How to get more reviews on Shopify

The four things that actually move review volume

To get more reviews on Shopify, automate the request so it fires after delivery (not after payment), time it to the point where the product has been used, keep the form under a minute with a star rating first and photo or video optional, and send exactly one reminder when nobody replies. Everything else is a refinement of those four decisions, and all of them are settings inside a reviews app rather than developer work.

Volume follows the flow, not the effort. Shopify brands running automated, delivery-timed requests through Quoli report review rates that manual asking rarely reaches: Davidovich Bakery sees a review from one in five buyers, and MoltyFoam, selling mattresses, holds a review rate above 3% on a product people buy once a decade.

The rest of this guide covers timing, the wording of the ask, photo and video, automation, follow-ups and the social proof loop that makes the next request easier.

Why request timing decides how many reviews you get

The best time to send a review request on Shopify is the first moment a customer can honestly answer the question. Ask a mattress buyer three days after delivery and you get a review of the packaging. Ask a bakery customer three weeks after delivery and the bread is long gone.

Two rules make this simple. Start the clock at delivery, not at order creation, so slow shipping never turns into a request for a parcel that has not arrived. Then add the time the product needs to prove itself.

Suggested send delay by product category, measured from delivery.

Treat the table as a starting point and read your own data. If reviews mention that it is too early to tell, push the delay out. If they mention a product the customer has already replaced, pull it in.

How to ask customers for product reviews

A review request is a one-decision email. Name the product, show its image, put the stars in the email body so the first tap happens before the page even loads, and stop there. No newsletter links, no cross-sell carousel, no second call to action competing with the first.

Write it the way a person would, keep it under 70 words, and check it on a phone first: most requests are opened on mobile, and a subject line over roughly 40 characters gets cut off.

Two details raise completion rates more than any amount of persuasion. First, the star tap should carry the customer straight into a pre-filled form, with the product and order already attached. Second, every field after the rating should be optional, so a one-star-to-five-star click still counts as a finished review. Quoli's email library collects request layouts you can start from.

How to get more photo and video reviews

Photo and video reviews are a separate ask, not a bonus field. Three things produce them: asking for them specifically, making the upload native on mobile, and showing people what a good submission looks like.

• Send a photo request only to customers whose review has no media, a few days after they submit text. Quoli sends that follow-up automatically, so nobody who already uploaded gets asked twice.
• Put the upload inside the review form, with camera and gallery access on mobile, instead of asking people to email files or tag you on Instagram.
• Display a gallery of existing customer photos on the product page. Shoppers copy the format they see, which is why stores with a visible gallery keep getting more of the same.
• Ask a concrete question. "Show us how it fits" or "show the color in daylight" gets a usable photo more often than "add a photo".
• Reserve the larger reward for video, since it costs the customer the most effort.

The payoff compounds: Jenpharm reaches 55% of reviews with media and Friendly Patch 59%, and on Quoli every published 4 and 5 star review can become a ready-to-run ad through UGC Ads. More on the collection side in our guide to the best Shopify app for photo and video reviews.

Incentives that raise response rates without buying opinions

Incentives for product reviews work on Shopify when they are small, automatic and unconditional. A 10% code on the next order, loyalty points, or an entry into a monthly giveaway are all enough. The reward is for the time spent, never for the sentiment.

Three rules keep an incentive program honest and compliant with FTC guidance on endorsements:

1. Offer the same reward for every honest review, whatever the star rating, and say so in the email.
2. Disclose the incentive on the review itself, so shoppers can see the reviewer received something.
3. Never edit, delay or withhold a review because of its rating. Quoli's Review Authenticity Policy puts both rules in writing: merchants cannot change what a customer wrote, and critical reviews cannot be held back.

Rewards for text, photo and video reviews are available on Quoli's paid plans, which start at $10 a month on pricing, with a free forever plan for the core widgets.

How to get more reviews on Shopify without sending anything manually

Manual asking does not scale past a few hundred orders, and it is the reason most stores stall. Automation on Shopify means one flow, built once:

1. Trigger on fulfillment, or better, on carrier tracking marking the order delivered. Quoli can wait for delivery status, and asks 30 days after the last update for orders that are never marked delivered.
2. Apply the delay for that product category, so a candle and a sofa are not asked on the same schedule.
3. Send one reminder to non-openers, then stop.
4. Send a photo request only where the review has no media.
5. Segment where it pays: high order value, first-time versus repeat buyers, or products you need reviews on before a campaign.

