Review Request Emails: Subject Lines and Wording That Get Answers

A good review request email names the product, shows a picture of it, asks one question and lets the customer answer by tapping a star. The subject line should be plain enough to read like a message from a shop the customer remembers buying from. This guide sets out what belongs in the email, gives six subject lines and one example body you can adapt, and lists the wording that damages the reviews you get back.

What should a review request email contain?

Five things, and nothing that competes with them.

• The product name and image. Customers buy from several shops in a month. The picture tells them at a glance which purchase you mean.
• One ask. The email exists to collect a review. A discount banner, a 'you may also like' row or a social follow button each give the reader something easier to do than write.
• Stars they can tap. Put the rating scale in the email itself, with each star linking to the review form with that rating already selected. The first step then takes one tap, which makes starting the review as easy as it can be.
• A sense of how long it takes. 'It takes about a minute' is a fair promise for a rating and two sentences.
• A real sender. Use your store name and an address that accepts replies. Some customers will answer the email with a problem instead of a review, and you want to hear it.

Leave out the long thank-you paragraph. One sentence of thanks is polite. Three is a delay before the ask.

What makes a good subject line?

A good subject line says what the email is about and which purchase it concerns. It does not need to be clever. The customer should understand the request before opening it.

Six examples, with the product or store name filled in from the order:

1. How is your [product name]?
2. A quick question about your [store name] order
3. Your [product name]: would you rate it?
4. One minute to review your [product name]?
5. Tell other customers what you think of [product name]
6. [First name], how did the [product name] work out?

Avoid capital letters, urgency ('last chance to review') and anything that reads like a promotion. The request is a favour, and a subject line that sounds like a sale gets treated like one.

An example email body

Keep the body short enough to read without scrolling on a phone. This is an example to adapt, not a template to copy word for word:

Subject: How is your Linen Throw?

Hi Sam,

Your Linen Throw should have been with you for a couple of weeks now. Would you tell us what you think of it?

[product image]

[five stars, each one a link]

Tap a star to start. It takes about a minute, and you can add a photo if you like. Your review helps other customers decide, whether it is good or bad.

Thanks, Maya at Northfold Home

Note what the example does. It names the product twice, places the stars directly under the image, mentions photos once without making them a condition, and says outright that a critical review is welcome. The store and names are invented.

Why should you never ask for five stars?

Because the request stops being a question. 'If you loved it, leave us five stars' tells the customer which answer you want, and the reviews that come back are less useful to the next shopper for it. A page of prompted five-star reviews also reads as prompted.

The same applies to softer versions:

• 'We would love a five-star review.'
• 'Happy with your order? Review us. Not happy? Email support.' This filters unhappy customers away from the review form, which is a way of suppressing negative reviews.
• Any reward that depends on the rating. Tying an incentive to a positive review is banned under the rules summarised in our guide to verified product reviews on Shopify. If you do offer something, it must be offered whatever the customer says. The details are in whether you can offer a discount for a review.

Ask for an honest opinion and say that you publish critical ones. Customers who believe that write more specific reviews.

How should the wording change for a reminder?

A reminder should be shorter than the first email and should not scold. Assume the customer missed the first one. A subject such as 'Still happy to hear about your [product name]' and two lines of body are enough, with the same stars underneath. Do not send a third; the reasoning is in how many review reminder emails to send.

Does tone depend on what you sell?

Yes, slightly. Match the voice of your order confirmation emails, because the request should sound like the same shop.

• Everyday consumables: brief and light. The purchase was small, so the ask should be too.
• Apparel: ask about fit by name. 'How does it fit?' prompts the detail the next shopper most wants.
• Considered purchases: acknowledge the time that has passed. 'Now that you have had it for a month' shows the timing was deliberate.

Whatever the tone, the structure stays the same: product, picture, stars, one line of explanation.

Wording only works if the email arrives at the right moment. Marka Reviews sends the request after an order is fulfilled, on the delay you choose, and the right delay for each product type is covered in when to send a review request email.

A short checklist

1. Name the product in the subject line and the body.
2. Show the product image above the stars.
3. Make every star a link into the review form.
4. Remove discounts, cross-sells and other competing links.
5. Say that critical reviews are welcome, and never ask for a rating.
6. Send from an address that accepts replies.
7. Keep the reminder to two lines and send it once.

A request written this way asks little of the customer and tells them their honest view is wanted. To send it automatically from real orders, Marka Reviews handles the schedule so you can concentrate on the words.