How to Submit a Review From the Order Page in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
Want to make it easier for your customers to leave reviews on your WooCommerce store? Great idea! Customer reviews are social proof, and they heavily influence purchasing decisions. Think about it: when you’re deciding between two products, what do you do? You probably check the reviews! By allowing customers to easily leave reviews directly from their order page, you’re streamlining the process and increasing the chances of getting valuable feedback.
This guide will walk you through how to enable and encourage customers to leave reviews right from their order page in WooCommerce. We’ll cover the basics, explain the reasoning, and provide examples. Let’s dive in!
Why Enable Reviews From the Order Page?
Making it easier for customers to leave reviews directly from their order page offers numerous benefits:
* Convenience: Customers can leave a review without searching for the product page. It’s right there, immediately after receiving their order.
* Timeliness: Prompting a review shortly after delivery ensures the experience is fresh in their minds, leading to more accurate and detailed feedback.
* Increased Review Volume: A streamlined process means more reviews, which builds trust and improves your store’s credibility.
* Improved SEO: More reviews mean more content related to your products, which can help boost your website’s search engine ranking.
* Direct Feedback: Reviews provide valuable insight into customer satisfaction and areas for improvement.
Think of it like this: You order a new coffee maker online. A week later, you receive it, and it brews the *perfect* cup of coffee. A few days after that, you get an email saying your order is complete and a link to easily leave a review is included. You’re likely much *more* willing to leave a glowing review because the experience is recent and the process is simple.
Enabling Reviews in WooCommerce
First things first, you need to make sure reviews are enabled in WooCommerce. Here’s how:
1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the Products tab.
3. Scroll down to the General section.
4. Check the box next to “Enable product reviews”.
5. You can also check the box next to “Show ‘verified owner’ label on customer reviews”. This adds credibility by showing that the reviewer actually purchased the product.
6. Click the Save changes button.
Adding the Review Link to the Order Page (Requires Coding – Be Careful!)
WooCommerce doesn’t have a built-in feature to directly link to the product review form from the order page. Therefore, you’ll need a little bit of code. Always back up your website before making any code changes! We strongly recommend using a child theme to avoid losing changes during theme updates.
Here’s how to add a link to the product review form on the “View Order” page:
1. Access your theme’s `functions.php` file: You can do this through your WordPress dashboard by going to Appearance > Theme Editor. (Again, use a child theme!) Or, use an FTP client to access your theme files.
2. Add the following code snippet:
add_action( 'woocommerce_view_order', 'add_review_link_to_order_page' );
function add_review_link_to_order_page( $order_id ) {
$order = wc_get_order( $order_id );
// Only show the link for completed orders
if ( $order->has_status( ‘completed’ ) ) {
$items = $order->get_items();
foreach ( $items as $item_id => $item ) {
$product_id = $item->get_product_id();
$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );
if ( $product ) {
$review_url = get_permalink( $product_id ) . ‘#reviews’;
echo ‘
Leave a Review for ‘ . esc_html( $product->get_name() ) . ‘
‘;
}
}
}
}
3. Explanation of the Code:
* `add_action( ‘woocommerce_view_order’, ‘add_review_link_to_order_page’ );` : This hooks into the `woocommerce_view_order` action, which runs when a customer views their order.
* `function add_review_link_to_order_page( $order_id ) { … }`: This defines the function that adds the review link.
* `$order = wc_get_order( $order_id );`: Gets the order object.
* `if ( $order->has_status( ‘completed’ ) ) { … }`: This ensures the review link is only shown for completed orders, preventing reviews being left before the customer receives the item.
* `$items = $order->get_items();`: Gets all the items in the order.
* `foreach ( $items as $item_id => $item ) { … }`: Loops through each item in the order.
* `$product_id = $item->get_product_id();`: Gets the product ID.
* `$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );`: Gets the product object.
* `$review_url = get_permalink( $product_id ) . ‘#reviews’;`: Creates the URL to the product page, anchored to the reviews section. The `#reviews` part is crucial; it takes the user directly to the review form.
* `echo ‘
Leave a Review for ‘ . esc_html( $product->get_name() ) . ‘
‘;`: Prints the link, including the product name, using `esc_url` and `esc_html` for security.
4. Save the `functions.php` file.
Now, when a customer views a completed order, they’ll see a link to leave a review for each product they ordered. This is a significant usability improvement.
Customizing the Review Link
You can customize the text and appearance of the review link by modifying the HTML within the `echo` statement in the code above. For example:
echo 'Share Your Experience with ' . esc_html( $product->get_name() ) . '!
';
You can then style the `.review-link` class in your theme’s CSS file. This is far preferable to trying to add styling directly in the `functions.php` file! Keep the separation of concerns clean!
Consider Email Automation
In addition to the order page link, consider using an email automation service (like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign) to send a follow-up email a few days after delivery, specifically asking for a review. These emails can contain direct links to the product review pages. This is a powerful way to further encourage reviews.
Conclusion
Enabling and encouraging customers to leave reviews is crucial for building trust, improving SEO, and gaining valuable feedback. While WooCommerce doesn’t offer this feature out of the box, a small snippet of code can significantly improve the user experience and increase the number of reviews you receive. Remember to always back up your website before making any code changes and to use a child theme for customizations. With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to building a store filled with helpful and engaging customer reviews!
