How to Import Reviews to Shopify

Introduction

Product reviews are one of the most powerful trust signals in e-commerce. A large majority of shoppers consult reviews before buying, and stores that surface authentic feedback — especially with photos and videos — convert at higher rates and build stronger customer loyalty.

Short answer: You can import reviews to Shopify in multiple ways depending on where the reviews currently live. The most reliable methods are a properly formatted CSV import into your review system, using a reviews module inside a retention platform that supports bulk import and photo/video migration, or running a secure migration script that maps review fields to product handles. Each method requires careful attention to metadata, image handling, and consent so reviews display correctly and remain compliant.

In this article we’ll cover everything merchants need to know about importing reviews to Shopify. We’ll explain the data you must collect, walk through step-by-step import workflows, surface common pitfalls and fixes, and show how to convert imported reviews into long-term growth using review requests, incentives, and UGC strategies. Throughout, we’ll connect these steps to the ways Growave’s retention suite can simplify the work and keep your store fast and trustworthy.

Our main message: moving reviews is less about copying text and more about preserving context and trust. When reviews arrive on Shopify with correct metadata, images, and verified-purchase signals, they become a durable growth lever. We’ll show you how to get there with confidence.

Why Importing Reviews Matters

Reviews Increase Conversion Consciously

Reviews reduce buyer uncertainty by answering the questions buyers have before checkout. When shoppers see other customers’ photos, ratings, and detailed commentary, purchase hesitation drops.

• Reviews provide social proof that a product works for people like the shopper.
• Visual reviews (photos and videos) reduce returns by showing real-world use.
• Aggregated ratings can be displayed in search result snippets and product listings, increasing click-through rates.

Reviews Preserve Brand Equity When Migrating

When merchants move from one storefront or marketplace to another, reviews are a form of reputation capital. Importing past reviews ensures hard-won social proof does not get left behind, and it keeps product pages rich with content from day one.

Reviews Feed Retention and LTV

Reviews are not just for conversion. They create content for email flows, loyalty activities, and social channels. A single customer review can trigger multiple retention touches: a thank-you email, loyalty points for content, and social amplification. Treat reviews as retention assets.

What Data You Need to Import

Before attempting any import, collect and verify the data fields each review contains. Consistency is key.

Core review fields

• Product identifier (product handle, SKU, or unique product ID)
• Rating (numeric, typically 0–5)
• Review body (text)
• Author name
• Review date/time
• Title or summary (optional)
• Author email (optional, useful for verified purchase flags)

Enriched fields that matter

• Image and video URLs for UGC
• Verified purchase flag
• Locale / language code
• Review status (published, pending, archived)
• Moderation notes or tags
• Source platform (useful for audit trails)

Why each field matters

• Product identifier ensures reviews attach to the right product variant or listing.
• Rating and review body are the visible trust signals shoppers read.
• Images/videos drive higher conversion and lower return rates.
• The verified purchase flag helps shoppers judge authenticity.
• The review date influences recency; recent reviews are more persuasive.

Typical Sources and How to Prepare Their Data

Reviews can originate from many places: export files from old stores, marketplace histories, in-house spreadsheets, or other review services. The key is a standardized export.

• If you have a CSV export, open it in a spreadsheet and normalize header names to the target format (product_handle, rating, title, author, email, body, created_at).
• If the source stores images on a remote CDN, ensure image URLs are publicly accessible or prepare to upload them during import.
• If reviews are embedded in HTML pages, extract them into a structured file (CSV or JSON) before importing.

Remember: do not import reviews unless you have the right to publish them. Retain any proof of consent if required by privacy regulations.

How to Prepare a CSV for Import

CSV imports are the most universal path. Follow these best practices:

• Use UTF-8 encoding to avoid character corruption.
• Keep a backup copy of the original export before you edit.
• Normalize product identifiers to match the Shopify product handle or SKU exactly.
• Format dates in an ISO-compatible format (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS) or match the target system’s expected format.
• Strip out special characters that may break import parsing.
• If you have images, include accessible URLs in a dedicated image column.

Example of the essential headers you should include in your CSV:

• product_handle
• rating
• title
• author
• email
• body
• created_at
• image_url (optional)
• verified (optional)

Avoid including platform-specific metadata unless you plan to map it in the import settings.

Step-By-Step: Importing Reviews via CSV into a Reviews Module

We’ll outline a clear, practical import workflow that applies to most retention platforms and review modules.

