Product and shop reviews: let your customers recommend you

People rarely choose at random. Before they buy, they check what others thought — of the shop, and increasingly of the exact product they're after. On SmartShopAgent your customers can now review a local shop and a specific product, with photos, a video and a location on a map. Here's why it matters and how to make the most of it.

Reviews have become the first reflex before buying

Word of mouth went digital a long time ago. Today a rating and a handful of recent comments often decide a purchase before the customer has even spoken to you. For a local business this social proof is priceless: it reassures newcomers, it answers questions you'd otherwise field one by one, and it keeps working day and night. The shops that collect and display honest reviews simply look more trustworthy than those that show nothing.

Until now, reviews mostly described the business as a whole. But customers increasingly want to talk about a single product — the coffee they loved, the cream that worked, the tool that lasted. That granularity is exactly what helps the next buyer decide. It is the difference between a vague good impression and a concrete reason to choose you over the shop next door.

New: review products, not just shops

You can now leave two kinds of review. A shop review rates the establishment overall — the welcome, the service, the place. A product review focuses on one item: its name, its brand and its category, while still pointing to the shop where it was found. The two live side by side and complement each other, and a customer is free to leave either one — or both.

Why separate them? Because a product review carries different information. Someone praising a specific olive oil at a grocery isn't rating the grocery's checkout queue — they're recommending the oil. Keeping the two distinct means the shop's own rating stays clean, while products get their own visible feedback. On the public reviews page, a simple filter lets visitors switch between All, Shops and Products.

Richer reviews: photo, video and map

A review is far more convincing when you can see it. Each review can include up to three photos and one short video (5 MB max). A picture of the actual dish, shelf or product does more than a paragraph ever could.

Location matters too. When the reviewer fills in the place, the review is pinned on a map — both as an overview map of all reviewed shops and as a small map under each review. A "Locate" button even lets the customer confirm the exact spot before publishing, so the map is always right.

How your customers leave a review

1. Create a free customer account — it takes a few seconds and lets them edit their reviews later.
2. Choose the type: a review about a shop, or about a product.
3. Give a rating and a comment, and for products add the name, brand and category.
4. Add photos or a video to make it tangible.
5. Pin the location by filling in the place — and check it on the map.

Shop review or product review: which to use?

Use a shop review when the experience is about the place: the welcome, the advice, the atmosphere, the speed. Use a product review when the value is in a specific item the customer wants to recommend or warn about. Many happy customers will do both — and that's ideal, because together they paint a complete picture.

Good practice for collecting reviews

Ask at the right moment, right after a good purchase, when satisfaction is highest. Make it effortless with a direct link or a free QR code on the counter or the receipt. Add contact and share buttons so a kind word travels. And always stay authentic: never buy reviews and never filter out the critical ones — a measured reply to a negative review reassures future buyers more than a flawless score. Our guide on getting more Google reviews goes deeper on the method.

What reviews do for your visibility

Beyond trust, reviews feed your discoverability. Your shop's average rating and review count appear as structured data on your page, which is what lets search engines show stars next to your name. Product reviews stay separate from that business rating, so your shop's score reflects shop experiences only. The result is a page that is both more persuasive to humans and better understood by search engines. Over time, a steady flow of fresh reviews signals to both customers and search engines that your business is active, cared for and trusted. You can see every public review on the reviews page.