How to Put Reviews on Shopify Store

Introduction

Customer reviews are one of the single most powerful growth levers for e-commerce. They build trust, reduce purchase anxiety, help with SEO, and give you real feedback to improve products. At the same time, many merchants suffer from "platform fatigue"—juggling multiple solutions for reviews, rewards, referrals, and more until their stack is bloated and fragile.

Short answer: To put reviews on your Shopify store, choose a reviews solution (built-in or third-party), install and connect it to your store, add the review widget to your product pages and other key locations, and set up automated review collection so feedback arrives without manual effort. Then optimize display, moderation, and incentives so reviews drive conversions and retention.

In this post we’ll walk through everything a merchant needs to know to add, collect, display, and leverage reviews on Shopify. You’ll get practical, step-by-step guidance for the Shopify Product Reviews option, for reviews built into a larger retention suite like Growave, and for importing or embedding reviews from other sources. We’ll cover technical setup, best practices for collection and display, legal and moderation considerations, SEO tips for rich snippets, and how to measure the impact.

Our main message: reviews work best when they’re part of a retention-led growth strategy. By centralizing reviews, loyalty, referrals, and UGC in one platform, you get more growth with less stack and keep the customer experience consistent across touchpoints. If you want to try a retention suite that includes reviews and integrates rewards and referrals, you can install Growave on Shopify to begin testing in minutes.

Why Customer Reviews Matter for Shopify Stores

Customer reviews do much more than decorate a product page with stars. They are a conversion multiplier and a long-term asset when used right.

• They build trust: Reviews offer unbiased social proof from real buyers, and that trust shortens the path from consideration to purchase.
• They increase conversions: Shoppers who see detailed reviews are more confident and more likely to complete checkout.
• They add fresh, keyword-rich content: Reviews expand the unique content on product pages, improving relevance for search engines.
• They reduce returns and disputes: Clear review feedback manages expectations and helps you identify product issues early.
• They fuel UGC marketing: Photos and videos from customers give you content to reuse in ads, emails, and social channels.
• They inform product improvements: Honest feedback is a direct pipeline to better products, packaging, and descriptions.

When reviews are collected and displayed thoughtfully, they increase lifetime value (LTV) because buyers who trust your brand come back. That’s why a retention-first approach that ties reviews to loyalty and referral programs is such a powerful combination.

Overview: Options to Add Reviews on Shopify

There are several ways to add reviews to a Shopify store. Each approach has trade-offs in setup time, customization, automated collection, and long-term maintenance.

• Shopify’s built-in Product Reviews solution: free and simple, good for stores that need a no-frills reviews widget. Customization and automation are limited.
• Third-party review solutions: more advanced features like automated review requests, photo/video reviews, moderation tools, and rich display templates. These usually fit stores that need higher volume or richer UGC.
• Reviews inside a unified retention platform: this combines reviews with loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and social UGC. It reduces platform sprawl and allows incentives to be tied directly to review behaviors.
• Manual embedding or importing reviews (Google, CSV, other channels): useful for migrating legacy reviews or displaying third-party reviews, but requires more maintenance.
• Page builders and custom Liquid blocks: let you place review elements anywhere across your theme or content pages for maximum flexibility.

We’ll go deep into how each option works and where Growave’s Reviews & UGC solution fits in as part of a merchant-first retention suite. Growave is trusted by 15,000+ brands and carries a 4.8-star rating on Shopify, and our philosophy is simple: More Growth, Less Stack.

Foundations: What You Need Before Adding Reviews

Before you add any review widget, take time to prepare. A little planning makes deployment smoother and helps you get better long-term results.

• Clarify goals: Are you focused on conversion lift, collecting photo/video UGC, improving product descriptions, or all of the above? Your priorities determine the solution you choose.
• Audit your theme: Know whether your theme supports sections, custom Liquid blocks, or a page builder. This affects where and how you add reviews.
• Gather historical reviews: If you have reviews from another platform, prepare them for import (CSV or migration tool).
• Create moderation rules: Decide whether reviews auto-publish, or whether you want a review queue to moderate content before it’s live.
• Plan review collection cadence: Determine when and how often you’ll ask buyers for reviews, and whether you’ll incentivize those requests.
• Prepare assets: A simple review form with optional photo and video upload fields increases trust and conversion.

