Do you display product reviews on Shopify? If so, you might be interested in Shopify’s new policy that requires all legitimate reviews to be published in full. 

Yep, even that 1-star review from a disgruntled Karen that you’d rather people didn’t see.

Shopify's Partner Governance team issued a statement back in September to their tech partners and review apps to ensure compliance with new standards across the industry. One of the key updates was the auto-publishing of reviews, regardless of rating. This, they said, was to encourage trust and transparency in the e-commerce environment, both of which are crucial in maintaining the integrity of Shopify and its merchants.

As more and more review apps start to comply with these new guidelines by the end of the year, all reviews, regardless of whether they're 1-star or 5, will be published to a Shopify site within a maximum of 14 days from the date they’re submitted. 

Of course, exclusions do still apply. You will still be able to report product reviews if they violate your store’s policies. Reasons for reporting reviews may include the following:

Unrelated - The review isn’t about your store or products

Spam - The review contains ads, links or promotional material

Offensive - The review contains profanity or violent content

Hate speech - The review contains harmful content against an individual or group

Conflict of interest - The review is from someone affiliated with your store or a competitor

If the above reasons don’t apply, however, then the review must still be shown. 

So what do you do about these policy changes, and, more importantly, how do you turn them to your advantage?

Firstly, let’s address the elephant in the room: negative reviews.

Having negative product reviews doesn’t necessarily mean your online store is doomed. Have you ever shopped on a website that claims to have 40,000 5-star reviews and not a single negative one? Alarm bells start to ring - and for good reason. Even the best businesses in the world get disgruntled feedback from time to time, and if you’re in e-commerce there are a million and one reasons why things might go wrong for a customer, from shipping delays to damaged parcels and more.

Oftentimes, negative feedback isn’t as personal as it seems. Reviews.io found that 44% of women and 32% of men actually leave a lower rated review with the intention of helping the company improve a product/service/policy, so they’re really not the enemy.

The important thing with negative feedback is what you do about it. Replying to your customers in a timely fashion, doing your research so you can explain the reason for their issue, and providing total transparency can be all it takes to turn that dissatisfied customer into a happy one. Saving relationships whilst increasing consumer trust shows to your new potential customers that you’re responsible and committed to good customer service.

If you’re worried about negative reviews being visible on your product page, there are a few things you can do to manage them better:

1. Adjust your review settings

If you’ve had a run of 1, 2 or even 3-star reviews recently but are actively working to rectify these, then consider setting the visible order of your reviews from the highest to lowest rating. This ensures that your best feedback is displayed first, and you can focus on any outstanding customer service issues until you’re back on track.

2. Feature most relevant reviews first

If certain reviews are more helpful to your customers than others or you’d like to highlight particular product features, then review platforms like Loox and Reviews.io allow you to tag “Featured” reviews (in Loox’s case) or “Review Nuggets” (in Reviews.io’s case). These featured reviews or review nuggets display either first in the list, or as a widget on your product page, ensuring that you’re highlighting the right information in the best possible place.

‍Looking to add reviews to your site but not sure which platform is right for you? Check out our handy blog: How to Add Reviews to Shopify

3. Turn them off

Another option is to turn off your reviews entirely. Whilst this might seem drastic, if you're busy focusing on building customer service and have more 1, 2 and 3 star reviews than 4 or 5, then you shouldn’t let your current reviews hold you back. Take time to request reviews from new customers via email, and keep them hidden until you're in a position to turn them on again.

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Whilst it might seem daunting to have every single review visible to the world, this new Shopify policy is an important step to business transparency, and may in some cases actually increase your conversion rate.

Use it to foster and nurture great relationships with your customers, and learn from any negative reviews that come your way. Each one can help your business to become better for the next customer that comes along.