99.9% of customers read reviews when they shop online. So why not leverage this statistic to your advantage?
Reviews will naturally trickle in as you sell, but a targeted strategy to encourage customer reviews based on proven techniques could be the boost your Amazon business needs this year.
Why Is Feedback on Amazon So Important?
Online reviews are the new word of mouth.
Amazon seller feedback and reviews are crucial components of a successful Amazon business. They’re your customers’ first port of call when it comes to social proof, which is incredibly important when a potential customer is making their purchasing decision.
A study shows that 46% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. The bottom line is that positive reviews can significantly impact your sales and profits – but they can be hard to come by.
We’re hardwired to complain rather than compliment. That’s why nudging customers who’ve had a great experience with your product can be hugely significant.
In this guide, we will explore techniques for getting more reviews on Amazon.
What happens when a negative review turns into a liability case? That’s when your Amazon Seller Insurance comes into play.
At Assureful, we’re ex-Amazon sellers and eCommerce experts bringing low-cost, flexible product liability insurance to eCommerce sellers for those cases when good customer service isn’t enough.
Feedback, Reviews, and Ratings – What’s the Difference?
While they might sound the same, understanding the difference between seller feedback, product reviews, and product ratings is crucial for any Amazon seller. These three elements play a significant role in your Amazon business, influencing your reputation, sales, and even your Amazon account health.
Let’s break them down:
Seller Feedback
This is the feedback that customers leave about their experience will the seller/store overall, not about the product itself. It’s a reflection of your performance as a seller and the quality of your customer service. For fulfilled-by-merchant (FBM) orders, this also relates to how the order was packaged and delivered.
It’s important to monitor your seller feedback regularly and address any negative reviews promptly to maintain a high seller rating.
Product Review
A product review is all about the specific ASIN and the customer’s opinions on its usability, safety, reliability, aesthetics, and any other relevant factors.
These reviews are displayed on the product detail page and significantly influence the buying decisions of potential customers. Positive product reviews can boost your product’s visibility and sales, while negative reviews can harm your product’s reputation.
Product Ratings
Product ratings, or feedback ratings are a score from 1 to 5 assigned by customers. A 5-star rating is the best, with 1 star being the worst. Ratings are only applicable to the product sold, not the seller.
These ratings serve as a numerical statistic as opposed to somebody’s thoughts, opinions, and experiences with a product, providing a quick snapshot of the product’s overall quality and customer satisfaction. Amazon customers can leave a product rating on its own, or leave a more detailed review explaining their experience.
How to Get Reviews on Amazon
Of course, you know that getting product feedback on Amazon is crucial for improving your products and enhancing your customer’s shopping experience – but how do you ensure you’re maximizing the number and the quality of reviews you receive?
Here are some effective strategies to encourage customers to leave feedback:
1. Use Amazon’s ‘Request a Review’ Button
Amazon allows sellers to manually request a review for every order within 5-30 days of delivery.
To do this, go to Orders > Manage Orders > Shipped tab > Order number > Request a review in Seller Central. This is a simple and direct way to request feedback from a customer. Although, when you’re receiving 10’s, 100’s or 1000’s or orders, this manual process is cumbersome.
2. Automate Review Requests
Some paid software, like JungleScout, has a review automation feature to cut out those manual requests. This ‘set it and forget it’ feature automatically sends review requests to each of your customers in a way that’s compliant with Amazon’s terms of service. This can be a great, cost-effective option for growing sellers to ensure no review opportunity is missed.
3. Optimize Your Product Inserts
Product inserts are incredibly simple and incredibly overlooked as a great way of asking for reviews. By framing your simple product insert as a ‘personal’ thank you to your new customer in which you ask for their honest feedback, they’ll be more compelled to take that action.
However, it’s important to stay within Amazon’s terms of service when requesting reviews. You cannot influence the outcome in any way. So always use neutral language like “Your feedback means the world to us. Head to Amazon to leave an honest review of your experience”
You should also never ask the customer to contact you outside of the buyer-seller messaging platform – no social media, website, or emails – or you’ll be in violation of Amazon’s ToS.