With that groundwork in place, you can pick the workflow that fits your store.

How to Put Reviews on Shopify Store: Practical Setups

Below we walk through different implementation paths with clear instructions and considerations. We avoid numbered lists but explain each sequence step-by-step in plain language.

Using Shopify’s Product Reviews Solution

Shopify’s free Product Reviews solution is the quickest path for merchants who want a basic reviews widget without extra cost or complexity.

Installing the Product Reviews solution

Begin in your Shopify admin. From the Apps section, click the button to customize your store and navigate to the Shopify App Store. Search for the Product Reviews solution and follow the standard installation flow. After installation you’ll return to your admin and can open the reviews dashboard.

Placing the reviews widget on your product page

Open Online Store > Themes > Customize on the theme you’re using. In the theme editor, choose the Product page template from the top dropdown. Use the Add section or Add block option, then scroll down to the Apps section and select the Reviews or Star rating elements. You can drag these blocks inside the product information area to position stars near the title or add the full review list below the description.

Customizing the display and settings

The theme editor provides limited styling options for star colors and alignment, but more layout and text adjustments happen inside the reviews dashboard in your Apps section. There you can enable or disable auto-publishing, change the review form copy, and choose a few display layouts.

When the free solution is enough

Product Reviews is suitable for small catalogs and merchants who just need basic trust elements. If you need automated review requests, photo and video uploads, advanced moderation, or rich UGC features, consider a more advanced solution or a retention suite.

Installing a Third-Party Reviews Solution

Many stores move to a third-party solution when they need automation and richer UGC. These solutions normally provide automated review request emails, photo/video uploads, review widgets with advanced layouts, and stronger moderation tools.

Connecting a third-party reviews solution to Shopify

Select the reviews vendor and follow its onboarding flow. Most modern reviews platforms offer a direct integration with Shopify that connects via OAuth or API. Once connected, the solution imports product SKUs and lets you map review widgets to product pages.

Adding the widget to your theme

Most solutions offer a snippet you insert into your product template or provide a theme integration panel that places the widget automatically. If your theme supports sections or a page builder, the vendor’s widget will appear in the editor so you can drag and drop it where you want.

Automating review requests

A key benefit of third-party solutions is automation. You can set a post-purchase timeline to send review request emails or SMS messages, often with incentives like discount codes or loyalty points. These tools track delivery, open rates, and submission rates so you can optimize timing and messaging.

Why some merchants move to a third-party solution

Stores that sell complex products, want more UGC, or need to scale internationally benefit from the richer features. Keep in mind these solutions add cost—and often another vendor to manage—so weigh the incremental benefit against the operational overhead.

Adding Reviews Through a Unified Retention Suite (Growave)

A single platform that bundles reviews with loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and shoppable UGC simplifies operations and increases cross-channel synergy. When reviews are part of a retention suite, you can reward review submissions with loyalty points, incentivize referrals from reviewers, and surface user photos in shoppable galleries.

Connecting Growave’s Reviews & UGC

Growave’s Reviews & UGC module is built to work inside our unified retention suite. To add reviews using Growave, install the platform on your store and activate the Reviews & UGC feature. You can install Growave on Shopify quickly to start a free trial.

Customizing review collection and display

Within our Reviews & UGC module you can set automated flows for review requests, collect photo and video uploads, moderate reviews in a single dashboard, and choose from modern widget layouts. Since Growave also handles loyalty and referrals, you can automatically grant loyalty points for a verified review, increasing submission rates while keeping everything in one place.

Benefits of a unified approach

Using a single retention suite removes the need for multiple integrations and reduces performance issues from loading several external widgets. That’s the core of our More Growth, Less Stack philosophy: you get better value for money by replacing five to seven separate tools with one integrated solution.

If you want to see how the Reviews & UGC feature works inside a full retention suite, book a demo to walk through live examples.

