How do I respond to comments on blog posts

[pjmmpls]

Hi, I searched and found an answer to my question from 2010. I am wondering if things have been updated? I would like to respond directly to comments (similar to how it works on FB or IG)  and not have to add them as a visitor does. Is this possible?

Thank you for your help!

Pam

[Rae]

Hi, @pjmmpls! 

Rae from Shopify here. Thank you for reaching out with this question! 

At this time, the best way to reply to blog comments is to go directly onto your site from your URL and visit your blog as if you were a customer, or a visitor, like you mentioned. Then, just reply to the comment there by using the field directly below the comment to enter in your information and type your reply. 

The option to reply to blog comments without visiting the customer facing side of a website is something that has been requested previously by our merchants, so I'm going to let our teams know that you also inquired about this process. If we do update this, we will share these changes on our Announcements page and also on our changelog, so please make sure to check these pages periodically to stay up to date with any improvements and updates that we release. Hopefully our teams can work towards offering some new methods to handle these replies to make blog management easier for our users in the future.

In the meantime though, if you're looking for an alternative way to reply to blog comments, I recommend checking out some commenting apps like the ones listed here. An app like Facebook Comments can be used to import blog posts to your site from Facebook, with the added ability to enable and disable comments on these posts. If you're interested in learning more about how this apps works, it's a great idea to reach out to the app developer directly so that they can provide more information and assistance. 

Let me know if there is anything else I can lend a hand with and I'll be glad to help out further! 

[ZURRI]

I am having the same problem. Many of the apps listed require a paid membership to their app for the response feature. This is very disappointing. I didn't realize switching my blog to this platform would be such a bad idea 😞 . Perfect to market products, but not so good for blogging.

[pjmmpls]

seriously, I assumed that was a no brainer. I do not want to pay an
additional fee to respond. Definitely disappointing. Part of having a blog
is the ability to start a conversation with the readers. ugh

[Rae]

Hi, @ZURRI and @pjmmpls! 

Thanks for sharing your feedback on this, @ZURRI. I'm sorry to hear about the troubles you're having with replying to blog comments, and I understand your frustration with the apps requiring a paid membership. I will pass on your thoughts to our developers so they know how this is impacting your business. 

I appreciate your additional feedback on this, @pjmmpls. I've shared these details with our teams as well. 

If there are any other Community members who are also looking to have a feature like this on our blogs, please feel free to reply to me here with your .myshopify.com URL and I will share your feedback with our developers. 

Thanks!

[franticfarmhous]

I would like to be able to reply to comments as well. I had no idea this would be an issue when making the decision to use Shopify. Please send this request to development team. I'm going to turn off comments because it doesn't make sense to have them if you can't reply. 

[ToneFox]

Hi!  Our URL is arctic-fox.myshopify.com.  We need a way to reply to comments on blogs as excellent customer service is a cornerstone of our brand.  I'd rather not redo our whole blog platform. Please get this implemented ASAP. 

[Jakob2]

Hello Rae,

Please prioritise this (simple) feature. I'm sure you can imagine that replying to customer comments is a very essential part of modern social marketing. Woocommerce, Prestashop have it.

Best regards

Jakob

[pjmmpls]

I am checking back in on this issue. It has been over 4 months since I have requested a reply option. I am wondering if you can give us an update. It seems to me the purpose of a comment section is to interact with your customers. I am very disappointed. Thank you for your attention to this problem.

[Dale_Horeczy]

We would also like this feature to be able to reply,  we went from wordpress to shopify thinking this basic feature would be available.  It should be. 

[pjmmpls]

I am wondering if the Shopify folks are no longer reading this because I accidentally hit resolved which I can not reverse? Could someone please respond to us and let us know the status of this situation. It is such a vital part of a blog! thank you

[KateShore]

Hi @Rae just raising my hand to say I would also love this to be added. This seems like something that should be an obvious feature for a blog page. I should be able to reply or tag people just like I am doing here with you. mine is kate-shore-art.myshopify.com

[FivePatchDesign]

Hi Kate, you have a gorgeous site! Great inspiration for me 🙂 Are you using Minimal? I'm currently redesigning my site using the free Minimal theme.

[TJGator]

Is this in the works of getting solved?  We have roughly 15-20 comments per blog post (1,600 views) and it looks like we don't care to respond back.  This can't be a difficult feature to add.  

