How To Get Reviews On Shopify

Introduction

More than 90% of online shoppers read reviews before making a purchase, and product ratings are one of the fastest ways to build credibility and increase conversions. At the same time, many merchants suffer from "platform fatigue"—hoping a single tool will do everything but ending up juggling multiple solutions that don't work well together. That’s where a merchant-first retention suite can help.

Short answer: The fastest way to get reviews on Shopify is to create an intentional, automated workflow that asks the right customer at the right time, makes leaving a review effortless, and rewards action while staying compliant. Combining post-purchase review requests, on-site review collection, incentives through loyalty, and social proof amplification will steadily grow review volume and quality.

In this article we’ll explain why reviews matter, break down every proven tactic to collect, display, and amplify reviews on Shopify, and show how a single retention platform can replace several disconnected tools so you get more growth with less stack. We’ll also provide templates, timing recommendations, compliance tips, and an implementation checklist you can follow start to finish.

Our main message: reviews are a retention and growth lever—when you make review collection part of your customer lifecycle, you increase trust, lift lifetime value, and reduce acquisition costs.

Why Reviews Matter For Shopify Stores

Reviews Drive Trust And Conversions

When shoppers are undecided, social proof influences the final decision. Reviews reduce perceived risk and answer practical questions that product pages often miss. The result is higher conversion rates, higher average order value, and lower return rates because customers understand the product better before buying.

Reviews Improve SEO And Organic Traffic

Fresh, user-generated content helps search engines understand relevance and intent. Reviews naturally include long-tail phrases and questions that customers actually use, increasing the chance a product page ranks for relevant queries. Reviews also keep product pages updated with new content, which is favorable for SEO.

Reviews Feed Other Growth Channels

Reviews are raw material for email marketing, on-site merchandising, paid ads, and social campaigns. Highlighting positive feedback in nurture emails or retargeting creatives boosts click-through and conversion rates. Customer photos and videos turn reviews into shoppable content across channels.

Reviews Inform Product Development

Reviews provide direct feedback about sizing, packaging, durability, and performance. When you track recurring themes you discover opportunities to adjust product descriptions, update images, or fix product issues—actions that reduce returns and increase satisfaction.

The Foundations: What You Need Before You Ask

Technical Basics

Before you start requesting reviews, make sure the technical groundwork is in place to collect, moderate, and display them:

• A review collection and display solution integrated with your Shopify store so reviews appear on product pages and can be moderated.
• A way to collect verified buyer signals (order ID, purchase date) so you can prioritize legitimate reviews.
• UGC capabilities to accept photos and videos with reviews for richer social proof.
• A plan for moderation and responses, including a workflow for negative feedback.

If you want a single platform that covers review collection, UGC, loyalty incentives, and social display, consider options that consolidate those features so you don’t add unnecessary tools to your stack. For a merchant-first solution with built-in loyalty and reviews, you can see our pricing plans to evaluate what’s included.

Legal And Platform Requirements

Understand the policies that apply to review collection:

• Don’t fabricate or alter reviews. Authenticity is mandatory.
• Disclose any incentives clearly if you offer rewards for reviews; follow local advertising and disclosure regulations.
• Preserve evidence of purchase when required for "verified purchase" tagging.
• Respect privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA when storing customer data and requests.

Shopify and other channels have specific rules for what reviews can be displayed and how. Build your workflows to stay within those guidelines.

How To Collect Reviews On Shopify: Proven Tactics

We’ll cover the tactics that consistently increase review volume and quality. Combine multiple tactics rather than relying on a single method.

Automate Post-Purchase Review Requests

Automated requests are the backbone of any review program:

• Trigger timing: send the first review request once the order is delivered or shortly after a reasonable usage window. The ideal timing depends on product type.
• Single or sequence: send an initial request and follow-up reminders to non-responders. Keep messages short and provide a direct way to leave feedback.
• Channel mix: use email first, and consider supplementing with SMS for higher open rates when you have consent.

Best practices for timing and cadence:

• Fast-moving consumables: request reviews 3–7 days after delivery.
• Products that need time to test: request 14–30 days after delivery.
• Split follow-ups into friendly reminders spaced several days apart.
• Avoid over-messaging; two follow-ups is usually enough.

