How to Import Reviews Shopify

Introduction

Getting product reviews into your Shopify store is one of the fastest ways to build credibility, increase conversions, and make your product pages work harder. Yet many merchants struggle with fractured review systems, messy exports, and the overwhelm of multiple tools. That friction is a major reason some stores never unlock the full value of customer feedback.

Short answer: You can import reviews into Shopify by preparing a properly formatted CSV or by using a retention solution that supports direct imports and visual reviews. The safest, most scalable approach is to centralize reviews in a single retention suite that handles CSV imports, photo and video attachments, moderation, and display — then connect that system to your storefront. This minimizes manual work and avoids the pitfalls of maintaining multiple, disconnected solutions.

In this post we’ll cover everything merchants need to import reviews into Shopify with confidence. We’ll explain the technical foundation (CSV fields and product mapping), show practical ways to import photos and videos, highlight the legal and moderation considerations, compare the main approaches you can take, and give a step-by-step checklist you can follow today. Along the way, we’ll explain how consolidating reviews into a single retention suite ties into our "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy — a way to get better value for money while replacing multiple tools with one unified platform. We’re trusted by 15,000+ brands and have a 4.8-star rating on Shopify, and we build for merchants with the long view in mind.

Our main message: importing reviews is both a technical task and a retention opportunity. Done right, it strengthens SEO, lifts conversion rates, and feeds loyalty and UGC programs that grow LTV.

Why Importing Reviews Matters

Tangible benefits of bringing reviews into Shopify

Product reviews are social proof. When displayed across product pages, they lower perceived risk, answer common questions, and increase buyer confidence. The benefits include:

• Improved conversion rates on product pages where reviews appear.
• Better SEO through unique, user-generated content on product pages.
• Richer marketing assets from photo and video reviews that work across email, social, and ads.
• Higher average order value when review content validates bundling and upgrades.
• Data for segmentation: you can use reviewers to create VIPs, reward repeat buyers, or fuel referral campaigns.

Bringing all reviews into one place also reduces cognitive load for your team and eliminates lost content where reviews sit in old marketplaces or legacy systems.

Common business scenarios where importing is essential

Merchants typically import reviews when:

• Migrating from another platform (Etsy, Amazon, custom sites) to Shopify.
• Consolidating reviews from multiple marketplaces to present a single source of truth.
• Upgrading review display and features (adding photos, video, or structured Q&A).
• Recovering reviews before closing a marketplace channel.
• Bringing offline or manually collected feedback into the storefront.

Each scenario requires slightly different tactics — for instance, migration often focuses on preserving dates and reviewer names, while consolidation puts weight on deduplication and preserving media.

Where Reviews Come From: Sources and Formats

Typical review sources

• Marketplaces (Amazon, Etsy, AliExpress)
• Third-party review platforms or services
• Built-in exports from legacy stores
• Offline sources (in-person sales, events)
• Social platforms where customers tag your brand (Instagram, TikTok)
• Email responses and customer support transcripts converted to reviews

Common export formats

• CSV: the most common, flexible format for structured review data.
• JSON: used by some platforms and developer tools.
• HTML scraping or browser extension exports: useful when a platform lacks a native export.
• Direct API pulls: available for platforms with developer APIs.

CSV will be the most accessible and widely applicable format for merchants importing into Shopify or a retention suite.

What to expect from different sources

• Marketplace reviews often include ratings and text, but images and videos may be hosted on the marketplace and require scraping or manual download.
• Third-party review platforms might include rich metadata like verified purchase badges, review tags, and moderation flags.
• Offline reviews need extra verification steps (email capture, consent confirmation) before publishing.

Legal, Ethical, and Quality Considerations

Only import genuine reviews

Importing reviews that don’t reflect real customer experiences can lead to trust erosion and policy risks. Always ensure reviews are authentic and obtained with customer consent where required.

Preserve privacy and follow data rules

If your CSV includes customer emails or personal data, treat that data responsibly. Follow privacy laws like GDPR where applicable — don’t publish personal data without consent. If unsure, remove emails and replace them with anonymized author names.

Moderation and transparency

When importing, set a moderation workflow. Imported reviews should be reviewed for spam, offensive content, or personally identifying information. Consider adding origin metadata (e.g., “Imported from Etsy, March 2022”) when appropriate for transparency.

Overview of Import Approaches

Merchants generally choose between these approaches:

• CSV import into a review tool or native reviews system.
• Using a retention solution with built-in import features that accept CSV or integrate with marketplaces.
• Automated connectors or browser extensions that pull reviews directly from source pages.
• Manual copy/paste (only practical for a handful of reviews).

