The 4 best customer review apps for your Shopify store

“Don’t buy this dress! Shrinks in one wash.”

“This dress hugs my body perfectly!! I LOVE IT.”

Looking at the above reviews, it is pretty clear which dress I will be inclined to buy and which I will avoid.

But how do reviews and social proof shape customer behavior?

Simply put, social proof builds trust. This is especially true for online shopping where customers can’t physically see or feel the product. A glowing review from a satisfied customer goes a long way in such situations, adding credibility and improving conversion rates. 

Shopify doesn’t have a review platform out-of-the-box, but their app store lists the best reviews apps which you can use to highlight reviews in your online store.  

Let’s take a look at these apps, and I will summarize the features for each, giving you all the information you need before you decide which to go for.

The 4 best review apps

1. Stamped 

Stamped is a customer reviews app ideal for large eCommerce stores looking for easy review integration for their website, and referral and loyalty features to build long-lasting customer relationships. 

Let’s take a look at Stamped’s most exciting features:

• With Stamped, you can gather customer reviews via email, Facebook Messenger, and SMS, collate them, and easily display them on your store’s website.
• The Custom Forms feature helps capture customers’ preferences and experiences after they’ve purchased a product. This can help to target these customers with more relevant products based on their feedback.
• The Smart Assist feature helps customers write reviews with AI suggestions, improving overall review quality.
• Stamped also provides language translations so that customers can read reviews in their preferred language.

Apart from these, Stamped also provides support for user-generated content, smart data insights, and offers a VIP program with a tiered points system for loyal customers. The VIP program is a loyalty program where the more a customer refers your product to others, the more points and rewards they collect.

They have a fixed pricing plan divided into 3 categories - Reviews, Loyalty, Reviews & Loyalty. 

• The Reviews plan is the most straightforward out of the three. It allows you to integrate reviews into your website, with some additional features depending on pricing.
• The Loyalty plan allows customers to receive referral links, which are used to generate more credible traffic to your website.
• The Reviews & Loyalty plan encompasses features of the above two plans, and is also the most expensive.

In my opinion:

Stamped is good for large enterprises. They have some exciting features like Custom Forms and Smart Assist, allowing you to gather product-specific customer data to effectively improve customer journeys.

2. Yotpo 

Yotpo is another robust option for large eCommerce stores, providing comprehensive tools for review management. 

Their main features include the following: 

• Yotpo allows customers to add reviews with photos and videos to boost brand awareness and SEO.
• Yotpo provides plans for SMS and email campaigns to drive sales for your brand.
• The loyalty program incentivizes reviews by providing loyalty rewards to customers for reviews.
• The subscriptions solution  helps improve retention by allowing customers to subscribe to products/services, which then gives them access to special discounts based on points collected with past purchases.

The above features come under separate pricing plans, and depending on order volume, you can vary your plan’s prices to fit your needs. For example, if your order volume is 500, the Reviews & UGC plan provides the Starter tier at $79/mo, the Pro tier at $169/mo, and a custom Premier tier. But, if your order volume is 600, the Reviews & UGC plan provides the Starter tier at $129/mo, the Pro tier at $269/mo, and a custom Premier tier.

In my opinion:

Yotpo is a good option for those brands trying to scale their business and build a strong customer base, making use of the loyalty program, subscriptions, and the SMS and email campaigns. 

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3. Junip

Junip is designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), offering customizable and diverse review solutions for your online website. 

Let’s look at the features Junip offers:

• Junip allows customers to add photos and videos to their reviews.
• They provide customizable forms to collect data on specific product attributes.
• Junip also allows you to reply to reviews, and feature the best ones to impress new customers.
• They allow for multiple storefront integrations, managing all your stores’ reviews from one dashboard.
• Junip’s API allows you to build custom review displays, specific to each buyer’s shopping behavior.

Junip provides 3 pricing plans:

• The Essentials plan at $19/mo includes photo and video reviews, email and chat support, API access, and Google review snippets among other features.
• The Standard plan at $99/mo, in addition to the above plan, provides ESP integrations, featured reviews, and custom questions.
• The Pro plan at $299/mo, in addition to the above plan, provides custom HTML emails, regional syndication, and white glove support.

In my opinion:

Junip is the youngest app in this list (launched in 2020), yet, provides excellent customer support, and has a perfect rating on Shopify. Since Junip allows for multiple storefronts to be managed from a single dashboard, the overall review management system becomes more efficient and streamlined.

4. Judge.me

Judge.me is perfect for small businesses that need a cost-effective, straightforward review solution to get started with gathering and displaying customer feedback.

Their main features include the following:

• Judge.me enables easy review management - sending replies, featuring reviews, and launching campaigns.
• They allow you to gather more reviews by sending out unlimited review requests via email. They even provide the option to A/B test custom emails, helping you choose the best email for conversions.
• They provide customizable widgets, which can be used to display reviews, star ratings, and Q&As.
• Judge.me also allows you to share your reviews across multiple platforms to boost SEO and brand awareness.

You can access some or all of these features in one of their following pricing plans:

• The Forever Free plan at no cost provides features such as unlimited review requests, automatic installation, review carousel, in-email reviews, review importing, among others.
• The Awesome plan at $15/mo provides all the above features plus reward coupons, customization, Google Shopping, Facebook Social Push, automatic reminders, and more.

In my opinion:

Judge.me is the perfect solution for brands that are operating on a tight budget, or if they need to import a large number of reviews onto their website. In such cases, other apps become exorbitantly expensive while Judge.me offers this feature in their Forever Free plan.

Comparison of review apps

Conclusion

In summary, choosing the right review app depends on the size and needs of your business:

• Stamped provides easy review integration for large eCommerce stores, with a variety of interesting features like Custom Forms and Smart Assist.
• Yotpo, in addition to review integration, provides loyalty programs for brands to build and grow their customer base.
• Junip is relatively less expensive than Stamped and Yotpo, and is recommended for businesses that have multiple stores and want to manage them from a single place.
• Judge.me is the best choice for brands wanting to explore review integration for their websites. They provide all the necessary features to get started, and when requirements become more detailed, brands can opt for the other apps.

Ultimately, choosing a review app depends on your business and preference. I hope this blog helps you make your decision on which review app to try out.

Got any questions or want to discuss your experience with these apps? Follow and tweet at us @getsocioh.