Automation reduces manual work and makes review collection repeatable. If you want a retention suite that automates review requests and links them to loyalty rewards, check options that provide both features in one place so your workflows sync automatically. For an integrated setup, many merchants choose to install Growave from the Shopify App Store to centralize review collection and rewards.

Make Leaving A Review Extremely Easy

Friction kills response rates. Reduce steps and make the review form mobile-friendly:

• One-click star ratings on a product page or in email.
• A short comment box with optional prompts.
• Allow photo and video uploads to increase credibility.
• Pre-fill product details or order reference to verify purchase.

On-page placement matters: show review prompts near purchase and in post-purchase flows. Consider embedding a review widget directly on product pages, cart pages, and order status pages.

Segment And Personalize Requests

Personalization increases response rates. Use purchase data and customer behavior to tailor requests:

• Repeat customers: reference past purchases and invite advanced feedback.
• First-time buyers: focus on ease-of-use and expectations vs reality.
• High spenders: offer a small token of appreciation in exchange for a detailed review.

Segmentation also helps you ask for photo or video reviews from customers who’ve engaged with your brand on social channels or loyalty programs.

Incentivize Ethically With Loyalty Rewards

Incentives boost response, but they must be handled carefully to remain credible:

• Reward actions, not opinions. Give points for leaving a review regardless of sentiment to avoid biasing content.
• Use your loyalty program to provide points or non-monetary perks for review actions.
• Be transparent in the request: tell customers they’ll earn points after the review is published or validated.

A single platform that connects loyalty and reviews simplifies issuance of rewards and verification. If you want to design a rewards-for-review flow, see how you can build a loyalty program that rewards reviews and ensure seamless fulfillment.

Ask For Visual Reviews (Photos & Videos)

Visual content significantly increases trust. Encourage customers to add images or a short video by:

• Offering bonus loyalty points for photo/video uploads.
• Providing clear instructions and examples to make it easy.
• Creating a gallery of customer photos on product pages or a shoppable Instagram feed.

Visual reviews are also a rich source of shoppable content for marketing campaigns.

Use On-Site Prompts And Post-Purchase Pages

Capture reviews from customers who are on your site:

• Add a lightweight review prompt on the product page that links to the review modal.
• Use order status/thank-you pages to ask for an immediate quick review or to sign customers up for a longer review later.
• Show recent reviews on category pages to influence browsing customers.

On-site prompts capture attention while the experience is fresh.

Leverage Transactional Notifications And SMS

Transactional notifications (shipping, delivery) are high-engagement touchpoints. Insert an unobtrusive review request there.

• Add a CTA button in the delivery confirmation with direct link to the review form.
• SMS can increase response rates but requires opt-in. Keep messages concise and compliant.

Always provide an easy opt-out and avoid excessive use.

Partner With Packaging And Inserts

Offline touchpoints still matter:

• Include a simple card in packaging inviting customers to leave feedback and showing how to do it.
• Offer a QR code that links directly to the review form or a photo upload page.
• Use packaging as an extra brand touchpoint to reinforce the ask.

Offline reminders are subtle but effective for less tech-savvy customers.

How To Display Reviews For Maximum Impact

Getting reviews is only half the battle. Display them in ways that increase conversions and SEO value.

Show Ratings Prominently

Make average star rating visible in places shoppers check when evaluating a product:

• Product listing thumbnails.
• Product page header next to price.
• Category filters and sort options for "Top Rated".

Highlight the number of reviews alongside the star rating for credibility.

Use Visual UGC Galleries

Create a gallery of customer photos and videos that is easy to browse and shoppable:

• Allow visitors to filter by rating, photo, or review content.
• Add a "see how customers use this" section on the product page.
• Repurpose UGC for landing pages and social ads.

UGC galleries increase time on page and help reduce returns by setting accurate expectations.

Feature Reviews In Email And Ads

Embed top reviews in product follow-ups, welcome flows, and retargeting creatives:

• Short testimonial snippets with star ratings and photos.
• Highlight use cases or frequently mentioned benefits.
• Use dynamic blocks that pull the latest positive reviews into campaigns.

This reuses existing content and amplifies social proof across channels.

Use Review Rich Snippets

Structured data (schema) helps search engines display review stars in search results, increasing click-through rates. Ensure your review solution outputs the appropriate schema to product pages and that rich snippets are validated.

