Overview
If you’re considering using Growave’s Reviews feature and would like to transfer your data from another app within Shopify or migrate reviews from other platforms, this guide will help you import your reviews and Q&A seamlessly.
Step 1 – Download and prepare your CSV files
Before you start importing product reviews or Q&A, you need to download and fill relevant templates with correct data.
Go to your Growave admin → Import/Export → Import tab.
In the Reviews & Q&A card, click Download Reviews CSV template or Download Q&A CSV template.
If you are migrating from another reviews app, export your data, then paste it into the relevant columns of the Reviews or Q&A import template. 📖 Learn how to export data from third party loyalty apps.
Alternatively, you can submit your CSV files to Growave support for assistance with the import process, which may be helpful for complex migrations.
✅ Recommendation
The safest method is to import Growave's sample CSV file into Google Sheets (or make copies from Google Sheets via the links above) and add your data, ensuring it matches the relevant columns. The order of the columns does not matter, but it is crucial to align your existing data from the other app with the correct column headings specified in the Growave template.
When you’re ready to save the file, go to File → Download → Comma Separated Values (.csv) to ensure it is in the correct format for import:
Required and optional parameters for Review imports
Header name | Description | Requirement |
customer_email | Customer's email address | Required |
customer_name | Name of the reviewer (default: Anonymous) | Optional |
product_id | Unique identifier of the product | Required |
product_handle | Product handle (URL identifier) | Required |
body | Content (text) of the review | Required |
rating | Numerical rating from 1 to 5 (an error will occur if the value is out of this range) | Required |
created_at | Date of review in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format (default: current date and time) | Optional |
verified_purchase | Indicates if the review is from a verified buyer | Optional |
published | Indicates if the review is published (1 = published, 0 = unpublished, if no value is added, the review will be unpublished by default) | Optional |
title | Title of the review | Optional |
reply | Text content of the reply | Optional |
replied_at | Date of reply in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format (default: current date and time) | Optional |
images | Links to review images. Up to 5 images per review, max 10 MB total. Links must return a 200 (OK) response and include a file extension (.jpg, .jpeg, .png). Without the extension, images will not display. | Optional |
📘 Note
** Validation passes successfully if either product_id or product_handle is added and correct. If neither is indicated, the review will be added as the shop review and won't be associated with any products.
⚠️ Important
If the import file includes emails that do not exist in the shop's customer database, Growave creates new customer entries in its own database and displays associated reviews. These entries will not appear in Growave's Customers section until users log in with the specified email. Once they log in with this email, a customer account created in Shopify is automatically associated with the previously imported review data.
If the real email is unknown, you may use a placeholder. However, reviews will remain unverified because Growave sends a confirmation email to this address. If the same email already exists in your store, the review will display the name tied to that email.
product_id must match your Shopify product ID. IDs from other platforms will not work and must be replaced manually.
Duplicate review rules and import constraints
Multiple product reviews from the same customer: An import file can contain multiple reviews from the same customer for the same product, provided that the review body texts are different.
Shop (Site) reviews limit: For shop/site reviews (reviews where no product ID/handle is specified), only ONE review per customer is allowed. Subsequent shop reviews for the same customer email/ID in the CSV will be skipped.
Required and optional parameters for Q&A imports
Header name | Description | Requirement |
customer_email | Email address of the customer who asked the question | Required |
question | Text of the customer's question | Required |
product_id | Unique identifier of the product | Required |
product_handle | Product handle (URL identifier) | Required |
date | Date the question was submitted (format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, default: current date and time) | Optional |
replier_email | Email address of the person who replied to the question | Optional |
reply | Text of the reply to the question | Optional |
replied_at | Date the reply was submitted (format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, default: current date and time) | Optional |
status | Publication status of the question (1= published, 0 = unpublished, if no value is added, the question will be unpublished by default)) | Optional |
📘 Note
* Validation passes successfully if either product_id or product_handle is added and correct.
How to find product details
Product ID
In Shopify admin, go to Products → select the product → the product ID is the number after "products/ " at the end of the URL:
Product handle
Visit the live product page on your shop → the product handle is the text after "products/ " at the end of the URL:
Step 2 – Select the import type
After filling in the templates with your Review or Q&A data, upload the files:
Go to your Growave admin → Import/Export → Import tab.
Click the Start import button to open the import modal.
Select Reviews tab → click Upload file.