[Well]

how do i ask a question?

[jweck]

@Rae, I'm dealing with this issue too. Our customers ask questions about products/shipping and other ecommerce related questions that we'd like to be able to answer publicly. We lost a lot of blog features when we migrated to Shopify, which was fine for the most part, but comments are definitely one we need to have our store function well. Thanks for passing on to  your developers. We'll stay tuned!

[Find-Art-Co]

I would also love to have this functionality and even some kind of alert to know when somebody make a comment to one of my blog posts. I like Shopify, but It's a shame Shopify seems not to be trying to solve this issue...the workaround fix is unconvenient, 2020 deserves a full featured fix. Isn't shopify the greatest e-commerce platform out there?, well, your clients deserve a fix for this (a simple job task for the great shopify's team of coders). Thanks. my website url: https://find-art-co.myshopify.com/

[AS_Bloom]

I also need this feature and am very surprised & disappointed that Shopify has not added it. Please resolve. Thanks!

https://seattle-sundries.myshopify.com/

[livsndesigns]

Yeah, can we go ahead and get this feature? livsn.myshopify.com 

Specifically, we should be able to directly reply to a comment and start a comment "thread" below the original comment. This allows a true conversation to happen. As others have said, the workaround of commenting through the front-facing site isn't viable because it makes a totally new comment.

Another crucial part of having an active comment section would be notifications. The store admins should get a notification when a new comment is posted and the user should get a notification when their comment is replied to. If there are no notifications a two-way conversation won't happen because people will be unlikely to check back to see if anyone replied. 

While we're spec-ing this out. An upvote/downvote or thumbs up/thumbs down feature would encourage people to be productive community members and not simply spam. 

Pinkbike.com has a very simple setup that works well and encourages engagement: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/rad-apparel-debuts-made-in-colorado-mountain-bike-jersey.html

We're putting a lot of energy into good blog content and we'd love the support from Shopify in making it worthwhile. 

Thanks!

[JeanniePence]

It is imperative that we be able to respond to a reader's comments. The idea that we have to go to the original post, leave a comment, then go back to the office and approve that comment is just not practical at all.

I'm very disappointed in the framework for the blog overall. There is no index feature....no search. It desperately needs some work.

[MinnaM]

Yes, been looking at this too. Surely you have it by now done( at least sceduled) ? This is  a very important feature thinking of todays needs and wishes of clientele;)

[frankieZing]

Yes I strongly agree with the need for the ability to reply in a thread. I moved over from my Wordpress blog on the understanding that it was better to have a blog on the same platform as Shopify. But now I can't engage in a conversation with my readers on my posts. I want to build relationships with my customers. And I want to improve my search ranking. I put a lot of time and energy into my blog posts and I'm losing out on return, because I can't engage with comments properly.

[livsndesigns]

@Rae Do you have an update on where this is in the dev pipeline? Please don't give a vague answer stating that the request has been passed along. Provide some detail and a timeline if you can. We need to know in order to make decisions on how to move forward. 

Thanks!

[Rae]

Hi, @livsndesigns! 

Thanks for inquiring about this. I understand how this is impacting your business, and your plans to move forward. 

We don't have a current timeline that outlines when, or if, this request will be looked into further by our Development team. However, if we have any updates to share on this in the future, we'll share these on our changelog, as well as our Announcements page, so I recommend checking out these pages periodically for more details. 

Cheers! 

[Nonameplz]

---

@Rae wrote:

Hi, @livsndesigns! 

Thanks for inquiring about this. I understand how this is impacting your business, and your plans to move forward. 

We don't have a current timeline that outlines when, or if, this request will be looked into further by our Development team. However, if we have any updates to share on this in the future, we'll share these on our changelog, as well as our Announcements page, so I recommend checking out these pages periodically for more details. 

Cheers! 

---

The comment below is what we need. Also, we pay the highest possible price with shopify compared to anywhere else but dont even get a basic feature such as replying to a comment...

" Specifically, we should be able to directly reply to a comment and start a comment "thread" below the original comment. This allows a true conversation to happen. As others have said, the workaround of commenting through the front-facing site isn't viable because it makes a totally new comment.

Another crucial part of having an active comment section would be notifications. The store admins should get a notification when a new comment is posted and the user should get a notification when their comment is replied to.  "

The craziest thing is directly under this exact post button, there is a box to click with "email me when someone replies" well if thats not a punch to the face... 

