Ecommerce underwent an incredible surge in 2020 as consumers shifted from shopping in-store to online. By the end of the year, 74% of consumers believed the majority of consumer shopping would happen online in the future — up from 69% just months earlier.
We know reviews are a key influencer in consumer decision making and how much sellers value them. In fact, 52% of sellers say that getting reviews is a challenge on Amazon. That’s why we’re providing the latest on how you can earn more for your business in 2021.
Product reviews can make or break a new Amazon FBA seller. In fact, according to a 2017 study performed by G2 and Heinz Marketing, 92% of customers are more likely to purchase a product after reading a positive review.
Therefore, when you launch a product this year, it’s important that you know how to get reviews on Amazon — and how to get them quickly and legally.
In this article we’ll cover the nine most effective ways to get product reviews on Amazon, breaking the methods down into two categories: The Amazon Way and Seller Methods.
“The Amazon Way” features methods and programs Amazon provides to help facilitate customers leaving reviews for their purchases. “Seller Methods”, on the other hand, will offer strategies outside of Amazon’s infrastructure that third-party sellers can use to seek reviews.
Important: As of this writing, all of the methods listed below are viable ways to get product reviews and do not violate Amazon’s terms of service.
Amazon understands how important reviews are to your products. After all, if you aren’t making sales, it’s not making sales.
Here are four programs Amazon has in place to help you get product reviews on Amazon.
1 – Trust Amazon’s automated follow-up system
Amazon has its own system in place for following up with shoppers who purchase products. These automatic emails encourage shoppers to leave a review and report any issues they had with a product.
Typically, Amazon only sends one product review request email. However, you can send a second request through the Amazon Request a Review functionality (see below). This method requires no effort from you as it is automatic.
2 – Use Amazon’s ‘Request a Review’ button
Amazon’s ‘Request a Review’ button is a feature within Seller Central’s Order Reports which allows you to send an automatic follow-up email to your shoppers within four to 30 days of purchase.
Amazon only allows you to send one review request. But, when coupled with the first email Amazon sends post-purchase, it increases your chances of scoring a review.
In fact, after looking at Amazon product listings for the two weeks prior to the release of the ‘Request a Review’ button on March 8, 2020, and again for the two week post-launch, Jungle Scout data* shows that the average review increase was 3.6 before the button was introduced.
And afterwards? For 94.7% of sellers who used ‘Request a Review’, the average increase jumped to 25.9. That’s a massive difference!
Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program is a platform within Amazon that encourages shoppers to leave reviews for new products. After the shopper makes a purchase, Amazon sends the shopper an offer to leave a review in exchange for a $5 gift card.
To enroll in the Amazon Early Reviewer program, simply submit a product and agree to the terms of the program. Once they receive a review from one of the reviewers the seller is charged $60.
Amazon’s Vine Program is open to sellers who have Amazon brand-registered products and fewer than 30 reviews.
In the Vine program, a seller submits 30 units of inventory. Vine reviewers then receive the product for free, test the product out, and write a review. I
In many ways, it is similar to the incentivized review programs banned by Amazon in late 2016. The only difference now is that the reviewers in the program are being vetted by Amazon.
According to Amazon, “25% of reviews received occur within 5 days of the order, while 99% of reviews received occur within 35 days of the order,” so (naturally) this is a game-changer as it helps newly registered products get reviews fast.
Currently, Vine is free for third-party sellers. However, we suspect that Amazon may start charging fees to enroll or participate at some point. As of this writing, we do not know what the cost will be.
The following methods describe how to get reviews on Amazon outside of the programs Amazon offers.
In addition to Amazon’s internal automated responder, many sellers use third-party responders to send messages through Amazon’s seller messaging system.
It’s important to note, however, that Amazon limited the quantity and types of messages that can be sent via its Seller Messaging System. From Amazon:
“You may send proactive Permitted Messages for the following reasons: resolving an issue with order fulfillment, requesting additional information required to complete the order, asking a return-related question, sending an invoice, requesting product review or seller feedback or both, scheduling the delivery of a heavy or bulky item, scheduling a Home Services appointment, verifying a custom design, or any other reason where the contact is required for the buyer to receive their purchase.”
Permitted Messages do not include any of the following message types (in many cases we are already emailing customers with this information on your behalf):
Basically, you can only send permitted messages to request for a review/feedback or where contact is required. You can no longer send shipment updates, thanks for ordering, etc.
Since the seller messaging system and third-party automated responders have become limited, you will need to find other ways to communicate with your shoppers.
Remember: as long as they’re buying your products via Amazon, they’re Amazon’s customers. To get past this hurdle, you will need to build your brand off Amazon and one of the best ways to do that is by building your own email list.
Thankfully, there are a number of ways to create an email list. You can build one through social media. Or you can create a blog that asks for people to subscribe. Another popular method is to add product inserts into existing products, encouraging people to join your list.
Once you have a mailing list, you can request reviews from those who’ve purchased from you.
Easily the most popular way to encourage shoppers to leave product reviews on Amazon is through the use of product inserts. Many sellers insert a card into their packaging, asking shoppers to leave a review.
However, product inserts have recently caught the attention of Amazon. They’ve noticed that some sellers have been breaking all three of the “guidelines” described in the “How to Get Reviews on Amazon (Without Breaking the Rules)” section of this article.
The example picture below is against Amazon’s terms. You cannot divert negative reviews or tell people to email you instead of leaving a negative review.
Here are some best practices for product inserts:
Simply choose the proamazonservice.com review package that best meets your needs, and we’ll assign a representative to accompany you immediately! That’s right – we’ll guide you throughout the entire process from start to finish, with responsive, reliable, and personal service. Proamazonservice.com can get you 100% verified reviews, Please feel free to contact us.
For a limited time, the FBA New Selection Program provides “free sponsored advertisements, promotional clicks, shipment, storage, removals, and returns on qualifying, new products.” Amazon
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