Moderate, Curate, And Respond

Active moderation improves perceived trustworthiness:

• Respond quickly to negative reviews with empathy and a resolution path.
• Thank customers for positive feedback and acknowledge specifics.
• Use negative reviews as a channel to invite offline resolution and collect details.

A consistent response policy signals that you care and can convert unhappy customers into advocates.

Using Growave To Collect And Amplify Reviews

We build for merchants, not investors. Our mission is to turn retention into a growth engine. As a merchant-first retention suite, Growave brings Reviews & UGC together with Loyalty & Rewards, Referrals, Wishlists, and Shoppable Instagram so you get more growth with less stack. We're trusted by 15,000+ brands and have a 4.8-star rating on Shopify.

How Growave Simplifies Review Workflows

When review collection, rewards, and display live in the same solution, workflows are tighter and automation becomes more powerful:

• Automated post-purchase review requests that sync with loyalty points so customers automatically receive incentives when they submit a validated review.
• Photo and video uploads with moderation tools and easy tagging for reuse in social galleries.
• On-site widgets and widgets for collection that are responsive and customizable to match your theme.
• Centralized dashboard to track review volume, average rating, photo engagement, and review-driven revenue.

If you want to compare plans and see which option fits your store size and goals, see our pricing plans to pick the right level of features and support.

Practical Use Cases With Growave Features

• Turn review submission into a loyalty moment by automatically crediting points for every verified review submitted and approved.
• Surface top-rated products in a "Customer Favorites" section using review filters.
• Repurpose customer photos into a shoppable Instagram-like feed that links to the product pages.
• Run targeted review collection campaigns for new products using segmented automation.

To explore how this looks in your admin, you can install Growave from the Shopify App Store and try the 14-day free trial.

Integration Benefits: Less Stack, More Growth

By consolidating reviews, loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and UGC in one platform you reduce technical complexity and duplicated data. That saves time, reduces conflicting scripts, and improves the customer experience across touchpoints—resulting in higher retention and a clearer ROI from review-driven strategies.

Optimization: How To Write Review Requests That Work

The words you use matter. Below are proven copy techniques and templates you can adapt.

Email Subject Lines And Previews

Subject lines should be brief and relevant to the order experience:

• Mention the product name or order reference to increase relevancy.
• Include a clear benefit or incentive if you’re offering one.
• Use urgency carefully—focus on helpfulness, not pressure.

Example subject ideas (use as inspiration, not verbatim):

• "How’s your [Product]? Share a quick review and earn points"
• "Tell us what you think about your recent order"
• "Share a photo of your new [Product] and get rewarded"

Email Body Copy

Keep messages short, friendly, and focused on the customer:

• Thank the customer by name.
• Reference the product they purchased.
• Explain how their feedback helps other shoppers and your product team.
• Provide a single clear CTA that links directly to the review form.
• If offering points, explain how and when they’ll receive them.

Sample structure:

• Quick greeting and thanks.
• One sentence asking for feedback, why it matters, and how long it takes.
• One CTA button to leave a review.
• Optional line about photos/videos and points.

SMS Copy

SMS should be minimal and direct with a clear link:

• Short greeting, product name, and CTA.
• Avoid long text; provide an easy opt-out.
• Only use SMS if you have consent.

Example: "Hi [Name], did [Product] meet your expectations? Tap to leave a quick review and earn points: [link]"

On-Site Microcopy

Keep on-site review modals unobtrusive but encouraging:

• Use placeholder text to guide comments (e.g., "What did you like most?").
• Show examples of good photos to inspire customers.
• Keep required fields to a minimum.

Incentivized Reviews: How To Do It Right

Incentives are powerful but need to be handled to preserve credibility.

Types Of Incentives That Work

• Loyalty points redeemable for discounts or perks.
• Entry into a small, ongoing raffle for entertainment/gifts rather than a marketplace discount.
• Exclusive content or early access in exchange for detailed reviews.

Ethical And Practical Rules

• Reward action, not sentiment. Points for submitting a review regardless of star rating.
• Be transparent. State that reviews should reflect honest opinions.
• Delay reward issuance until after moderation to prevent fraud.
• Avoid large monetary rewards that could appear to bias reviews.