Select import type:
Reviews
Questions & Answers
Click Next to start validation.
⚠️ Important
Rewarding customers for imported reviews is not supported currently.
Step 3 – Validate your file
Once you upload the CSV file and clicked Next, Growave starts validating the data to ensure it meets the required parameters.
If everything is correct, you’ll see a success message: "All records are valid and ready to be imported. Note: Some records might be skipped during import." Click Start import to proceed.
If some records are invalid, Growave can still import the valid entries. You will see a message: "X records have errors and will be skipped. Note: Some records might be skipped during import." You can click Start import or Download error report to identify and fix the issues.
If there are no valid records, you’ll be prompted to Download error report and fix the errors. Click Close after downloading the report.
Step 4 – Start importing reviews or Q&A
Click Start import after successful validation.
The modal window will close and you will see the import history table with data on each import operation.
Depending on the number of lines in the file, importing may take some time.
After successful importing, you will see the Completed status and details about imported entries.
Step 5 – View and manage import history
After you have completed validation or imported at least one file, you will see the Import history table under Growave admin → Import/Export → Import tab.
The Import history table includes the following columns:
Date: Date and time of the importing operation.
Type: The type of import operation corresponding to the selected option:
Reviews
Questions & answers
Status: Shows import operation status, may display the following status:
Validating — validation is in progress.
Errors found — no valid records found, import cannot be continued.
Ready to import — validation is completed, import can be started.
Importing — importing is in progress.
Completed — import successfully completed.
Reverting — reverting data import is in progress.
Reverted — imported data has been deleted from the database.
Total: Total records found in the file.
Invalid: Invalid records that could not be imported.
Imported: Successfully imported records.
Skipped: Records that are valid but skipped during importing, e.g., because the same data already exists in the database. The Skipped records report will be available via Download icon.
Actions: Includes clickable links to perform certain actions:
Import: Appears when validation has been completed but importing is not started yet. Clicking it opens a modal displaying validation results. You can click Start import to proceed.
View: Appears when errors have been found. Clicking it opens a modal displaying validation results and a link to download error report.
Revert: Appears when import has been completed. Clicking it opens a confirmation modal with the following message: "All records imported from [filename].csv will be removed. This action cannot be undone." Click Revert import to delete the imported reviews or Q&A data. It can be helpful when imported reviews contain incorrect data. Correct the issues in the CSV file and then re-import accurate data.
Common issues during import
Missing required fields such as customer_email, body, or rating.
Incorrect product ID or handle (a product with this ID/handle does not exist in Shopify).
Numerical ratings outside the 1–5 range.
Incorrect or incomplete image links (links must include file extension: .jpg/.jpeg/.png).
Total image size exceeds 10 MB.
Using placeholder emails: reviews import successfully, but stay unverified; existing emails may override the
customer_namefield.Reviews displaying incorrect dates. This occurs when dates are not properly formatted in the import file. Ensure the 'date' column follows the format
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SSto avoid this issue.
FAQ
How do I mark uploaded reviews as published?
How do I mark uploaded reviews as published?
When importing reviews to Growave, you can control whether each review will be automatically published and visible on the storefront after import is completed.
To do this, use the "published" column in your CSV import file:
Add a "published" column to your CSV file if it is missing.
Enter "1" to mark a review as published — it will appear on the storefront automatically after import is completed.
Enter "0" to mark a review as unpublished — it will stay in pending status.
If this field is left empty, reviews will be unpublished by default.
Can I import reviews without customer_email?
Can I import reviews without customer_email?
No. You must include an email address for each review. If the real email is not available, you can use a placeholder. However, reviews with placeholder emails will remain unverified.
Why is the wrong customer name showing on imported reviews?
Why is the wrong customer name showing on imported reviews?
If the email in your CSV already exists in Growave, the review will inherit the customer_name associated with that email.
Why are my review images not displaying?
Why are my review images not displaying?
Make sure the image URLs end with .jpg, .jpeg, or .png. Even if the link returns a 200 OK response, images won’t display without the correct extension.
Do I need to update product IDs when importing from other platforms?
Do I need to update product IDs when importing from other platforms?
Yes. Product IDs from other platforms do not match Shopify. Replace them with your Shopify product_id (found in your Shopify admin under Products).
If you encounter any issues during the import process, contact our support team at [email protected] or via the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of your Growave admin panel. We're here to help! 🤗