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Customer reviews shape purchasing decisions more than ever. Shoppers want proof they can trust, and verified user reviews deliver precisely that. When you move your store to a new platform, keeping these valuable reviews intact is essential.
Today’s shoppers rely heavily on reviews of products and services before purchasing. Product reviews play a vital role in influencing purchasing decisions and improving product quality
However, not all reviews are trusted. Most shoppers look for signs that those reviews are genuine. A verified user tag is an effective way to ensure genuine customer reviews.
Over time, as your store accumulates reviews and user tags, they become increasingly valuable. Potential buyers often read these reviews to get a fair picture of the product before deciding to buy. Therefore, when migrating your store to another platform, transferring these reviews along with all other data is crucial.
In this article, we’ll explain why migrating reviews matters and guide you through importing them using the free WooCommerce Product Import plugin. Let’s dive in.
Key Takeaways
- Product reviews, especially those from verified users, greatly influence purchase decisions and build trust with potential buyers.
- Migrating product reviews alongside other data preserves brand credibility, improves conversations, and derives valuable customer insights.
- WebToffee’s Product Import plugin is best suited for migrating product reviews as it automates the process, reducing manual effort and enhancing accuracy and speed.
Understanding WooCommerce Review Data
Before migrating product reviews, it’s important to understand how WooCommerce stores and verifies them. Reviews aren’t stored as a separate custom data type — they are managed using WordPress’s native comment system, with additional WooCommerce-specific metadata layered on top.
How WooCommerce Stores Product Reviews
WooCommerce product reviews are saved in the wp_comments table, just like blog comments. Each review is essentially a comment linked to a product post type.
Every review is connected to a product using the product’s post ID. This ensures that reviews appear under the correct product page. If product IDs change during migration, reviews may not attach correctly.
Additional review details, such as star ratings and verification status, are stored in the wp_commentmeta table. Important meta fields include:
- Rating value
- Verified owner flag
- Other custom fields added by plugins (if any)
When migrating reviews, both the comment and its associated metadata must be transferred to preserve full functionality.
What Is a “Verified Owner” Tag?
The “Verified Owner” tag appears next to reviews left by customers who have actually purchased the product. This badge builds trust and increases credibility by showing that the reviewer has real buying experience.
WooCommerce checks whether the review author’s email address matches a completed order for that product. If there’s a match, the system marks the review as verified.
Verification is based on:
- A completed (or eligible) order
- Matching billing email address
- Product included in that order
If any of these conditions are missing after migration, the verified tag may not display.
The verified status is stored as metadata linked to the review. During migration, this metadata must be preserved, along with the associated customer and order data, to ensure the “Verified Owner” label continues to appear correctly.
To migrate WooCommerce product reviews, you need a CSV file to import product reviews.
You can export the product review CSV file using the same Product Import Export plugin. However, using any other plugin may make it difficult since you may need to edit the CSV file to match the verified fields.
Export WooCommerce Product Reviews
Follow the steps below to export WooCommerce product reviews using the Product Import Export Plugin by WebToffee.
Step 1: Install and Activate WebToffee Product Import Export Plugin
- From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New.
- Search for the “Product Import Export” plugin by WebToffee.
- Once you’ve found the plugin, click on Install Now. Then, activate the plugin.
Step 2: Select Product Reviews for Export
- Go to WebToffee Import Export (Basic) and select Export.
- Now, from the dropdown, select Product Review as the post type to export.
Then, proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Set Advanced Export for Product Reviews
Here, you have two export options: Quick export and Advanced export.
You can use either method, but here we will use the Advanced export since it provides more filtering and other options during the export process.
Step 4: Filter Product Reviews for Export
You’ll find advanced options that filter out specific product reviews from being exported into the CSV at this step. Here’s what you can do:
Advanced Export Options for Product Reviews
When exporting product reviews using the WooCommerce Product Import Export plugin, you can fine-tune the export with a variety of filters and controls:
- Number of Reviews: Specify the total number of product reviews to export. Leave blank to export all.
