Creating a campaign and how Reviewers join

This article walks you through the full campaign creation process step by step, and explains what happens on the Reviewer side once your campaign goes live - from how they discover your offer to how they place their order.

Before you start

Before creating your campaign, make sure you have:

• A product in stock - The product you select must be available and in stock for the duration of your campaign. You will not be able to create a campaign for a product that doesn't have enough inventory. You'll be gifting 5 or 10 items, so make sure you have enough stock to cover those orders plus your regular sales during the campaign window.
• Shopify Checkout enabled - Reviewers.com requires Shopify Checkout. Third-party checkout apps are not supported.

How to create a campaign

1. Open the Reviewers.com app and click Create a new campaign.

2. Set up your campaign details:
   1. Name your campaign - Choose an internal name to help you identify this campaign (e.g., "Summer collection" or "New lip balm launch").
   2. Select your product - Choose the product and relevant variants you want to offer to Reviewers.
   3. Number of items to give away - Select 5 or 10 items. Make sure you have enough stock available for the full campaign duration.

3. Define your target audience. Set the age range, gender, and location for your ideal Reviewer. The Reviewers.com community is currently US-based ages 18 and up. To make sure your campaign reaches new faces, you can tick Exclude Reviewers who joined your previous campaigns - Reviewers who claimed a product in any of your campaigns won't be able to join this one. Learn more about excluding Reviewers below. In this step, you can also hand pick "priority Reviewers" - a selection of specific Reviewers who match your audience and whose past reviews fit the style you're looking for. They'll get first access to your campaign before it's shared with the rest of the community. Learn more about choosing Priority Reviewers.

4. Set review request timing. Decide when Reviewers receive their review request email. You can customize this per campaign by choosing a timing of 1-30 days after purchase, fulfillment, or delivery. Take into account how much time the Reviewers need to use and get to know your product before filming their review. In this step, you can also prevent Reviewers from submitting an early review by turning off the Let Reviewers submit their review before getting the email toggle. Learn more about requiring a minimum usage time below.

5. Add screening questions (optional). Filter which Reviewers can participate by adding up to 3 yes/no qualifying questions. For example, if you sell dog products, one question could be, "Do you have a dog?" Anyone who answers "no" won't be able to join the campaign. Only applicants who give a qualifying answer on all questions are accepted - the rest are automatically declined. You can skip this step if you don't want to filter applicants.

6. Write a brief for your Reviewers (optional).Guide Reviewers on what to highlight in their video review. You have two ways to do this:
   • Write your own brief. Ask Reviewers to mention your brand name, focus on a specific feature, demonstrate the product in use, or show the unboxing.
   • Start from a template. Pick one of the ready-made brief templates and we'll generate a tailored brief from your product's details. The brief appears in the text box for you to review and edit before you continue.

7. Available brief templates:

   • Unboxing - The Reviewer films the unboxing, showing the packaging, first look, and their initial reactions.
   • First impression - The Reviewer shows the first time using the product, including setup, feel, look, and smell.
   • Testimonial - The Reviewer shares their experience after using the product for a while, covering results and ongoing use.
   • Before & after - The Reviewer frames the review as a before-and-after, showing what problem the product solved.
   • Tutorial - The Reviewer gives a step-by-step demo of the product.
   • Everyday use - The Reviewer shows the product in their daily routine or natural environment.
     
     After a template generates a brief, you can edit the text before continuing. To switch templates, select a different one. To clear the generated brief and start over, select the same template again. These instructions are shown to Reviewers during the review submission process under "A note from the brand."

8. Review and confirm your campaign details, then click Submit for approval.

Once submitted, your campaign status is set to Pending. Our team manually reviews every campaign before it goes live. You'll receive a confirmation email, and if approved, your campaign will typically go live within a few days.

What happens after you submit

After your campaign is submitted, you keep track of its status on your Manage Campaigns Page:

Campaign pending

While your campaign is being reviewed, it stays in Pending status. No action is needed from your end - our team will review it and update the status. At this stage, you can still cancel the campaign from your end - once the campaign is approved, it's no longer possible to cancel.

Campaign approved

You'll receive an email letting you know your campaign is live, and within about 24-48 hours, it's shared with eligible Reviewers who can claim a product.

