Review Request Email: Timing, Templates + Klaviyo Setup

Most brands ask for reviews at the wrong time, in the wrong way, from the wrong tool. The request lands before the parcel does, asks about four products at once, and comes from a review app’s default template that looks nothing like the rest of the brand’s email.

A good review request email is short, well timed, and triggered from real delivery data. This guide covers the anatomy, timing by product type, templates you can adapt, and how to run it in Klaviyo with each of the main review platforms (verified against their documentation as of September 2026).

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What is a review request email?

A review request email asks a recent customer to rate and review what they bought, sent automatically once they have had time to use it. It links directly to a review form, is usually followed by one reminder, and is the main engine for the product reviews, star ratings and photo reviews that lift conversion across your site, ads and other emails.

It sits inside your post-purchase flow, after the order confirmation, shipping and onboarding emails. It should never be the first thing a customer hears from you after buying.

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Why review requests deserve their own flow

• Conversion. Northwestern’s Spiegel Research Center, working with PowerReviews data, found the purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews was 270% greater than for one with none, with the benefit diminishing quickly after the first five. Getting every product past its first handful of reviews is the priority.
• Content. Photo and video reviews become creative for welcome emails, abandoned cart emails and paid social.
• Product intelligence. Low ratings clustered on one product or batch are an early warning.
• Segmentation. Review events in Klaviyo let you route happy reviewers to referral or loyalty asks and route unhappy ones to support.

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Anatomy of a review request email that gets responses

Element	What good looks like
Sender name	A person at the brand (“Sarah at [Brand]”) or the brand name you use everywhere else
Subject line	Conversational, names the product: “How’s your [product], [first name]?”
Opening	One line about their experience, not your need for reviews
Product image	The exact product and variant they bought
The ask	One sentence: “Would you share a quick review to help other shoppers?”
Call to action	One button or star rating that opens the review form
Effort signal	”Takes about 30 seconds” (only if true)
Incentive (optional)	Disclosed, and offered for any honest review
Support route	”Something not right? Reply and we’ll fix it”

The support line matters. A customer with a problem who can reach you directly becomes a resolved ticket instead of a one-star review.

Subject line examples

• How’s your {{ product name }}, {{ first name }}?
• Quick question about your order
• Two weeks in: how are you finding it?
• Your honest opinion (30 seconds)
• Did {{ product name }} live up to the hype?

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When to send a review request email (timing by product type)

The rule: count from delivery, not purchase, and wait until the customer has had a fair chance to use the product. Klaviyo Reviews defaults to 7 days after delivery for online orders and 3 days after purchase for point-of-sale orders, and lets Shopify stores adjust the delay (WooCommerce timing is based on fulfilment date).

PowerReviews’ guidance, from hundreds of thousands of review requests, counts from purchase: about 21 days for hard goods, 14 days for soft goods and perishables, and 7 days for seasonal items. The starting points below count from delivery instead, because transit times vary so much. Test them against your own data:

Product type	First request	Reminder	Why
Apparel, footwear, accessories	5–10 days after delivery	+5–7 days	Fit and look are judged on first wear
Consumer electronics, gadgets	10–14 days	+7 days	Needs setup and a few uses
Home goods, furniture	14–21 days	+7–10 days	Assembly, placement, living with it
Beauty and cosmetics (colour)	7–10 days	+7 days	Shade and finish are judged immediately
Skincare	21–30 days	+7–10 days	Results take weeks; early reviews say “too soon to tell”
Supplements	21–30 days	+7–10 days	Effects take consistent use; a 30-serving product suits day 21–25
Food, coffee, beverages	5–10 days	+5 days	Consumed quickly
Pet products	10–14 days	+7 days	The pet has to try it (and decide)
Subscriptions	After the 2nd delivery	Optional	First box is often a trial

If you sell internationally, split by country and add the extra transit days, or trigger from a delivered event so the carrier handles the difference.

Using delivery events in Klaviyo

With Shopify, Klaviyo can receive Delivered Shipment events where your carrier supports them. Triggering from delivery rather than fulfilment is the single biggest timing fix most brands can make. Klaviyo’s generic third-party review flow guidance uses Fulfilled Order with a delay longer than your average delivery time (it suggests around 14 days) where delivery data is not available. (The order confirmation guide covers these events in more detail.)

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How to run review requests in Klaviyo (by platform)

The main advantage of sending review requests from Klaviyo rather than the review app is control: your templates, your timing splits, your SMS, and one place to see the whole post-purchase journey. Here is how each platform connects, as of September 2026.