- Skip Reviews: Choose to skip the first n number of reviews, if needed.
- Date Range: Export reviews submitted within a specific date range.
- Specific Products: Export reviews only for selected products.
- Product Status: Filter reviews by the current status of the product (published, draft, etc.).
- Review Ratings: Export reviews with specific star ratings (e.g., only 4-star and 5-star reviews).
- Reviewer Type: Choose to export reviews from registered customers, guest users, or both.
- Include Replies: Decide whether to include replies along with the main reviews.
- Sorting Options: Sort exported data by specific columns and in your preferred order (ascending/descending).
After choosing the necessary filters, proceed to the next step.
Step 5: Map & Reorder Export Columns
During the export process, the WooCommerce Product Import plugin allows you to fully customize the structure of your CSV file. This helps ensure your data is formatted correctly for migration to another store or platform.
What Gets Exported by Default
By default, the plugin exports all product review data, including:
- Reviewer name
- Rating
- Comment
- Product ID
- Verified user tag
- Review date, and more.
This ensures you have everything you need for a complete migration.
Customize Your Export
- Exclude Fields: If you don’t need certain data, simply uncheck the box next to the field name to exclude it from the export.
- Reorder Columns: You can drag and drop the columns to change their order. This is especially helpful if:
- The receiving platform requires a specific column layout
- You want to match an existing template
- You prefer a custom organization for easier editing
Important Note: Make sure the “Verified” column is checked. This field is essential for preserving the verified user status of the reviews when importing into the new store.
Step 6: Advanced Export Options
Here, you can select to export product reviews in batches.
Note: If your store site has many product reviews, use the batch export option to ease server load. If the export fails due to a timeout, try reducing the batch count to 20 or 10 and rerun it.
Then, click Export to save the product reviews to a CSV file.
Pro Tip: You can save your current export configurations as a template for future use. This way, you can quickly export your product reviews without configuring these steps again.
Here’s an example of a product review exported using this plugin. Notice the “verified” column? It shows a value of 1 for reviews from verified users.
Import Product Reviews to WooCommerce
Now, let’s dive into how to import these product reviews and their verified user tags to your new site during the migration.
Step 1: Select Post Type for Import
- Go to WebToffee Product Import Export (Basic) > Import.
- Select Product Review as the post type to import.
Step 2: Choose Import Method for Product Reviews
Select an import method to import the product reviews to your store.
- Here, select the Quick import option, as we have exported the product reviews using the same plugin. If you used a different plugin, you may need to proceed with Advanced import for column mapping.
- Now, upload the previously exported CSV file and click the Import button.
Your product reviews will be successfully imported, and you can check the Import progress log to see how everything went.
Here is a preview of the product reviews with verified user tags.
Once you’ve imported your WooCommerce product reviews, it’s important to verify that everything has transferred correctly. A few quick checks will help ensure your reviews display properly and the verified user tags remain intact.
1. Verify Reviews Display Correctly on Product Pages
After the import is complete:
- Visit several product pages and scroll to the Reviews section.
- Confirm that each product shows the correct number of reviews.
- Check that the review text, reviewer names, and dates appear as expected.
- Make sure star ratings look accurate. For example, a 5-star review should display a full star rating on the front end.
If you notice missing reviews, check whether they were imported with the correct:
- Product ID
- Comment status (approved, pending, or spam)
2. Ensure Verified User Badges Appear
The Verified Owner or Verified User badge is stored as metadata. To confirm it transferred:
- Open a review that should have the badge.
- Check if the “Verified Owner” label appears next to the reviewer’s name.
If it doesn’t appear:
- Confirm that the verified meta field was mapped during import.
- Verify that the meta value is correctly set (
1for verified). - Ensure the customer email matches a previous order, depending on how verification is handled.
The export includes all product review data, such as customer names, ratings, review content, dates, verified user tags, and more. You can also filter specific data while exporting.
If your export fails, lower the batch size to 20 or even 10, then try the export again. This can help lighten the server’s load and prevent timeouts.