4. Manage Customer Expectations
The best way to manage your customers’ expectations is to be upfront and honest with what they can expect from your product – with accurate and detailed product listings.
Never promise features or benefits that your product can’t deliver unless you’re prepared to deal with a whole lot of returns, complaints, and negative reviews. Rich, detailed product descriptions that accurately depict your product? Those are a recipe for satisfied customers more likely to respond to your review requests and product inserts.
5. Enroll in Amazon’s Vine Program
Amazon Vine allows you to submit up to 30 units of any product you sell to be sent to ‘vine reviewers’ free of charge. In return, you receive honest and comprehensive reviews on your products.
A Vine Reviewer can be any Amazon customer who has enrolled in the program to receive products from Amazon for free in return for an honest opinion and review of the product. Program enrollment is by invite, meaning Amazon vets reviewers and invites customers who consistently post detailed and helpful reviews on Amazon outside of the program.
This is what the reviews will look like on your products page once a Vine reviewer has completed their task:
To be eligible for the Amazon Vine program you must:
- Be a brand-registered seller
- Have fewer than 30 reviews for the product you want to enroll
- Submit up to 30 units of inventory to be given away for free in return for reviews
- Have an active listing with available inventory
How much does the Amazon Vine Program cost?
| Number of units per parent ASIN | Enrollment Fee |
| Up to 2 | $0 |
| 3-10 | $75 |
| 11-30 | $200 |
Check Amazon’s Vine Program page for the most up-to-date details and to check your eligibility to join.
6. Provide Excellent Customer Service
Prompt and helpful customer service can turn a dissatisfied customer into a happy one and satisfied customers into brand advocates.
This is your opportunity to manage the concerns of your unhappy customers and as a result, turn some of them into positive reviews. Swift, decisive action when handling customer complaints, questions, or concerns is the crux of this and even forms a heavily weighted part of the Amazon A-Z guarantee, which requires sellers to respond to customer complaints within a specific time period.
What happens when one customer’s bad experience turns into a liability case not covered by the A-Z Guarantee? That’s when your Amazon Seller Insurance comes into play.
At Assureful, we’re ex-Amazon sellers and eCommerce experts bringing low-cost, flexible product liability insurance to eCommerce sellers for as little as $26 a month.
7. Check Social Media for Brand Mentions
Regularly check social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for any brand mentions. When customers are organically sharing positive experiences with your products, this is a fantastic opportunity to reach out to them and ask for an honest review on Amazon.
Amazon Product Review No, No’s
While striving to boost your product reviews and seller feedback on Amazon, it’s essential to adhere to Amazon’s policies and guidelines. Violating these rules can lead to penalties, including account suspension. Here are some practices to avoid:
Incentivizing Reviews
Offering incentives or giveaways to customers in return for reviews is prohibited by Amazon. This includes discounts, free products, gift cards, or any other compensation. Amazon wants reviews to be unbiased and genuine, reflecting the true customer experience.
Directly or Indirectly Asking For Only Positive Feedback
Not only is it against Amazon’s policies to ask for positive reviews, but honest customer feedback is the best feedback for your business, even if it’s negative. Honest and comprehensive reviews give you the chance to understand what your customers are actually experiencing so you can double down on what’s working, and fix what isn’t.
So, your requests for reviews should be neutral and in no way influence the customer’s opinion or rating. Try language like this, that we shared above: “Your feedback means the world to us. Head to Amazon to leave an honest review of your experience”.
Violating Amazon’s Communication Guidelines
Amazon is very particular about the way sellers communicate with customers. Violating their guidelines, such as actively soliciting feedback, pressuring customers who have left negative feedback to change their reviews, or asking customers to contact you outside of Amazon can all lead to account suspension.
Compromising these guidelines means compromising your business. So stick to the rules for the best results when it comes to boosting your Amazon seller feedback and product reviews.
For more Amazon tips, check out our articles on:
- Mastering Amazon Seasonal Products – for year-round success
- Amazon COI – what is it and how do I upload it
- How to renew your Amazon FBA insurance and get the best quote
- Amazon FBA cashflow strategies
- How to add a variation to an existing product
- How to get Amazon Seller Badges
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