Campaign rejected

If your campaign doesn't meet our guidelines, you'll receive an email explaining why. Common reasons include out-of-stock products, incomplete campaign details, or products that don't align with our community standards. If a credit or payment was used, it's returned to your account automatically. You can adjust your campaign and create a new one.

Requiring a minimum usage time before reviews can be submitted

By default, Reviewers can submit their video review whenever they're ready, even before their review request email arrives. Some products need real usage time before a Reviewer can speak to results - think skincare, supplements, or anything with a learning curve. 

If you want your participating Reviewers to take more time with your product before submitting their review, you can turn off the Let Reviewers submit their review before getting the email toggle in the review request timing step of campaign creation. 

When the toggle is off:

• Reviewers can submit their review only once they receive a review request email (based on the timing you set). For example, if you set the timing to 14 days after delivery, Reviewers can submit their review starting 14 days after their order is delivered
• Reviewers see the required usage time in the campaign email they receive, so they know what's expected before they join
• A screening question is automatically added to your campaign, asking Reviewers to confirm they're willing to use the product for the required time before reviewing. Only Reviewers who confirm can join

Excluding Reviewers who joined your previous campaigns

To keep every campaign reaching new Reviewers, tick Exclude Reviewers who joined your previous campaigns in the target audience step of campaign creation.

When the checkbox is ticked:

• Any Reviewer who claimed a product in one of your campaigns, including campaigns that are still running, won't be offered this campaign and won't be able to join it
• Priority Reviewers are not affected. Any Reviewer you select as a priority Reviewer gets access to your campaign even if they joined one of your previous campaigns, so you can bring back your favorites while keeping the rest of the campaign open to new faces only. Learn more about choosing priority Reviewers.

How Reviewers join your campaign

Once your campaign is live, here's what happens on the Reviewer side:

1. Campaign is shared with all eligible Reviewers. If you selected priority Reviewers, they receive a personalized email with first access to your campaign. One day later, your campaign goes out to all Reviewers in the community who match your target audience criteria (age & gender) via a daily digest email.
2. Reviewers claim your offer. Eligible Reviewers who are interested can claim a spot in your campaign on a first-come, first-served basis. If you set up screening questions, only Reviewers who submit qualifying answers are able to join.
3. Reviewers place an order on your store. Reviewers visit your product page directly and place an order using a unique, automatically applied 100% discount code that covers the price of the product and shipping (valid for one item only). The order appears in your Shopify admin as a regular order, so your usual notifications, workflows, and fulfillment process still apply.
4. You fulfill the order. Process and ship the order as you would any other Shopify order.
5. Review request is sent. After the product is delivered (and based on your custom timing settings), Reviewers receive an email from Reviewers.com with a link to submit their video review. Multiple reminder emails are sent automatically to reduce ghosting.
6. Reviewer submits their video. Reviewers film and submit their honest video review. If you wrote a brief, they see your guidance during the submission process. Every submitted video goes through our AI quality check before it's approved. If a review doesn't pass, the Reviewer receives feedback and is prompted to resubmit.

Identifying Reviewers.com orders in Shopify

All Reviewers.com orders use discount codes prefixed with "RVS-". You can use this prefix to identify and filter for campaign-related orders in your Shopify admin.

These orders appear alongside your regular orders and should be fulfilled using your standard process. There's no separate fulfillment system - Reviewers are real customers placing real orders on your store.

Campaign limitations

• Duration - Campaigns run for up to 7 days or until all items are claimed, whichever comes first. They can't be extended
• Editing - Campaigns can't be edited after creation, but you can view any campaign's settings via on its Campaign overview tab. You can cancel a Pending campaign and create a new one. Active campaigns can be paused and resumed within the 7-day window.
• Pausing - When you pause an active campaign, its timer stops. When you resume, it continues from where it left off (e.g., paused after 3 days = 4 days remaining once resumed)
• Canceling - Only Pending campaigns can be canceled on your end. Once a campaign is active, it can't be canceled
• Items per campaign - You can gift either 5 or 10 items
• One product per campaign - Each campaign features a single product (variants can be included so Reviewers can choose their preferred option)

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