"Soaps In Depth" called Steffy the soap opera genre's "resident diva", while journalist Michael Logan referred to her as a "maddeningly complicated sexbomb". Wood's performance in the role has been met with favorable reception from audiences and critics, having garnered her two consecutive nominations for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 2012 and 2013. In 2018, she received her third Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series before winning in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category in 2019.