What Percentage of Customers Write Reviews on a Website

Introduction

Online reviews shape purchasing decisions more than almost any other marketing signal. Most shoppers read reviews before they buy, but a much smaller share actually writes them. That gap creates both a challenge and an opportunity for merchants who want to turn reviews into a retention and growth engine.

Short answer: On average, roughly 10% of customers leave a public review after a purchase, though the figure varies widely by industry, product type, and how proactive the merchant is about soliciting feedback. With the right timing, incentives, and friction-free experience, merchants can push that percentage significantly higher—often into the 20–40% range for engaged segments.

In this post we’ll explain what drives the baseline review rate, walk through realistic industry benchmarks, and share a practical playbook for increasing your review submission rate. We’ll translate research and buyer psychology into concrete tactics you can implement on your store, and show how a unified retention solution helps you get more authentic reviews without bloating your tech stack. Our main message: reviews are a retention lever, not just a discovery signal—when you collect and surface them strategically, they increase trust, conversion, average order value, and lifetime value.

Why the Question Matters: Reviews as a Growth Lever

Reviews influence every step of the customer lifecycle

Customer reviews do more than influence first-time purchases. They impact:

• Discovery and SEO visibility, because fresh, keyword-rich reviews create crawlable content for search engines.
• Conversion on product pages, where social proof reduces friction and increases buyer confidence.
• Post-purchase experience, where inviting feedback and responding to reviews builds loyalty and reduces churn.
• Repeat purchases, because customers who feel heard and rewarded for participation are likelier to return.

Investing in review collection and display is not marketing theater—it's a retention investment that compounds over time.

The business cost of not having enough reviews

A low volume of reviews or stale reviews undermines trust. Many shoppers expect a mix of positive and negative feedback; too-few reviews or only perfect scores can look inauthentic. That skepticism reduces conversion and increases customer acquisition cost because you must rely more on paid channels to overcome trust gaps.

What Percentage of Customers Actually Write Reviews?

Global averages and the commonly cited baseline

A commonly cited baseline is that about 10% of customers will leave a review without a targeted strategy. That number represents a raw, passive submission rate across industries and channels. It’s a useful starting point, but merchants should treat it as a low bar rather than an expectation.

What changes the baseline

Multiple factors push that percentage up or down:

• Industry and product type: categories like services and consulting tend to see higher review rates than low-consideration consumer goods.
• Purchase complexity and price point: higher-priced, higher-risk purchases often lead to more reviews because customers want to share experiences that confirm their decision.
• Demographics: younger customers (under 35) are generally more likely to post reviews, while older cohorts read reviews more than they write them.
• Effort required: the simpler the review flow (one-click ratings, mobile-optimized forms), the higher the conversion from buyer to reviewer.
• Incentives and timing: gentle incentives, thoughtful follow-up timing, and showing how feedback is used all raise response rates.

Typical ranges by context

Expect these ranges when you start from zero and then optimize:

• Baseline, no outreach: around 5–12% global average.
• Post-purchase email reminder with a simple form: 12–25% depending on timing and list hygiene.
• Optimized flow with incentive, mobile-first form, and follow-up reminders: 20–40% for engaged buyers; loyalty members and repeat customers can exceed this.
• Loyalty-for-review programs (where reviews earn points in an opt-in loyalty scheme): 30–50% among program participants.

These ranges are directional and depend heavily on execution. The point is not to chase a single number but to design flows and incentives that move your brand from passive to proactive.

Industry Benchmarks and What Drives Variation

Broad industry patterns

Benchmarks vary. Some typical patterns we see in merchant data and industry studies:

• Services and high-touch industries: highest review rates, often 20–35% or more because customers value sharing experiences and businesses proactively request feedback.
• Food & drink, jewelry, home & garden: mid-range, roughly 15–20% with outreach.
• Fashion and accessories: often lower when purchases are low-cost or impulsive, around 10–15% baseline, but can be increased with visual UGC asks.
• Electronics and appliances: can be higher for high-ticket items when merchants ask for detailed product reviews.
• Health & beauty: moderate, 10–20%, but increases with photo and video review requests.

Why some categories naturally get more reviews

• Emotional investment: purchases tied to memorable experiences or personal transformation create stronger motivation to review.
• Social proof value: for items where peer validation matters (fashion, skincare), customers are willing to share opinions.
• Perceived usefulness: customers review products they think will help others decide, and that perceived utility varies by category.

Metrics to track by industry

For benchmarking, track the following over time for your store:

• Review submission rate (reviews / delivered orders).
• Review response rate (merchant replies to reviews).
• Conversion lift on pages with reviews vs without.
• Average rating distribution and recency (how many reviews in last 90 days).

