While most eCommerce reviews are submitted organically by customers through product pages or automated email reminders, there are numerous scenarios where store owners need to add a review manually. Whether migrating offline feedback collected at in-person events and pop-up markets, adding testimonials received via phone orders and email support, or incorporating quotes from influencer product seeding campaigns, ReviewX makes manual review creation effortless.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Available on ReviewX Pro plans, the Manual Review Drawer lets store administrators create fully formatted reviews — complete with star ratings, multi-criteria breakdowns, photo/video attachments, verified purchaser badges, and recommendations — directly from the WordPress admin.
1. Legitimate Use Cases for Manual Review Creation
- Offline & In-Person Sales: Customers who bought your products at a trade show, pop-up market, or retail storefront and sent praise via email or handwritten comment cards.
- Customer Support Testimonials: Positive feedback and success stories shared with your customer service team via live chat, telephone, or support tickets.
- Influencer & Beta Tester Seeding: Pre-release product reviews collected from authorized brand ambassadors, influencers, or beta testers prior to a public launch.
- Platform Migration Cleanups: Quickly adding missing single reviews without preparing an entire CSV bulk import file.
2. Step-by-Step Guide: Adding a Manual Review
Follow these steps to create a review manually from the ReviewX dashboard:
- From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to ReviewX → Reviews → All reviews.
- Click the Add new review button located in the top-right toolbar. This opens the slide-over Add Review Side Drawer (
AddReviewSideDrawer.vue). - Select Product: Click the searchable product input to select the target WooCommerce product or Custom Post Type item. The selector displays the product thumbnail, ID, and post type.
- Assign Ratings: Set the overall star rating (1 to 5 stars). If Multi-Criteria reviews are enabled, individual criteria sliders (e.g., Quality, Value, Ease of Use) will appear automatically.
- Enter Feedback: Input a clear Review Title and detailed Review Description in the text area.
- Reviewer Information: Enter the customer’s Full Name and valid Email Address.
- Configure Status Badges:
- Mark as verified: Toggle ON to award the official Verified Purchaser badge.
- Mark as recommended: Toggle ON to flag “I recommend this product”.
- Mark as anonymous: Toggle ON if the customer requested privacy.
- Attach Media (Optional): Upload authentic customer photos or short video clips to attach them directly to the review.
- Set Moderation Status: Choose whether the review should be published immediately (Approved) or held as Pending.
- Click Create Review to publish the review instantly.
(1) Product Selector: Search and pick the target WooCommerce product or Custom Post Type item.
(2) Star Rating & Criteria: Interactive rating selectors for overall and multi-criteria feedback.
(3) Title & Description: Review title headline and descriptive review body text.
(4) Reviewer Details: Author name and email address.
(5) Verification & Recommendation: Toggles for verified buyer badge and customer recommendation.
(6) Create Review: Saves and publishes the review to your storefront and SaaS sync pipeline.
3. Managing and Editing Manually Created Reviews
Once created, manual reviews appear in your primary ReviewX → All reviews data table alongside customer-submitted entries:
- Editing: Click the Edit (Pencil) icon on any review row to open the Review Edit Side Drawer and update text, ratings, or reviewer details.
- Admin Reply: Add an official shop reply to thank the customer or highlight specific product features.
- Status Changes: Move reviews between Approved, Pending, Spam, and Trash at any time.
4. Legal & Ethical Best Practices (FTC & EU Compliance)
When creating reviews manually, it is essential to adhere to global advertising regulations and consumer protection laws (including the US FTC Guidelines on Endorsements and the EU Omnibus Directive):
- Keep Feedback Genuine: Never fabricate fake reviews or artificially inflate ratings. Manually entered reviews must reflect real customer statements.
- Accurate Verification Badges: Only toggle Mark as verified if you have verifiable proof of purchase (such as an invoice, transaction receipt, or store order ID).
- Disclose Material Connections: If a review was provided by an influencer, family member, or beta tester who received free product, state the disclosure clearly within the review text.