(Book a demo to see how Growave’s reviews and loyalty work together.)

Importing Existing Reviews

If you have reviews stored elsewhere, migrating them preserves trust and continuity.

Preparing reviews for import

Export your historical reviews from the old platform in CSV format or use a migration tool if one is available. Make sure each record has these fields where possible: product SKU, reviewer name, date, rating, review text, and a link to any media. Clean the data so fields are consistent.

Importing into your new reviews solution

Most review solutions accept CSV imports. Use the import tool inside the new platform, map the CSV columns to the platform fields, and run a test import with a small batch to verify formatting and field mapping. After a successful test, import the full set.

Handling verification and timestamps

When importing, mark reviews clearly as historic or verified if the source allows verification. Avoid implying that imported reviews were collected by the new platform after install—transparency builds trust.

Embedding Google or External Reviews

Some merchants want to surface Google Business or third-party review content on their Shopify site.

Embedding versus scraping

Do not scrape content; always use authorized APIs or embed codes provided by review aggregators. Embedding ensures you follow terms of service and maintains links to source validation.

Using Custom Liquid or an embed block

If your theme allows custom Liquid blocks, paste the secure embed code provided by the external review tool in a Custom HTML or Custom Liquid block. Check load performance and lazy-loading options to keep page speed healthy.

Moderation and verification

External reviews must be clearly labeled and linked back to the original source. Be careful with negative reviews: display them transparently but have a plan to respond and resolve issues.

Collecting Reviews: Tactics That Work

Acquiring reviews is the hard part—displaying them is easy. Here are proven strategies to collect more high-quality reviews.

• Automate post-purchase requests: Schedule review requests after the likely delivery window when the customer has had time to use the product.
• Make review submission frictionless: Use a short, mobile-friendly form and allow photo/video uploads.
• Use incentives thoughtfully: Offer loyalty points or discount codes for honest reviews but disclose incentives clearly when required. Incentivized reviews must follow platform rules and local regulations.
• Include review prompts in multiple channels: Email, SMS, and in-account notifications increase reach. Don’t spam—sequence outreach intelligently.
• Ask for specific feedback: Prompts like “How did this fit?” or “What was most useful?” encourage detail rather than “Great product” type replies.
• Use segmentation: Prioritize review requests to customers who have a high post-purchase NPS or who are repeat buyers.
• Enable one-click ratings for mobile: Allow customers to tap stars inside an email or on a product page and follow up for a short comment.
• Reward photo/video reviews: Visual content converts better. Tie incentives to verified photo submissions to increase UGC volume.

Tie review collection to your loyalty program. For example, automatically award points when a verified review with a photo is published. That cross-feature synergy is much easier when reviews live inside a retention suite.

Displaying Reviews for Maximum Impact

Where and how you display reviews influences whether shoppers notice and trust them.

Key placements that drive conversions

• Product page: Place star ratings near the product title and show selected reviews or media up front.
• Collection pages: Display average rating and review count on collection tiles so shoppers can scan quality at a glance.
• Homepage and category landing pages: Feature marquee customer quotes and photo galleries to build immediate trust.
• Cart or checkout summary: Include a small trust badge or star summary near the cart to reassure at the last step (observe checkout limitations on Shopify).
• Post-purchase and thank-you pages: Showcase related reviews to encourage cross-sells or account creation.

Design and microcopy best practices

• Show rating and review count together: The combination is more persuasive than stars alone.
• Lead with photos and short highlights: Many shoppers skim—visual UGC or short highlighted quotes grab attention.
• Use reviewer context: Display verified-buyer badges, location, or relevant product details so reviews feel credible and relatable.
• Keep the review form short and clear: Ask for a star rating, a short comment, and an optional image upload.
• Pull review snippets into ads and emails: Short, specific quotes can lift ad performance when used with reviewer consent.

Moderation workflow

Establish a simple moderation workflow that flags spam or offensive content and highlights stellar reviews for promotional use. Decide whether all reviews auto-publish or whether you approve manually. Both approaches have trade-offs: auto-publish moves faster but requires stronger spam filtering.