Who Writes Reviews — The Psychology and Demographics

Motivations to write a review

Customers write reviews for several reasons:

• To help others make decisions (altruism).
• To express satisfaction or disappointment (emotional venting or praise).
• To get recognition or rewards (incentives or loyalty points).
• To influence product changes (feedback to brands).
• To show off (social currency, especially with visual UGC).

Understanding which motivations dominate your customer base helps you craft the right request. For example, craft messaging that emphasizes helping other shoppers for altruistic audiences, or reward points for communities that value recognition.

Demographic trends

• Younger customers (18–34) write reviews more frequently and are more comfortable sharing photos and videos.
• Older customers read reviews more often but are less likely to leave them without prompts and simplified flows.
• Mobile users are more likely to leave quick, short reviews; desktop users provide more detailed written feedback.

What prevents customers from writing reviews

Common barriers include:

• Time and friction: long forms, required logins, or non-mobile-friendly flows.
• Uncertainty about what to write: customers need a simple prompt and structure.
• Lack of perceived benefit: customers need a reason—social impact, reward, or recognition.
• Privacy concerns: anonymity options and clear data use statements reduce friction.
• No request: most satisfied customers will not write unless asked.

Designing your process to remove these barriers is the core of increasing your review rate.

How to Measure Your Review Submission Rate

Key definitions

• Orders delivered: the count of completed orders eligible for review.
• Reviews collected: unique review submissions on your chosen platform(s).
• Review submission rate: reviews collected divided by orders delivered in the period, expressed as a percentage.

Measurement cadence and segmentation

Measure weekly and monthly. Segment by:

• Acquisition source (organic, paid, referral).
• Product category.
• Customer lifecycle stage (first-time vs repeat).
• Channel (email, SMS, in-app, on-site).

These segments reveal where to prioritize outreach and where incentives or UX changes move the needle.

What a realistic improvement trajectory looks like

If starting from ~10% baseline, expect:

• Quick wins (first 30–90 days): increasing to 12–18% with simple email timing and a streamlined form.
• Growth phase (3–9 months): 18–30% by adding incentives, loyalty integration, and social proof displays.
• Maturity (ongoing): 30%+ for engaged cohorts when reviews are embedded in loyalty and community programs.

Practical Playbook to Increase Review Submission Rate

Below are tactical, actionable strategies with examples and implementation notes. We structure these as modular tactics you can combine.

Optimize the review experience

• Make the form mobile-first and reduce steps to a single screen where possible.
• Offer multiple input formats: star-only, short text prompt, photo/video upload.
• Provide short prompts to help customers write, such as "What did you like most?" and "Who would this product be perfect for?"
• Allow anonymous or display-name options to ease privacy concerns.
• Show examples of great reviews to guide length and style.

Implementation tip: prioritize reducing clicks and avoiding additional logins. The easier it is, the higher the conversion from buyer to reviewer.

Time the ask for maximum responsiveness

• Trigger the first request after the customer has had time to experience the product—timing depends on category. For consumables, a few days; for furniture or high-consideration items, two to four weeks.
• Send a reminder if no action is taken after the first request; a friendly reminder can lift response rates substantially.
• Use lifecycle signals to adjust timing for repeat customers or VIPs.

Example messaging flow (non-numbered description): a short, appreciative post-purchase message that asks for feedback, followed by a reminder that offers a quick one-click rating option, and a final message that invites customers to share a photo for bonus loyalty points.

Use incentives thoughtfully

• Offer small, relevant incentives that don’t buy fake positivity—points in a loyalty program, entry into a monthly draw, or a discount on a future purchase.
• Make incentives opt-in and transparent: state that honest feedback is valued and that rewards are given for submitting a review, not for a particular rating.
• Integrate incentives with loyalty so reviewers can earn points and progress towards rewards, which ties review collection to retention.

Growave feature connection: you can tie reviews to a loyalty program so that customers automatically earn points when they share feedback, increasing both review rate and lifetime value; learn how to create loyalty-driven review incentives on the page that explains how to create a loyalty program.

Reduce friction with multi-channel prompts

• Use a mix of channels: email, SMS, in-app messaging, and on-site widgets.
• Match channel to audience: SMS often gets higher conversion for short asks, email is great for longer-form review requests with images or surveys.
• Keep messaging consistent and brief, always including a direct link to the review form.

Practical note: avoid over-soliciting customers across channels; use engagement data to find the optimal channel for each customer.

Encourage visual and social reviews

• Request photos and short videos; visuals improve trust and conversions.
• Make photo reviews quick to submit by allowing direct uploads from mobile devices.
• Display customer images prominently on product pages and marketing channels.

Growave feature connection: collecting social reviews and UGC is easier when you use a solution that collects, moderates, and displays visual content in one place—see how to collect social reviews and UGC for your store.

