An online store isn’t complete without an area for customer reviews on your product pages. From Duluth Trading Company to Dollar Shave Club, some of the most popular online stores include a module below the product information for customers to rant and rave. Not only does this provide a customer feedback option, but it’s an excellent way to guide future customers.
In this post, we’ll show you how to work with the built-in WooCommerce review feature. Then, if that’s not enough, we’ll show you how to enhance customer reviews for WooCommerce using some simple plugins:
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How to enable customer reviews for WooCommerce with the built-in feature
Luckily, customer reviews are already included as a feature when you install WooCommerce.
However, there are the occasional settings you have to configure in order to ensure they show up properly. Here’s how the process works:
1. Ensure your WooCommerce theme supports reviews
The first order of business is to choose a WordPress theme that allows for comments, seeing as how reviews are stored as comments but formatted differently and placed on product pages. Not all themes support product reviews, so look through the theme’s feature list or ask the developer.
If you specifically choose a WooCommerce theme, you shouldn’t run into any issues.
2. Enable the built-in feature review
Next, you’ll want to ensure the built-in WooCommerce product reviews feature is turned on.
To complete this task, go to WooCommerce > Settings in the dashboard.
Select the Products tab.
Scroll down to the Enable reviews field and check the box to turn on the product reviews. Chances are it’s already checked.
After you select that box you’ll see several other options appear.
These are all optional. For instance, you may want to show a “verified owner” label next to customer reviews. There are also fields for only allowing verified customers to leave reviews, along with a way to activate star ratings.
Click the Save Changes button.
3. Test your product reviews
To test out the reviews section, go to the frontend of your website and visit a product page.
Again, all WooCommerce themes are different. You may see the reviews section compiled into a tab or accordion module. Other times the reviews area may be lower or higher on the page. Look around that product page to locate them based on the theme’s design.
You can even test out the reviews section by selecting a rating, writing a quick review, and clicking the submit button.
As long as the review is approved, it should show up in several locations, like under the average star review area and in the reviews tab.
The reviews are available on the backend as well. Each product page provides a reviews section. You can moderate the reviews there and delete any spam [much like regular blog comments].
As mentioned, reviews are simply a form of WordPress comments. Therefore, another place to see those reviews is under the Comments area in the dashboard.
Still not getting your reviews to show up?
Reviews can be tricky because of the various settings required for them to run properly.
If you’ve found that your theme does in fact allow for reviews, follow these steps to troubleshoot why your customer reviews are missing.
Begin by going to Settings > Discussion in the WordPress dashboard.
This section handles settings for comments and the emails that you receive when a comment is made.
Seeing as how reviews are comments, they must be configured the right way for the reviews to act properly.
Many of these settings are useful but optional.
The most important ones to enable include the following:
- Allow people to submit comments on new posts.
- Enable threaded [nested] comments.
- Email me whenever anyone posts a comment and when a comment is held for moderation.
Make sure you save the settings.
If that doesn’t fix your problem, it’s time to go into the individual product pages.
Each product has a setting to turn on/off the reviews, just for that product.
Therefore, select one product in your catalog.
Go to the Product data section of the product page and select the Advanced tab.
Make sure the Enable reviews box is checked.
Save the changes.
How to use a plugin for more advanced customer reviews for WooCommerce
The default customer review feature in WooCommerce provides the basic essentials for getting reviews on your product pages.
However, you may notice desirable review features on other online stores, like photo uploading, enhanced review forms, and filters.
Improving your customer reviews section requires a simple plugin, and there are many to choose from.
For this method, we’ll be using the Customer Reviews for WooCommerce plugin – here’s how to set it up…
1. Install the plugin
To get started, install the free plugin from WordPress.org.
2. Configure product reviews
Go to Reviews > Settings in your WordPress dashboard.
The plugin offers several areas to consider. For instance, it has a page for seeing new reviews and email reminders for people to write reviews.
You’ll find all of the configuration settings under the Settings tab.
Note: The Customer Reviews for WooCommerce plugin takes over the already activated reviews section from WooCommerce. So there’s no need to deactivate the reviews you had from before.