Growave’s loyalty integration makes it easy to issue points automatically for review submissions while maintaining moderation controls, so rewards are processed only after validation. Learn more about how to build a loyalty program that rewards reviews and keep incentives aligned with credibility.

Handling Negative Reviews Professionally

Negative reviews are inevitable. They’re also opportunities.

Immediate Steps After Receiving A Negative Review

• Acknowledge the customer’s experience quickly and empathetically.
• Offer to resolve the issue offline—provide a support email or phone number.
• If appropriate, offer a refund, replacement, or other remedy.
• Ask for permission to follow up and, if resolved, encourage an update to the review.

Turn Negatives Into Improvement

• Aggregate common complaints to prioritize product or process fixes.
• Use internal tickets for recurring issues like sizing or packaging.
• When you publicly update how you improved, mention it in the product page so future customers see you act on feedback.

Publicly replying to negative reviews demonstrates care and reduces the negative impact.

Advanced Tactics To Accelerate Review Growth

Review Generation Campaigns For New Launches

When launching a new product, run a targeted campaign that invites early buyers to leave detailed feedback, offering small rewards for photo reviews to build a gallery fast.

VIP Review Programs

Invite high-value customers or brand advocates to exclusive review programs where they receive early samples in exchange for candid feedback and photos. Again, reward actions, not specific sentiment.

Cross-Channel Review Collection

• Pull in reviews from social channels and embed verified posts into product pages.
• Ask customers who engaged on social to submit a formal product review as well.
• Amplify high-performing social posts as testimonials that link to the product review section.

Use Behavioral Triggers

Trigger review requests based on behavior signals like time-on-product, repeat purchases, or opened product-care emails to target customers more likely to provide thoughtful feedback.

Measuring Success: Metrics That Matter

Track these KPIs to understand and optimize your review program:

• Review volume per product and per period.
• Conversion lift correlated to products with growing review counts.
• Average rating trends and distribution of star ratings.
• Photo/video submission rate and engagement on UGC.
• Reward redemption rates and cost-per-review.
• Review-sourced sales (attribution where possible).

A single platform that centralizes reviews and loyalty makes it easier to measure both the cost and the revenue impact of review-driven incentives.

Common Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Be mindful of common pitfalls that undermine review programs.

• Asking for reviews too soon after delivery. Wait long enough for meaningful use.
• Over-incentivizing only positive reviews—this skews credibility.
• Using too many third-party tools that don’t share data, causing inconsistent UX.
• Not moderating or responding to reviews—lack of engagement damages trust.
• Failing to ask again for non-responders in a thoughtful way.

Solve these with a clear, automated workflow, ethical incentives, and a single retention suite that ties actions together.

Implementation Checklist: From Zero To Systematic Reviews

Follow this checklist as you launch or optimize your review program. Use it as a roadmap rather than a strict sequence.

• Confirm your review and display solution is installed and visible on product pages.
• Set up automated review requests timed appropriately by product type.
• Create short, personalized email and SMS templates for review asks.
• Enable photo and video uploads and set up moderation rules.
• Design loyalty incentives for review participation and sync them with review approval workflows.
• Configure on-site review widgets and galleries for high-impact placement.
• Build a response playbook for positive and negative reviews.
• Create a dashboard to monitor volume, average rating, and review-driven conversion.
• Run a small pilot with a subset of products to tweak timing and copy.
• Scale successful workflows across the catalog.

If you prefer an integrated setup that combines review collection with loyalty and UGC galleries, you can install Growave from the Shopify App Store to centralize these steps.

Design Examples And Placement Recommendations

Where you place review-related elements affects results. Consider these placements across common pages:

• Product thumbnails: show star rating and review count to influence browsing behavior.
• Product page header: highlight average rating, number of reviews, and link to the review section.
• Product description: add micro-testimonials or top reviews relevant to key product features.
• Checkout or cart microcopy: show small testimonials to reduce cart abandonment.
• Thank-you and order status pages: invite customers to leave an initial quick review or sign up for a more detailed one after use.

Pair placements with CTAs that align with the customer’s decision stage.

