Black Friday and Cyber Monday traffic is unforgiving: a lot of visitors, most of them unfamiliar with your store, deciding fast, often comparing three tabs at once. A Wix product page with zero or thin reviews converts worse under that kind of cold traffic than one with a real review count — which means review-building has to start well before the sale, not during it.
The short verdict
Best fit
Start 8-10 weeks out. Focus on your expected BFCM bestsellers first. Do not loosen moderation just to inflate review counts for the sale.
Why timing matters here
A review request email goes out after an order, and a customer needs time to receive it, use the product, and reply. That whole loop realistically takes one to three weeks per review, sometimes longer for products that need to be used a few times before someone has an opinion (skincare, supplements, anything with a break-in period). If you wait until the week before BFCM to think about reviews, you have already missed the window to build meaningful volume on new or recently added products.
The 10-week timeline
| Weeks out | What to do |
|---|---|
| 8-10 | Identify likely BFCM bestsellers; check current review counts on each |
| 6-8 | Turn on or tune automated review requests for those products — see automating review requests on Wix |
| 4-6 | Add photo-review encouragement for visual products; check moderation queue regularly |
| 2-4 | Reply to any recent negative reviews before the traffic spike — see how to reply to a bad review on Wix |
| 0-2 | Final check: no broken widgets, review counts visible on mobile, no duplicate review sections |
Prioritize your BFCM bestsellers
Do not try to build reviews evenly across your entire catalog in a short window — focus on the handful of products that will actually carry your ad spend and homepage placement during the sale. A product with 15 honest reviews converts noticeably better under paid traffic than one with none, even if the rest of your catalog is still thin. If you only have a few weeks left, triage: pick your top 5-10 expected sellers and put your review-request effort there first.
Using incentives without looking desperate
Proofy's review request emails support an optional incentive — a discount code or free shipping offer for leaving a review. Ahead of a big sale, this can meaningfully speed up your response rate, since customers already expect to see offers in their inbox this time of year. Keep the incentive modest and apply it evenly to every recipient of that campaign; do not target it only at customers you suspect will leave a five-star review, which drifts toward the kind of selective incentive that damages trust in reviews generally.
During the sale window
- Keep your normal moderation settings — do not auto-publish everything just to raise counts
- Monitor for a spike in review-request replies and check the queue more than once a day
- Reply quickly to any critical review that lands during the sale; a fast, calm reply matters more when traffic is high
After: turning the traffic spike into reviews
BFCM generates a wave of orders, which means a wave of review requests going out over the following weeks. That is a genuine opportunity to close review gaps on products that were previously thin — make sure your automated request flow is still running cleanly through December, not just switched on for the sale itself. A store that turns off review requests right after the sale window misses most of the actual review-collection benefit, since replies typically trickle in over the following month.
Get review requests going before your next sale
Proofy Reviews automates review request emails after every order — free on the Wix App Market.
Install Proofy ReviewsFAQ
How far ahead should I start working on reviews before Black Friday?+
Start about 8-10 weeks out. Reviews take time to accumulate — you need real orders, review request emails, and a reply window before the review actually appears. Starting the week before BFCM is too late for products with thin review counts.
Which products should I focus review-building on first?+
Whatever you expect to be your top BFCM sellers or ad-driven landing pages. A product with zero reviews converts worse under paid traffic than one with even 5-10 honest reviews.
Should I change moderation settings during the sale?+
Not usually. Keep your normal approval flow. The temptation to auto-publish everything to inflate volume during a big sale week is exactly when fake or rushed reviews are most likely to slip through — see reducing fake reviews on your Wix store.
What about products that are brand new for the holiday season?+
New products will not have reviews yet. See how to get your first product reviews on Wix for a faster path, and consider leaning on a strong product description and clear sizing/spec info until reviews accumulate.
Should I offer an incentive to speed up review collection before the sale?+
A small, disclosed incentive like a discount code or free shipping on the next order is a legitimate lever Proofy supports on its review request emails. Just apply it evenly to every review request for a given campaign, not selectively to reviewers you suspect might leave a good rating.
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