judge.me Review Authenticity Policy
Review Verification and Verified Buyer Badge
Judge.me automatically checks reviews based on order history from our eCommerce platform partners (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace). If reviews are not associated with existing orders (e.g., directly from merchant websites), merchants can request manual verification by submitting proof of orders.
A Verified Buyer badge is added once the review is verified by Judge.me. The badge can be translated and personalized, but cannot be added by merchants themselves.
Request a review
Merchants send an email review request to buyers based on settings and conditions. Automatic reminders or Web Push notifications can be enabled. Merchants can also request reviews from past customers, not send automatic review requests, or request/recall individual users. The merchant may respond privately or publicly to any review.
Give a review
Buyers can leave a review in the email review form or through the review widget. Product reviews are submitted via the reviews widget, while store reviews are submitted via the All Reviews page. Visitors may leave reviews without a (traceable) purchase history (“Web Reviews”). These can be deactivated but will never receive a "Verified Buyer" badge if the reviewer's email is not part of the store's customer list. Notices provided by the same email will have the same display name.
Grouping of reviews
Judge.me allows you to share reviews between products in the same store (“Product Group”) as well as synchronize product reviews from multiple stores (“Store Group”) based on product SKUs.
Displaying the review outside your store
Reviews can be displayed outside the store by enabling the following features:
- Google Shopping: XML feed of automatic product reviews, using SKU, MPN and GTIN as product ID.
- Social Push (Facebook Business Page): Post review content to your Facebook Business Page.
- Integrations: Enable app integrations to allow Judge.me to share your reviews with other apps/plugins you have installed.
Edit policy
Reviews may be edited to address typos, style/formatting issues, or minor review information. However, star ratings cannot be edited to maintain the integrity of reviews on Judge.me. After an edit, a notification email is sent to the reviewer informing them of any changes. The reviewer can reject any changes by clicking in the notification email. The Judge.me team is notified of all review changes and review rejections.
No authenticity restrictions on the free plan
Verified Buyer badges, review requests (email, web push) and the reply feature are also part of the free plan.
Curation Review
Merchants have full control over posting and hiding reviews in their stores and new reviews are posted automatically by default. Merchants can enable review curation to choose which reviews to publish manually.
Consumers can count on Judge.me medals which are awarded to stores as an indicator of transparency and authenticity. Stores earn transparency medals if they post at least 80% of the total verified reviews they receive, and stores receive authenticity medals if at least 80% of the reviews they post are verified reviews.
Importing old reviews
Judge.me allows importing reviews from other apps or via CSV import. The “Verified Buyer” badge can only be awarded after consulting Judge.me. In addition to the product ID, the upload may contain the title, body, rating, review date, reviewer name, reviewer email address, and IP address.