Review invitations are the emails (and SMS messages) sent to your customers asking them to leave a review after their order. This article explains how the invitation system works end-to-end — from what triggers an invitation to how you can monitor and manage them.
How invitations are triggered
Invitations are queued automatically when an order reaches a specific status in your eCommerce platform. The exact trigger depends on your platform:
Platform | Trigger status |
Shopify | Fulfilled (configurable in your Shopify integration settings) |
WooCommerce / WordPress | Completed |
BigCommerce | Shipped |
Magento | Shipped |
Shopware | Completed |
BigCommerce | Shipped |
SquareSpace | Fulfilled |
Neto / Marapost | Dispatched |
If you're not using a platform integration, you can also send invitations manually or via API — see the Sending methods section below.
Invitation timing
When an order reaches the trigger status, it enters your invitation queue. The delay before the email is actually sent is controlled by your Flow settings. For example, if your Flow is configured with a 7-day delay, the invitation will be sent 7 days after the trigger event.
Note on stacked delays: If you have delays set in both your Flow and your Country Settings, these are added together. A 7-day Flow delay plus a 7-day Country Setting delay means invitations for those orders will be queued after 14 days total.
Sending methods
There are several ways to send review invitations, depending on your setup:
Automated Flow — the default method. Invitations are triggered automatically when an order reaches the relevant status on your connected platform.
Quick Invite — send a one-off invitation to a specific customer manually from your dashboard.
Review Booster — bulk invite past customers by uploading a CSV of order data.
API — send invitations programmatically using the REVIEWS.io API. Useful for custom integrations or platforms not natively supported.
Third-party email platforms (e.g. Klaviyo, HubSpot) — you can send review request emails through your own email platform using Dynamic Links to direct customers to their review form.
Using Klaviyo or another email platform? If you send invitations through a third-party tool, those sends do not appear in your REVIEWS.IO Invitation History and do not count against your monthly invitation limit. The Dynamic Link in those emails is what connects the review back to the order.
Monthly invitation limits
Each plan includes a monthly allowance of invitation sends. When you reach your limit, sending is automatically paused until your quota resets at the start of your next billing period. Invitations already in the queue are not lost — they will be sent once the limit resets or is upgraded.
Trial accounts are limited to 5 invitations regardless of plan tier.
To increase your limit, you can upgrade your plan from your account settings. If you're unsure how many invitations you've used this month, check your dashboard's usage summary.
Monitoring your invitations
You can track all sent and queued invitations from Invitations > Invitation History in your dashboard. The status column shows where each invitation is in the process:
In Progress — queued and waiting to be sent.
Sent — delivered to the customer.
Paused — sending has been stopped (hover over the status to see why).
Responded — the customer has submitted a review.
You can filter Invitation History by status, invite type, email address, order ID, date range, and review type (company or product).
Why invitations might not send
The most common reasons an invitation doesn't send are:
Email sending is paused at the account level.
Your monthly invitation limit has been reached.
The order hasn't reached the required trigger status on your platform.
The customer has unsubscribed — GDPR prevents sending to opted-out contacts.
No active email template is set up.
The invitation has been in the queue for more than 4 weeks past its scheduled send date.
Billing or domain verification issues are blocking sending.
For a step-by-step guide to diagnosing these issues, see the Review invitations not sending — troubleshooting guide.