REVIEWS.io vs. yotpo: We put them head to head

Reviews in your ecommerce strategy

If you’re operating in the ecommerce space, it goes without saying that customer reviews should be on your radar. They’re an investment in your online reputation and a trusted source of information for the consumer. With the right solution in your tech stack, review content can support so many aspects of a robust digital strategy.

It can boost SEO, improve ROI on paid ads, and inform data driven email campaigns. And when you throw photo and video reviews into the mix, you get authentic, engaging UGC to share across all your marketing channels.

So what is the right solution? There’s a lot of them out there - some worth considering, some not so much. Two providers that fall into the first camp are REVIEWS.io and Yotpo, so in this post we’ll compare one against the other to help you find the best fit.

REVIEWS.io vs. Yotpo - Who's the boss?

Before we delve into the details, we should point out a major difference between REVIEWS.io and Yotpo. REVIEWS.io is a single product, whereas Yotpo has positioned itself as a full scale eCommerce marketing solution.

Whilst REVIEWS.io does what it says on the tin, with Yotpo you can choose from multiple products: Reviews, loyalty and referrals, SMS marketing and visual UGC. You can also bundle these up in a sort of pick and mix package.

This makes it pretty hard to compare the two like for like, so for the sake of clarity we’re looking at Yotpo’s review solution ONLY here (though you will find a bit more detail on additional products later on).

It’s also difficult to compare like for like on price, since it’s not so much about what each solution costs but more what it offers by way of value. What we can do is compare them on contracts and small print, and that’s where we’ll start.

Price comparison

Look at the price plans available and on first glance you’ll find a pretty similar offering - Yotpo’s Growth, Prime, Premium and Enterprise plans vs. REVIEWS.io’s Essential, Small, Growing and Enterprise plans.

The difference is that with REVIEWS.io you can see upfront what each plan costs on a monthly basis, there’s a comprehensive and transparent list of what’s included, and any bolt ons are clearly labelled as such. A lot of its best features are also available at every tier.

With Yotpo, you’ll only find advertised costs for its Growth and Prime plans. You’ll have to give up your details to get a quote for the Premium and Enterprise tiers, and frustratingly, a lot of Yotpo’s best features are only available at these unknown price points.

Contract terms are also worth noting. Whilst Yotpo ties you in with annual contracts, REVIEWS.io offers its solution on a rolling monthly basis.

PRICING WINNER: REVIEWS.io - With no long term commitments, upfront pricing and quality features at every tier, REVIEWS.io gets our vote on this one.

Customer Support

Regardless of how good a solution is, it’s of little use if you can’t access the support you need to run it effectively. It has to be said that Yotpo’s efforts fall pretty short here.

It’s not uncommon to wait days for a response from its support team - and whilst it does offer specialist onboarding, implementation and customization services, you’ll only find these available with its top tier plans. This might not prove an issue if you’re a large company with a development team of your own, but it’s not ideal for start-ups and growing brands.

By contrast, we’ve found REVIEWS.io to be incredibly responsive. Customers can access live chat right from their dashboard, with response times under two minutes. With offices in the UK, USA, Australia and Germany, there’s always someone on the end of the phone at any time of day. They also get top marks for onboarding and brand specific advice on product best use.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT WINNER: REVIEWS.io - The REVIEWS.io team wins hands down on this one, acting more like a supporting partner than just a service provider.

Both platforms are Google Licensed Partners, so you’ll get the benefit of Stars and Seller Ratings with both. With Yotpo you’ll need the Prime plan at minimum, but you’ll find Seller Ratings part of every tier with REVIEWS.io.

You want to be able to publish reviews in a way that works for your brand and site, so customization is key. Both solutions offer this but we have encountered loading speed issues with Yotpo’s widgets.

The ability to request video reviews means you get engaging UGC and visible social proof. You can do this through both solutions, but REVIEWS.io has a slight edge with its Video First feature. This allows you to record your own video request in place of a written invitation and directs the customer to a tailored video collector. It’s great for encouraging UGC, and makes for a much easier, much more personal process (and still allows for text reviews if the customer prefers).

Each platform approaches this in a different way. With Yotpo, you can push top reviews to Twitter and Facebook, or offer coupon incentives for reviews shared on social media. With REVIEWS.io, you can use its drag and drop Social Proof Editor to turn your best feedback into branded, shareable graphics - automatically formatted for every post type on every channel.

This feature lets you promote additional products in your review request emails which, when used wisely, can increase retention and customer LTV. Keep in mind though that it may detract from the intended purpose of the email (i.e. review collection).

We like this feature as it really helps supercharge review collection. You can create custom flows that send the recipient on a unique journey. So for example, if they leave a five star text review, you can automate a request for supporting video or images. If they don’t respond to the initial invitation, you can send a reminder via SMS. You can also create flows depending on geolocation - ideal when shipping overseas.

This innovative feature uses AI to suggest product relevant topics for the reviewer, and is a great way to encourage detail rich feedback. It’s available on the Premium and Enterprise plans.

Each provider refers to them as something different, but they are essentially the same thing - additional questions that relate to product or customer specifics. For example, a customer’s height and/or how well the product fit according to size. This is a really useful feature as consumers have come to expect more detail in review content.

This is something we’ve only ever come across with REVIEWS.io, and we rate it as a really valuable feature. You can choose to send a percentage of reviews to other third party platforms, including Trustpilot, Facebook, Google My Business and Amazon. That means you can build your reputation anywhere potential customers may find you.

This one’s all about what features you’re looking for, and how much you’re willing to pay for them.

This is an important one to look out for, as if your review solution doesn’t integrate with the tools you already use, it loses a lot of its power. You’ll want a seamless integration with whichever eCommerce platform you run on, as well as your ESP and customer support solutions, social channels and loyalty programme (if you run one).

Both REVIEWS.io and Yotpo offer integrations with all the major eCommerce platforms, popular solutions like Klaviyo, Gorgias, Hubspot and LoyaltyLion, and the leading social tools. Yotpo has a slightly more extensive list at present, but the rate at which REVIEWS.io is releasing new integrations is impressive.

It’s also not clear with Yotpo’s pricing which integrations are available with which plans, whereas you get a complete breakdown of this with REVIEWS.io. 

WINNER: It depends - with this one it comes down to which platform offers integrations with the tools you use, so it’s really subject to requirements.

Finally, it’s worth going back to those additional Yotpo products we mentioned at the start. Because they’re all developed by one provider, they work really well together. Initiatives like loyalty and referral programs sit nicely alongside review collection, so opting for a product bundle can add real value to your marketing strategy. How much these product bundles cost though is not clear - and you’ll have to request a demo to find out.

Whilst REVIEWS.io remains a single product, the team behind it are branching out and recently launched two new complementary solutions. A loyalty platform in the shape of Influence.io, and an all in one eCommerce analytics platform known as FullPicture - both of which are available at an accessible price point.

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS WINNER: Yotpo  - for the time being Yotpo has the edge here, since it offers a broader range of additional products that you can mix and match to meet your specific needs. 

REVIEWS.io vs. Yotpo: The Verdict

We’ve just covered quite a lot of detail, so if you’re still unsure which direction to take, here’s our verdict on it all:

Yotpo is a decent platform with a lot of great features, so long as you can afford its Premium plan or above and have the technical expertise in-house to implement it.

Our outright winner though has to be REVIEWS.io, as it gives you the same features, with better tools and widgets, at just one third of the cost. In our opinion, it's also the most innovative company in the review space.