Overview
If you’re reading this, you probably went looking for the best WordPress site review plugins. Well you’re in luck, because you’ve come to the right place. Today we’re talking about the 7 best WordPress review plugins for your website or blog.
Do I Even Need Reviews?
Short answer, yes. Long answer? Humans are social creatures, and if they see other people responding positively to something then they’re more likely to engage with it. That’s why reviews are one of your most important tools: they’re concrete social proof you can put front and centre. By having a good review plugin, you can leverage human psychology in order to boost your bottom line.
Reviews are also great for improving your clickthrough rates: Google likes pulling them up for rich snippets, and the CTR of rich snippets is significantly higher than regular results. One study found an engagement increase of over 500% for the result lucky enough to be featured as a snippet.
Good reviews are one of the fastest and easiest ways to supercharge your sales. They are reliant on you actually selling good products that people want to give good reviews to, but if you don’t have faith in your products, you probably shouldn’t be selling them.
What Does a Good Review Plugin Look Like?
- Personally, I say go for stars over thumbs, and 1-5 stars over other numbers. It reads much more clearly at a glance
- If there’s a way for you, as the site owner, to select and promote certain positive reviews then that’s great
- A way for you to respond to reviews, and have those responses be visible; sometimes you do get bad reviews, and it’s good for other users to see that you take them seriously and are trying to fix the issues the user had. Sometimes, they can turn a 1-star review into a 5-star review!
- Ease of use: It doesn’t matter how good it looks if you can’t use it
- Optional: Some sort of API functionality to pull reviews from services like Amazon or Yelp
The Top 7 WordPress Review Plugins
I’ve very rarely seen a plugin with this sort of universal positive feedback, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a rare mix of powerful, flexible, and simple to use, and it has excellent support. It’s also free and open-source, and as far as free plugins go it does its best to stay out of your way unless you need it. It isn’t quite as robust as some of the premium plugins, but it’s definitely the best free option that uses onsite reviews rather than pulling them from somewhere like Google.
If you want to leverage the Google My Business API to display Google reviews on your site, then this is the plugin you want. Google reviews have excellent authority—users trust Google, and if they see Google logos and layouts on their site then you’re going to get some of that trust applied to your own reviews. It also means that if a great review occurs off-site, it’s easier to pull and display where you want it.
This is the primary plugin that is designed very specifically to integrate with WooCommerce. The others absolutely can (it’s all part of the same platform after all), but if you’re looking for something that integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce specifically, then this is your pick. Like many of these plugins it comes with both free and premium versions, with a lot of the best features restricted to premium. Still, the free version of robust, and will cover the basics while you figure out whether you want to stick with it.
Starfish lets you select reviews from around the web to display on your site. This gives you a lot of control: if you only want certain 5-star reviews on your page then you can pull those and display them anywhere you want on your site. It’s an extremely lightweight, minimalist plugin that will let you display attractive reviews without causing any real site bloat. Paid plans start at $3.99/mo for a single website up to $15.99/mo for 100 sites.
JudgeMe really excels with its email integration: customers can review straight from their inbox, and you can request reviews and send out review reminders to customers extremely easily. You can also include picture reviews and give customers. Verified Purchaser badges to make sure that all reviews coming in are legitimate. It’s also extremely customizable, if you want to have more control over the appearance of reviews. Especially if you’re in direct marketing, this is a great choice.
If you want your Google business listing (and the reviews therein) front and center, this is another great option. This one has a ton of customization options, if you want to spice up the sparse Google layout with something that looks more in-line with your site’s graphic design. With a powerful responsive layout, this one will look great. It does require a little bit of API wrangling so it’s not recommended if you’re unwilling to get hands-on with the tech, but it can give you great results that are more than worth the effort.
Restauranteurs everywhere both love and fear Yelp, and with this handy little plugin they can have it right there on their WordPress site. Again, you’re going to need to know your way around the (Yelp) API, but this gives you a lot of power. It’s also free and open-source, though there’s a business version that lets you mix and match reviews from different services, as well as custom templates and onsite review-writing functionality.
And that’s it for now! Ultimately, there’s a right fit for each site and it’ll vary wildly depending on your needs. My recommendation is to try out several and see which one fits your site the best. Almost all of these plugins offer a free tier that lets you try before you buy, and it’s worth experimenting a bit to find the one that suits you best. I hope I’ve helped you narrow down your search.
One of the biggest issues we see store owners encounter with WordPress and WooCommerce is spam. That’s why we put together a list of the best WordPress plugins to fight spam. And of course, if you’re looking to hire expert WordPress developers, you’re in the right place. Don’t be afraid to drop us a line!
Similar Reads
How can we help?
Tell us about your inquiry and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