[pjmmpls]

Wow! this statement from another user is so obvious, how did I not notice this before? And it makes me even more frustrated as a consumer.

The craziest thing is directly under this exact post button, there is a box to click with "email me when someone replies" well if thats not a punch to the face... 

@Rae could you please respond to why on your Shopify page we can directly reply (the exact option we want for our blog post) but you can't give that option to us? 

anxiously awaiting the answer!

Pam at Laughing Ogre Press

[pjmmpls]

@frankieZing I am beginning to give up hope. I have posted here, talked to a person in November, and emailed. Clearly, they could care less. I don't know the underlying reason for not giving us this feature, aside from collecting more money on an app purchase?

[frankieZing]

Having worked on a big corporate website for many years, I would say it's because the number of features people want (and even badly need) are actually exponential. There is always more required. Also, the bigger a site gets, the more complex it is to make changes. Imagine how many millions of shops there are that depend on reliable functionality. Web development is not as magic as it seems, it's a hard slog. eBay made a lot of changes recently and it 'broke' so many people's product listings. But hopefully this comments feature will come to Shopify eventually!

[NinaBerenato]

Having replies would be so helpful! Anyway, this is under works and will be rolled out soon?

[WATCHR]

I would like this feature.

[ecocollective1]

Hey Shopify! I am dying for this feature. We are getting more and more comments on our blogs and I really want to notify a customer when I respond. This seems huge for SEO and engagement, and is something we wish we didn't have to use an app for. I'm still looking for the right one. Please pass our feedback along, this is the #1 update I want to see! Thanks so much! 

PS - I think my shop is under eco-collective.myshopify.com

[entrelanas]

Hello, i am also having this problem, my readers are asking questions and i cannot reply directly to them. This is very frustrating, if i reply as a customer visiting the website, the customer I am replying to will not be aware I am replying to them. there is no feature that says reply right below the comment. 

Thanks,

Elena

website: www.entrelanas.com

[pjmmpls]

@Rae Well it has been WAY over one year and we have seen nothing change. We are still unable to communicate with our customers in the same way we can communicate with you now. The big difference I see is that we want to solve problems, answer questions, and deliver the highest quality service we can for our clients and customers. I do not understand why this issue of not being able to respond to blog comments has been brushed to the back. 

So the big question is, why is responding to comments a no-brainer here on this platform but you will not add it to our blogs? 

Frustrated, Pam

[livsndesigns]

@Rae Can y'all go ahead and get this put on the development calendar? It's such a basic feature of commenting. Actually, I would argue that comment functionality isn't even complete without it. Take one junior employee and task her with this job for one day. 

[Colleen_O_Conn1]

this continues to be a major point of failure for Shopify store owners

[jweck]

Agreed. We have comments turned off, because there isn't an adequate way of
responding, but a lot of our core customers would prefer to engage with us
on our blog instead of social media or email. I haven't found an app that
can do this basic feature either.

[keith88]

I think Shopify has made it clear that they don't care about this and will not address it.

[Booksdadslove]

I’ve had the same problem - so frustrating! The point of a blog is to start a conversation -

please fix it.

Joe from

booksdadslove.com

[melissa246]

Hi, I'd also like to respond to blog comments.

In the meantime, if I write a comment will everyone that has written a comment receive a notification? So they can be prompted to look at my reply?

Thanks,

Melissa

[Jon_at_Sunny]

Hi Melissa,

My understanding is that currently there is no notification system for blog comments that will email all previous commenters. (unlike this forum, which does have one). For Shopify blogs, replying to comments requires an app.

Apps like Sunny will notify the original commenter when you respond, but not other commenters.  Disqus is another app for comments that may have more features.

I hope that helps,

Jon

(Sunny is here: https://apps.shopify.com/blog-comment-manager. Disclosure; I built this 🙂 ).

[Andre_Borges]

Yet another functionality that Shopify doesnt care to give us. So basic yet, nothing...

[Irena]

Same problem here - can't answer to comments on my Shopify blog. Very frustrating.

[CarolineNicks]

I use an app called "Sunny" now. It works like a charm!

[pjmmpls]

I caved in and use that too now. However, I am annoyed I have to buy yet another app.

[johannataho]

We also need this feature. It's very disappointing that shopify has that bad blog comments.

[MonsterMawd]

Give us the right to respond to our customer's questions on our blogs, please. 

