The Problem with Generic Review Incentives
Offering an incentive like 10% off for leaving a review is one of the easiest ways to gather social proof. Most ecommerce stores mention this reward in their post-purchase flow, collect the review, and then manually issue codes or rely on basic store settings to deliver them.
The issue is what happens when someone leaves a 1-star review. If your automated email fires back with an enthusiastic message thanking them for their amazing feedback alongside a coupon code, you look completely disconnected from your customer base.
That is a mistake. You need to reward the customer for their time while adjusting your tone based on whether their experience was positive or negative.
Connecting Your Review App to Klaviyo
To automate this correctly, your review platform must pass event data directly into Klaviyo. Tools like Judge.me, Okendo, or Yotpo integrate natively with Klaviyo and push specific metrics into your account in real time.
Once connected, navigate to your metrics list in Klaviyo. You will see several events syncing across, such as when a customer is eligible for a review request, when a review is submitted, and the specific rating left.
If you cannot see these events under your metrics tab, your integration is not working properly. Check the API connection between your review tool and Klaviyo before touching your flows.
Setting Up the Trigger on Review Submission
Start by creating a brand-new flow from scratch. Instead of using a standard placed order trigger, set the flow trigger to the custom metric generated by your review app, such as Judge.me's "Submitted Review".
This ensures the automation fires the exact moment a customer submits their feedback. It eliminates the guesswork of waiting 14 days after purchase and hoping they actually filled out the form.
Do not add long time delays immediately after the trigger. When someone completes a review, they expect their incentive in their inbox within a few minutes.
Splitting the Flow Based on Star Ratings
Once your trigger is set, add a trigger split immediately beneath it. This split looks at the event data passed through the review submission and routes the customer based on their rating value.
Configure your condition to check if the rating value is greater than 3. In a standard 5-star rating scale, this cleanly separates your 4-star and 5-star ratings down the "Yes" path, while 1-star, 2-star, and 3-star ratings travel down the "No" path.
- Rating greater than 3 (Yes path): Catches your promoters who gave 4 or 5 stars.
- Rating 3 or below (No path): Catches passive or unhappy customers who need service recovery.
In my books, a 3-star review is not a positive review. Treat anything below 4 stars as an opportunity to fix a broken experience rather than celebrating a win.
Crafting the Follow-Up Messaging
Now you can tailor the copy for both paths while delivering on your promise of a discount code.
For the positive branch, keep it upbeat. Thank them for supporting your brand, provide their 10% discount code with clear terms, and invite them back to shop. This reinforces a great brand perception and drives repeat purchases while their satisfaction is high.
For the negative branch, change your approach entirely. Acknowledge that their experience did not meet expectations, apologise genuinely, and ask how your team can make it right. You should still provide the promised discount code as a gesture of goodwill, but frame it around giving your brand another chance.
Final Thoughts
Rewarding customers for leaving reviews should never compromise your brand tone. By splitting your flow on review metrics directly inside Klaviyo, you deliver dynamic discount codes while handling negative feedback with the care it deserves.
Need Help Building This?
If you want to build high-converting post-purchase and retention flows tailored to your store, take a look at our email automation services at In-box.