How To Scale Reviews Across Catalogs

For larger catalogs, prioritize reviews where they matter most:

• Focus on high-traffic SKUs, new launches, and items with low review counts.
• Use automated segmentation to request reviews based on order value, customer type, or lifecycle stage.
• Recycle top reviews into a "Best Of" list or category landing pages to spread social proof.

Automation is essential at scale; a unified solution reduces manual effort and increases consistency.

Integrations, Support, And Resources

A retention suite that connects reviews to other growth tools can increase ROI quickly. Look for integrations with your email provider, SMS provider, and analytics to ensure review actions are tracked and used across channels. If you want a one-stop solution with built-in features for loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and UGC, see our pricing plans for details on what’s included.

For guided implementation, many merchants also choose to book a walkthrough to see best practices applied to their catalog—if that’s helpful you can browse customer stories and inspiration to see how brands use integrated retention flows to accelerate reviews.

Troubleshooting: What To Do When Reviews Stall

If review volume drops or stalls, diagnose with these steps:

• Check messaging cadence and open rates—low engagement may need copy or timing changes.
• Verify that the review form works across devices and browsers.
• Confirm rewards are being applied promptly after review approval.
• Look for technical conflicts caused by multiple scripts or widgets.
• Survey a small sample of recent customers to ask why they didn’t leave a review.

Use these insights to iterate and test improvements.

Practical Templates You Can Use Today

Below are short, adaptable templates for review requests. Keep language simple and polite.

Email invitation template:

• Greeting and thank-you.
• One line asking for feedback with an estimated time to complete.
• CTA button linking directly to the review form.
• One line about images/video and loyalty points if applicable.

Follow-up reminder template:

• Friendly nudge, mention previous message.
• Reiterate how feedback helps and offer a one-click path to leave a quick review.
• Keep it short—this is a reminder, not the main ask.

SMS template:

• Short greeting, product name, CTA link, and opt-out instructions.

Customize tone to match your brand voice and always AB test subject lines, send times, and incentives.

The ROI Case For Reviews

Reviews improve conversion rates, reduce returns, and provide content for marketing channels. When those benefits are combined with loyalty-driven retention, the cumulative effect is stronger customer lifetime value. Consolidating review collection, rewards, and UGC in a single retention suite reduces implementation friction and maintenance costs, so you see faster time-to-value.

If you want to evaluate the right plan for your store or estimate ROI, see our pricing plans to compare features and get started with a 14-day free trial.

Conclusion

Collecting reviews on Shopify is not a one-off task—it's a repeatable lifecycle activity that, when done right, accelerates trust, conversion, and long-term retention. The winning approach combines timely automation, low-friction forms, ethical incentives through a loyalty program, strong visual UGC, and thoughtful moderation and responses. By using an integrated retention suite that brings reviews, loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and shoppable social together, merchants reduce technical complexity and increase the impact of every review.

We build for merchants and believe that “More Growth, Less Stack” translates into better results with fewer tools. If you’re ready to turn reviews into a growth engine and try a merchant-first platform that centralizes review collection, rewards, and UGC, start your 14-day free trial and explore our plans now: start a free trial and see our plans.

FAQ

How soon after delivery should I ask for a review?

Timing depends on product type. For consumables, ask a few days after delivery. For products that require use or setup, wait two to four weeks. Test different windows and track response rates to find what works best for your catalog.

Can I reward customers for reviews without biasing feedback?

Yes. Reward customers for the action of submitting a review rather than for giving a positive rating. Issue rewards after moderation and be transparent that feedback should be honest to preserve trust.

How do I get more photo and video reviews?

Incentivize with loyalty points, make uploads easy on mobile, provide examples, and highlight top photo submissions publicly so customers see their content valued. A QR code in packaging can direct customers to a simple upload page.

Will consolidating tools into one platform limit customization?

A single retention suite centralizes workflows and reduces integration headaches while providing customizable widgets, templates, and automation rules. Look for a solution that balances out-of-the-box efficiency with theme-level customization so you can match your brand experience.

Additional resources:

• For step-by-step feature comparisons and plan details, see our pricing plans.
• To centralize reviews, loyalty, and UGC in one place, install Growave from the Shopify App Store.
• Learn how to collect social proof and customer reviews and connect them to rewards.
• Explore ways to build a loyalty program that rewards reviews.
• For inspiration on how merchants use integrated retention flows, browse customer stories and inspiration.