Managing product reviews
How to enable, moderate, and manage customer reviews and star ratings on your WooCommerce products.
Product reviews and star ratings help customers make purchase decisions and build trust in your store. WooCommerce includes a built-in review system. This guide explains how to turn it on, manage reviews, and keep things clean.
Quick summary
Reviews are enabled under WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Reviews. Customers can leave a star rating and text review on any product page. New reviews go to a moderation queue unless you've enabled auto-approval. You manage all reviews under Comments in the WordPress dashboard.
Enabling (or disabling) reviews
Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products.
Scroll to the "Reviews" section.
Tick or untick "Enable product reviews" to turn the feature on or off.
Set your moderation preference:
- "Reviews can only be left by 'verified owners'" — only customers who actually purchased the product can leave a review. Recommended to prevent fake reviews.
- "Reviews from verified owners get a 'verified' badge" — marks genuine purchaser reviews with a badge.
Click Save changes.
Approving and moderating reviews
WooCommerce product reviews use the same system as WordPress blog post comments. All reviews go through Comments in your WordPress dashboard.
Go to Comments in the WordPress dashboard (left-hand menu).
Filter by product reviews using the tabs at the top (Pending, Approved, Spam, Trash).
Hover over a review to see action options:
- Approve — makes it visible on the product page.
- Reply — lets you respond publicly to the review.
- Spam — marks it as spam and hides it.
- Trash — deletes it.
- Edit — opens the review for editing (use sparingly).
Don't edit customer reviews to change meaning
Editing a customer's words to change their meaning is unethical and can damage trust. Only edit to remove spam links, abusive language, or personal data. If you disagree with a review, use the Reply function to add your response publicly.
Comment moderation settings
You can control whether reviews need approval before appearing. These settings are in Settings → Discussion in WordPress:
- "Comment must be manually approved" — every review waits for your approval. Best for keeping full control.
- "Comment author must have a previously approved comment" — first review requires approval; later ones from the same person are auto-approved.
Responding to reviews publicly
Responding to reviews — especially negative ones — shows you care about customer experience. Respond with:
- Acknowledgment of the feedback
- A brief explanation or resolution
- An invitation to contact you directly if they want to discuss further
This is visible to all future shoppers and can turn a negative impression into a positive one.
Enabling star ratings
Star ratings are part of the reviews feature. When reviews are enabled, customers can leave a 1–5 star rating. The average rating appears on the product page and can also show in search engine results (via structured data).
You can require a star rating for a review or make it optional. This is configured under the same WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Reviews area.
Common questions
Related guides
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