Shopify Product Reviews: Choosing an App and Collecting Them Honestly

To add product reviews to a Shopify store, you install a Shopify reviews app from the Shopify App Store, add its review widget to your product pages, and turn on automated review requests that go out after the order is delivered. Shopify’s own original Product Reviews app has been retired, so a third-party app is now the usual route. Whichever app you choose, collect reviews from every buyer, publish negative reviews as well as positive ones, and never pay or reward customers for positive feedback, because the FTC’s rules on consumer reviews apply to your store just as they do to big marketplaces.

This guide is for Shopify merchants: what to look for in an app, how to set it up, how to collect genuine reviews, and how to moderate and reply without breaking the rules.

Why product reviews matter on your own store

On a marketplace, reviews come with the platform. On your own Shopify store, you have to build them. Shoppers who land on a product page from an ad or search result often know nothing about you, and reviews from real buyers are one of the few ways to answer their questions: does it fit true to size, does the color match the photos, how long did shipping take, does it hold up after a month?

Reviews also help you. Patterns in feedback tell you which product descriptions are misleading, which sizes run small and which suppliers are letting you down. Treat reviews as product and operations data, not only as marketing.

Choosing a Shopify reviews app

There are many reviews apps in the Shopify App Store, with different features and pricing models. We don’t rank them, and the right one depends on your store. Instead, compare apps against the features that matter for your products and your volume.

Feature	Why it matters	What to check
Automated review requests	Most reviews come from a timely, polite request	Can you time emails or texts from delivery, not order date?
Photo and video reviews	Shoppers trust real customer photos	Upload limits, moderation of images
Verified buyer labels	Shows the review came from a real order	How the app confirms a purchase
Moderation controls	Lets you remove spam and abuse	Can you auto-publish all genuine reviews, whatever the rating?
Public replies	Lets you answer criticism on the page	Whether replies show under the review
Structured data	Can help ratings appear in search results	Whether it outputs review markup correctly for your theme
Import and export	Protects your reviews if you switch apps	Formats supported, ownership of your data
Site speed	Heavy widgets can slow product pages	Test page speed before and after install

Read the app’s listing, privacy policy and terms before installing, and check what happens to your reviews if you stop paying or uninstall. Our guide on choosing review management software has a broader checklist.

Setting up product reviews on Shopify

1. Install the app from the Shopify App Store and grant only the permissions it needs.
2. Add the review widget to your product page template, usually through the theme editor using an app block. Add a star rating near the product title if the app supports it.
3. Set moderation to publish genuine reviews automatically. Use filters for spam, profanity and personal information, not for star ratings.
4. Configure review request timing so the first request arrives a few days after delivery, when the customer has had time to use the product. Allow for longer shipping times on international orders.
5. Write the request message in your brand’s voice. Ask for an honest review, and keep it short.
6. Check structured data. If the app adds review markup, test a product page with Google’s Rich Results Test. Our guide on review schema explains what Google expects.
7. Test the whole flow with a real order of your own before you switch it on for customers, then delete the test review.

Collecting genuine reviews

A timely, polite request after delivery does most of the work. Here is an example of a simple review request email:

Hi Sam, your order arrived a few days ago and we hope it’s working out. Would you share an honest review of the ceramic pour-over set? Other customers find it really helpful, and we read every review to improve our products. It takes about a minute: [link]. Thank you, the team at Kiln and Leaf.

Send one reminder a few days later if they haven’t responded, then stop. More templates and timing advice are in our guide to review request emails.

Incentives: what’s allowed

The FTC’s 2024 rule on consumer reviews and testimonials bans offering anything in exchange for a review that is conditioned, explicitly or implicitly, on the review being positive. Some stores offer a small discount for any review, positive or negative. If you do, make the offer unconditional, disclose it on the review display where needed, and check your reviews app’s rules and any other platform where the reviews appear, since some, including Google’s product rating programs, restrict incentivized reviews. The simplest and safest approach is to ask for an honest review and offer nothing in return. Our guide to the FTC fake review rule explains the details.