Personalize ask copy and make it emotional

• Use personalization tokens (product name, customer name, order details) in the message.
• Focus the ask on helping other customers and improving the product experience rather than pure praise solicitation.
• For repeat buyers or high-value customers, create exclusive asks that invite them to become a product tester or brand advocate.

Example lines: "How has [product name] fit into your daily routine?" or "Your honest thoughts help others decide—would you share a quick review?"

Leverage loyalty and community

• Make reviewers part of an exclusive community by offering early access, VIP discounts, or a "reviewer" badge on their account.
• Feature top reviewers in email newsletters or social posts to create recognition incentives.

Growave feature connection: combining loyalty and review collection turns review activity into a repeat touchpoint that increases retention; explore how pairing loyalty and review collection creates a virtuous cycle.

Show that reviews matter (and respond)

• Reply to reviews publicly when appropriate—thank positive reviewers, offer solutions for negative feedback.
• Show how customer feedback led to specific product improvements.
• Keep review content fresh; consumers distrust stale review profiles.

Operational tip: set a cadence for responding to reviews and route negative feedback to private support channels when it makes sense.

Avoid practices that undermine trust

• Never pay for five-star reviews or require a specific positive rating in exchange for rewards.
• Make policies clear and transparent; consumers value authenticity and a realistic mix of opinions.
• Use moderation to filter spam and inappropriate content, but preserve legitimate negative feedback.

A Tactical Implementation Plan (Week-by-Week)

Below is a non-numbered, descriptive plan to move from baseline to an optimized review program across a quarter.

• Initial audit: review your current review volume, average rating, review recency, and where reviews appear on product pages. Identify the top- and bottom-performing SKUs for review rates.
• Quick fixes: improve mobile form, add a one-click rating option in the first outreach, and ensure product pages display recent reviews prominently.
• Channel tests: run a channel comparison by segmenting customers to receive email vs SMS requests and measure submission rates and sentiment.
• Loyalty integration: create a points-for-review campaign tied to your loyalty program to reward honest feedback and drive future purchases.
• UGC and visuals push: ask for photos in exchange for a small reward; promote these images in product galleries and social channels.
• Scale and refine: implement automated flows for new orders and VIP segments, A/B test subject lines and ask copy, and monitor metrics.

We recommend measuring results weekly and adjusting cadence and incentives based on open and conversion rates.

Subject Line and Messaging Best Practices That Move the Needle

Below are tested subject line concepts and messaging elements shown to increase open and review rates.

• Subject line tactics that work well: address customers by name, include the product name, ask a simple question, and avoid all-caps or spammy punctuation.
• Email body elements to include: thank-you opening, clear call-to-action, one-click rating option when possible, and an image of the purchased product.
• Reminder timing note: a single polite reminder significantly increases submissions; avoid more than two reminders unless customers are highly engaged.

Example message structure (single-paragraph friendly tone): express gratitude, remind of the product, ask for a brief review that helps others, and provide a clear link or button to submit.

Tracking, Attribution, and Success Metrics

Key metrics to track to assess success:

• Review submission rate (primary metric).
• Average rating and rating distribution.
• Conversion rate lift for SKUs with new reviews.
• UGC volume (photos/videos submitted).
• Loyalty participation uplift from reviewers.
• Repeat purchase rate for reviewers vs non-reviewers.

Attribute improvements to specific tactics by running controlled experiments (A/B tests) and tracking cohorts. For example, measure the review rate for customers who received an SMS ask against those who received only email.

A/B Testing Ideas (Non-Sequential Suggestions)

• Test short text-only forms vs forms that prompt for a photo.
• Test timing windows tailored to product type.
• Test points vs discount incentives for review submission.
• Test one-click star rating as primary CTA vs full-form CTA.

Always allow several weeks of data for each test and segment by customer lifetime value to understand where tactics drive both reviews and revenue.

How a Unified Retention Solution Helps — More Growth, Less Stack

Why a unified platform beats a patchwork approach

Many merchants build review workflows using multiple disconnected tools, creating complexity and data silos. We follow a merchant-first philosophy: build stable, merchant-focused solutions that replace multiple tools so you get "More Growth, Less Stack." A unified retention suite reduces friction and lets you:

• Automate review requests across channels from one dashboard.
• Tie review collection to loyalty and reward mechanics without custom integrations.
• Moderate, display, and syndicate visual reviews across your site and marketing channels.
• Measure the ROI of review activities as part of an integrated retention strategy.

When you consolidate review collection, loyalty, referrals, and UGC under a single retention platform, workflows become simpler and outcomes compound: reviews drive conversion, loyalty drives reviews, referrals drive acquisition—together they increase lifetime value more than any single tactic.

