In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, the choice to enable product reviews isn’t just a good idea—it is a game-changer. Reviews offer your audience a genuine glimpse into real-life experiences with your products. They serve as powerful social proof, practically shouting, “This product delivers!” from every digital rooftop.
Here is the best part: WooCommerce makes it incredibly easy to enable product reviews. This simple feature does not just enhance credibility—it is a strategic investment in your brand’s reputation. Shoppers love hearing from others who have already tested and loved a product.
But that’s not all! When you enable product reviews, you also give your SEO a serious advantage. Search engines thrive on user-generated content like reviews, which means more visibility, more traffic, and more potential customers for your store.
In this blog, we will learn how to enable product reviews for logged out users, and why reviews are crucial for your WooCommerce store and expert tips for managing them effectively. Ready to unlock the full potential of your e-commerce store? Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
The Importance of Product Reviews for WooCommerce Store
Product reviews are the backbone of successful e-commerce platforms. By offering firsthand accounts of a product’s performance, quality, and usability, reviews become an indispensable asset for any online store. To truly stand out in today’s competitive market, it’s vital to enable product reviews on your platform.
Why Product Reviews Matter?
- Social Proof: When you enable product reviews, you provide potential buyers with solid evidence that others have tried and loved the product. It’s a trust signal that speaks volumes.
- Informed Decisions: Reviews empower customers to make smarter purchasing choices by sharing valuable insights about product functionality and quality.
- Trust Building: Products with positive reviews help build a trustworthy image for your store, showing your dedication to customer satisfaction.
- Improved Credibility: Displaying reviews demonstrates confidence in your offerings, as you transparently showcase customer feedback.
The Power of Product Reviews in eCommerce
According to WooCommerce, products with reviews are significantly more likely to convert visitors into buyers. Why? Because shoppers trust recommendations from fellow customers far more than they trust ads or traditional marketing. When you enable product reviews, you tap into this trust-driven conversion power.
Key Benefits of Enabling Product Reviews
- Boosts Transparency: Honest customer reviews foster openness, helping potential buyers feel more secure in their choices.
- Drives Sales: A few glowing reviews can be the push new customers need to finalize their purchase.
- Improves SEO: User-generated content, like reviews, improves search engine rankings, making it easier for new customers to discover your store. When you enable product reviews, you’re also boosting your store’s visibility.
- Encourages Engagement: By choosing to enable product reviews, you create an interactive space where customers can share their experiences, boosting engagement.
How to Enable Product Reviews in WooCommerce
It is a very straightforward process to enable product reviews in WooCommerce. Follow these steps to allow customers to share their feedback:
- Access WooCommerce Settings:
- From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings.
- Navigate to the Products Tab:
- Click on the Products tab to access product-related settings.
- Configure Review Options:
- Scroll down to the Reviews section.
- Check the box labeled Enable product reviews to activate the review feature.
- Optionally, you can customize additional settings:
- Show a “verified owner” label on customer reviews: This adds a label to reviews from customers who have purchased the product from your store, enhancing credibility.
- Reviews can only be left by “verified owners”: Restrict reviews to customers who have made a purchase, ensuring authenticity.
- Enable star rating on reviews: Customers can rate products using a star system.
- Star ratings should be required, not optional: Mandate that reviews include a star rating for consistency.
- Save Changes:
- Click Save Changes to apply your settings.
By following these steps, you effectively enable product reviews on your WooCommerce store, allowing customers to share their experiences and assist others in making informed decisions.
Moderating Product Reviews
Enabling product reviews is only the first step; maintaining their quality and authenticity is crucial to building trust and credibility with your audience. Once you enable product reviews, it’s important to manage and moderate them effectively. Proper moderation ensures that reviews remain relevant, genuine, and valuable to potential customers. Here’s a detailed guide on managing and moderating reviews in WooCommerce:
Viewing Reviews
To access customer reviews, navigate to your WordPress dashboard, then go to Products > Reviews. Here, you can view all feedback submitted by customers, including approved, pending, or spam reviews.
Moderation Actions
WooCommerce provides several options for moderating reviews, helping you ensure their relevance and appropriateness. Hover over a review to reveal the following actions:
- Approve: Publish the review to make it visible on your website.
- Unapprove: Remove the review from the public view if it doesn’t meet your guidelines.
- Reply: Respond to reviews directly, fostering engagement and showing customers that you value their feedback.
- Quick Edit: Make minor changes to the review, such as correcting typos.
- Edit: Open a full editor to modify the review content if necessary.
- Spam: Mark a review as spam if it’s inappropriate or irrelevant.
- Trash: Delete reviews that don’t adhere to your guidelines or are harmful to your brand’s reputation.
Bulk Actions
For efficiency, WooCommerce allows you to manage multiple reviews simultaneously. Use the bulk actions dropdown menu to approve, unapproved, mark as spam, or delete several reviews at once. This feature is especially useful for handling high volumes of feedback efficiently.
