Amazon Early Reviewer Program: How It Works

After banning incentivized reviews in October 2016, Amazon assured third-party sellers that a program similar to the Amazon Vine program (which was then only available to vendors) would be developed.

The Amazon Early Reviewer Program was rolled out quietly soon after the change to Amazon's review policy. You can find it in your Seller Central dashboard under the “Advertising” drop-down menu.

What is the Amazon Early Reviewer Program?

Launching a new product in a competitive marketplace can be tough. Amazon offers several paid options for spreading the word, but costs can climb quickly for products in some categories. The Early Reviewer Program offers an alternative way to generate buzz with a fixed price.

This program encourages Amazon customers who have already bought a product that is enrolled in the Early Reviewer Program to share their experience. The goal is to help brand owners get reviews soon after launching a product. Reviews assist shoppers in making buying decisions and can help increase page views and sales for sellers.

Here is an example of a review from an Early Reviewer:

The cost to enroll each SKU is $60 as well as any applicable taxes. When you enroll a SKU, you have the option to include all SKUs in a Parent SKU family or a stand-alone SKU. Child SKUs do not have be enrolled individually.

When you enroll a product in the program, you will not be charged until after the first Early Reviewer Program product review is received. The $60 fee is only charged one time, whether you receive one review or five reviews. If you do not receive any reviews, you will not be charged for participating in the program. Amazon will continue to solicit reviews on your behalf for up to one year from the time your product was enrolled or until five reviews are received through the program, whichever happens first.

What Makes This Program Different?

Customers will not know that an item is enrolled in the Early Reviewer Program until after they have made their purchase. In fact, they may never learn that the product is in the program if they are not asked to leave a review. They do not receive discounts or free products. If they choose to share their experience with the item purchased, they will receive a small Amazon credit, such as a $3.00 digital gift card. On the help page dedicated to this topic, Amazon states: “This reward is to thank reviewers for sharing their authentic experience, regardless of whether it is a 1-star or 5-star review. The nature of the review does not affect the reward or the chance of getting future rewards."

Reviewers are randomly chosen from all customers who have bought items participating in the program. Again, from Amazon's page: "We want authentic reviews, and we want them from all of our customers, not just a select few. We select at random from all customers who have purchased products participating in this program, as long as they have no history of abusive or dishonest reviews and meet our eligibility criteria." Not all buyers who purchase these items will receive the Amazon credits in exchange for their review. This should help alleviate bias, which was a major concern with incentivized reviews.

“The products in the program aren’t identified prior to purchase, so someone purchasing them doesn’t know that they might be asked to leave a review," FeedbackFive Product Manager Laura Pugliese said in a webinar on the topic. "If they do leave a review, there would be an orange badge called ‘Early Reviewer Rewards’ so there’s transparency that the person was part of some special program.” Some astute buyers could notice that there are other Early Reviewer Program reviews for the item, based on the orange badge, but there is no easy way to search for that.

Is Participating in the Amazon Early Reviewer Program Worth It?

This program is designed to help you get your first reviews for a new product. Some sellers have seen great success with the program, while others have not. At only $60 for up to five reviews, it might just be worth a try.