Each approach has pros and cons.

Pros of using a retention suite (recommended)

• Single place for reviews, photos, moderation, and display.
• Direct connections to loyalty and referral programs, turning reviews into retention drivers.
• Better value for money by replacing several disconnected tools with one solution.
• Built-in moderation workflows and automation.

Pros of CSV import to a basic reviews tool

• Full control over the data you import.
• Good for small projects or simple migrations.

Cons to watch for

• CSV imports can be error-prone, especially around product mapping and image URLs.
• Manual copying is time-consuming and loses time value.
• Multiple disconnected tools increase maintenance and operational overhead.

If you want to manage reviews, visual content, and reward programs from a single dashboard, consider centralizing into a retention suite. You can install Growave on your Shopify store to handle imports, display, and connections to loyalty programs.

Preparing Your Reviews for Import

Before attempting an import, invest time in preparation — it makes the process far smoother.

Audit your source data

• Identify where reviews live and how many items you plan to import.
• Determine if reviews include photos or videos and where media files are hosted.
• Check for duplicates or test entries you should exclude.

Standardize product identifiers

Mapping reviews to products is the most common source of import errors. Decide on the product identifier you’ll use:

• product_handle (the tail end of the product URL on Shopify) is the most reliable option when importing into Shopify-based systems.
• SKU or a custom product ID can work if your import tool supports it.

Make sure product handles on your target Shopify store match what’s in your import file. If you’ve renamed products, update handles or create a mapping table.

Clean up the CSV

• Use UTF-8 encoding to avoid character issues.
• Standardize date formats (ISO 8601 is safe).
• Remove stray commas or line breaks that can break the CSV.
• If the source includes emails, decide whether to keep or anonymize them.

Host media on accessible URLs

Most import tools require image and video URLs that are publicly accessible. If images are hosted on the source marketplace, verify they’re accessible without authentication. If not, download and upload them to a public host (your CDN or image hosting service), then list those URLs in the CSV.

CSV Structure: Fields You’ll Need

Below is a practical field set adapted to what Shopify-style imports commonly require. Use these as your CSV headers when preparing to import.

• product_handle — the tail of the product URL (e.g., "blue-t-shirt")
• rating — number between 0 and 5
• title — short title for the review (optional)
• author — reviewer name
• email — reviewer email (optional; consider privacy)
• body — review text
• created_at — review date/time (ISO format recommended)
• photo_urls — publicly accessible image URLs, separated by semicolons or as required by your tool
• video_urls — public video URLs or embed links (if supported)
• source — optional metadata indicating origin (e.g., "Imported from Etsy")
• verified — optional boolean indicating verified purchase (may be ignored by some systems)
• tags — optional labels to use for filtering or display

Different tools may require slight variations in field names. Always check the import template of the target system. If you’re using Growave, our import tools accept common fields and can guide you through mapping. Learn more about how to manage reviews and visual content in one place.

Step-By-Step: Importing Reviews Using a CSV

This is a robust, general workflow that works for most import situations.

Step A — Create a backup and plan

• Export current reviews from your Shopify store or review tool if any exist.
• Save a copy of your prepared CSV and media assets in a secure folder.
• Decide on a test set: import a small batch (5–10 reviews) before a full import.

Step B — Validate product handles

• Confirm your CSV’s product_handle values match your store’s product URLs.
• If you prefer SKU mapping, ensure the import tool supports it and the SKU values match.

Step C — Check media links

• Open each image/video URL to confirm it loads publicly.
• Optimize images (resize and compress) to avoid slow page loads.

Step D — Import test batch

• Use the test import to validate mapping and display.
• Check for common issues: missing images, wrong product mapping, truncated text, date/time problems.

Step E — Address errors and adjust CSV

• Fix any CSV formatting issues revealed by the test.
• Resolve duplicates and sanitize reviewer fields.

Step F — Run the full import

• Import the complete CSV after successful testing.
• Monitor progress and keep an eye on error logs, if available.

Step G — Post-import checks

• Spot-check multiple product pages across desktop and mobile.
• Confirm images load and dates are correct.
• Verify moderation settings and published/unpublished status.

If you want an import process that minimizes manual mapping and handles photos and videos with moderation flows, consider a retention suite built to manage reviews end-to-end. You can manage reviews and visual content in one place and connect reviews to loyalty actions.

Importing Photos and Videos

Visual content has outsized impact on conversions, but it complicates imports. Here’s how to handle it.

Recommended media workflow

• Collect media URLs in your CSV using a consistent separator (commas or semicolons depending on tool).
• Host images on a public CDN or your store’s file manager to ensure accessibility.
• Limit individual image size and dimensions for performance (e.g., 1200px on the longest edge).
• Provide thumbnails if your review display supports them.