Platform	Klaviyo trigger	Notes
Klaviyo Reviews	Ready to review event, with a prebuilt “Klaviyo Reviews: Review request” flow in the flow library	Default 7 days after delivery (online); timing adjustable on Shopify
Okendo	Eligible for Okendo Review Request	Also sends Ineligible for Okendo Review Request (returns/refunds) and Created Okendo Review
Yotpo	Eligible for Yotpo Review Request	Yotpo says Klaviyo review requests are treated as marketing, and in-email review forms are not supported from Klaviyo
Judge.me	Eligible for Judge.me Review Request	Fires when the order is fulfilled; Judge.me lists the integration on its Awesome plan
REVIEWS.io	Fulfilled Order plus a delay, using REVIEWS.io’s Dynamic Link	Sends ReviewsIOReview and positive, negative, product, photo, video and survey variants. Help centre lists Klaviyo from Start-Up and Dynamic Link from Grow; Shopify App Store plan names differ

Klaviyo Reviews

Klaviyo’s native reviews product tracks a Ready to review event when an item is delivered or fulfilled and meets your criteria. Use the prebuilt flow as your starting point, then customise. Its reporting gives a response rate (verified submitted reviews divided by Ready to review events), which is the number to optimise.

Okendo

Okendo sends Eligible for Okendo Review Request when an order is fulfilled and paid in full. Okendo’s recommended setup: trigger the flow on that event, and add a filter so anyone with an Ineligible for Okendo Review Request event (triggered by returns and refunds) since starting the flow drops out. That filter stops you asking someone who returned the product how they are enjoying it. Check Okendo’s plan requirements for sending requests from Klaviyo.

Yotpo

Yotpo’s Klaviyo guide uses Eligible for Yotpo Review Request as the trigger and lists the integration for its Pro, Premium and Enterprise plans. Two caveats from Yotpo: review requests sent from Klaviyo are treated as marketing (so consent rules apply), and Klaviyo does not support writing the review inside the email, so customers click through to a landing page. Include the submission link (Yotpo’s submit_url) in reminders so reviews stay verified.

Judge.me

When the order is fulfilled, Judge.me sends Eligible for Judge.me Review Request to Klaviyo instead of sending its own email. Add your delay in the flow (Judge.me’s example is 7 days after fulfilment) and use conditional splits for different delays by country or product. Judge.me lists the Klaviyo integration on its Awesome plan.

REVIEWS.io

We’re an official partner of Clearer.io, the group REVIEWS.io belongs to.

REVIEWS.io connects to Klaviyo from its dashboard under Integrations → Klaviyo: click Link Account, choose your Klaviyo account and click Allow. No API keys are needed. If you run several stores, add an Order ID prefix. REVIEWS.io’s help centre lists the integration from its Start-Up plan; its Shopify App Store plans are named differently, so check which of them includes Klaviyo for your store.

It sends review events to Klaviyo: ReviewsIOReview, ReviewsIOPositiveReview (4–5 stars) and ReviewsIONegativeReview (1–3 stars), product-level versions of each, and ReviewsIOPhoto, ReviewsIOVideo and ReviewsIOSurvey. Since April 2026 it also syncs each review to Klaviyo as a structured record with the star rating, review text, photo URLs and submission time, which makes review-based segments easier to build.

To send the invitations themselves from Klaviyo, you need REVIEWS.io’s Dynamic Link (Grow plan or higher). REVIEWS.io’s setup uses Klaviyo’s Product Review / Cross Sell flow template, which triggers on Fulfilled Order with a 14-day delay, and swaps its button link for the Dynamic Link. Alternatively, build the flow yourself on Fulfilled Order with the delay that suits your product. After a review comes in, trigger a follow-up flow on ReviewsIOReview and split on positive or negative: thank positive reviewers and offer a referral, and send negative reviewers to support.

Comparing review platforms? See our Yotpo alternatives guide, which covers pricing and Klaviyo support for eight apps.

Whichever platform you use

1. Turn off the review app’s own request emails once the Klaviyo flow is live, or customers get two.
2. Filter out returns, refunds and cancellations.
3. Filter out people who already reviewed before the reminder (use the platform’s review-created event).
4. Split by product type for timing, using trigger or conditional splits on product or collection.
5. Add SMS for customers with SMS consent. Several platforms support review requests by text.

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Review request email templates

Adapt these to your voice. Keep each under 100 words.

