How to set up and configure product reviews and ratings in Magento

Magento is a popular ecommerce platform that offers a wide range of features and functionalities to help businesses create and manage their online stores. One important feature that can enhance the shopping experience for customers is the ability to leave product reviews and ratings. In this article, we will discuss how to set up and configure product reviews and ratings in Magento.

Why Are Product Reviews and Ratings Important?

Product reviews and ratings play a crucial role in influencing a customer's purchasing decision. They provide social proof and help potential buyers make informed choices. Customers are more likely to trust a product that has positive reviews and high ratings. By allowing customers to leave reviews and ratings, you can build trust, increase conversions, and improve customer satisfaction.

Enabling Product Reviews in Magento

Magento comes with built-in functionality to enable product reviews and ratings. Follow the steps below to enable this feature:

1. Login to your Magento admin panel.
2. Navigate to Stores > Settings > Configuration.
3. Under Catalog, select Review.
4. Set Enable Product Reviews to Yes.
5. Click Save Config to save the changes.

Configuring Product Review Settings

After enabling product reviews, you can configure various settings to customize the review functionality according to your requirements. Here are some important settings you can adjust:

Review Approval

Magento allows you to choose whether reviews should be automatically approved or require manual approval. Automatic approval can save time, but manual approval gives you more control over the content published on your site. To configure review approval settings:

1. Navigate to Stores > Settings > Configuration.
2. Under Catalog, select Review.
3. Set Allow Guests to Write Reviews to Yes if you want non-registered users to be able to write reviews.
4. Set Allow Only Customers to Write Reviews to Yes if you want only registered customers to be able to write reviews.
5. Set New Reviews to Manual if you want to manually approve each review before it is published.
6. Click Save Config to save the changes.

Review Display

You can also customize how reviews are displayed on your product pages. Magento offers various options to control the display of reviews, such as:

• Show summary rating
• Show detailed rating
• Show review form
• Show reviews per page
• Show pager

To configure review display settings:

1. Navigate to Stores > Settings > Configuration.
2. Under Catalog, select Review.
3. Adjust the settings under Product Review Display Configuration according to your preferences.
4. Click Save Config to save the changes.

Rating Options

Magento allows you to customize the rating options for product reviews. By default, Magento provides five-star ratings for customers to rate products. However, you can modify the rating options to better suit your business needs. To customize the rating options:

1. Navigate to Stores > Attributes > Rating.
2. Click on Add New Rating.
3. Enter a Rating Title and select the Rating Code.
4. Specify the Position of the rating.
5. Set the Is Active option to Yes.
6. Click Save Rating to save the changes.

Managing Product Reviews

Once you have enabled and configured product reviews in Magento, you can start managing and moderating the reviews submitted by customers. Here are some key tasks you can perform:

Approving and Disapproving Reviews

If you have set the review approval to manual, you will need to approve or disapprove each review before it is published. To approve or disapprove reviews:

1. Login to your Magento admin panel.
2. Navigate to Catalog > Reviews and Ratings > Customer Reviews.
3. Find the review you want to approve or disapprove.
4. Click on the review to open it.
5. Set the Status to either Approved or Not Approved.
6. Click Save Review to save the changes.

Editing Reviews

If a customer has submitted a review with incorrect information or you need to make any changes, you can edit the review. To edit a review:

1. Login to your Magento admin panel.
2. Navigate to Catalog > Reviews and Ratings > Customer Reviews.
3. Find the review you want to edit.
4. Click on the review to open it.
5. Make the necessary changes to the review content.
6. Click Save Review to save the changes.

Replying to Reviews

You can also engage with customers by replying to their reviews. Replying to reviews shows that you value customer feedback and can help build a positive brand image. To reply to a review:

1. Login to your Magento admin panel.
2. Navigate to Catalog > Reviews and Ratings > Customer Reviews.
3. Find the review you want to reply to.
4. Click on the review to open it.
5. Enter your reply in the Reply field.
6. Click Save Review to save the changes.

Conclusion

Enabling product reviews and ratings in Magento can significantly enhance your ecommerce store by providing valuable insights and social proof to potential customers. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily set up and configure product reviews and ratings in Magento, and effectively manage and moderate customer feedback. Utilizing this feature can help improve customer trust, increase conversions, and boost overall customer satisfaction.