Specific ways the retention suite supports reviews

• Automated post-purchase workflows: schedule review asks aligned to product usage timing.
• Loyalty hooks: automatically credit points for review submissions to reinforce repeat behavior.
• Review widgets: display fresh reviews and customer photos on product pages without multiple installs.
• Moderation tools: manage authenticity and quality while preserving negative feedback that builds trust.
• Reporting: unified dashboards that show review impact on conversion and retention.

For merchants ready to take action, viewing plan options can help you compare features and pick the right fit for your growth stage; see how our pricing and plans align with retention strategies.

Compliance, Transparency, and Authenticity

Ethical practices for trustworthy review programs

• Clearly disclose incentives for leaving reviews.
• Never require a positive rating in exchange for a reward.
• Maintain a visible moderation policy and respond to negative feedback promptly.
• Preserve original review timestamps and avoid deleting critical reviews without documented reasons.

Trust is fragile. Treat reviews as customer relationships: respond, learn, and improve based on feedback.

Recovering from Negative Reviews

Turn complaints into retention wins

• Respond quickly and personally—people judge how you handle problems as much as the problem itself.
• Offer a private resolution path when necessary while acknowledging the public review.
• Use negative reviews as product insights; report common themes to product and ops teams.
• Follow up after resolution and invite the customer to update their review if their issue was resolved.

A fast, empathetic response can convert unhappy customers into loyal advocates and show prospects that you take quality seriously.

Display Best Practices for Maximum Impact

• Show recent reviews prominently near the top of product pages and on collection pages where relevant.
• Use badges to highlight review counts and average rating, but pair them with excerpts and images.
• Optimize schema markup so product reviews show in search snippets; this increases click-through from organic search.
• Rotate and prioritize recent, visual, and helpful reviews so customers see fresh, relevant content.

Realistic Expectations and Common Pitfalls

• Don’t expect overnight transformation. Increasing review rates is iterative and requires consistent optimization.
• Avoid over-incentivizing; if rewards are too large or opaque, you’ll attract low-quality feedback and risk platform penalties.
• Don’t collect reviews in isolation—pair collection with display and loyalty to multiply impact.

How To Start Today: Quick Checklist

• Audit current review volume and identify top-performing SKUs.
• Simplify the review form and ensure it’s mobile-friendly.
• Add a post-purchase review workflow with one follow-up reminder.
• Integrate review rewards with your loyalty program to convert one-time buyers into repeat customers.
• Display recent visual reviews on high-traffic product pages.
• Track submission rate regularly and run simple A/B tests on timing and incentives.

If you want a streamlined way to run all of these tactics without increasing your tech stack, explore how our retention suite consolidates reviews, loyalty, and UGC into a single system that reduces complexity and increases ROI—see the available plan options to find the fit for your business.

We’re trusted by over 15,000 brands and have a 4.8-star rating on Shopify, which reflects our merchant-first approach and the practical results teams achieve when they consolidate retention into one platform.

Conclusion

Most merchants start with a low baseline—often around 10%—for review submissions, but the percentage of customers who write reviews is highly elastic. With deliberate timing, simplified forms, meaningful incentives, and integration with loyalty, merchants can increase review submission rates dramatically, especially for engaged cohorts.

Reviews are not a vanity metric. They are a retention and conversion lever that multiplies value when embedded into a broader retention strategy. By reducing friction, rewarding participation, and keeping review flows integrated with loyalty and UGC, merchants turn passive buyers into vocal advocates and create compounding returns on customer lifetime value.

Start your 14-day free trial and explore our plans to see how a unified retention suite can increase your review rate and simplify your tech stack. View our pricing plans

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s a realistic review submission rate for a beginner merchant?

A realistic starting point is around 5–12% without active outreach. With optimized timing, simple forms, and light incentives, many merchants increase to 15–30% within a few months.

Are incentives safe to use for reviews?

Yes—if they are transparent and reward submission rather than a positive rating. The safest approach is to integrate incentives into a loyalty program so customers earn points for submitting honest feedback.

Which channel converts best for review requests?

It depends on your audience. Email performs well for detailed reviews and photo submissions; SMS often converts better for quick one-click ratings. Use A/B testing to determine the best channel mix for your customers.

How does integrating reviews with a loyalty program help?

When reviews earn points that contribute to meaningful rewards, customers have an ongoing reason to participate. That not only lifts review rates but also increases repeat purchases and lifetime value as customers redeem rewards.

Additional resources and implementation tools are available if you want help rolling out a review-driven retention program—start by exploring our pricing plans or install the retention suite directly from the Shopify App Store to begin a 14-day free trial. View our pricing plans | Install from the Shopify App Store