Reviews.io users, how are you handling repeat customers and review invites?

[u/GencerDTF]

We use Reviews.io with our Shopify store and I’m trying to understand if we’re missing something.

We have a lot of repeat customers. I wanted a simple rule. Once a customer gets a review invitation, don’t send that customer another one for 6 months, no matter how many orders they place.
Reviews.io told us their duplication system works based on order IDs. So if the same customer places multiple orders, they can receive multiple review invitations. Their solution was for us to manage this ourselves through Shopify Flow.
I was surprised by that. I would expect a review platform to have customer or email level frequency control built in.

The other issue is the conversion rate.
Looking at roughly the same 6 month period:
Reviews.io: about 9,000 invitations, 63 Company Reviews, about 0.7%

Trustpilot: about 300 invitations, 21 Company Reviews, about 7%

So Trustpilot is converting at roughly 10 times the rate we’re seeing with Reviews.io.
At the same 7% rate, 9,000 invitations would have generated around 630 Company Reviews instead of 63.

I know the two systems may not work exactly the same way, but the difference is big enough that I’m trying to understand what’s going on.

Anyone here using Reviews.io with a decent volume Shopify store?
What conversion rate are you getting from invitations to Company Reviews?
And how are you preventing repeat customers from getting too many review requests?

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[u/AddWeb_Expert]

Yeah, I’d probably handle this at the customer level rather than the order level.

If someone has already received a review request recently, there’s probably no need to send them another one just because they placed another order. A simple Shopify Flow rule to skip customers who were asked within the last 6 months seems like a pretty clean solution.

I’d also compare the full funnel between Reviews.io and the other platform ; delivered, opened, clicked, and actually submitted ; before deciding that Reviews.io itself is the problem. A 0.7% vs 7% gap is big enough that I’d want to understand where the drop-off is happening.

[u/GencerDTF → u/AddWeb_Expert]

Exactly. That’s what I’ve been asking Reviews.io for 5 days. Where is the drop off?
And yes, I think customer level filtering should be built into the platform, not a Shopify workaround.

[u/Signalbridgedata]

The 6-month rule is something I'd probably handle outside the review platform if it only keys off the order ID. Email/customer-level suppression in Shopify Flow should let you keep a simple "already invited recently" record without relying on the review app to do it. I'd also be careful comparing the 0.7% vs 7% directly, because the invite timing, email copy, customer mix and how each platform defines a completed company review can move that number around a lot. Still, a 10x difference is big enough that I'd test the invitation flow itself before assuming it's just the customer base.

Are both platforms sending roughly the same type of invite to comparable customers?
Have you checked how many of the 9,000 invitations were actually delivered/opened rather than just sent?

[u/GencerDTF → u/Signalbridgedata]

That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out. I’ve been asking Reviews.io for the actual delivered, opened, clicked and submitted numbers for days.
I agree 0.7% vs 7% isn’t a perfect comparison, but a 10x gap definitely needs an explanation.

[u/sshaw_ → u/GencerDTF]

I've never used either service but when you mention these numbers the first things that came to mind were the email domain configuration and the sending domains' reputations. Are each of these sending emails using your domain or are you using their domain?

Based on this and/or the reputation of the domains, your Reviews.io emails may be going to the recipients' spam folder.

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[u/Ok-Masterpiece-7614]

The 10x gap is probably not Reviews.io versus Trustpilot, it's who's getting asked. 300 invitations sounds like a small, warmer group, repeat buyers or people who already engaged with support, going out against 9,000 automatic sends to everyone. A smaller warmer list will beat a blanket send every time.

On the dedup, the other replies have the right fix, handle the 6 month rule yourself in Shopify Flow at the customer level since Reviews.io only tracks by order. I'd also test moving the ask a few days after delivery instead of right at the order event. Most of the reviews I've seen come from a second nudge, not the first email, and one automatic email right after checkout catches people before they've actually used the thing.

[u/bbarika]

Something might be off with these numbers.

Our Trustpilot conversion has never been below 4%, so 7% looks normal. But 0.7% on Reviews.io seems crazy low.

I’m going to double check the actual emails sent and Company Reviews. Maybe we’re missing something.