Schema and rich snippets

Implement structured data (JSON-LD) for aggregateRating and review to increase the chance of rich snippets in search results. Many reviews solutions automatically output the schema, but verify that your product pages have the correct reviewCount and ratingValue values and that they align with visible content.

Avoid creating duplicate or misleading schema and ensure your schema reflects visible content to prevent search engine penalties.

SEO Benefits and Technical Considerations

Reviews are a content asset for SEO, but technical details matter.

How reviews help SEO

• Fresh content: New reviews refresh page content and give search engines signals of relevancy.
• Long-tail keywords: Customers often use natural language that includes long-tail queries, improving relevance for niche searches.
• Dwell time: Useful reviews increase time on page and may indirectly boost rankings.

Technical items to check

• Ensure review content is crawlable and not hidden behind JS that blocks indexing.
• Verify structured data is present and valid using tools like Google’s Rich Results Test.
• Avoid duplicate content across product variants; canonical tags should point to the main product page when necessary.
• Monitor page speed: Rich review widgets can add weight; use lazy loading, defer scripts, or use server-side rendering options from your review provider.

Legal, Ethical, and Trust Considerations

Maintaining trust requires ethical rules and compliance.

• Never fabricate reviews: Fake reviews destroy trust and risk penalties from platforms and regulators.
• Disclose incentives: If you reward reviews, disclose it clearly in line with local regulations and platform rules.
• Respect privacy: When showing reviewer details or images, ensure you have consent and follow privacy laws.
• Moderate transparently: Respond publicly to negative reviews when appropriate. A thoughtful response can restore trust and demonstrate customer service.

Measuring the Impact of Reviews

Track metrics that tie reviews to revenue and retention.

Primary metrics to monitor

• Review volume and growth rate
• Average star rating and rating distribution
• Conversion rate lift on product pages with reviews versus without
• Click-through rate from ads and emails that use reviews
• UGC submission rate (photos and videos)
• Redemption of incentives tied to reviews (if applicable)
• Changes in return rate or customer complaints

Set up experiments and A/B tests

Try A/B testing different placements, review highlights, or star visibility to see what moves conversion. Track results in Shopify analytics and your web analytics tool to attribute lift.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Here are problems merchants commonly face and how to resolve them.

Slow widget load times

• Choose a solution that prioritizes performance or uses asynchronous loading.
• Lazy load review assets, and avoid loading third-party scripts on initial paint.

Theme update breaks widget placement

• Use a theme section or widget that survives theme updates, or be prepared to re-insert the snippet after major theme changes.
• Keep a copy of custom Liquid snippets in a safe place for quick restoration.

Missing structured data

• Verify whether your reviews provider outputs JSON-LD. If not, add a validated schema snippet that reads from current review data.

Fake or spam reviews

• Enable CAPTCHA on submission forms, require verified purchase badges, and set up moderation rules or automated spam detection.

Low review submission rate

• Shorten the form, send the request at a better time, add photo upload, and offer a small loyalty reward for verified reviews.

Advanced Techniques to Maximize Review Value

Once you have steady review flow, elevate how you use reviews to spur growth.

Leverage review content across channels

• Pull 5–10 great reviews into hero sections, product carousels, email campaigns, and paid ads (with permission).
• Create UGC galleries for social proof on landing pages and category pages.

Syndicate reviews for SEO and reach

• With user consent and platform allowances, use snippets of reviews in ads and social posts to broaden reach.

Use reviews to reduce returns

• Surface common issues found in reviews near the product description and in FAQs so buyers know how to use the item properly.

Multilingual reviews

• If you sell internationally, allow reviews in multiple languages and display the reviewer language with translation options.

Segmented review outreach

• Ask verified high-LTV customers for more extensive reviews (video or long-form) and reward them with special perks.

How Reviews Fit Into a Retention-Led Growth Stack

Adding reviews becomes more productive when it’s connected to loyalty, referrals, and UGC. That’s the advantage of a unified retention suite.

