Out of every 100 review requests, most stores get around 5 reviews. But some of the best stores get 14 reviews, nearly three times as many.
So what do they do differently? To find out, we ranked 773 active Fera stores by how often a review request turns into a review, then compared the top 100 with everyone else. Here’s what we found and what you can change in your own store.
How we measured it?
Conversion rate is the number of reviews divided by the number of review requests sent. If a store sends 1,000 requests and gets 50 reviews, it converts 5%.
We looked at the 90 days ending September 23, 2026, and included only stores that sent at least 250 automatic review requests in that time. We skipped the most recent two weeks so every request had time to get its follow-up and a reply.
Finding 1: Keep the follow-up email on
Almost every top store sends a reminder if the first request goes unanswered, usually 7 days later.
93% of the top 100 stores have the follow-up on, compared with 76% of other stores. That means roughly one in four stores outside the top 100 has switched off one of the easiest sources of extra reviews.
The numbers at a glance
| Metric | Typical store | Top 100 stores |
|---|---|---|
| Review conversion rate (90 days, median) | 4.6% | 14.0% |
| Reviews per request (median) | 0.06 | 0.18 |
| Request email open rate | 45.3% | 53.5% |
| Request email click rate | 6.9% | 15.9% |
| Follow-up email turned on | 76% | 93% |
Stores with the follow-up on convert 5.0% of their requests. Stores without it convert 3.4%.
The reminder matters because most customers don’t ignore your request on purpose. They open the email, mean to leave a review, and then something else comes up. A quick reminder can be all it takes to bring them back.
The follow-up is already part of Fera’s default setup, so for most stores it’s just a matter of making sure it hasn’t been switched off.
Why?
Because for the typical store, about 30% of the requests that turn into reviews only do so after the follow-up. That’s nearly a third of your reviews you’d lose by turning it off.
Top stores don’t send it earlier or later than everyone else. They use the same 7-day delay as the rest. The difference is that they have it on.
What you can do : Check that your follow-up is enabled and leave the delay at 7 days.
Finding 2: Use the current default email
The current default request email has two things the older version doesn't: clickable rating stars and a large "Submit Review" button. The older default uses a small "here" text link instead.
What you can do: If you've customized your request email, compare it against the current default. Make sure your version keeps the stars and a prominent button, because the easier you make it to leave a rating, the more people do.
And another thing is the subject line.
The first thing a customer sees, and it decides whether your request gets opened or ignored.
The list below shows subject lines from stores in the top 40, each with that store's own conversion rate. Notice how many are short, friendly, and written in the customer’s language.
What the top stores’ subject lines look like
Used unchanged by 66% of the top 100 and 45% of other stores.
Three things stand out:
Questions beat statements. Using a question as the subject line in a review request can increase conversions by about 45% compared to a statement.
Short and friendly wins. The top stores that do change the subject mostly keep it short, warm, and often in the customer's own language.
Mentioning a discount in the subject line ❌. Only 3% of top stores put a discount or reward in the subject line, and those that do convert lower.
What you can do: If you've rewritten your subject line, try a short, friendly question. For the best performance, we recommend using Fera’s default subject line.
What the top stores do differently
The pattern is simple: top stores keep things close to the defaults and make it easy to respond. Almost all of them follow up with a reminder (93%). Two in three keep Fera’s short, friendly subject line (66%), and most phrase their subject as a question (83%). More than half use an email with a big, clear review button (55%), twice as many as other stores use the current default email unchanged (27% versus 14%).
If you’re sending review requests, start with three quick changes: turn on your follow-up, compare your email against the current default, and try a short question as your subject line. Then note your conversion rate today and check it again in a month, so you can see what changed.
