What is WooCommerce Reviews plugin?
WooCommerce product reviews are built on the WordPress comments system with extensions specific to products — star ratings, verified purchase badges, and review filtering. The system is enabled by default and appears on individual product pages as a Reviews tab alongside the product description.
Out of the box, WooCommerce allows any logged-in user to leave a product review. An option to restrict reviews to verified purchasers only is available under WooCommerce, then Settings, then Products. Reviews include a star rating from 1 to 5 and a text comment. There is no native support for photo or video reviews, review voting, or review requests in the core WooCommerce system.
Several plugins extend WooCommerce reviews with additional functionality. Customer Reviews for WooCommerce adds review request emails, photo reviews, and review reminders. WooCommerce Product Reviews Pro (the official WooCommerce extension) adds threaded reviews, review voting, and moderation tools. Third-party platforms like Trustpilot, Judge.me, and Yotpo provide fully managed review systems that replace the built-in WooCommerce system entirely.
Need Help With WooCommerce Reviews Setup, Troubleshooting, or Customization?
Need help with WooCommerce Reviews? Whether you are dealing with errors, broken functionality, styling problems, plugin conflicts, or advanced customization, we can help you fix the issue and get the plugin working properly on your WordPress site.
Get WooCommerce Reviews Expert HelpKey Features
- Star rating system on product pages
- Verified purchase badge option
- Review moderation through WordPress comments admin
- Review count display on product listings
- Review schema markup for search result star ratings
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Built into WooCommerce with no additional plugin required
- Review schema helps star ratings appear in Google search results
- Simple moderation through the familiar WordPress comments interface
Cons
- No native photo or video review support
- No automated review request emails
Free vs Premium
WooCommerce product reviews are included in WooCommerce core at no extra cost. Enhancement plugins like Customer Reviews for WooCommerce (freemium) add review request emails, photo reviews, and import tools. WooCommerce Product Reviews Pro adds threaded reviews and voting. Full-service platforms like Judge.me have free tiers with paid plans for advanced features. The right choice depends on how central reviews are to your store strategy.
Common Problems & Fixes
Product reviews are not showing on my product pages even though they are enabled.
Go to WooCommerce, then Settings, then Products, and confirm that Enable product reviews is checked. Also verify that the individual product has reviews enabled — open the product in the editor, go to the Product Data, then Advanced tab, and check that Enable reviews is checked for that product. Some themes override the product page template and may not include the reviews tab. If the tab is missing in a custom theme, check the single-product template for the woocommerce_product_tabs hook.
I want to allow only verified buyers to leave reviews but the option is not working.
The verified buyer restriction under WooCommerce, then Settings, then Products only applies to users who have purchased the product and are logged in when leaving the review. If a customer checks out as a guest without creating an account, they cannot leave a verified review even if they purchased. The restriction also requires that the order status is Completed, not just Processing. Ensure completed orders are correctly marked and that customers are logged into their account when submitting reviews.
Review star ratings are not appearing in Google search results.
WooCommerce outputs Product schema with AggregateRating data when a product has reviews. If star ratings are not appearing in Google results, first verify the schema is outputting correctly using Google Rich Results Test. Google does not guarantee showing star ratings even with correct schema — it is a discretionary display. Also ensure you have not disabled WooCommerce schema through an SEO plugin setting, as some configurations strip WooCommerce product schema.
Customization & Developer Notes
How do I send automatic review request emails after an order is completed in WooCommerce?
WooCommerce core does not include review request emails. The Customer Reviews for WooCommerce plugin adds this functionality. After installation, configure the delay between order completion and the review request email under the plugin settings. You can set the email to send a specified number of days after an order reaches Completed status. The plugin also handles unsubscribe links and review reminders for customers who do not respond to the first request.
Can I import reviews from Amazon or other platforms into WooCommerce?
Direct import from Amazon is not straightforward because Amazon does not provide a public review export API for third parties. Some plugins like Customer Reviews for WooCommerce include a CSV import feature where you can upload a formatted CSV of reviews. You would need to export reviews from the source platform (if they allow export) and reformat the CSV for import. Third-party review platforms like Judge.me and Yotpo have import tools that handle this more gracefully.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use WooCommerce built-in reviews or a third-party review platform?
Built-in reviews are simpler to set up and keep everything in your own WordPress database. Third-party platforms like Judge.me, Yotpo, or Trustpilot add more features including verified review badges from an independent source (which shoppers may trust more than self-hosted reviews), review request automation, photo reviews, and cross-site review aggregation. If reviews are central to your sales process, a third-party platform is worth considering. For smaller stores, the built-in system with a review request plugin is often sufficient.
Can customers edit their reviews after submitting?
By default, WooCommerce customers cannot edit reviews after submission. Reviews are stored as WordPress comments, and comment editing is not enabled by default. If you need to allow customers to edit their reviews, this requires a custom solution or a review plugin that includes editing capability. Store administrators can always edit reviews through the WordPress Comments admin screen.
How do I display the average star rating on product archive pages?
WooCommerce includes the woocommerce_template_loop_rating() function which outputs the star rating on product archive pages. Most WooCommerce-compatible themes include this in their product loop template by default. If the rating is not showing, check your theme product loop template for this function call. It should be present in content-product.php or a similar template file. If it is missing, add the function call in the appropriate location or use the woocommerce_after_shop_loop_item_title hook in your child theme functions.php.
Do fake or spam reviews in WooCommerce affect SEO?
Fake reviews that are clearly spam or contain irrelevant content can appear in review schema and in Google product rich results. Google has taken action against sites with manipulated reviews in the past. Beyond SEO risk, fake reviews that get flagged by customers damage store reputation. Moderate all reviews before publishing and enable the verified buyers only restriction to reduce spam review attempts. Some review plugins also include spam detection features.