Preparation

• Audit your destination product list in Shopify. Confirm that each product has a stable handle and that handles are uniquely identifiable.
• Clean your CSV so each row corresponds to a single review and includes the product_handle.
• Check image URLs for accessibility; host images on a reliable CDN if necessary.
• Remove duplicates and obvious spam.

Import process

• Log into your reviews module inside your retention suite.
• Locate the import function (often labeled Import Reviews or Bulk Upload in a UI).
• Upload your CSV and map the incoming fields to the destination fields. Most importers let you pick which CSV column maps to product_handle, rating, body, etc.
• If images are included as URLs, confirm the importer will fetch and attach them to the review entries.
• Choose whether to publish imported reviews immediately or import them as drafts for manual moderation.
• Run a small test import with a few rows first to validate everything looks right on product pages.
• After validation, run the full import.

Post-import checks

• Randomly inspect imported reviews on product pages to verify attachments, authorship, dates, and verified flags.
• Confirm structured data (rich snippets) on a few product pages to ensure Google can crawl star ratings.
• Reindex or trigger any caches in your storefront if needed so the new content appears to users and search engines.

Importing Reviews into Growave’s Reviews & UGC Module

If you’re using Growave’s Reviews & UGC feature as part of our retention suite, importing reviews combines power and convenience. The Reviews & UGC module supports bulk imports with photo and video attachments, moderation controls, and display widgets that work with the latest storefront themes.

• Upload your CSV within the reviews section, map fields, and choose how imported reviews display.
• Use built-in moderation to review imported content before publishing.
• Enable auto-sync for reviews that will continue to flow in from supported sources, keeping product pages fresh.

See how the Reviews & UGC module handles bulk imports and rich media to reduce time-to-live for migrated reviews and ensure the storefront shows authentic, media-rich proof to customers (learn more about the reviews workflow). We also provide support resources and migration checklists to streamline complex imports.

Handling Photos and Videos

UGC images and videos are often the most valuable part of a review. Properly handling these assets preserves quality and page performance.

Best practices for media during import

• Prefer direct public URLs served over HTTPS to avoid mixed content issues.
• Optimize image file sizes without degrading perceived quality.
• For video, host on a reliable CDN or use short video clips that load progressively.
• Add alt text to images after import for accessibility and SEO.
• Use lazy-loading techniques on product pages so images don’t hurt initial page speed.

A good reviews solution will fetch, store, and serve media efficiently so your storefront remains fast while showing visual proof.

Preserving and Displaying Verified Purchase Signals

Shoppers trust reviews more when they know the reviewer actually bought the product. Preserve verified purchase metadata during import whenever possible.

• If your source contains purchase data, add a verified flag in the CSV so the destination can mark reviews accordingly.
• If you imported only email addresses and you can match them to orders in Shopify, run a post-import matching process to apply a verified purchase badge.
• Use your reviews module’s settings to display verified tags prominently on product pages.

Verified tags reduce skepticism and increase conversion, so treat them as a priority during migration.

Mapping Reviews to Variants and Bundles

Simple product handle → review mapping works for many stores, but stores with variants (size, color) or bundles need more careful mapping.

• Use SKU-based mapping for accurate variant-level placement.
• For bundle products, decide whether reviews apply to the bundle or the individual components. Often the correct solution is to attach reviews at the individual product level unless the review specifically addresses a bundle experience.
• If a review references a variant explicitly (e.g., “the red version”), consider adding that detail to the title or moderation notes so shoppers can find relevant feedback.

Accurate mapping prevents negative experiences caused by misplaced reviews (e.g., buyers seeing a review for a different variant).

Moderation, Quality Control, and Deduplication

Imported reviews often contain duplicates or spam. Implement a moderation workflow.

• Use automated filters to detect profanity, obvious spam, or repeated content.
• Run a deduplication pass using combinations of author+date+body similarity.
• Mark reviews that lack images or essential context for manual review.
• Keep an audit trail of imported reviews and maintain the original source identifier so you can trace back if issues arise.

A good retention suite centralizes moderation so you can manage imported content alongside new submissions.

Legal and Consent Considerations

Always import reviews only when you have the right to publish them.

• If you export customer reviews from your old store, be sure the export includes only reviews submitted willingly by customers.
• Avoid importing reviews that were scraped without consent.
• If you plan to display reviews with author emails, ensure you’re compliant with privacy regulations and your privacy policy covers the publication of reviewer names.
• Keep a record of consent and source metadata for auditability.

