Product Reviews on Your Own Online Store: Collect and Show Them

Short answer: On WooCommerce, product reviews are built in and only need switching on; on Shopify you add a review app. Ask for the review after the parcel has arrived and been used, not at dispatch, and make it easy to add a photo. Show the rating near the price and the full reviews lower down, and let your review tool output Product structured data so Google can show stars. Stars in Google Shopping are a separate programme that needs at least 50 reviews.

1. Setup path: built-in or app?

WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes reviews. Under WooCommerce > Settings > Products > General you'll find the options WooCommerce documents as of November 2026:

Enable product reviews
Show "verified owner" label on reviews from customers who bought the product from you
Reviews can only be left by "verified owners"
Enable star rating on reviews, and Star ratings should be required, not optional

For most shops, switch on the verified owner label and required star ratings. Restricting reviews to verified owners keeps out most spam, though it also stops gift recipients reviewing what they were given. Decide who approves new reviews and how quickly, before the first ones arrive.

The built-in system is basic: no review request emails, no photo prompts, no syndication. If you want those, a review extension or third-party service adds them on top.

Shopify

On Shopify, product reviews come from apps in the Shopify App Store. They vary mostly in request automation, photo and video support, how the widget looks in your theme, and where else they can send your reviews. Judge.me is one widely installed example; its App Store listing describes automated review requests after fulfilment or delivery, photo and video reviews, and sharing reviews to Meta and TikTok, with a free plan listed as of November 2026. Compare a few before installing, and check:

Does it add review markup to product pages, or rely on your theme?
Can you import existing reviews (from a marketplace or an older app)?
Does it load quickly, or add heavy scripts to every page?
Is it a supported reviews aggregator for Google Shopping, if you advertise there?

Whatever you choose, check you can export your reviews. You collected them; they shouldn't be trapped in a tool you might leave.

2. Request timing

The single biggest lever is when you ask. A review request sent on the dispatch email asks someone to review a product they haven't seen.

Product type	When to send the first request
Consumables (coffee, skincare, candles)	7–14 days after delivery, once they've used it
Clothing and shoes	3–7 days after delivery, after the try-on or return decision
Gifts and seasonal items	Shortly after delivery, with a line for gift buyers
Durable goods (furniture, tools)	2–4 weeks after delivery

Trigger on delivery where your app supports it, rather than fulfilment, because UK carrier times vary. Send one reminder about a week later and stop there.

What helps people actually write:

One click to the stars in the email itself, then a short form.
A prompt, not a blank box. "How did the fit compare with your usual size?" gets more useful detail than "Write your review".
A photo prompt. Photo reviews answer questions your own images can't, such as scale and true colour.

Incentives are where shops get into trouble. Google's guidelines say not to include fake or undisclosed incentivised reviews, and UK rules on fake and hidden-incentive reviews have tightened, so check current guidance before offering anything for a review. Asking every customer, not just happy ones, is the honest default.

3. Display

Where reviews appear matters as much as how many you have.

Rating and count near the product title or price. "4.6 (38 reviews)" with a link down to the reviews.
Full reviews below the description, sorted by most recent or most helpful, with filters once you have dozens.
Photo reviews in a strip above the text reviews.
Collection pages: small star ratings under product cards help comparison but add weight; check page speed after switching them on.

Negative reviews

Publish them. A page of only five-star reviews looks curated. Reply publicly and briefly to critical reviews: acknowledge, explain what you've done, and invite the customer to contact you. Then fix the root cause. If three people say a jumper runs small, update the size guide and product copy. Only remove reviews that break your published rules (abuse, personal data, nothing to do with the product).

4. Structured data and Google

Google can show star ratings in search results for product pages when the page carries valid Product markup with Review or AggregateRating properties. Google's review snippet documentation sets out the conditions that matter for a shop:

The rating must be about a specific product, not a category or list.
Reviews and the aggregate rating marked up must be visible to users on that page.
If you mark up several individual reviews, include an aggregate rating too.
Don't aggregate reviews or ratings from other websites into your markup.

Note the difference from reviews of the business itself. Google treats reviews a business shows about itself via LocalBusiness or Organization markup, including embedded widgets of its Google reviews, as self-serving and ineligible for stars. Product reviews on product pages are a different case.

Most review apps and extensions output this markup; test a product page in Google's Rich Results Test after installing, and look for duplicates if your theme also outputs Product markup. Stars are never guaranteed even with valid markup.

Stars on Google Shopping

Shopping ads and free listings use Merchant Center's Product Ratings programme. Google's help pages, as of November 2026, say you need at least 50 reviews across all your products, a review feed updated at least monthly (submitted by you in Merchant Center or by a supported aggregator), and accurate product identifiers such as GTINs, which Google uses to match reviews to products. Onboarding typically takes two to four weeks. If you plan to advertise, pick a review tool that's on Google's supported aggregator list.

FAQ

How many reviews does a product need before it's worth showing?

Show them from the first one, but consider hiding the star average until there are three or four, so a single low score doesn't define the product.

Can I move my reviews if I switch apps or platforms?

Usually, via CSV export and import. Check both tools' formats before you commit, and keep product handles or SKUs consistent so reviews land on the right products.

Should I reply to every review?

Reply to every critical one and to positive reviews that ask a question. Replying to every five-star review adds little.

Why aren't stars showing in Google even though the markup is valid?

Valid markup makes a page eligible, not guaranteed. Check the page in Search Console's URL Inspection, confirm the reviews are visible on the page, and allow time for recrawling.

If you'd like reviews set up so they look right on your product pages and feed Google properly, show us your shop and the tool you're using.