Zero to First 100 Reviews: A Practical Playbook for New Shopify Stores

Starting a Shopify store with zero reviews feels like showing up to a party where nobody knows you. Shoppers land on your product page, see no social proof, and leave. You know your product is great — but they do not. And until someone else says it publicly, your conversion rate is going to suffer.

The good news: getting from zero to 100 reviews is a solvable problem. It is not fast, and it is not automatic, but there is a clear path that thousands of successful stores have followed. This playbook walks through that path step by step.

Why the First 10 Reviews Are the Hardest (and Most Important)

There is an asymmetry in how reviews work psychologically. A product with zero reviews feels risky. A product with 3 reviews feels new but plausible. A product with 10+ reviews feels established. And a product with 100+ reviews feels safe.

The jump from 0 to 10 is the hardest because you are fighting against two forces simultaneously:

Low traffic volume. New stores typically get fewer visitors, which means fewer potential reviewers. If 2-3% of customers leave a review (a common baseline), you need roughly 300-500 orders to hit 10 reviews organically. Most new stores do not have that kind of volume in their first months.

The empty room problem. People are less likely to leave a review when they see zero existing reviews. It feels like shouting into a void. But once a few reviews exist, others are more willing to add theirs — social behavior is contagious.

This is why the first 10 reviews require active, deliberate effort. You cannot just install a review app and wait. You need a strategy.

Timing Your Review Request Emails

The single most impactful thing you can do is ask for reviews at the right time. Get the timing wrong and your request gets ignored or, worse, catches someone before they have actually used your product.

Too early: The customer just received the package. They have opened it, maybe tried it briefly, but they do not have a real opinion yet. A review request at this point gets a "meh" response or no response at all.

Too late: Three weeks have passed. The excitement of the purchase has faded. The product is part of their routine now — they are no longer thinking about it. Your email arrives and they think "I will do it later," which means never.

The sweet spot: 5-14 days after delivery, depending on your product category. For consumables or beauty products, 7-10 days works well — enough time to see results. For clothing, 3-5 days after delivery is fine since the verdict is immediate. For electronics or tools, consider waiting 10-14 days to let them actually use it.

The key is to trigger your review request based on delivery date, not purchase date. Customers who are still waiting for their package are not going to leave a review, and asking them to feels tone-deaf.

The Power of Post-Purchase Follow-Up Sequences

A single email is easy to miss. A thoughtful sequence is much harder to ignore.

Here is a three-email sequence that works well for new stores:

Email 1 (delivery + 2 days): The check-in. Do not ask for a review yet. Just ask if everything arrived safely and if they have any questions. This builds goodwill and catches any shipping issues before they become negative reviews.

Email 2 (delivery + 7 days): The review request. Now ask. Be specific: "How is your [product name] working out? We would love to hear your honest thoughts." Include a direct link to the review form. One click, no friction.

Email 3 (delivery + 14 days): The gentle nudge. Only send this to customers who did not open or click Email 2. Keep it short: "We noticed you have not had a chance to share your experience yet. Your feedback helps other shoppers make confident decisions."

This sequence typically doubles your review collection rate compared to a single email. And because it starts with a genuine check-in rather than an immediate ask, it builds the kind of relationship that produces thoughtful, detailed reviews — not just star ratings.

Incentive Strategies That Do Not Feel Sleazy

Let us talk about incentives. Yes, they work. No, they do not have to be manipulative.

What works:

A small discount on their next purchase (10-15%) in exchange for any honest review — not just positive ones
Loyalty points that are part of a broader rewards program
Entry into a monthly giveaway for reviewers
A charitable donation for each review ("We will donate $1 to [cause] for every review")

What does not work (and can hurt you):

Offering discounts specifically for 5-star reviews — this violates FTC guidelines and most platform policies
Large discounts that make the review feel "bought" rather than earned
Complicated redemption processes that frustrate customers
Incentives that are so generous they attract fake or low-effort reviews

The best incentive is one that feels like a thank-you, not a transaction. "Thanks for taking the time to share your experience — here is 10% off your next order" lands very differently than "Leave a 5-star review and get 20% off."

Also important: make sure your review app can collect incentivized reviews in a way that is compliant with platform policies. Most major review apps handle this properly, but it is worth verifying.

Asking for Photo and Video Reviews Specifically

Text reviews are good. Photo reviews are significantly better. Video reviews are the best of all.

A product page with customer photos converts measurably higher than one with text-only reviews. Shoppers want to see what the product looks like in real life, in someone's actual home or on someone's actual body — not just in your professional product photography.

How to get more photo and video reviews:

Ask explicitly. Your review request email should specifically mention photos. "Snap a quick photo of your [product] — it helps other shoppers see what to expect." People often do not think to include a photo unless you prompt them.
Make it dead simple. The review form should let customers upload photos directly from their phone's camera roll. Any extra friction (resizing, cropping, file size limits) kills the completion rate.
Offer a slightly better incentive for media reviews. "Leave a review for 10% off. Include a photo or video for 15% off." This small differential meaningfully increases photo submission rates.
Show existing photo reviews prominently. When new customers see that other people shared photos, they are more likely to do the same. It sets the norm.

Leveraging the Unboxing Moment

The moment someone opens your package is the peak of their emotional investment in your brand. They are excited. They are curious. They are taking photos for their Instagram stories anyway.

