analyze sentiment. See the step-by-step process below.
The More Budget, Less Manual Option: Invest in a dedicated third-party tool like Ovation, Marqii, Birdeye, or GatherUp to automate the collection and analysis process for you.

Keep an eye out on Google: Expect updates coming to GBP in 2026 that embed more Gemini AI features to make this even easier.

Bonus Tip: Analyze the Competition. Apply this exact same process to your competitors! Gather their latest reviews from Google or Yelp into a Word doc, then paste them into a tool like ChatGPT or Gemini to quickly uncover their strengths and, more importantly, their recurring pain points. This instantly gives you a blueprint for how your bakery can be the better alternative.

Sample Prompt for ChatGPT

Here’s the step-by-step for downloading and using review data from Takeout:

While signed into Google, visit takeout.google.com.
Click “Deselect all.”
Scroll down to the “Google Business Profile” product, select it, then scroll all the way to the bottom and hit Next Step.
Select export once. Choose whether you want the zipped folder emailed to you or saved directly to your Google Drive, then “Create export.”
Depending on how many GBPs you manage, and how many reviews they each have, it may take a few hours for the final output:
Once you receive the exported data, download to your computer, and unzip the folder. Locate all .json files that start with “reviews-*.”
You’ll need to clean up these files, as Google exports review data in overlapping layers. Upload all reviews files to ChatGPT with the following prompt:
- Deduplicate these review files from takeout.google.com using name as the unique key. If duplicates exist, keep the version with the most recent updateTime. The output should be a combined, clean .json file that I can then use for sentiment analysis. Preserve full review objects (including reviewReply where present).
- Tip: While ChatGPT and Gemini can read this file type, you may wish to convert it to a standard .csv or .xls for your own records. Simply open a blank Excel spreadsheet, go to Data → Get Data → From File → From JSON. Select your file to import. You’ll see a Power Query view — just close and load as a table. No online converter needed!
Now upload the clean, deduped file with the following prompt. Option to also upload screenshots from additional platforms like Yelp, TripAdvisor, The Knot, etc.

You are a dedicated market analyst for **[Listed Bakery Name]** in **[City, State]**. Your job is to analyze real customer reviews from Google Business Profile (and optionally Yelp, TripAdvisor, The Knot, Wedding Wire, and similar platforms) to uncover actionable insights for improving products, customer service, and operations.

You prioritize:

– Patterns over anecdotes

– Frequency and operational relevance

– Specific solutions (not vague advice)

– Reusable marketing language grounded in what customers actually say

**Instructions:**

**Review Input:** Analyze the customer reviews provided below, and attached to, this prompt.
**Positive Analysis (4 & 5 Stars):**

* Identify the top 3-5 most frequently mentioned **strengths** or products our bakery is known for.

* For each strength, provide a short, keyword-rich phrase (e.g., “Best Croissants in Town,” “Fast, Friendly Service”). These phrases should be suitable for website headlines or short bios.

* Identify 1-2 WOW moments (a unique, highly-praised detail about a product, person, or experience) from a positive review that could form the basis of a short email or social media post.

**Negative Analysis (1 & 2 Stars):**

* Identify the top 3 most common and recurring **pain points** (e.g., “slow service,” “coffee not hot,” “limited vegan options”).

* For each pain point, identify a specific, recommended menu, customer service, or operational solution that directly solves the problem.

**Required Output Format:**

Please present the findings in two separate, clearly labeled sections using markdown for readability.

* **Section 1: Top Strengths & Marketing Keywords** (A bulleted list).

* **Section 2: Key WOW Moments for Brand Story** (Each one a single, short paragraph).

* **Section 3: Pain Points & Internal Solutions** (A table with three columns: ‘Pain Point’, ‘Operational Context’, and ‘Recommended Solution’).

**Review Text:**

\[PASTE ALL REVIEWS FOR YOUR BAKERY HERE OR UPLOAD SCREENSHOTS, WORD DOCS, PDF – Make sure to include star ratings or clearly separate positive/negative reviews in the text you paste.\]

Based on the output, you may wish to interact with the chat for further questions or analysis. For instance, “Identify 5 strong, pull-quote–ready customer comments from 5-star reviews that clearly reinforce [Bakery Name’s] core strengths.”

Sample Prompt for Competitive Analysis

Gather the latest reviews from a competitor’s Google or Yelp profile into a Word/Google doc. Select a decent sample of 1-star and 5-star reviews with comments for the richest data. Copy/paste the following prompt into an LLM of your choice:

You are an expert market analyst for a local bakery. Your task is to analyze a batch of **competitor** customer reviews to uncover actionable insights for our own product development and marketing strategy.

**Instructions:**

**Review Input:** Analyze the customer reviews provided below for a specific **competitor bakery** (e.g., *\[Competitor Bakery Name\]* in *\[City, State\]*).
**Positive Analysis (4 & 5 Stars):**

* Identify the top 3-5 most frequently mentioned **strengths** or products the competitor is known for.

* For each strength, provide a short, keyword-rich phrase (e.g., “Best Croissants in Town,” “Fast, Friendly Service”).

**Negative Analysis (1 & 2 Stars):**

* Identify the top 3 most common and recurring **pain points** for the competitor (e.g., “slow service,” “coffee not hot,” “limited vegan options”).

**Solution-Oriented Headlines:**

* For each of the identified competitor’s negative pain points, write a compelling, customer-facing headline for a new menu item, feature, or service from *\[Your Bakery Name\]* that directly addresses and solves that problem, positioning you as the better alternative.

**Required Output Format:**

Please present the findings in two separate, clearly labeled sections using markdown for readability.

* **Section 1: Competitor Strengths & Keywords** (A bulleted list).

* **Section 2: Competitor Pain Points & Your Solution Headlines** (A table with two columns: ‘Pain Point’ and ‘New Solution Headline’).

**Review Text:**

\[PASTE ALL REVIEWS FOR THE COMPETITOR HERE OR UPLOAD SCREENSHOTS OR A WORD DOC – Make sure to include star ratings or clearly separate positive/negative reviews in the text you paste.\]

Action Step

Set aside 30 minutes to try the free method for downloading and analyzing your online reviews. There are a few steps, but the insights you uncover are well worth it.

If you’d rather skip the learning curve, get in touch about my custom GPT. It walks you through the process step-by-step and turns review analysis into a repeatable system you can use anytime.

Need more help with your reputation management?

I offer a done-for-you service that includes:

Analyzing review sentiment across platforms
Identifying strengths, recurring pain points, and gaps vs. competitors
Creating a custom playbook for logging common praise and complaints
Providing AI prompts so you can analyze and respond consistently and confidently on your own