Adding customer reviews to BigCommerce: 3 ways (2026)

I’ve added customer reviews to four BigCommerce stores in the last year, two using BigCommerce’s built-in native review system and two using App Marketplace apps for more advanced features.

Which route works depends entirely on what kind of store you run and how much design control you need.

Here’s what I learned. There are four real ways to add customer reviews to a BigCommerce store in 2026.

The first decision is whether BigCommerce’s built-in review system meets your needs, or whether you need to bring in an App Marketplace app. I’ll walk through both, plus four implementation routes.

First: Does BigCommerce’s native review system actually work for you?

This catches many BigCommerce store owners off guard. The platform ships with a free, built-in customer reviews feature that works across all plans. Two things to know before you decide:

• It works for product reviews from your own buyers. Native reviews are collected from customers who place orders on your BigCommerce store. After the order ships, BigCommerce can automatically email buyers to request a 1- to 5-star rating and written feedback. The “only accept reviews from past customers” toggle keeps spam out.
• It has design limits. Native reviews display in a fixed position at the bottom of product pages. No carousel, no slider, no above-the-fold star rating snippet on category pages, no Google or Yelp aggregation. The look is functional but plain.

If you just want product reviews from your own buyers in a basic layout, Method 1 (native) is the simplest. If you need carousels, sliders, multi-platform aggregation, or above-fold star snippets, Methods 2 through 4 are the right path.

4 ways to add customer reviews to BigCommerce (quick comparison)

The cheat sheet I wish I’d had on day one.

Method	Effort	Plan needed	Cost	Best for
BigCommerce native reviews	Low	Any plan	Included	Basic product reviews with auto-email collection
App Marketplace app (WiserReview)	Low	Any plan	Free + paid tiers	Polished widgets, UGC, multi-platform features, Multi-platform reviews, design control, portable
Manual entry (admin or testimonial blocks)	Medium	Any plan	Free	3-5 hand-picked reviews or migration imports

If you just want my pick: run native reviews AND a third-party widget in parallel. Native handles auto-email collection from your buyers. The widget aggregates Google, Yelp, and Facebook data on the homepage and category pages that native ads can’t reach.

Quick note: Stencil themes, Page Builder, and Script Manager

Three BigCommerce realities worth knowing before installing anything:

• Stencil: BigCommerce’s modern theme framework. Every store launched after 2017 uses Stencil. All the methods below work on Stencil themes without issue.
• Page Builder: BigCommerce’s drag-and-drop visual editor inside the admin. The HTML widget (used for embedding third-party reviews) lives here and works on any product, category, or web page.
• Script Manager: a global injection tool under Storefront > Script Manager. Useful for site-wide widgets (a 4.9-star badge in the footer, for example) without editing theme files.

All four methods below work on Stencil themes and modern BigCommerce plans (Standard, Plus, Pro, Enterprise). Where compatibility matters, I’ll call it out.

Why add customer reviews to BigCommerce at all?

Quick gut check before you spend time.

BigCommerce powers many mid-market and enterprise stores where average order values are high enough that hesitation kills conversions.

Online review data shows 95% of shoppers read reviews before purchasing, and products with reviews convert up to 58% better than those without—Northwestern research found the purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews is 270% greater than one with none.

Specific wins I’ve seen on BigCommerce stores:

• Higher add-to-cart rate on product pages. A specialty foods store added a 4-review widget below the product description. Add-to-cart climbed across the entire catalog, no other change.
• Rich snippets in organic search. Apps and widgets that output schema.org AggregateRating markup can earn star ratings next to product pages in Google search, lifting organic CTR by up to 30%.
• Lower cart abandonment. Reviews near the checkout button reassure hesitant buyers, especially regarding shipping, returns, and quality.
• Free social proof that updates itself. Set the widget once. New 5-star reviews appear automatically.

Worth the hour. Let’s get into it.

Method 1: BigCommerce’s built-in native reviews (free, on every plan)

If you want the simplest path with zero extra cost, BigCommerce ships with a native customer reviews system built into the admin.

It collects reviews from your buyers via auto-email and displays them at the bottom of product pages. Available on every plan (Standard, Plus, Pro, Enterprise).