Handling videos

• Most review solutions support video embeds via YouTube or Vimeo URLs — upload videos there first and use the embed link in your CSV.
• Native video file imports are less common and may require additional storage or special handling.

Moderation for media

Set up a moderation workflow so that images and videos are manually approved before appearing live. That prevents off-brand or inappropriate content from damaging trust.

Using Automation and Connectors

If you have many reviews on marketplaces, connectors and extensions can automate import. These typically:

• Scrape public review pages and map them to your product handles.
• Pull images and attach them to reviews.
• Offer scheduling and auto-sync for ongoing import.

Automation speeds migration but requires careful verification for accuracy and compliance. If you prefer a single, merchant-focused retention suite, you can install Growave on your Shopify store and use built-in connectors to simplify the process.

Troubleshooting Common Import Problems

Here are frequent issues and how to resolve them.

• product_handle mismatches: update handles or create a mapping CSV to translate old identifiers to new ones.
• Broken image URLs: host images publicly and update links in CSV.
• Encoding errors: save CSV as UTF-8 to maintain special characters.
• Duplicate reviews: deduplicate rows in your CSV and enable duplicate detection where the import tool supports it.
• Timezone inconsistencies: use ISO 8601 timestamps or convert dates to your store’s timezone pre-import.
• Large files failing to upload: split into smaller CSV files and import sequentially.

If you’re working inside a retention suite, look for an import log or error report — it will often pinpoint the exact field causing an error.

After Import: Display and Conversion Best Practices

Importing reviews is only half the value — how you display them matters.

Where to show reviews

• Product pages: primary placement, near product title or price.
• Collection pages: show review snippets to aid browsing decisions.
• PDP buy box: highlight star rating and review count near the add-to-cart area.
• Theme sections and carousels: use curated review carousels with images to boost trust.
• Landing pages and ads: repurpose photo reviews in marketing channels.

Use structured data for SEO

Make sure your review solution outputs structured data (schema markup) so search engines can read aggregate ratings. This helps with rich snippets in search results and improves click-through rates.

Combine reviews with other retention tools

• Reward reviewers with loyalty points to encourage repeat purchases. Learn how to turn reviews into loyalty actions.
• Use positive reviewers as candidates for referral or VIP programs.
• Integrate reviews into email flows to request follow-up reviews or cross-sell.

Centralizing reviews in a single retention suite makes these cross-channel connections simple and consistent.

Measuring Impact

Track results to justify effort and refine your approach.

Key metrics to monitor:

• Conversion rate change on product pages.
• Review coverage: percentage of SKUs with reviews.
• Average rating and distribution across products.
• UGC engagement: photo/video clickthrough or usage in marketing.
• Average order value and repeat purchase rate among reviewers.
• LTV of customers who leave reviews vs. those who don't.

A/B test placements and display formats to find the strongest layout for your audience.

Migration Checklist (Use Before You Start)

• Backup current reviews and product data.
• Create a small test CSV with sample reviews and images.
• Confirm product_handle or SKU mapping.
• Verify all media URLs are publicly accessible.
• Ensure CSV is UTF-8 encoded and formatted correctly.
• Run a test import and review results on mobile and desktop.
• Set up moderation and publishing rules.
• Deploy full import and monitor logs.
• Spot-check pages and metrics post-import.
• Launch a campaign to request fresh reviews and reward review authors.

Why Centralizing Reviews Is a Better Value for Money

Running multiple tools for reviews, loyalty, UGC, referrals, and shoppable social increases maintenance work, creates inconsistent customer experiences, and leads to app fatigue for your team. A unified retention suite reduces integration overhead and lets you turn a single investment into multiple growth levers.

When reviews live in the same system as loyalty and referrals, you can:

• Automatically reward reviewers with points.
• Turn visual reviews into shoppable content.
• Segment reviewers for VIP experiences and re-engagement campaigns.

If you’re ready to simplify and scale, you can explore plans that fit your growth stage and see how combining reviews with loyalty creates compounding retention effects.

How Growave Supports Review Imports and Ongoing UGC

We build for merchants with a long-term perspective. Growave’s retention suite brings reviews, UGC, and loyalty together so you can manage imports, moderate media, display reviews in theme-friendly widgets, and tie reviewers into rewards and referral campaigns — all from one dashboard. This is the "More Growth, Less Stack" approach: you replace several disconnected tools with a single solution that handles import, display, rewards, and social proof.

