A quick scroll through a WooCommerce plugin sales page, and you’ll likely see testimonials, star ratings, and glowing feedback. But one detail is often missing: the date of the review.
I recently asked the plugin community on Twitter whether they include review dates on their product pages. It reminded me of the old debate around hiding blog post dates to make content seem “evergreen”.
But reviews might be a different story. Are we helping or hurting conversions by omitting dates? Here’s what came out of the discussion, and how it might affect your WooCommerce plugin business.
The Case For Showing Review Dates
A response that stood out in the conversation was from Ian, who said that removing dates makes reviews feel less trustworthy. If a testimonial looks timeless, it’s hard to know whether it reflects the current state of the product.
He added that he already views reviews with some skepticism and prefers to have as much context as possible—including when the review was written.
From a user perspective, the more transparency, the better. Dates give potential customers a sense of:
- how recently the plugin was used by someone,
- whether the product is actively maintained and supported,
- and how long it’s been popular (or not).
But What If Your Reviews Are Old?
I followed up with a counterpoint: What if the latest review is from two years ago? Doesn’t that hurt more than help?
Ian’s reply was insightful: “That’s a signal of truth,” he said. It might even raise some concern—but it’s an honest one. If you’re not getting recent reviews, that’s an important sign both for customers and for you as a business owner.
Instead of hiding the date, you could use that as a trigger to actively collect fresh reviews. Maybe incentivize happy customers to leave one. Or follow up with recent buyers via email after 30 days of use.
Also, newer reviews often mention recent plugin updates or compatibility with current WooCommerce versions, which can be a huge conversion boost.
Review Dates vs. Blog Post Dates
This topic reminded me of an older practice: hiding blog post dates to make content seem evergreen. Many bloggers used to strip dates from posts because they were afraid older content would be perceived as irrelevant—even if it wasn’t.
That logic, however, doesn’t quite translate to reviews.
Reviews aren’t content for content’s sake. They’re social proof. And social proof is stronger when it feels genuine and timely. People want to know whether others recently had a good experience—not just five years ago.
So while blog posts can survive without dates (depending on the topic), reviews actually benefit from being time-stamped.
How WooCommerce Plugin Sellers Can Handle This
If you’re selling WooCommerce plugins and thinking about review dates, here are a few approaches to consider:
- Display the review date clearly, especially if it’s recent.
- Group reviews by year or version (e.g. “Recent Reviews for Version 3.2+”).
- Add a timestamp like “Last review: March 2025” somewhere at the top, even if you don’t want to date every single one.
- If your reviews are outdated, treat that as a prompt to request new ones, either through automation or personal outreach.
- Consider showing both date and WooCommerce version if compatibility is a common concern in your niche.
What I Will Do
Based on this discussion, I’ll likely keep dates visible on any new plugin sales pages. If I notice a long gap between reviews, I might start adding a prompt to collect one—either post-purchase or within the plugin admin.
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with a quarterly review contest, but it seems nobody wants to win a free mini plugin bundle…
Conclusion
Hiding review dates might seem like a way to keep testimonials evergreen, but it could do more harm than good. Customers are becoming more skeptical and value transparency more than ever. By showing dates—and keeping them recent—you send the message that your product is alive, used, and trusted today.
Have you decided to show or hide review dates on your own plugin sales pages? Let me know what worked best for you.
