Reviews and user photos get treated as a trust element and nothing more on most ecommerce sites. Done properly, they're also a genuine, ongoing content and ranking signal.
Get my free auditA product with fifty reviews all from two years ago doesn't signal the same ongoing relevance as one with twenty reviews spread consistently across the last few months. Both review volume and how consistently new reviews arrive matter, not just the total count sitting on the page.
Genuine user-generated content, real customer photos particularly, also adds unique content to a page that would otherwise be entirely static, which is a meaningful advantage on a product page competing against near-identical listings elsewhere.
Not as a single direct ranking factor, but properly structured review data can produce rich results in search, and the trust and engagement signals reviews generate support broader SEO performance indirectly.
A direct, well-timed request, usually shortly after delivery when satisfaction is freshest, converts better than a generic, delayed request buried in unrelated email content.
Generally yes, a calm, specific response to a negative review often does more for trust with future customers than the negative review itself does damage, provided it's handled professionally.
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