What not to do

• Write reviews yourself or have staff, friends or family post them. The FTC rule bans fake reviews and undisclosed reviews by insiders.
• Buy reviews from any service, even ones that claim they are “real people”.
• Send review requests only to happy customers, for example only people who rated a survey highly. That’s review gating.
• Copy reviews from another product. Moving reviews for one product onto a different product misleads shoppers, and the FTC has treated that kind of review hijacking as deceptive. Only import reviews for the same product.
• Import reviews from a supplier’s or another seller’s listing as if they were your own customers’.

Moderating reviews without suppressing them

Your reviews app will let you hide or delete reviews. That power comes with a legal limit. The FTC’s rule prohibits review suppression: a business can’t hide or refuse to publish reviews because they’re negative. It can remove reviews for legitimate, content-based reasons applied the same way to every review, such as spam, profanity, personal information, content unrelated to the product, or reviews it reasonably believes are fake.

A practical approach is to write a short moderation policy and follow it:

• Publish every genuine review, whatever the star rating.
• Remove spam, abuse, hate speech, personal data and off-topic content.
• Hold reviews that mention a safety issue for internal follow-up, but don’t hide them for that reason.
• Keep a note of why each removed review was removed.

Also avoid sorting tricks that bury negative reviews where no shopper will find them. Let customers sort and filter by rating if the app supports it.

Replying to product reviews

Most reviews apps let you post a public reply under a review. You don’t need to answer every five-star review, but reply to critical ones, especially when there’s something useful to say to future buyers.

Here is an example reply to a review saying a jacket ran small:

Thanks for letting us know, Priya, and sorry the medium was too snug. Several customers have told us this style runs small, so we’ve added a note to the size guide recommending one size up. We’ve emailed you about an exchange.

Keep replies factual and brief, don’t share order details publicly, and never offer a refund or replacement on condition that the customer changes or removes the review. Our guide on how to respond to negative reviews covers tone in more depth.

A worked example: a small homeware store

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client. A Shopify homeware store has been live for a year with only a handful of reviews, collected by hand. The founder notices that shoppers often abandon product pages for a popular set of glasses.

1. She compares three reviews apps against her needs: delivery-based request timing, photo reviews, auto-publishing and clean review markup. She tests each on a copy of her theme for page speed.
2. She installs the one that fits, imports her existing reviews against the correct products, and sets moderation to publish every genuine review.
3. She sets the first request to go out several days after delivery, with one reminder.
4. Within weeks, reviews start arriving, including two three-star reviews saying the glasses are thinner than they look in photos.
5. She replies to both, updates the product description with the glass thickness and adds a photo showing scale.

The critical reviews stay on the page, and later reviews mention that the description is accurate. The store also has a clearer picture of which products need better photos.

Reviews beyond your store

Your product reviews live on your own site, but shoppers also look you up elsewhere: Google, Trustpilot, social media and marketplaces if you sell there. Store-level reviews about delivery and customer service often end up on those third-party sites. Our guide to product review websites covers which ones matter. Our walkthrough on displaying reviews on your website covers how to show third-party reviews honestly, and our ecommerce reputation management page covers the wider picture for online stores.

Frequently asked questions

Does Shopify have built-in product reviews?

Shopify’s own original Product Reviews app has been retired, so most stores now add product reviews through a third-party app from the Shopify App Store. Check the App Store for current options and compare them on the features your store needs.

Can I delete negative reviews on my Shopify store?

You can technically delete any review in your app, but the FTC’s 2024 rule prohibits suppressing reviews because they’re negative. You can remove reviews for consistent, content-based reasons such as spam, abuse, personal information or suspected fakes. Genuine negative reviews should stay published.

Can I import reviews from Amazon or another platform?

Only if you have the right to use them and they’re about the same product. Check the other platform’s terms first, since many restrict copying reviews. Importing reviews of a different product, or a supplier’s listing, onto your product page misleads shoppers and can be treated as deceptive.

Will product reviews show stars in Google search?

They can, if your reviews app outputs valid review markup and Google chooses to show it. Google decides whether to show star ratings in search results, and the markup has to follow its structured data guidelines, including marking up only reviews that are visible on the page. Test your product pages with Google’s Rich Results Test.