When in doubt, consult legal counsel. We encourage a conservative approach: preserve trust by publishing only authentic content you are authorized to use.

Troubleshooting Common Import Issues

Here are common problems merchants face and how to fix them.

• CSV fails to parse or shows character corruption: ensure UTF-8 encoding and remove unusual control characters.
• Reviews attach to the wrong product: double-check product_handle/SKU mapping and exact slug matches.
• Images fail to load: verify the URLs are accessible (no authentication) and are served over HTTPS.
• Dates appear wrong: reformat created_at to the importer’s expected format or use ISO format.
• Duplicate reviews after import: run a dedupe filter comparing key fields and delete duplicates.
• Reviews missing verified purchase badges: run a post-import matching process against Shopify orders using email and date ranges.

A small test run and inspection will catch most issues early.

SEO: Make Imported Reviews Work for Search

Reviews can drive organic visibility when properly surfaced in structured data.

What to check for search engines

• Make sure star ratings and review counts are visible in page HTML, and that your storefront includes valid review schema (AggregateRating) for products.
• Ensure review text is rendered server-side or in-crawlable HTML so search engines can index it.
• Use schema fields like reviewCount and ratingValue in JSON-LD or embedded microdata so rich snippets can display.
• Avoid hidden or paginated content that hides key review text from crawlers; if pagination is necessary, surface excerpts and ensure crawlable links to full content.

When reviews are indexed correctly, they increase snippets and drive higher search CTRs.

Automation After Import: Keep Reviews Growing

Imported reviews are a great starting point, but you want a continuous inflow of fresh reviews. Use a coordinated post-purchase and lifecycle plan.

• Send automated review requests after delivery with a simple one-click submission flow.
• Offer loyalty points for providing a review to drive participation without undermining authenticity.
• Enable photo and video submission with review requests to increase visual UGC.
• Use reminder sequences for customers who didn’t leave feedback and segment messaging by product category.

Growave’s Loyalty & Rewards features let you incentivize reviews in a compliant, transparent way and increase the volume of rich UGC (learn how loyalty can boost review volume). Integrating review requests with your retention strategy turns one-time reviews into an ongoing engine for LTV.

Display Strategies That Convert

Once reviews are imported, choose display strategies that make them work harder.

• Place review snippets near top-of-page product information to reduce purchase friction.
• Show a mix of text and photo reviews on the product detail page and highlights on collection pages.
• Use UGC galleries that collect visual proof across products and surface them on high-traffic landing pages.
• Include an aggregated rating near the add-to-cart area and in search result cards.
• Feature recent reviews on your home page to communicate active customer engagement.

The goal is to remove doubt right where customers decide to buy, while also providing social proof across the customer journey.

Analytics: Measure the Impact of Imported Reviews

Track metrics so you know your migration succeeded.

• Review coverage rate: percent of SKUs with at least one review after migration.
• Conversion rate lift on pages with newly imported reviews versus a control set.
• Average rating distribution and changes over time.
• UGC contribution to on-site engagement (time on page, clicks to images).
• Review growth rate after enabling review requests and loyalty incentives.

These KPIs tell you whether reviews are actually moving business outcomes — and where to focus optimization.

Migration Workflow Checklist

Use this checklist to manage a review migration with minimal surprises.

• Backup original review exports.
• Normalize CSV fields and encoding.
• Validate product handle/SKU mappings.
• Test-import a small sample with images.
• Review and moderate the sample on live product pages.
• Run the full import.
• Conduct spot checks for media, dates, and verified flags.
• Enable review-rich snippets and test structured data.
• Launch review request flows and incentives to keep content fresh.
• Monitor analytics for conversion and coverage.

A rigorous checklist reduces flakiness and ensures imported reviews enhance trust rather than undermine it.

Choosing a Platform vs. DIY

You can technically script a direct import into Shopify using APIs, but there are practical trade-offs.

• A retention suite streamlines imports, stores media efficiently, provides moderation tools, and ties reviews into loyalty and referral programs. That reduces integration overhead and simplifies ongoing management.
• DIY scripts require engineering resources for API mapping, handling edge cases, media hosting, and moderation workflows. They may work if you have developer bandwidth and a simple dataset, but they often lead to fragmented systems over time.

We build Growave as a merchant-first retention suite to replace multiple single-purpose solutions—so you get more growth with less stack. If you want to evaluate the options, compare plan features and pick the path that minimizes long-term maintenance (see our plans and feature tiers).