[Irena]

Yes! Give us the right to respond to our customer's questions on our blogs, please.

[MonsterMawd]

We are still waiting for Shopify to add the ability for shop owners to respond to their customer questions posted their store blog.  

[Irena]

Yes, that would be great! Such a simple thing and still sellers can't have it without paying for apps 😞 

[persephonelove]

Hi there, please add me to this list too. Part of the whole point of a blog is to be able to engage with people, so NOT having this feature is just silly. This shouldn't be something we have to pay extra just to have. With the current functionality lacking a reply feature, you're only essentially offering half of a service. Please fix, and please fix quickly! 😞

-Hazel Lehtonen @ Persephone Love

www.persephonelove.com

Store link within Shopify: https://persephone-love.myshopify.com/

[KateShore]

It seems that the Shopify team may not be looking at this thread anymore because it was marked as solved. I started a new one called "Blog Comments" and encourage you to all add to it here:

https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-Discussion/Blog-comments/td-p/689392

[pjmmpls]

I am assuming I am not the only person that would like this feature. It has been a few months since I asked about adding the feature to respond to a blog post. Have there been any updates in that area? It seems to be a rather nobrainer request, newspapers, reddit, FB, and so many other platforms have it! TIA

[pjmmpls]

Ok checking back in? Has there been any solution to this issue? I am finding very few sites that people can not respond directly to other comments. I am wondering why this can be done here?

[Eliz_MatchaAlt]

I'd like to add my voice to this request - please PLEASE please add this basic functionality as soon as possible. It's not reasonable to expect your Shopify customers to pay extra to reply to blog comments. This is 2020, and something that shouldn't be too hard to fix, but will make a big difference to all of us merchants (your customers!!). Thank you.

[pjmmpls]

Please change this to not resolved! 

[pjmmpls]

I have tried and it won't let me. I have also asked Shopify to change it. I am kicking myself for hitting the resolved button, I only meant to imply I heard their response, not that I accepted it!

[KateShore]

@Rae - please the the other comments on this thread. It was marked solved by the poster by mistake. This is issue is NOT resolved. We need to be able to reply to comments via admin and to be notified when new comments are made on blog posts.

[Jakob2]

Admin: Please reopen the issue!

[KateShore]

@Jakob2  @pjmmpls  @Dale_Horeczy  @Rae 

It seems that the Shopify team may not be looking at this thread anymore because it was marked as solved. I started a new one called "Blog Comments" and encourage you to all add to it here:

https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-Discussion/Blog-comments/td-p/689392

[Rae]

Hi, all! 

Thank you for continuing to reach out to share your feedback about this. I have submitted all of the feedback that has previously been shared with our teams already. 

As of today, the best method for replying directly to comments on blog posts is by following these steps that I previously shared: 

At this time, the best way to reply to blog comments is to go directly onto your site from your URL and visit your blog as if you were a customer, or a visitor, like you mentioned. Then, just reply to the comment there by using the field directly below the comment to enter in your information and type your reply. 

In addition to this, some of the apps that I mentioned originally may also be useful. 

However, I understand how beneficial it would be to reply to comments on blogs from within the Shopify admin, so I will continue to share your feedback about this with our teams. Please reply to me here with your .myshopify.com URL if you'd like to request this feature. Once I submit your feedback, I will 'Like'  your reply to indicate that I've sent your request to our teams for further review. 

We don't have any updates to share on this feature request at the moment, but if we do release more information, you can find this on our changelog and our Announcements page, so please keep an eye out there. In addition to this, it's important to note that we can't guarantee when, or if, this feature request will be considered by our teams. 

@pjmmpls I also wanted to confirm that I have removed the 'accepted solution' upon your request. 

Thanks, everyone! 

[pjmmpls]

I am confused about you asking me if I want to request this feature? I thought that was implied through these many posts? My shop is Laughing Ogre Press. 

[Eliz_MatchaAlt]

Hi Rae, 

Thank you for re-opening this ticket, and your response. I'm wondering if there's an issue that Shopify isn't aware of - you say in your message to "just reply to the comment there by using the field directly below the comment to enter in your information and type your reply." However, there is no field directly below the comment, there is only the option to write a brand-new, unrelated comment. 

Here is a screenshot of the comments section of our blog:

You can see, there is no way to reply to the comments at all. 

