How Many Review Reminder Emails Should You Send?

Send one review request and one reminder, about a week apart, and stop there. The reminder catches the people who meant to answer and forgot; anyone who has ignored two emails has given you their answer. Stop sooner if the customer leaves a review or unsubscribes. This guide covers why one reminder is the right default, how to space the emails, when to stop, how to think about consent, and what the reminder should say.

Why is one reminder the right default?

Because the first email is missed for ordinary reasons, and one reminder covers them. It arrived on a busy morning. It arrived before the customer had properly used the product. It was opened on a phone and put off for later. None of those is a refusal, and a single nudge a week on reaches the people it applies to.

A second reminder is a different matter. By then the customer has seen two emails and chosen not to act. A third message mostly reaches people who have decided, and what it earns you is irritation, unsubscribes and the occasional review written in annoyance.

There is one reasonable exception. For expensive products with a long period of use, a single later follow-up, months on, can ask how the product has held up. Treat it as a new and different question, not as a third push on the first.

How far apart should the request and the reminder be?

About a week. That is long enough for the customer to have used the product more and for the first email to be well out of mind, and short enough that the purchase is still fresh.

Here is an example timeline, with made-up round figures:

1. Day 0: the order is fulfilled.
2. Day 10: the review request goes out, after delivery and a few days of use.
3. Day 17: the reminder goes out to customers who have not reviewed.
4. After day 17: nothing further.

The first step sets up the second. If the original request arrives before the product does, the reminder is doing the real work and you have used up your one nudge. The guide on when to send a review request email covers how to choose the first delay.

When should the emails stop?

As soon as there is a reason, whichever comes first. Check that your setup stops or holds reminders in each of these cases:

• The customer has left a review. Reminding someone who has already answered is the quickest way to look careless.
• The customer has unsubscribed. Honour it immediately, for the request and the reminder alike.
• The order was cancelled, returned or refunded. A reminder about a product that went back is unwelcome.
• There is an open complaint. Hold the reminder until support has resolved it. Send it afterwards, because that customer's view counts as much as anyone's.

On the last point, be careful that 'hold' does not turn into 'never ask unhappy customers'. Leaving them out for good is a filter on your reviews.

Is a review request a transactional or a marketing email?

Treat it with the care you would give a marketing email, and check the rules for your market. This section is general guidance, not legal advice.

A shipping notice is plainly about the order. A newsletter is plainly marketing. A review request sits between the two: it concerns a specific purchase, but it asks the customer to do something that benefits the store. How it is classified, and what consent it needs, differs between countries.

Good practice holds up whichever way it is classified:

• Put a working unsubscribe link in the request and in the reminder.
• Keep promotional content out of both. A review request that also pushes a sale is much harder to describe as being about the order.
• Tell customers at checkout or in your privacy notice that you may email them to ask for a review.

If you offer a reward for reviewing, that brings its own rules, covered in the article on offering a discount for a review.

What should the reminder say?

Less than the first email, and never the same thing again. A good one is short, admits it is a follow-up, and makes the task small.

• A new subject line. Something plain, such as 'Still happy to hear how the kettle is working out'.
• One or two sentences. Acknowledge that they are busy and say why a review helps other shoppers.
• One link, straight to the review form for that product.
• No guilt. Leave out 'we noticed you have not responded'.
• A clear end. Saying 'this is the only reminder we will send' is true, and it is disarming.

An example:

Hi Sam, a quick follow-up on your kettle. If you have a minute, a few words on how it is working out would help other shoppers decide. Here is the link. This is the only reminder we will send. Thank you either way.

The first email carries more weight than the reminder, and the guide to review request subject lines and wording covers it in full.

Do reminders use up your email allowance?

They may, so check before you switch them on. Reviews apps commonly limit request emails per month by plan. Find out whether reminders count towards that limit, and whether they are included on your plan at all.

If the allowance is tight, a first request to every customer comes before a reminder to some. In Marka Reviews, the request goes out after fulfilment on the delay you choose, reminders go only to shoppers who have not answered yet, and reminder emails are part of the paid plans.

Reminders are one part of the collection process. The rest is in the guide to collecting verified product reviews on Shopify.

A short checklist

1. Send one request after delivery and a few days of use.
2. Send one reminder about a week later, to non-responders only.
3. Stop on a review, an unsubscribe, a cancellation or a return.
4. Hold reminders during an open complaint, then send them.
5. Include an unsubscribe link and leave promotions out.
6. Write the reminder fresh: short, one link, and clear that it is the last.

If your current setup sends no reminder, or too many, Marka Reviews lets you choose the delay and whether a reminder follows.