Practical Example: Migrating Reviews from a Legacy Storefront (Process Overview)

This example lays out the practical steps you would take when moving reviews from an older storefront export to Shopify.

• Export reviews from the legacy store into CSV.
• Clean the CSV: validate product handles or SKUs, remove duplicates, and check images.
• Run a small sample import into the reviews module and inspect product pages.
• Adjust mappings and image hosting if needed.
• Run the final bulk import and moderate content as it arrives.
• Activate review request flows and loyalty incentives to encourage fresh reviews.
• Monitor key metrics and iterate.

That workflow centralizes the technical steps and the post-import marketing actions that turn imported reviews into sustained growth.

Why a Unified Retention Suite Matters Here

Review import is a multi-dimensional task: data mapping, media handling, moderation, and ongoing review collection. Using a unified retention suite reduces friction by centralizing these capabilities.

• One place to import, moderate, display, and incentivize reviews means fewer integration points to maintain.
• When reviews feed directly into loyalty programs, referral flows, and UGC galleries, you turn static content into active retention drivers.
• A single platform simplifies support and compliance since you manage permissions, data, and display from one console.

Our philosophy is More Growth, Less Stack: instead of stitching together multiple systems, use a unified solution that replaces several point products and gives you a cohesive retention strategy. If you’d like to see how these capabilities work together in practice, you can install Growave from the Shopify listing or book a demo to walk through a migration plan.

Cost, Time, and Team Considerations

When planning an import, estimate effort across three buckets:

• Data work: cleaning and mapping exports — expect a few hours to several days depending on complexity.
• Technical integration: testing imports, media hosting, and display checks — may require developer time.
• Marketing & moderation: setting up flows to collect new reviews and training moderators.

If you want to avoid engineering time and the operational burden of maintaining multiple systems, a retention suite pinpoints all these capabilities in one place and typically lowers total ongoing cost while delivering better value for money.

Final Checklist Before You Start

• Confirm you have rights to publish imported reviews.
• Ensure product handles or SKUs in your CSV match live Shopify products.
• Test import with a small dataset first.
• Prepare image hosting or confirm importer will fetch remote media.
• Plan for post-import promotion and review collection.
• Set up analytics to measure impact.

Taking these steps up front prevents rework and ensures your imported reviews contribute to sustainable growth.

Troubleshooting Quick Reference

• Import fails: check CSV encoding and header names.
• Images missing: ensure URLs are publicly accessible and use HTTPS.
• Wrong product mapping: verify exact matches on product_handle or SKU.
• Duplicate reviews: run dedupe logic using author+date+text similarity.
• No rich snippets: ensure reviews are server-rendered or included in crawlable HTML and that schema is valid.

If you’d like support with a complex migration or have questions about mapping and media handling, our team can help — you can book a demo to discuss your store’s specific needs.

Conclusion

Imported reviews are a strategic asset when done correctly: they preserve trust, boost conversion, and feed your long-term retention engine. The key steps are clean data, accurate product mapping, proper handling of images and verified purchase metadata, and a post-import plan to keep review volume growing. Choosing a unified retention suite reduces technical overhead and connects reviews to loyalty, referrals, and shoppable UGC — turning one-time social proof into ongoing customer value.

Start your 14-day free trial and see how Growave can turn retention into a growth engine for your store by simplifying review imports and ongoing UGC strategies—compare our plans and get started today (view our plans).

FAQ

How do I ensure imported reviews attach to the correct product variant?

Use SKU-level mapping when possible. If your CSV only has product handles, confirm that handles exactly match the product slugs on your storefront. For stores with many variants, export SKUs from Shopify and match them to the source data before import.

Can I import photo and video reviews?

Yes. Provide publicly accessible image or video URLs in your import file, or let the retention suite fetch media during import. Optimize file sizes and host on HTTPS to prevent mixed-content issues.

Is it legal to import reviews from another store?

Only import reviews you have the right to publish. That generally means reviews submitted by your customers or exported from your own store. Avoid scraping or republishing content you don’t own, and retain records of consent when required by privacy regulations.

What’s the fastest way to add reviews to a brand-new store?

A bulk CSV import of historic reviews combined with automated post-purchase review requests and loyalty incentives will populate product pages quickly and sustain review growth. If you prefer hands-off migration, schedule a migration consult and demo to plan the fastest path for your catalog.

If you’re ready to migrate reviews and build ongoing review growth with minimal technical overhead, see our pricing plans and start your trial (compare plans), or install the platform directly from the Shopify listing (install Growave).