Quoli is a Shopify product reviews app that covers the asking in this flow. Requests go out by email after purchase, fulfillment or delivery, with one reminder, and shoppers can also review from a link, a QR code or the on-site form. Shopify Flow triggers and a send-request action let requests follow your own rules, AfterShip or Track by Loop time them to delivery, and Dondy or WhatFlow, which our team connects for you, send them on WhatsApp. The walkthrough lives in collecting reviews automatically after delivery.

The single follow-up rule when customers do not respond

Most customers who are going to review do it on the first or second email. Send one reminder, four to seven days after the original, to people who did not open or did not finish. Then stop asking about that order.

The reminder should repeat the product and the one-tap rating, not re-explain the request.

Three or four chasers do not raise your response rate, they raise your unsubscribe and spam rates, which quietly lowers the deliverability of every request after that. Use a branded sender email (included on Quoli's paid plans) so requests arrive from your domain rather than a generic app address, and watch the request funnel in analytics, from delivered to reviewed. If few people open, fix the subject line. If they open and do not finish, fix the form.

Reviews on the product page bring in more reviews

The last lever is a loop. Stores that display reviews prominently collect more of them, because shoppers see a format to copy and a reason to contribute, and because buyers who read reviews before purchase are the ones most likely to leave one.

• Put the star rating and review count above the fold on the product page, with ratings on collection pages too.
• Let shoppers filter by attributes such as fit, skin type or taste, so reviews feel written by people like them.
• Show one strong customer line next to the buy button with Nuggets, and on Shopify Plus, in the checkout order summary.
• Answer product questions publicly with Q&A: every answer stays on the page, and customers who were helped are warm for the review request later.

The full set of placements is in the widgets library.

Negative reviews are part of the collection system

Asking every buyer means some reviews will be critical, and that is the point: a page of nothing but five stars reads as filtered. Reply publicly, fix what can be fixed, and leave the review up. The full method, including reply templates, is in how to respond to negative reviews on Shopify.

If replies are the bottleneck, Quoli Intelligence drafts them in your brand voice on Advanced and up, and nothing publishes until your team approves it. See Quoli Intelligence or start on the free forever plan and add the paid features with a 14-day trial when the volume justifies it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best time to send a review request on Shopify?

Start from delivery, then add the time the product needs to be judged: 3 to 5 days for food and consumables, 10 to 14 days for apparel and footwear, 3 to 4 weeks for skincare and supplements, and around 30 days for furniture and mattresses. Requests tied to carrier delivery status beat requests tied to fulfillment, because they never land before the parcel does.

Should review requests go by email or SMS?

Email is the default: it carries the product image, the star buttons and the upload link, and it costs nothing per send. Use SMS or WhatsApp as a second touch for repeat buyers and markets where messaging is the primary channel, and only with consent. Quoli sends by email, link, QR code and the on-site form, with WhatsApp requests through partner apps such as Dondy and WhatFlow.

Can I offer a discount in exchange for a review?

Yes, if the reward is offered for any honest review regardless of the star rating, is disclosed on the review, and never depends on the content being positive. Do not hide, delay or delete critical reviews from incentivized customers. Rewards for text, photo and video reviews are available on Quoli's paid plans.

How do I increase my review response rate?

Cut the request to one decision: a star tap in the email that opens a pre-filled form where every field after the rating is optional. Fix the timing to the product, send a branded sender email from your own domain, allow exactly one reminder, and watch the funnel from delivered to reviewed so you know whether the problem is the subject line or the form.

How do I get customers to upload photos and videos?

Ask specifically, a few days after a text review has come in without media, and only to those customers. Keep the upload inside the form with camera access on mobile, show a gallery of existing customer photos so people know what to submit, and give the larger reward for video. Jenpharm reaches 55% of reviews with media and Friendly Patch 59% using this pattern on Quoli.

Does a reviews app handle all of this automatically?

Quoli is a Shopify product reviews app that runs the whole flow: requests timed to fulfillment or carrier delivery, one reminder, a photo request only where a review has no media, rewards on paid plans, and widgets that put the reviews back on the product page. It is on the free forever plan for the core widgets, with paid plans from $10 a month and a 14-day trial, listed at https://apps.shopify.com/quoli-product-reviews-ugc.