If you exported the CSV file with the WebToffee Product Import Export plugin, you shouldn’t need to make any further changes. On the other hand, if you utilized a different plugin, you might have to modify the CSV to ensure it aligns with the appropriate fields.
For large exports, use the batch export option to prevent server overload. This method divides the export into smaller, manageable batches.
Yes, the Advanced Export option allows you to filter product reviews based on rating, date range, product status, and more.
Based on your configuration during the import process, the plugin usually manages duplicates by omitting or combining them.
Conclusion
This article has shown you how to migrate WooCommerce product reviews using our free plugin.
This tool makes it easy to import and export WooCommerce product reviews for simple, grouped, and external products. Upgrading to the premium version might be worth considering for variable products, as it offers additional features like multiple file format support and scheduling options.
We hope this article helps you migrate WooCommerce product reviews flawlessly to your new store. If you have any questions or feedback, drop them in the comments section.
Got any query? Please leave a comment or reach out to our support
Got any query? Please leave a comment or reach out to our support
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Comments (14)
JR
November 29, 2021
No mention in this article that only the Pro-version has this capability =\ FYI to those who inadvertently installed the Free-version expecting to import/export reviews.
Alan
December 6, 2021
Hi,
The free version plugin supports importing reviews with verified tags. You may please add the value “1” in the “verified” column to import reviews with verified tag.
Rusty
October 6, 2021
Hi,
We accidentally duplicated a review and now it’s showing twice. How do we delete a review? I tried just editing the review but was unsuccessful. Please let me know how to delete a review with the CSV file. Thank you!
Mark
October 9, 2021
Hi,
Sorry to say that there is no option to delete the reviews using a CSV file. You will have to delete them manually from the comments list.
Virendra Kumar
August 19, 2021
Sir I am using you plugin for one of my client but when we import it stop after few and in log it says
2021-08-19T09:38:03+00:00 CRITICAL syntax error, unexpected ‘…’ (T_ELLIPSIS), expecting ‘;’ in /home/****/******/*****/wp-content/plugins/wt-import-export-for-woo/admin/modules/import/import.php(1493) : eval()’d code on line 1
Can you please provide what should we do
Thanks
Mark
August 25, 2021
Hi,
Please reach us via support and share your import file.
Arsilan Tahir
August 7, 2021
Hi, I want to import more than 1 review to my single product. It may be 20 reviews per product. But I am confused about how I can do that. Can you please explain it for me with file structure? Thanks
Mark
August 12, 2021
Hi,
You can import multiple reviews to a product by creating a CSV file with one row for each review. Eg: If you are required to import 5 reviews to a single product then you may please create 5 separate rows for each review.
Oasis
September 18, 2020
Can you import reviews to a specific product?
Alan
September 19, 2020
Hi,
Yes, you can import reviews to a particular product.
Alexandre
May 28, 2020
Hello, I did exactly as described in this article, but the text “verified owner” does not appear in the reviews I have imported. I tested twice. Do you have any idea why ? Is this option only possible in the paid version ? Thanks
Alan
May 29, 2020
Hi,
Importing the reviews as verified is one of our premium features. You may please purchase the premium version of the plugin to import reviews as verified.
Volker Forster
April 22, 2020
I am not sure if I understand the purpose of this tool. I want to import reviews our customers left for our products on other websites like eBay and Amazon. This is a lot of copy & paste work, of course. But when I import reviews from somewhere else than a WooCommerce export, than I will neither have “Comments ID” nor “Comments Post ID” or the commenters email address.
How can I make this happen?
Alan
April 22, 2020
Hi,
In order to import a review to the product, it is necessary to have Comment Post ID data and authors’ email addresses in the CSV file. In the comment_post_ID column, you may please provide the ID of the product to which you are trying to import comments. Also, make sure that you provide the author’s email address in the comment_author_email column. You can leave the comment_ID column blank. WordPress will automatically assign an ID to the imported reviews.