Collecting more reviews is one goal. Collecting better ones is another, and the two aren't the same. A wall of "great product, thanks" reviews does less for a shopper than a handful that mention fit, durability, or how something held up after a month.
Most of the quality of your reviews is decided before a customer writes a word, by the email that asks for them. Whether it lands in the inbox, whether it gets opened, and what it prompts the customer to talk about all trace back to how the request is written. This guide covers how to customize that email to improve your online reviews, starting with the part that quietly decides everything: whether your email arrives at all.
(Trying to collect more reviews in the first place? Start with 5 ways to increase your review collection rate, then come back here to raise their quality.)
Deliverability comes first
A perfectly written request is worthless if it never reaches the inbox. Before anything else, two things protect your deliverability.
The first is your subject line. It's tempting to lead with a discount, but subject lines built around offers, "Get 20% off for leaving a review", are exactly what spam filters look for. They don't just hurt that one email; they can drag down the deliverability of everything you send. If you do offer an incentive, mention it inside the email, never in the subject line.
The second is your sending domain. Sending from a custom domain you haven't fully verified increases bounces and lands more of your mail in spam. Unless you send at very high volume, Judge.me's shared sending domain is usually the safer choice, and it takes the technical setup off your hands.
Get these right and everything below has a chance to work. Get them wrong and it doesn't matter how good your email is.
Write a subject line that gets opened
Once your email reliably lands, the subject line's job is to earn the open. Our analysis found that the default subject works fine for about half of stores, but the ones that do better tend to do one of two things.
Personalize it. A subject line that names the product a customer bought feels relevant in a way a generic ask doesn't. Compare:
How was your order?
How are your [product name]s working out?
The second reads like a message meant for that customer, because it is. Judge.me lets you pull the product name into the subject automatically, so this scales across your whole catalog without manual work.
Make it sound like you. A subject line with a bit of founder-voice personality, warm, specific, human, tends to outperform a corporate template. Shoppers open emails from people more readily than from brands.
What consistently underperforms is discount language, for the deliverability reason above. "Free coupon for a review!!!" doesn't just look spammy to a shopper, it often never reaches them.
Don't guess, test
You don't have to take any of this on faith for your own store. Judge.me's optimization tool lets you A/B test different subject lines against each other and see which actually gets more opens and more reviews from your customers, in your market, in your category.
The default is a reasonable starting point. But your audience is specific, and the only way to know what works for them is to test it. Change one thing at a time, subject line, tone, timing, and keep what wins.
Ask in a way that gets richer reviews
Quality isn't only about deliverability and opens. What you ask for shapes what you get.
Prompt for specifics. A request that gently points customers toward what to mention, how the fit came up, how it performed, whether it met expectations, produces more useful reviews than an open "leave a review." You're not putting words in their mouth, just giving a starting point to those who'd otherwise stare at a blank box.
Ask for photos and videos. Media reviews are the richest kind, and the most persuasive to the next shopper. Offering a small incentive for a photo or video review is one of the most effective ways to get them, our data shows it can double photo reviews and multiply video reviews several times over. (Just keep the incentive for any qualifying review, not only positive ones, and disclose it: in the US the FTC requires incentivized reviews to be labeled.)
Reply to the reviews you get. Replying isn't part of the request email, but it shapes the reviews that follow. When customers see a store that responds, thoughtfully, not defensively, they write more considered reviews, because they can tell someone's reading.
Bringing it together
Better reviews come from a better ask. Protect your deliverability so the email arrives, write a subject line specific enough to earn the open, test it against your own audience rather than guessing, and prompt customers toward the detail that helps the next buyer. None of it takes long, and all of it is adjustable from your Judge.me settings.
What to do next
Want more reviews as well as better ones? See 5 ways to increase your review collection rate.
Not sure what a good result looks like for a store your size? See how to benchmark your review collection rate.
All three are part of our wider guide to collecting reviews on Shopify.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get better quality reviews?
Better reviews start with the request email. Make sure it reaches the inbox by keeping discount language out of the subject line, write a subject that names the product so it feels relevant, and gently prompt customers toward specifics like fit, durability, or how the product performed. Asking for photos and videos raises quality further.
What should a review request subject line say?
Keep it plain and specific, and personalize it where you can, naming the product a customer bought tends to lift opens. Avoid discount or offer language in the subject line, which trips spam filters and hurts deliverability. Test a couple of options against each other rather than assuming.
Why do my review request emails go to spam?
The two most common causes are discount-style subject lines and an unverified custom sending domain. Both signal spam to email providers. Keeping subject lines clean and using Judge.me's shared sending domain (unless you send at very high volume) usually resolves it.
How do I get more photo and video reviews?
Ask for them, and consider a small incentive for reviews that include media. Offering a discount for photo or video reviews can significantly increase how many you collect. Keep the incentive available for any qualifying review regardless of rating, and disclose it as required.
