When someone submits a review themselves — rather than through a review request we sent, they add their email address to it. However, as anyone could type in any address, we don't yet know whether they're a real customer of your store.

The review confirmation email is how we check. Only the real owner of that inbox can open it and confirm, which tells us the review really came from them. If that person has also bought from your store before, we mark their review as verified automatically.

This applies to reviews customers submit themselves — known as web reviews — through:

the Review Widget (product reviews)
the Happy Customers Widget (store reviews)
QR codes
review links
our API

Considerations

Confirming a review proves the reviewer owns that email address. It doesn't prove they bought from you. We check that separately.
A confirmed review is verified only if the reviewer has bought from your store before. A customer record with no orders isn't enough.
The review is verified even if it's for a different product than the one they bought. We check that the reviewer has bought from your store, not that they bought this specific product.
Web reviews that are not confirmed by the reviewers won't be verified.
If the web review confirmation email is disabled, web reviews cannot be verified — they will remain unverified even if the reviewer is a real customer.
At the moment, it's not possible to resend the web review confirmation email to verify the web review.

Sender email address

Review confirmation emails are always sent from support@judge.me, whether or not you've set up a custom sender email.

We send it from our own address so the confirmation link stays tied to us — this is what lets us verify the reviewer independently of your store.

When confirmation emails are sent

Available on the Free plan

You can choose whether we send a confirmation email, and at what point:

After the review is submitted — the customer writes and submits as normal. We only email them a confirmation link if they're likely to be a real buyer. That means at least one of these is true:
- they've bought from your store before
- their email matches an order on any store using Judge.me
- they're logged into their Judge.me reviewer profile
- they've had a verified buyer review before
If none of these are true, we don't send a confirmation email and the review stays unverified.

When we do send it, the customer clicks the link to confirm their review. Their review is confirmed straight away, and they don't need to do anything else.

The link then takes them to their Judge.me Reviewer Profile. This page shows optional fields, like their name. They don't need to fill these in and can simply close the page. This redirect is part of the confirmation flow and can't be turned off.
Before the review is submitted — we email a confirmation link as soon as the customer enters their email. They click Write a review in that email to continue, and after they submit, we verify the review if they've bought from your store before.
Don't verify — we don't send a confirmation email, so the review stays unverified.

To control when the review confirmation email is sent:

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Collection flow.
Scroll down to the Verification process for reviews from widgets section.
Open the When to confirm customer email to verify reviews dropdown.
Select one of the following options:
- Don't verify
- After review is submitted
- Before review is submitted
Click Save.

Customize the review confirmation email template

Available on the Awesome plan

To customize your review confirmation email:

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Email templates > Review confirmation.
Scroll down to the Template section.
In the Template section, adjust the texts to your likings.
Click Save.

Default texts in the review confirmation email if After the review is submitted is selected:

Field	Default text
Email subject	`{{ reviewer_first_name }}`, confirm the review you left for `{{ product_title }}`
Preheader text	Confirm it was you who wrote the review.
Email title	Please confirm your review
Email content	Hi `{{ reviewer_first_name }}`, Thanks for submitting your review for `{{ product_title }}`. To help keep our reviews authentic and useful for other shoppers, please confirm that it was you who wrote it. Your review: `{{ block_review }}` Click the button below to confirm.
Confirmation link text	Confirm my review

Default texts in the review confirmation email if Before the review is submitted is selected:

Field	Default text
Email subject	`{{ reviewer_first_name }}`, review your experience with `{{ shop_name }}`
Preheader text	We'd love to hear your thoughts
Email title	Review your experience with `{{ shop_name }}`
Email content	Hi `{{ reviewer_first_name }}`, Thanks for taking a moment to share your experience and helping keep reviews authentic. Your feedback helps other shoppers make confident decisions. Click below to leave your review — it only takes a moment. `{{ button }}` If it was not you who requested to write a review you can ignore this email.
Button text	Write a review