Synergies to unlock

• Rewarding reviews with loyalty points drives more submissions and deepens brand affinity.
• Featuring reviewer content in referral campaigns increases authenticity and conversions.
• Using customer photos in product pages and shoppable galleries reduces friction—shoppers see product in real life, then click through to buy.

This unified approach replaces several standalone solutions and reduces the number of integrations you need to manage. If you want to compare plans and see how a combined approach might reduce your tool count and cost, you can compare plans and pricing for our retention suite.

For merchants on Shopify Plus or those with complex needs, our team provides specialized onboarding and integrations. Learn how our enterprise customers scale reviews and loyalty by reviewing our Shopify Plus resources and how we integrate deeper workflows for high-volume brands.

Growave Spotlight: Reviews & UGC + Loyalty in One Place

Growave’s Reviews & UGC feature is designed to collect authentic feedback and surface it where it matters. Because Growave is a merchant-first retention suite, reviews are not an isolated function—they’re connected to loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and shoppable UGC.

What the Reviews & UGC module offers

• Automated review requests timed to delivery windows
• Photo and video submission support to increase trust and conversion
• Moderation dashboard for easy approval and highlight curation
• Widgets that can be placed across product, collection, and landing pages
• JSON-LD output for rich snippets so reviews can show star ratings in search

How rewards tie in

When a reviewer uploads a verified photo or video, Growave can auto-award loyalty points according to rules you set. That drives higher-quality submissions without adding manual work.

Deployment paths

You can add Growave through the Shopify marketplace and activate the Reviews & UGC module inside our dashboard. If you want personalized help evaluating retail workflows and ROI, you can book a demo to see a tailored walkthrough.

Growave is trusted by 15,000+ brands and holds a strong rating on Shopify, helping merchants scale without adding unnecessary tools. If you’d like to test how reviews fit into a unified retention strategy, you can install Growave on Shopify and explore the options for your store.

Checklist Before You Launch Reviews On Your Store

Before going live, confirm these items to reduce friction and make the launch successful:

• Review goals are documented (conversion lift, UGC count, product feedback).
• Theme placement is finalized for product pages and collection tiles.
• Review forms include fields for rating, text, and optional media.
• Automation is configured for review requests and follow-ups.
• Moderation rules are in place and assigned to team members.
• Schema output for aggregateRating and review is validated.
• Incentives are set up in loyalty if you plan to reward reviews.
• Export and import tasks are validated for historical reviews migration.
• Performance tests confirm the widget doesn’t slow page loads.

Conclusion

Putting reviews on your Shopify store is both a technical and strategic project. The technical steps—installing a solution, embedding the widget, and validating schema—are straightforward. The strategic work—crafting review collection flows, incentivizing quality UGC, moderating effectively, and linking reviews to loyalty and referrals—delivers the real upside: higher conversion rates, better SEO, more useful product feedback, and stronger customer retention.

If you want to run reviews inside a complete retention suite that also handles loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and shoppable UGC, explore how a unified solution reduces tool sprawl and increases ROI. Compare plans and pricing to see which one fits your store and start your free trial today.

Start your 14-day free trial of Growave and see how centralizing reviews, rewards, and referrals can simplify your stack and accelerate retention-driven growth.

FAQ

How do I get started quickly with reviews if I’m a small store?

Begin with Shopify’s built-in Product Reviews to get visible star ratings fast. Then, once you have consistent order volume, switch to a solution that automates review requests and supports photo uploads to increase conversion rates.

Can I import reviews from another platform?

Yes. Export existing reviews to CSV and import them into your new reviews solution. Use a test import first to confirm column mapping and formatting. Mark imported reviews appropriately so your customers know they’re historical.

Are incentivized reviews allowed?

Incentives can be effective but must be handled transparently. Rewarding honest feedback is acceptable if you disclose the incentive and follow platform rules and local regulations. Consider awarding loyalty points for verified, honest reviews rather than paying for positive reviews.

How do reviews affect SEO and rich snippets?

Reviews add fresh, user-generated content that helps search relevance. To appear in rich snippets, your product pages must include valid structured data for ratingValue and reviewCount. Many review platforms output schema automatically, but always test with a rich results tool to ensure correctness.