What you get out of the box:

• 1-to-5 star ratings plus written reviews with a title.
• Auto-email to buyers after an order is marked Completed or Shipped (timing is configurable).
• The anti-spam toggle “Only accept product reviews from past customers” cross-references the reviewer’s email address against your order history.
• Throttler settings to prevent rapid-fire spam submissions.
• Approve, edit, or delete reviews from the admin.
• Manual entry from the admin if you want to migrate reviews from another platform.

Steps to enable native reviews:

1. Log in to your BigCommerce admin.
2. Go to Storefront > Product Reviews, or, in older admin layouts, to Apps > Comments > Built-in > Product Reviews.
3. Toggle product reviews to Enabled.
4. Check: Only accept product reviews from past customers. Keeps spam out.
5. Go to Store Setup > Store Settings > Miscellaneous. Scroll to Throttler and enable it to add spam protection to the review submission form.
6. To customize the review request email, go to Storefront > Email Templates > Product Review Email. Edit the subject line, body, and timing (days after the order is marked Shipped or Completed).
7. Save. From this point forward, every shipped order triggers a review request email after the delay you set.

Honest take: native reviews are the cheapest way to collect from your own buyers, but the display side is plain. You can’t get a slider, a carousel, or a homepage star badge without code.

You also can’t aggregate reviews from Google, Yelp, or Facebook. For mid-market stores that need a polished design, expect to layer on Method 2 or 3.

Good for: BigCommerce stores that want product reviews from buyers, automatically, with no extra monthly cost.

Method 2: Add Product Reviews to BigCommerce With WiserReview

WiserReview lets you display product reviews, automatically collect new reviews, and manage everything from one dashboard.

Here’s the full video walkthrough showing how to set up product reviews and review automation on BigCommerce with WiserReview.

Step 1: Install WiserReview

In your BigCommerce admin, go to:

Apps > App Marketplace

Search for WiserReview, click Install, and approve the required permissions.

WiserReview will automatically:

• Create your account
• Connect your BigCommerce store
• Import your products with images and URLs
• Create the default widgets
• Create your review automation

You can open WiserReview anytime from Apps > My Apps.

Step 2: Add the Product Review Section

Go to Widgets in WiserReview.

Find Product Review Section and click Configure.

Customize the design, text, colors, and layout. Then click Update.

Next, click Install, choose BigCommerce, and copy the code.

Keep Generate Product Review Schema enabled if you want review schema added to your product pages.

In BigCommerce, go to:

Storefront > Themes > Three Dots > Edit Theme Files

Then open:

Templates > Components > Products > product-view.html

Find the product description section and paste the WiserReview code where you want the reviews to appear, usually below the description.

Save your changes.

Step 3: Add Star Ratings

Go back to Widgets and open the Star Rating widget.

Click:

Configure > Install > BigCommerce

Follow the provided setup instructions.

You can display star ratings:

• Below the product title on product pages
• On product cards on category pages

After adding the code, save your theme changes and hard refresh your storefront.

Step 4: Customize the Review Form

Go to Forms.

Edit the existing questions or add new ones.

Customers can submit:

• Text reviews
• Photos
• Videos

Step 5: Set Up Review Automation

Go to Automate.

Your BigCommerce automation is created automatically after installation, but it is off by default.

Turn it on and choose when WiserReview should send a review request.

By default, you can trigger it when an order moves to Completed.

You can also change the trigger to Shipped.

You can also:

• Set the review request delay
• Filter by product category
• Send reminders to customers who have not reviewed
• Send photo and video follow-ups after text-only reviews
• Edit each email template
• Connect Klaviyo or Omnisend

Step 6: Add Review Incentives

Go to Incentives.

You can automatically reward customers with a BigCommerce discount code after they submit a review.

WiserReview creates the coupon codes in BigCommerce for you.

You can also set different rewards for:

• Text reviews
• Photo reviews
• Video reviews

You can customize the incentive email that sends the discount code.

Step 7: Import and Manage Reviews

Go to Manage Reviews.

To bring in existing reviews, click Import and upload a CSV file from your previous review platform.

You can also manage:

• Review moderation
• Product questions and answers
• Group reviews for similar products

Step 8: Collect Reviews From Past Customers

Go to:

Automate > Manual > Bulk Send

Edit your review request email.

Then choose:

• The past-order date range
• The BigCommerce order status

WiserReview will pull the matching past orders from BigCommerce.

Click Launch Campaign to send the requests.

Step 9: Connect Google Shopping Reviews

Go to Integrations and open Google Shopping.