Review Reminder tab
The first link in the Settings section is for review reminders. This turns on reminders to customers who recently purchased a product.
You can configure everything from the color of the email reminder to the wording.
You can even test the email to see what it looks like prior to turning it on.
Review Extensions tab
The next link under the Settings panel is for all review extensions. This is where the more advanced review elements come into play. For instance, you can turn on the option for users to Attach Images to their reviews.
In addition, the plugin offers shortcodes to place your review section anywhere on your website.
The review extensions settings page is rather long, so keep scrolling through the options to set up everything you need.
Some other settings to consider include a Reviews Summary Bar, a customizable Verified Owner tag, and the option for people to vote on reviews.
Review for Discount tab
Under the Review for Discount tab, you’re able to activate a coupon code that incentivizes people to leave a review in exchange for a discount.
Trust Badges tab
Finally, the Trust Badges settings page asks whether or not you’d like to add a more visual element to verified reviews, increasing trust in your system.
3. Test your new review section
To test any new features, navigate to a product page on your website.
I added a button for users to upload photos to reviews. As you can see, the Choose Files field is now included in the form.
Several other elements have been activated on my test website. If you recall, I turned on the Reviews Summary feature, which shows the percentages of each star review.
There’s also a photo in the review that I submitted, along with a voting area for other customers to share if they found the review helpful.
After a vote is submitted, a total count of the people who found it helpful is listed under the review.
Alternative product review plugins for WooCommerce
The default customer reviews for WooCommerce make for a quality start when collecting reviews. We also enjoy the Customer Reviews for WooCommerce plugin, since it adds things like photos and voting.
However, you may find that other customer review plugins are more suitable.
Here are a few alternatives:
- Wiremo – Offers a sleek design with options to display your reviews anywhere online.
- Sparks for WooCommerce – A premium plugin that increases conversions on your online store, which includes an advanced review section that expands the basic review options with more capabilities.
- WP Product Review Lite – An alternative for WordPress reviews in general – when you’re not necessarily working with WooCommerce.
- YITH WooCommerce Advanced Reviews – A premium solution to add filters, voting, and other tools.
- WooCommerce Product Reviews Pro – The official premium reviews extension from WooCommerce.
- Yotpo – Highly advanced reviews with artificial intelligence that asks the perfect questions for each product.
We also have a list of customer review plugins for WordPress.
Start collecting more customer reviews today
And for some other extensions to help your store, check out our collection of the best must-have WooCommerce plugins.
If you have any questions about how to activate or run customer reviews for WooCommerce, let us know in the comments.
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Joe Warnimont is a seasoned writer with more than 10 years of experience covering topics such as WordPress, web hosting, eCommerce platforms, and social media. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, along with a secondary bachelor's in telecommunications. This educational background paved the way for a multifaceted marketing and web design career at talent agencies, production studios, and a software company specializing in golf courses. Joe resides in Chicago, writing for tech brands and publications like ThemeIsle and HostingAdvice.
How do I show review stars in WooCommerce?
To enable star ratings for your products, please go to WooCommerce > Settings > Products , check the Enable star rating on reviews option and save changes. Now, your products will start to show their rating when they have one or more stars.
How do I get a rating in WooCommerce?
You can find the star ratings option by going to WooCommerce » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and clicking the Products tab at the top. From there, scroll down to the Enable Reviews heading and check the “Enable product reviews” checkbox.
How do I add ratings to the comment system in WordPress?
Method 1: WordPress Admin Interface.
Navigate to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New..
In the search bar, enter Stars Rating and press Enter..
Look for the plugin in the search results and click on the Install Now button..
Once installed, click on the Activate button to activate the plugin..
How do I get reviews on WooCommerce?
To enable Reviews for WooCommerce, you will want to perform the following steps:.
From the WordPress Dashboard go to WooCommerce > Settings..
Switch to the Products tab..
Scroll down to the Reviews section and select the Enable product reviews check box..
You can also select the options related to reviews and ratings:.