Replying to Reviews

When a customer leaves a review — whether it’s glowing praise or constructive criticism — responding publicly shows that there’s a real person behind the store who cares. It builds trust not just with the reviewer, but with every potential customer who reads that exchange later.

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Why This Matters

A review with a thoughtful store reply converts better than a review sitting on its own. When someone sees that you responded to a complaint with genuine care, or thanked a happy customer by name, it tells them this is a store that pays attention. That’s a powerful signal, especially for first-time buyers who don’t know you yet.

Replying also gives you a chance to add context. If a customer mentions a sizing issue, your reply can point future shoppers to the size guide. If someone loved a product but wished it came in blue, your reply can mention that blue is launching next month. Every reply is a micro-conversation that makes your product pages richer and more useful.

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How It Works

Store replies are managed from the reviews admin in your WordPress dashboard. When you reply to a review, your response appears publicly on the product page, directly below the customer’s review.

Behind the scenes, replies are stored as child comments of the original review. This means they work naturally with WordPress’s comment system — no custom tables, no compatibility headaches.

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Replying to a Review

1. Go to Tracksies > Reviews in your WordPress admin sidebar
2. Find the review you want to reply to
3. Click the Reply link below the review
4. A reply modal opens with a text area for your response
5. Write your reply, or click one of the quick reply templates to start with a pre-written response (you can edit it before posting)
6. Click Post Reply

Your reply is immediately visible on the product page.

Quick Reply Templates

To save time on common responses, Trustie includes four built-in templates:

Click a template to insert it into the reply box. You can edit the text before posting — the templates are starting points, not scripts. A personalised reply always lands better than a canned one.

Tip: You can add your own templates or modify the defaults using the tracksies_reply_templates filter in your theme’s functions.php.

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Editing and Deleting Replies

Editing a Reply

If you’ve already replied to a review and want to change your response:

1. Go to Tracksies > Reviews
2. Find the review — it will show a preview of your existing reply
3. Click Edit Reply
4. The reply modal opens with your current text
5. Make your changes and click Post Reply to save

Deleting a Reply

1. Open the reply modal for the review
2. Click the Delete Reply button (appears at the bottom when editing an existing reply)
3. Confirm the deletion

Deleting a reply removes it from the product page immediately. The customer’s review stays — only your response is removed.

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How Replies Display

On the product page, your reply appears directly below the customer’s review, visually indented and styled differently so visitors can clearly see it’s from the store owner:

• Your store name (or the replying admin’s display name) appears as the author
• The reply date is shown
• The reply is visually distinguished from customer reviews (typically with a different background or a “Store Reply” label, depending on your theme)

Controlling Reply Display

The [trustie_reviews] shortcode includes a show_reply parameter:

[trustie_reviews product_id="42" show_reply="true"]

Set show_reply="false" if you want to hide store replies in a specific context (for example, a condensed review widget where you only want the customer’s words).

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Replies in the Google Merchant Feed

If you’re using the Google Merchant Feed, your store replies can be included in the feed data. Google may display these alongside your star ratings in Shopping results.

To include replies in the feed:

1. Go to the Merchant Feed settings
2. Check Include store replies in feed
3. Save

This adds a element to each review in the XML feed that has a reply.

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Common Questions

Do customers get notified when I reply?
Not automatically through Trustie — replies are posted publicly on the product page. If you want to notify the customer directly, you’d need to reach out via email separately.

Can I reply to reviews from Trustie Free?
The reply system is part of Tracksies HQ’s reviews admin. If you’re running Trustie Free without HQ, you can still reply to reviews through the standard WordPress Comments screen, but you won’t have the reply modal, quick templates, or the polished display.

Can other staff members reply to reviews?
Anyone with the moderate_comments capability in WordPress can reply. This typically includes Administrators and Shop Managers.

Do replies show up on the Reviews page?
Yes — if you’re using the [trustie_reviews_page] shortcode or the dedicated reviews page, store replies appear there too, provided show_reply is enabled.

Can I reply to Google Reviews?
No — Google Reviews displayed via the Google Reviews shortcode are pulled from Google’s API. To reply to those, you’d reply through your Google Business Profile directly.

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If Something’s Not Working

Reply button not showing:

• Make sure you’re logged in as an Administrator or Shop Manager (needs moderate_comments capability)
• Check that Tracksies HQ is active — the reply system lives in HQ’s reviews admin

Reply not appearing on the product page:

• Check that the show_reply parameter isn’t set to false in your shortcode
• Clear any page cache (caching plugins may serve a stale version of the product page)
• Check that the review itself is approved — replies on unapproved reviews won’t show

Quick reply templates missing:

• Templates only appear in the reply modal, not in the standard WordPress comment reply. Make sure you’re replying from Tracksies > Reviews, not from Comments.

Still stuck? Drop us a line at support@tracksies.com and we’ll help you sort it out.