Map your GTIN or MPN to match the product identifiers used in your Google Merchant Center feed.

Then follow the setup instructions to connect the review feed.

Once configured, eligible product ratings can appear in Google Shopping results.

Once everything is set up, WiserReview can display reviews, collect new reviews automatically, send reminders, request photo and video reviews, offer discounts, import old reviews, and send review data to Google Shopping.

Method 3: Manual entry or testimonial blocks (free, but high-maintenance)

Sometimes you only need three glowing testimonials on your homepage or About page.

Or you’re migrating reviews from another platform and want to enter them by hand. Two ways inside BigCommerce.

Option A: Manual review entry in the admin

BigCommerce’s admin lets you enter reviews manually for any product. Useful for migrations or for adding reviews from offline sources.

1. Go to Products > View and click the product you want to add a review to.
2. Scroll to the Reviews tab inside the product editor.
3. Click Create a Review. Enter the author name, title, review text, rating, date, and status.
4. Save. The review displays on the product page like any native review.

Option B: Testimonial blocks via Page Builder

Copy a glowing review from Google or another source, paste it into a Text widget via Page Builder, and style it with the reviewer’s name and a small attribution.

• Why it works: Zero cost, no app, full design control.
• Where it breaks: No verification link, no auto-updates, and visitors sometimes assume hand-typed reviews are fabricated.

Use the manual route only for 3 to 5 evergreen testimonials per page, or for one-time migration imports. Above that, Methods 1, 2, or 3 win on every axis.

Best practices that actually move the needle

Five things I’ve tested across BigCommerce stores that consistently improve engagement and conversion.

1. Show product-specific reviews on product pages. Mixing reviews across products reduces clarity. Use tags or product SKUs (in your app or widget) to surface only the relevant feedback for each product page. Apps like Yotpo, Stamped, and WiserReview’s AI moderation all support tag-based filtering.
2. Get star ratings above the fold. A 4.9-star snippet near the product title (not just the review list at the bottom of the page) earns rich snippets in Google search and lifts add-to-cart. Most App Marketplace apps and third-party widgets support a separate rating snippet element.
3. Enable schema markup. If your app or widget outputs schema.org AggregateRating markup, enable it. Validate using Google’s Rich Results Test after publishing. This is the single biggest organic-search win.
4. Use the throttler with native reviews. If you’re running BigCommerce’s native system, turn on the throttler under Store Settings > Miscellaneous. This prevents bot submissions and spam clusters.
5. Test on mobile. BigCommerce stores get heavy mobile traffic. Test review widgets at the 375px breakpoint on a real phone before publishing. Some sliders need tuning to avoid horizontal scroll.

Mistakes I see BigCommerce stores make over and over

Three patterns worth avoiding:

Hard-coding reviews into theme files instead of using a widget or Script Manager. When you bake review logic directly into Stencil theme files, every theme update or restyle becomes a manual merge. Use the HTML widget in Page Builder or Script Manager for everything that isn’t a deeply customized template.

Forgetting to mark orders as shipped. BigCommerce only sends review request emails after an order is marked Completed or Shipped. If you fulfill orders outside BigCommerce without updating the status, the auto-email never fires. Check your shipping integration is updating the order status correctly.

Running two review apps at once. If you install Yotpo, Judge.me, and a third-party widget all at the same time, you get duplicate widgets, conflicting scripts, and slow page loads. Pick one display tool and commit. Native + one third-party at most.

Which method should you actually pick?

Short version:

• Pick native BigCommerce reviews if you want zero-cost, automated review collection from your buyers, and you’re okay with a plain display layout. Included on every BigCommerce plan.
• Pick the HTML widget embed (like WiserReview) if you want multi-platform reviews (Google + Facebook + Yelp), full design control, photo and video reviews, or a portable embed that survives a future platform change. Try it free for 7 days; paid plans are $9/month or $6.75/month annually.
• Pick the manual method if you have fewer than five testimonials or want to migrate reviews in bulk via the admin.

For most BigCommerce merchants I work with, the right answer is two methods in parallel: native reviews for automated collection from buyers + a third-party widget for homepage, category, and multi-platform aggregation.

Together, they cover the whole store without overlap.

If you want to try the third-party widget path, WiserReview comes with a 7-day free trial and works with Stencil themes, Page Builder, Script Manager, and any BigCommerce plan.