I first met Jeff Bruette when he contacted me regarding the Rating-Widget Shopify app. We exchanged a few messages and he agreed to participate in our beta program. Jeff is the owner of GreatBigStuff.com, a very successful company which sales larger-than-life pop-art décor products.

Thanks Jeff for answering these questions which I’m sure will help other Shopify store owners to understand the value of product ratings. I want to start off by asking you to recount your quest for a rating system.

What was the reason to add one? How hard was it to find one that will fit your needs? Why did you choose Rating-Widget?

I had been wanting to offer a means for shoppers to rate products in my Shopify shop. I wanted the functionality to be a very simple rating process – not reviews and opinions that might require monitoring, editing, and replies. The Rating Widget was the first app to offer the functionality I wanted. But then I was excited to learn that I could have the rating results be included in Google’s crawl of our site.

The Rating-Widget was the first app to offer the functionality I wanted. Tweet

This took the benefit to a whole new level. We now have gold stars appearing in our results on Google. Do a Google search for “great big hamburger” and you’ll see what I mean.

How was your setup process? Was it simple or complex? How long did it take?

The installation was very easy and I had the ratings appearing on my product pages in probably less than 10 minutes. I only had to add a couple things to my .liquid files. The instructions were straight forward. The developer provides screen shots of the .liquid file showing exactly what needed to be added. There was no need to understand the code either. I appreciate the fact that adding this app does not make changes to my files on its own. I like knowing exactly what is changing in my files.

What were the main key features that convinced you to upgrade to the Premium plan?

After seeing how easily it installed and functioned, I quickly decided to upgrade to the premium plan for several reasons. It is a very inexpensive difference in price, once you outgrow the free plan. And for the small cost, I also have the gold rating stars appear with my product descriptions in Google search results.

And for the small cost, I also have the gold rating stars appear with my product descriptions in Google search results. Tweet

This is a HUGE benefit because it catches the user’s attention even when we aren’t in the top natural placement position. Also, I am able to access the Analytics to see how shoppers are rating my products – not only per product, but also their overall use of the Rating Widget on a day to day basis.

Tell us about your experience participating in the beta program. What was the main benefit of being a beta customer? How did it work?

As I always am looking at new apps that are added in the beta section of the Shopify App Store, I was attracted to the Rating-Widget app right away. Vova, the lead developer, was available in chat to answer my questions. As with any beta product, I had a couple of minor hiccups with how the stars displayed and such. The developer was able to address these issues and requests very quickly. And when I say quickly, I mean in minutes – not days. And because of the simplicity of adding the Rating Widget to my shop, I was never concerned that my shop was at risk should something go awry.

Finally, would you recommend other shop owners to add the Rating-Widget app?

I would certainly recommend the Rating Widget app to any Shopify shop owner. The ratings adds a measure confidence to shoppers. This is not only because they can see how other feel about the product, but they also appreciate the fact that they can vote themselves. The real benefit comes when upgrading your Rating Widget account so that Google starts showing gold stars when people search Google for your products. And, due to the simplicity of installation, there’s no risk to seeing how well it works for you.

I would certainly recommend the Rating-Widget app to any Shopify shop owner. Tweet

Thank you so much Jeff for your time!

Are you a Shopify Owner? Try our App for FREE!

In just couple of minutes you’ll have a beautiful star ratings next to your products. Just go to the app’s page on Shopify and click the ‘Install App’ button. Or install it directly from the app’s homepage.