Template 1: The simple ask

Subject: How’s your {{ product }}, {{ first name }}?

Hi {{ first name }},

Your {{ product }} arrived a couple of weeks ago, and we’d love to know what you think. Your review helps other people decide if it’s right for them.

[Leave a review]

Something not right? Just reply and we’ll sort it out.

Template 2: The results-based ask (supplements, skincare)

Subject: Three weeks in: noticing a difference?

Hi {{ first name }},

You’ve been using {{ product }} for about three weeks, which is when most people start to form a view. Good, bad or “too early to tell”, an honest review helps the next person.

[Share your experience]

Template 3: The photo review ask

Subject: Show us how you’re using it

Hi {{ first name }},

Real photos help shoppers more than anything we could shoot. If you’ve got a moment, add a photo with your review of {{ product }}.

[Add a photo review]

Template 4: The reminder

Subject: Still keen to hear from you

Hi {{ first name }}, a quick nudge in case our last email got buried. One tap below and you’re done.

[Rate {{ product }}]

For supplements and health products, keep your own copy compliant: the email asks for the customer’s experience; it should not make claims on the product’s behalf.

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Incentives and the rules

Offering a discount or loyalty points for a review is common and can lift response rates, but the rules matter.

• The FTC’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials does not prohibit incentives, provided there is no express or implied requirement that the review express a particular sentiment.

• The FTC says failing to disclose incentives could violate the FTC Act, so disclose them.

• The FTC notes that asking only customers likely to leave positive reviews (review gating) is not specifically banned by the rule but could violate the FTC Act. Ask everyone.

• Your review platform, marketplaces and Google each have their own policies on incentivised reviews. Check them before offering anything.

• The rule also bans suppressing negative reviews through threats or intimidation, and misrepresenting that the reviews you display are all or most of the reviews when some have been suppressed by rating.

In the UK, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 made fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews banned practices from 6 April 2025. The CMA’s guidance says simply emailing customers to ask for a review is fine, and disclosed incentives can be too, but encouraging only satisfied customers to review counts as cherry-picking, and so does stopping and starting review invitations to shape your rating.

On Google, the rules are stricter than on your own site. Google’s policy prohibits businesses from selectively soliciting positive reviews and from offering incentives in exchange for posting any review. So a post-review flow that sends only 5-star reviewers to your Google profile breaks Google’s policy, even if it’s legal for your on-site reviews.

The safe pattern: ask everyone, offer the same reward for any honest review if you offer one, state it clearly in the email, and show it alongside the review where your platform supports it. This is general information, not legal advice.

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Metrics to track

• Response rate: reviews submitted divided by requests sent. Klaviyo Reviews reports this directly.
• Photo/video review share: content value, not just stars.
• Average rating by product and by timing variant: asking too early can drag ratings down with “haven’t tried it yet”.
• Unsubscribe and spam complaint rate on the request and reminder.
• Revenue from the follow-up: if you route happy reviewers into a cross-sell or referral ask, track that separately.

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Common mistakes

• Timing from purchase date. The product has not arrived.
• One email per item in a multi-item order.
• Generic app templates that look nothing like your brand.
• Asking again after a return or refund.
• Three or more reminders. PowerReviews found the third ask brings in about 4% of reviews.
• Gating reviews to happy customers only.

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Make reviews a system, not an afterthought

A review request flow that triggers from delivery, times itself to the product and sends from Klaviyo with your branding will out-collect a default app email every time, and it feeds the proof that makes every other flow convert. It is one of the core ecommerce drip campaigns every store should have.

If you want your post-purchase flow, review requests included, engineered properly, our flow automation team builds them, or start with a free Klaviyo audit.

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Sources

• Klaviyo Help Center: How to request reviews with Klaviyo Reviews flows
• Klaviyo Help Center: How to adjust review request timing
• Klaviyo Help Center: How to create a third-party product review flow
• Okendo Help Center: Send review request emails from Klaviyo
• Yotpo: Klaviyo integration guide for Yotpo Reviews
• Judge.me Help Center: Sending review requests via Klaviyo
• FTC: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, questions and answers
• FTC: Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (August 2024)
• CMA: Fake reviews guidance (CMA208, April 2025)
• Google: Maps user contributed content policy, fake engagement
• REVIEWS.io: Klaviyo integration and Sending review invitations from Klaviyo
• Spiegel Research Center: How online reviews influence sales
• PowerReviews: When to ask for reviews