Enhancing the Review Experience for Customers
Product reviews are essential for building trust, increasing credibility, and fostering customer engagement. They provide a platform for buyers to share their experiences, which can significantly influence potential customers’ purchasing decisions. To fully leverage the potential of product reviews, consider implementing the following best practices:
1. Encourage Detailed Reviews
When you enable product reviews, you get deeper insights into a product’s quality, usability, and performance. These details help potential buyers make informed decisions.
How to Encourage:
- Include prompts during the review process, such as questions about product durability, customer service, or specific use cases.
- Offer incentives like discounts, loyalty points, or entry into a giveaway to motivate customers to leave thorough reviews.
2. Display Reviews Prominently
Reviews that are easy to locate have a greater impact on customer decisions. Once you enable product reviews for logged out users, you are opening a discussion for everyone, and feedback from first hand experience, however, if you fail to display them correctly, it can backfire.
How to Display Product Reviews:
- Place reviews on the product page, preferably beneath the product description and key specifications.
- Use clear formatting, such as star ratings, customer photos, and highlighted pros/cons, to enhance visibility and readability.
3. Respond to Reviews
Responding to reviews builds customer relationships and shows that you value their opinions.
How to Engage:
- Thank customers for leaving positive reviews and express gratitude for their support.
- Address negative feedback constructively by offering solutions or acknowledging the issues they face.
- Use responses to demonstrate your brand’s commitment to excellent customer service.
4. Highlight Verified Purchases
Authentic reviews from verified buyers are more trustworthy and impactful.
How to Highlight:
- Enable WooCommerce’s “verified owner” label to distinguish reviews from genuine customers.
- Limit reviews to verified buyers whenever possible to ensure authenticity.
5. Implement Anti-Spam Measures
Spam reviews can damage your brand’s credibility and deter potential buyers.
How to Prevent Spam:
- Use tools like CAPTCHA or Akismet to filter out fake reviews.
- Regularly moderate reviews to identify and remove spam or inappropriate content.
Allowing Logged-Out Verified Customers to Leave Reviews
In some cases, you might want to enable product reviews from customers who have purchased a product but are not logged into their accounts. This approach can increase the number of reviews by reducing barriers for customers. To achieve this, follow these steps:
Step 1: Disable “Reviews can only be left by verified owners”:
- Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Products.
- In the Reviews section, uncheck the box labeled Reviews can only be left by “verified owners”.
Step 2: Implement Custom Code:
Add the following PHP snippet to your theme’s functions.php file to ensure that only customers who have purchased the product can leave a review, even if they are logged out.
Custom code to enable product reviews for logged out users should be added in the functions.php file of the plugin. You can navigate to the functions.php file via Tools > Plugin File Editor > Functions.php
Make sure you add your theme editing custom code to Theme File Editor and plugin editing custom code to Plugin file editor..
Copy the given code:
/**
* @snippet Reject Review If Email Address Is Not a Woo Customer
* @tutorial https://tutsflow.com/
* @author Tutsflow
* @compatible WooCommerce 9.7.1
*/
add_filter('preprocess_comment', 'tutsflow_product_review_logged_out_only_verified');
function tutsflow_product_review_logged_out_only_verified($comment) {
if ('product' === get_post_type($comment['comment_post_ID'])) {
if (!is_email($comment['comment_author_email'])) {
wp_die(__('Invalid email address.', 'woocommerce'));
}
// Check if the email is associated with a completed order for this product
$email = sanitize_email($comment['comment_author_email']);
$product_id = intval($comment['comment_post_ID']);
$orders = wc_get_orders([
'billing_email' => $email,
'status' => ['completed', 'processing'], // Ensure only valid purchases are counted
'limit' => -1
]);
// Ensure orders is an array before looping
if (!is_array($orders) || empty($orders)) {
wp_die(__('This email address does not appear to be associated with a customer who has purchased this product. Only verified customers can leave a review.', 'woocommerce'));
}
$purchased = false;
foreach ($orders as $order) {
foreach ($order->get_items() as $item) {
if ($item->get_product_id() === $product_id) {
$purchased = true;
break 2; // Exit both loops once a match is found
}
}
}
if (!$purchased) {
wp_die(__('This email address does not appear to be associated with a customer who has purchased this product. Only verified customers can leave a review.', 'woocommerce'));
}
}
return $comment;
}
When you enter this code into the functions.php file of your WooCommerce plugin, it will restrict product reviews to only logged-out users who have previously purchased the product using the email they enter.
✅If a user has purchased the product with their email, their review goes through successfully.
✅If a user has not purchased the product (or used a different email), they cannot leave a review. ✅Logged-in users who have purchased the product may still be able to leave reviews depending on your WooCommerce settings.
Conclusion
One of the best methods to improve your e-commerce store and achieve users’ true feedback is through enabling product reviews. You create an open forum for visitors to share their real thoughts and opinions by opting to allow product reviews for logged-in users. This helps regular buyers build confident opinions.
With features like star criteria, review transparency tools, and useful moderation markers, WooCommerce is an ideal solution for enabling product reviews.
You are enhancing shopping experience that promotes customer loyalty and long-term success by mastering one-on-one reviews and ratings. That is why customer reviews are regarded a crucial tool for any company hoping to succeed in the cutthroat online market!