Our shop URL is https://matcha-alternatives.myshopify.com/admin and our public-facing URL is https://matchaalternatives.com/ and we would definitely definitely definitely like this basic feature.

Thank you and stay safe,

Elizabeth

[robertsjetc]

I would like this feature as well! My shop is https://late-blooming-watercolors.myshopify.com/. Very disappointed today to learn this situation has not changed in years.

ETA: And what's worse is that I took the only work around and commented as a visitor to my site, but I still then have to go into my store back end and approve my own comment. This functionality is desperately needed as a quick look through the Shopify App store presents no viable alternatives.

[lowbrowcustoms]

I am a Shopify Plus customer and I am throwing my vote in here for this functionality as well. Super basic, we need to be able to communicate directly with commenters on our blog, pairing the response to their initial comment.

This is very basic functionality, c'mon Shopify!! You are so good in so many ways, but certain things that are lacking really surprise me.

[Sadie_]

We would very much like to be added to the list of businesses looking to reply to comments on our blog. This seems like a basic feature and it's so frustrating having to find work arounds for a simple task.

 https://bambushop.myshopify.com/, front facing URL is bambuhome.com

[newbie2021]

Hello,

I have just moved to Shopify. It makes setting up an e-commerce store really easy. That's a great thing.

However, I have noticed that even for some basic features/functionality, we are expected to buy a paid app. That really annoys me.

For example. Being able to reply to comments in your blog, I would have thought this functionality should have come out of the box.

No one should be required to pay for that.  We are in 2020 and not 2000, please Shopify add this functionality.

Content-marketing is a big thing and not being able to communicate with your readers is a cardinal sin.

I see that this has been asked since 2014. Does this take 6 years to implement? If third-party folks can build an app for this, surely your developers should also be able to do better than them.

Asking your customers to pay for such a must have functionality on top of what they are already paying is so unacceptable.

My site name is - https://testshop20192020.myshopify.com/

Regards,

[keith88]

Absolutely critical functionality. Please ensure we are notified if a Shopify developed solution is implemented. rubiomonocoatusa.myshopify.com

@Rae Will someone commenting on a blog post get an email every time someone else comments or are no notifications sent? Either option is not-suitable for a blog as one seems spammy and the other is terrible customer service. 

Also, the customer email is already collected when they leave a comment!

IF reply button is clicked, SEND email notification once comment is approved. 

(I understand this is a gross simplification)

I could email each commenter individually but oh my goodness! What a pain! 

[Rae]

Hi, @keith88. 

Thanks for reaching out with this question, and sharing your feedback. 

Currently, Shopify does not send any notifications regarding new blog comments. However, I'd love to hear more about your ideal functionality for this, as well as what type of notification you're looking for. Please feel free to share some more details on this with me, and I'll be glad to submit this feedback to our teams. 

In the meantime, I've been passing all of the feedback already shared in this thread to our teams, and will continue to do so for new comments, too. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and insight. We take this type of feedback into consideration as we continue to build and improve our platform. 

Best, 

[Animainbloom]

Hello,

Thank you for responding. This is a major problem for me. I have potential customers asking questions about my products via the blog and there is not even a reply button for me to answer their questions if I access comments via the front end. The person who commented will not even be notified that I have responded, and it will appear as though a random person has replied. I haven't fleshed out my blog yet, but it is an important part of generating traffic and I don't want it to malfunction or leave customers waiting. Are there any new developments?

[Flaxa]

Same here, I was just getting some comments on my blog posts and couldn't find a reply-button.
Can't be, right? I am just not seeing it, right?
Asked Google, now I am here and kinda furious why this really a thing and after so many years that Shopify exists there still is no such (simple) feature.

It is really a big downer when you cannot reply to someone and the person does not even have the chance to be notified when I reply.
Posting a new comment on the front end is kinda hilarious in 2020 😕

Please add my voice to the "Reply-Function"-Counter, maybe it will help push this feature a little bit more to the top 😉

[luckybreakacres]

I am interested in having a reply feature for comments on my blog. My url is lucky-break-acres.myshopify.com 

[frankieZing]

I have just used a work around that helps keep the conversation going: in your 'manage comments' section in admin, you can see the email address of the person who commented. So, as well as replying 'as a visitor' on the blog post page, you can email the person letting them know you've replied. You can include a link to the actual blog post comment (when you create a comment it generates an updated url with the comment number appended).