Shoppers trust a photo from another customer more than any product shot you take. A real picture of the jacket on a real person, or the lamp in a real living room, answers questions your description cannot. WooCommerce reviews are text and stars only out of the box, though. This tutorial shows how to add photo and video reviews to WooCommerce step by step, ask customers for them by email, and keep the uploads safe, using our ReviewLens photo and video reviews plugin.
Disclosure: 007AJ makes ReviewLens. The checklist and the moderation tips apply to any review plugin.
Before you start: what WooCommerce already gives you
WooCommerce has a basic review system built in. Check these settings first under WooCommerce → Settings → Products → General:
- Enable product reviews: must be on.
- Show “verified owner” label on customer reviews: turn it on. It tells shoppers the reviewer actually bought the product.
- Reviews can only be left by “verified owners”: optional. It cuts spam, but it also blocks people who received the product as a gift.
- Enable star rating on reviews and Star ratings should be required: both on.
Reviews are WordPress comments, so Settings → Discussion also applies. What core WooCommerce does not do is accept photos or videos, show a star histogram or answer product questions. Recent WooCommerce versions also include a Customer Review Request email, but it is a beta feature, off by default (WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → Features). That is the gap a review plugin fills.
Step 1: Install the plugin
- Download ReviewLens from your 007AJ account.
- Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the zip and click Activate. WooCommerce must be active.
- Open WooCommerce → ReviewLens. The settings are split into tabs: Reviews display, Media uploads, Review form, Review requests, Incentive coupons, Q&A, Moderation & spam, SEO / Schema and Import/Export & Tools.
Your existing reviews show straight away with the new summary. ReviewLens reads and writes normal WooCommerce reviews, so there is nothing to import and nothing is locked in if you remove it later.
Step 2: Turn on photo and video uploads
Open the Media uploads tab. Sensible starting values:
- Allow photos: on. JPG, PNG and WebP are accepted, and HEIC from iPhones is converted to JPG when your server supports it.
- Allow 1 video (MP4/WebM): on if your products move or need showing in use. The default limit is 30 MB, and the tab shows the upload limit your server accepts.
- Maximum photos per review: 5 is plenty (the default).
- Only verified buyers can upload: worth turning on for a new store. It stops strangers from uploading images to your site.
You do not need to do anything about privacy metadata. Every image is re-encoded on your server, which strips EXIF and GPS location data and any hidden payloads. Many phone photos carry the exact location of the customer’s home, so this matters.
Step 3: Choose how reviews look
In Reviews display, keep the defaults for a first test: the star summary with a clickable 5 to 1 histogram, the “Customer photos” strip above the reviews, filters and sorting (by stars, with photos or videos, verified, most helpful) and the verified buyer badge. Pick a layout: list, grid or masonry. Masonry suits fashion and home decor stores with lots of photos.
If your theme styles reviews in a special way, set Reviews template to “Keep theme template”. ReviewLens then only adds titles, pros and cons, and media to your theme’s own review list.
Step 4: Make the review form useful
The Review form tab controls what customers fill in. A short form gets more reviews, so add fields carefully:
- Review title: on (helps scanning).
- “Would you recommend?” question: on. It powers the “% would recommend” figure in the summary.
- Pros and cons: useful for electronics and tools, overkill for socks.
- Rating criteria: one per line, for example “Fit” or “Quality”. You can limit a criterion to categories, such as
Fit|shoes,apparel. - Require a consent checkbox: turn it on if you sell in the EU, the UK or Canada. The default text asks permission to publish the review, name and media.
Step 5: Ask for reviews automatically
Most happy customers never think to leave a review. A polite email a week after delivery fixes that. In Review requests:
- Turn on Send review request emails. They are scheduled with Action Scheduler when an order is marked Completed.
- Set Days after completion. The default is 7. For slow shipping, use 10 to 14 so the parcel has arrived.
- Optionally turn on Send one reminder. One is enough; more is nagging.
- Leave Checkout consent on “checkbox” if you have customers in the EU, the UK or Canada. Every email has an unsubscribe link either way.
The email links to a one-click review page where the customer can rate, write and upload photos without logging in. Because these are WooCommerce emails, edit the wording under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails. Make sure your store actually sends email first; if you are not sure, see how to fix WordPress emails with SMTP.
Step 6: Offer a reward the honest way (optional)
A small coupon for a photo review can lift the number of photos a lot. ReviewLens can send one after a verified review is approved, with a bigger reward for photo or video reviews. Follow the rules, though:
- Offer the reward for any honest review, never only for positive ones. In the United States the FTC’s rule on consumer reviews, in force since October 2024, bans incentives that depend on the review being positive or negative.
- Keep Label reviews that received an incentive on, so shoppers can see which reviews were rewarded.
- Set a coupon expiry, for example 60 days, and a minimum spend if your margins are thin.
Step 7: Moderate, then test the whole flow
In Moderation & spam, keep the honeypot and the time trap on and leave Hold reviews with photos/videos for approval on. Held media is kept in a protected folder with a random name and only moves to the public uploads folder when you approve the review. If your site runs on nginx, the readme suggests adding a deny rule for /uploads/reviewlens/held/ as an extra layer.
Then test like a customer:
- Place a test order, mark it Completed and check that a review request is scheduled.
- Open the product page in a private window and leave a review with two photos.
- Approve it in the moderation screen and check the photo strip, the histogram and the lightbox on desktop and mobile.
- Run the product page through Google’s Rich Results Test. ReviewLens adds aggregateRating and reviews to WooCommerce’s own Product schema, so there is one Product node, not two.
Tips for getting more photo reviews
- Put a line on your packing slip or thank-you page: “Show us how it looks. Photo reviews help other shoppers.”
- Reply to reviews, especially the critical ones. A calm store response under a 3-star review builds more trust than ten 5-star ones.
- Feature customer photos on the homepage with the media wall or carousel block, or the
[reviewlens_media_wall]shortcode. - Do not delete honest negative reviews. A wall of only 5-star reviews looks fake, and suppressing reviews is also covered by the FTC rule.
Want more help collecting interest before a launch too? Pair reviews with an email list: see how to add an email popup in WordPress for free. Comparing review tools before you choose? Read our roundup of the best WooCommerce review plugins for 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can WooCommerce accept photo reviews without a plugin?
No. Core WooCommerce reviews support text and star ratings only. You need a plugin such as ReviewLens, Customer Reviews for WooCommerce or ReviewX to accept photo and video uploads.
Will a review plugin replace my existing WooCommerce reviews?
Not with ReviewLens. It reads and writes normal WooCommerce reviews, so your existing reviews show straight away and stay in place if you remove the plugin.
Are customer photos safe to publish?
They should be re-encoded before they go live. ReviewLens re-encodes every image on your server, which removes EXIF and GPS location data, and it keeps media for unapproved reviews in a protected folder.
When should I send a review request email?
After the customer has had time to use the product. Seven days after the order is completed is a good default; use 10 to 14 days if shipping is slow. Send one reminder at most.
Can I give a coupon for a review?
Yes, if you offer it for any honest review and not only for positive ones, and you label the rewarded reviews. Rules differ by country, so check what applies to your store.
More free tools: see all our free WordPress plugins or browse the 007AJ shop.