If your review request goes out when the order ships, some customers get it before the parcel arrives, and they can't review something they haven't opened. Move the trigger to delivery, add a wait that matches how long your product takes to prove itself, and ask for one review in one place with one link. That's the whole system; the rest is getting the timing and the rules right.
The usual starting point is either a review app's default ("send 14 days after fulfillment") or the owner emailing a Google link by hand to customers they remember. The first fires at the wrong moment for half the catalogue; the second only reaches the customers who were memorable, which may mean mostly the happy ones.
Start the clock at delivery, not at shipping
Check what your tool counts as day zero. Some review workflows start when an order is marked fulfilled, which in practice means shipped. Omnisend's review request workflow, for instance, starts on Order Fulfilled with a default delay of two weeks, and its help page suggests about 7 days for domestic orders and 21 or more for international ones to cover delivery time.
If your store gets delivery updates from the carrier, use them. Shopify's Shipment delivered notification goes out when the carrier or fulfillment app reports a delivered tracking event, so the timing is only as good as the carrier's tracking. Adding a short line and a review link to that email is the simplest version of everything below. If you want a separate email a few days later, you need an automation or review app that can trigger on the delivered status.
No delivery tracking at all? Use shipping date plus your typical delivery time plus the product delay below, and accept that a few emails will arrive early.
How long to wait after delivery
Ask when the customer can tell whether the product works. Starting points by product type:
| Product | Wait after delivery | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Clothes, gifts, decor, books | 3–5 days | They know on first use whether they like it |
| Coffee, food, small consumables | 7–10 days | Long enough to have used it a few times |
| Skincare, supplements, plants, training plans | 3–4 weeks | Results take time; an early review is about the packaging |
| Tools, appliances, equipment | 2–3 weeks | Long enough to have used it on a real job |
| Services (a repair, a cleaning, a session) | Same day or the next morning | The experience is fresh and complete |
These are starting points, not research. If a product gets reviews that say "haven't used it yet", move its wait further out.
Pick one place to send them
Decide which review you need, and ask for that one only:
- Product reviews on your own site, shown on the product page. These need a review app connected to your store or email platform. Omnisend's workflow, for example, works with apps such as Judge.me, Loox, Stamped and Yotpo, and the customer clicks through to leave the review on your site; reviews can't be written inside the email.
- A Google review of your business. This suits local businesses and services, where people search for you on Google Maps. Google's tips for getting reviews suggest sharing a review link or QR code, which you create from your Business Profile.
Asking for both in one email splits the click. If you need both, ask for the product review after delivery, and for the Google review only from customers who come back for a second order.
The email
Keep it short enough to read on a phone in ten seconds:
Subject: How's the [product name] working out?
Hi [first name],
Your [product name] arrived on [delivery date]. If you've had a chance to use it, would you leave a short review? Two or three sentences about how you use it help the next person decide.
[Leave a review]
If something isn't right with your order, just reply to this email and I'll sort it out.
[Your name]
The reply line matters. It gives an unhappy customer a direct way to reach you, in the same email that everyone gets, without deciding for them which way they go.
One follow-up, then stop. Five to seven days later, send a shorter reminder only to people who didn't click. If your review app can tell you someone has already reviewed, exclude them. Don't send a third.
Stay inside the review rules
Two habits get stores into trouble with Google reviews.
Paying for reviews in any form. Google's contribution policy lists offering incentives, such as payment, discounts or free goods or services, in exchange for posting a review as fake engagement. "Leave a review and get 10% off your next order" or a gift card for a review breaks that, even when you don't care whether the review is positive. For reviews on your own site the rules are set elsewhere: in the US, the FTC's questions and answers on its consumer review rule say incentives aren't banned as long as they don't require a particular sentiment, and that not disclosing them can still be a problem. Other countries and other review sites have their own rules, so check the one you're asking for before you add any reward.
Asking only the happy customers. The same Google policy says businesses must not discourage negative reviews or selectively ask for positive ones. A setup sometimes called review gating does exactly that: "How did we do?" with stars, where four or five stars leads to Google and one to three leads to a private feedback form. Send the same request to every customer and keep the problem route (the reply line above) available to everyone.
Check it after a month
Count review requests sent, clicks on the review link and reviews received, per product type. If one type gets clicks but few finished reviews, the wait is probably too short. If a type gets almost no clicks, try a different subject line before you try anything else. And if happy customers aren't coming back to buy again, the emails after the first order are the next thing to set up.