Capitalize on this by including a physical insert in your packaging:

A small card that says "Love it? Share your experience" with a QR code linking directly to the review form
Keep the card visually appealing — it should feel like part of the brand experience, not junk mail
Consider including a specific prompt: "Show us your unboxing setup" or "We would love to see [product] in your space"

QR codes have made this dramatically more effective than the old "visit our website and click..." approach. Customers scan the code while they are still holding the product, and they are taken directly to the review form on their phone. The entire path from unboxing excitement to submitted review can take under two minutes.

How to Handle Your First Negative Review

It is going to happen. And when it does, your instinct will be to panic, get defensive, or try to get it removed. Resist all three impulses.

Why your first negative review is actually good: A product with nothing but 5-star reviews looks suspicious. Modern shoppers know that no product is perfect for everyone. A handful of 3- or 4-star reviews with specific, honest feedback actually increases trust in your overall review profile.

How to respond:

Respond publicly and promptly. Within 24-48 hours. This shows future customers that you care about the experience.
Acknowledge the issue. Do not be defensive. "We are sorry this did not meet your expectations" goes a long way.
Offer a solution. Whether that is a replacement, a refund, or guidance on using the product correctly — show that you stand behind what you sell.
Take details offline. "We have sent you a DM/email to sort this out" moves the resolution to a private channel while showing the public that you are handling it.

Stores that respond thoughtfully to negative reviews often see those customers update their review or become loyal repeat buyers. The recovery experience can be more powerful than the initial purchase experience.

Review Displays That Make Small Numbers Look Good

Here is a practical tip that most new store owners miss: the layout you choose for displaying reviews matters enormously when you have few reviews.

A review grid that is designed to show 6-12 reviews at once looks barren when you only have 3 reviews. Three lonely cards floating in a sea of whitespace does not inspire confidence.

A review carousel, on the other hand, shows one review at a time. Whether you have 3 reviews or 300, the carousel always looks full and intentional. Each review gets the spotlight, and the visitor's perception is "this store has reviews" — not "this store barely has reviews."

Practical display recommendations by review count:

1-5 reviews: Use a single featured review or a simple carousel. Avoid grids entirely.
5-15 reviews: A carousel works perfectly. You can also use a compact list with a prominent star summary at the top.
15-30 reviews: You have enough for a grid layout to look populated. Consider a carousel on the homepage and a grid on the product page.
30-100 reviews: All layout formats work. This is a good time to start testing which layout converts best for your specific store. Tools like Eevy AI can automatically A/B test different review layouts to find your optimal display.
100+: You have graduated. Every layout works, and optimization becomes about fine-tuning rather than surviving.

The key insight is that your review display strategy should evolve as your review count grows. What works at 5 reviews is wrong at 50, and what works at 50 is suboptimal at 500.

Importing Reviews From Other Platforms Ethically

If you are moving to Shopify from another platform, or if you have been selling on Amazon, Etsy, or elsewhere, you may have existing reviews that you want to bring with you.

What is fair game:

Reviews from your own website on another platform (e.g., WooCommerce to Shopify migration)
Reviews collected through your own email campaigns or social media
Reviews from marketplace listings where you are the brand owner and the reviews are about your product

What is not:

Reviews from other sellers' listings (even if it is the same product)
Fabricated or rewritten reviews
Reviews from paid review services

Most review apps support CSV import, which makes the technical process straightforward. The ethical line is simple: only import reviews that were genuinely written about your product by your actual customers.

When importing, preserve the original dates. Backdating reviews to make them look recent is deceptive and can backfire if customers notice reviews from "two years ago" on a store that launched last month.

Building Momentum: From 10 to 100

Once you have your first 10 reviews, the flywheel starts turning. More reviews lead to higher conversion, which leads to more orders, which leads to more review opportunities.

To accelerate this flywheel:

Optimize your review request flow continuously. Test different email subject lines, send times, and incentive structures. Small improvements in your collection rate compound quickly.
Feature reviews in your marketing. Use your best reviews in social media posts, email campaigns, and ad creative. This serves double duty: it is great marketing content, and it shows other customers that their reviews get seen and valued.
Respond to every review. Yes, every one. A simple "Thank you for sharing your experience!" takes 10 seconds and signals to future reviewers that their feedback is valued.
Make the review process seamless. Every extra click between the email and the submitted review costs you completions. Audit your review flow on mobile — that is where most of your customers will be completing it.
Segment your requests. As you learn more about your customers, send different review requests to different segments. Repeat customers might respond to "You have been using [product] for a while now — has your opinion changed?" while first-time buyers respond better to the standard sequence.

The Compound Effect

Here is what most new store owners underestimate: reviews compound. Each review makes the next one easier to get (social proof), makes your product pages convert better (trust), improves your SEO (fresh, keyword-rich user-generated content), and gives you marketing material to use across channels.

The stores that reach 100 reviews fastest are not the ones with the best products — they are the ones with the most systematic approach to review collection. They treat it as a core business process, not an afterthought.

Start today. Send that first review request email. Include that card in your next shipment. Respond to the review you have been ignoring. Every small action moves you closer to the tipping point where reviews start generating themselves.

Your product is already good enough. Now you just need your customers to say so.