Features that help with imports and post-import benefits:

• CSV import and mapping tools for quick migrations.
• Photo and video review support with moderation workflows.
• Widgets that fit modern themes and mobile displays.
• Loyalty integrations to reward reviewers and boost repeat purchase.
• Analytics to show review-driven lift in conversion and engagement.

If you prefer to see the platform in action, you can install Growave on your Shopify store or manage reviews and visual content in one place to learn more about our review features.

Frequently Made Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

• Skipping testing: always test a sample instead of importing everything at once.
• Ignoring media hosting: broken images appear unprofessional and harm conversions.
• Importing without consent: avoid privacy issues by anonymizing sensitive data.
• Overloading pages: too many widgets or scripts can slow your theme — choose one cohesive solution.
• Neglecting moderation: inconsistent content lowers brand trust — set clear publishing rules.

Avoid these pitfalls by following the checklist and using a platform designed for review imports and UGC.

Security and Compliance Checklist

• Remove or anonymize emails if you don’t have consent to publish them.
• Ensure image URLs don’t violate copyright or privacy.
• Keep imported data in secure storage and delete temporary CSVs after import.
• Maintain an audit log: record when imports were done and by whom.
• If exporting data from places like marketplaces, confirm you are permitted to reuse those reviews.

Post-Import Growth Playbook: Turn Reviews Into Retention

Once reviews are imported and live, don’t stop there. Here’s a playbook to extract ongoing value:

• Reward reviewers with loyalty points and a follow-up email encouraging referrals.
• Feature top image or video reviews in product hero areas and ads.
• Use reviewer segments for exclusive promotions and early product access.
• Repurpose visual reviews as shoppable social posts to close the gap between discovery and purchase.
• Run periodic drives to collect fresh reviews and update stale content.

Growave is designed to make these actions straightforward by connecting reviews to loyalty and shoppable social features. See how to turn reviews into loyalty actions and integrate rewards with your review program.

How to Decide Between DIY CSV or Retention Suite Import

Consider these factors:

• Volume: Large imports and ongoing sync favor a retention suite.
• Media needs: If you have many photos/videos, a platform with native media support reduces headaches.
• Integration needs: Want loyalty, referrals, and social UGC tied to reviews? Pick a unified solution.
• Budget and time: DIY CSV may be cheaper upfront but costs more in maintenance. A retention suite offers better value for money when you account for reduced overhead.
• Team bandwidth: If your team is small, automation and fewer tools lighten the load.

If the goal is long-term growth through retention rather than one-off migration, we recommend centralizing reviews in a retention platform and leveraging its cross-functional capabilities.

Final Testing and Launch Tips

• Test across devices and browsers for layout and performance.
• Check structured data with Google’s rich result tools to ensure your review markup is correct.
• Monitor site speed after adding review widgets — compress images and lazy-load media where possible.
• Announce the migration to customers and invite fresh reviews with incentives or loyalty points.
• Monitor metrics weekly for the first month to confirm improvements.

Conclusion

Importing reviews into Shopify is a high-impact project that requires technical care and strategic follow-through. Prepare your data, map products correctly, host media thoughtfully, and choose an approach that supports your long-term retention goals. Centralizing reviews into a single retention suite reduces operational complexity, preserves your most valuable UGC, and unlocks loyalty and referral opportunities that compound growth.

We build for merchants who want long-term, sustainable growth. If you’re ready to simplify review management, display photo and video UGC, and connect reviews to loyalty without juggling multiple solutions, explore plans that fit your growth stage.

FAQ

Can I import reviews that include photos and videos?

Yes. Photos and videos typically require publicly accessible URLs in your import file. Use a CDN or your store’s file hosting to ensure media links work. If you prefer, a retention suite can help manage media hosting, moderation, and display after import. Learn how to manage reviews and visual content in one place.

Will importing reviews affect my site performance?

It can if media are not optimized or widgets are poorly implemented. Keep images compressed, use lazy loading, and choose a review solution with efficient, theme-friendly widgets. Centralizing widgets in a cohesive retention suite reduces the number of scripts and improves site performance compared with running several tools.

How do I map reviews to the correct Shopify product?

The most reliable method is product_handle (the URL tail for each product). Ensure your CSV contains the exact handle for each product, or use SKU mapping if supported by your import tool. Always run a small test import to verify mappings.

What if I want to reward customers for leaving reviews?

Tie reviews to your loyalty program so reviewers earn points automatically. When reviews and loyalty live in the same retention system, you can automate rewards, encourage UGC, and turn reviewers into repeat buyers. See options to turn reviews into loyalty actions.

Hard CTA: Ready to consolidate reviews, reward your customers, and reduce tool sprawl? Start a 14-day free trial and explore plans that fit your growth stage.