When you have a product you sell on Amazon, the whole package is important including Amazon reviews, quite literally.
Customers have thousands of options at their fingertips in any given product category, and that means they can be discerning. Customers can also leave their reviews of your product, and those reviews are an integral part of boosting your sales if they’re positive.
From having beautifully designed packaging to sending follow-up emails after someone receives your product, you want a streamlined experience that compels your Amazon customers to jump on the site and leave you a great review.
The following are some tips to get those coveted online reviews.
Use the “Request a Review” Feature
If you want to prompt your customers to leave a review, there’s a feature in your Order Reports, which is in Seller Central, that lets you “Request a Review.” Then, this triggers an automatic email follow-up to your customers anywhere from four to 30 days after their purchase.
There are also extensions, like one from Jungle Scout, that lets you request Amazon FBA order reviews in bulk instead of having to do it individually.
To access this feature, you would go to Amazon Seller Central and click the Jungle Scout Extension button. After agreeing to the permissions, you can use the “Request Reviews On This Page” button.
You can specific based on the date of purchase when you use this feature to ask for reviews.
Enroll in Amazon’s Vine Program
The Amazon Vine program is relatively new, and it’s available if you have an Amazon brand-registered product and fewer than 30 reviews.
You would, as a seller, submit 30 inventory units. Then, Vine reviewers get the product for free and write a review after trying it.
The program is currently free for third-party sellers, but that could change.
Use the Early Reviewer Program
Another program from Amazon that can help you get reviews is called their Early Reviewer Program.
The program is designed to help sellers and products with few or no reviews.
If a customer buys something that’s part of the Early Reviewer Program, they might be asked to write a review. When a customer does submit a review within the specific window of time, they’ll get a small Amazon Gift Card reward for doing so. The idea is that they’re helping other shoppers make informed decisions.
Sellers can choose the products they want to include in the program but they don’t have influence over the customers ultimately selected to get reward offers, nor do sellers have control over the content of the reviews.
Sellers aren’t allowed to communicate with any of the customers about their reviews, and Amazon won’t change or remove Early Reviewer Program reviews unless they don’t comply with the platform’s Community Guidelines.
Contact Customers Who’ve Reviewed Products Similar to Yours
You can go to your product page and then select the section for “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and “Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed.” This will show you who some of your competitors are.
You can then read the reviews and reach out to users who have reviewed these products.
Not everyone who shows up in the reviews will have their contact information as part of their profile, but some will.
Use an Email Responder
There’s the internal automated system available from Amazon that you can use to prompt customers to get reviews, but you can also use a third-party responder.
You can set up a series of emails to be sent out at specific intervals.
With this in mind, it can be a good idea to start building your own email list of your customers, but for the customers from within Amazon, they aren’t considered your customers. They’re considered Amazon’s customers.
Try to build a list outside of Amazon via your social media channels or your blog, for example.
You can also put an insert in your product packaging directing your buyers as to where they can sign up to get emails from you.
Follow Amazon’s Rules
It can be tempting that to get more reviews you break Amazon’s rules, but that can be very counterproductive and may lead to you being suspended.
You aren’t allowed to incentivize reviews, which means offering free or discounted products in exchange for reviews.
It’s important when you sell on Amazon that as challenging as it may be, you follow the rules. The consequences of not following the rules can be significantly worse than alternatives for your business.
