Important Tips for Importing Reviews
At HelpfulCrowd, we try to make the migration and importing of reviews simple and painless,
Here's some important topics to be aware of when importing reviews using the custom CSV import template.
Only use Google Sheets to edit the file - DO NOT use Excel
Use the correct product ID if importing product reviews. For business reviews, leave the product ID field empty
A unique email address is linked to a unique customer name
Use the correct date format - yyyy/mm/dd
Add a review status - published, pending, archived
Ensure the photo/video URL link is a direct link and public
We'll cover off each of the above items in the following sections in more detail, so let's get started....
Errors have been reported when saving CSV files with Excel. It is for this reason that we only endorse using Google Sheets to edit and download the file a CSV. Using Excel is likely to result in a rejected import file.
The Product ID is not the SKU, EAN or any other additional product descriptor. The Product ID is a unique reference assigned to each product by the eCommerce platform when first created and cannot be changed.
Using the correct product ID will ensure that your reviews show against the correct product.
If you're uploading product reviews, then these must have Product ID's. If you are uploading business reviews, then these should be left empty.
Product IDs can be found either in the HelpfulCrowd App or on your eCommerce platform.
HelpfulCrowd App
The Product ID is highlighted in the purple rectangle below.
DONOT include the # that precedes the number.
ECWID Product ID
When logged into Ecwid and on the product page in the catalog, the Product ID can be located in the URL.
Shopify Product ID
Lightspeed Product ID
The very first name used with an email address in an upload file will be the ONLY name every displayed for that email address for your all reviews. Why? Because that's the way it usually is in real life
It is best practice to provide a real, unique email address for every review being imported for the same customer. Unfortunately, in the age of GDPR it is common for email addresses to be suppressed, so an email address is not mandatory. If an email address is not provided in the import file, the App will automatically generate a unique email address and assign it to the customer name and review when the file is imported.
Dates MUST follow the following format and should be consistent in the file.
2011/05/19 (yyyy/mm/dd)
Here is a short video showing how to correctly format the dates using Google Sheets and the yy-mm-dd format:
NB: Incorrect date formats or a blank date field will result in the line item being rejected and requiring re-processing.
The Status field should have one of the values listed below :
published - Review will be visible on the store
pending - Review will not show up on the store, as this state lets you check it before taking any action i.e. publishing or archiving the review
archived - Review will be hidden from the store
If the status field is not specified, then the review will be assigned 'pending' status automatically, which will then require publishing manually later in the app.
A photo or video link needs to be either start with http:// or https://, be a direct URL link to the asset (not indirect or webpage) and be publicly accessible.
The following platforms MAY NOT have direct links or may not be publicly accessible, so native links from these platforms usually cannot be used for importing:
YouTube
Flickr
Vimeo
Dropbox
Google Drive
To avoid issues, we recommend first downloading the media locally (if not provided as a link in a review export file from a competitor) and then uploading the media to a temporary cloud storage solution that provides a direct link to the uploaded media.
One site that many of our customers use for this purpose is: https://uguu.se/. Note: Link will be valid for 48 hours only.
We also recommend reading:
Saving a file as .csv file with UTF-8 encoding
Importing product reviews
Here's some important topics to be aware of when importing reviews using the custom CSV import template.
Only use Google Sheets to edit the file - DO NOT use Excel
Use the correct product ID if importing product reviews. For business reviews, leave the product ID field empty
A unique email address is linked to a unique customer name
Use the correct date format - yyyy/mm/dd
Add a review status - published, pending, archived
Ensure the photo/video URL link is a direct link and public
We'll cover off each of the above items in the following sections in more detail, so let's get started....
Only use Google Sheets to edit the file
Errors have been reported when saving CSV files with Excel. It is for this reason that we only endorse using Google Sheets to edit and download the file a CSV. Using Excel is likely to result in a rejected import file.
Product IDs
The Product ID is not the SKU, EAN or any other additional product descriptor. The Product ID is a unique reference assigned to each product by the eCommerce platform when first created and cannot be changed.
Using the correct product ID will ensure that your reviews show against the correct product.
If you're uploading product reviews, then these must have Product ID's. If you are uploading business reviews, then these should be left empty.
Product IDs can be found either in the HelpfulCrowd App or on your eCommerce platform.
HelpfulCrowd App
The Product ID is highlighted in the purple rectangle below.
DONOT include the # that precedes the number.
ECWID Product ID
When logged into Ecwid and on the product page in the catalog, the Product ID can be located in the URL.
Shopify Product ID
Lightspeed Product ID
Customer name and email addresses
The very first name used with an email address in an upload file will be the ONLY name every displayed for that email address for your all reviews. Why? Because that's the way it usually is in real life
It is best practice to provide a real, unique email address for every review being imported for the same customer. Unfortunately, in the age of GDPR it is common for email addresses to be suppressed, so an email address is not mandatory. If an email address is not provided in the import file, the App will automatically generate a unique email address and assign it to the customer name and review when the file is imported.
Date Formats
Dates MUST follow the following format and should be consistent in the file.
2011/05/19 (yyyy/mm/dd)
Here is a short video showing how to correctly format the dates using Google Sheets and the yy-mm-dd format:
NB: Incorrect date formats or a blank date field will result in the line item being rejected and requiring re-processing.
Incorrect Review Status
The Status field should have one of the values listed below :
published - Review will be visible on the store
pending - Review will not show up on the store, as this state lets you check it before taking any action i.e. publishing or archiving the review
archived - Review will be hidden from the store
If the status field is not specified, then the review will be assigned 'pending' status automatically, which will then require publishing manually later in the app.
Photo/video URL links
A photo or video link needs to be either start with http:// or https://, be a direct URL link to the asset (not indirect or webpage) and be publicly accessible.
The following platforms MAY NOT have direct links or may not be publicly accessible, so native links from these platforms usually cannot be used for importing:
YouTube
Flickr
Vimeo
Dropbox
Google Drive
To avoid issues, we recommend first downloading the media locally (if not provided as a link in a review export file from a competitor) and then uploading the media to a temporary cloud storage solution that provides a direct link to the uploaded media.
One site that many of our customers use for this purpose is: https://uguu.se/. Note: Link will be valid for 48 hours only.
We also recommend reading:
Saving a file as .csv file with UTF-8 encoding
Importing product reviews
Updated on: 27/07/2022
Thank you!