How to Surprise & Delight Customers on Amazon

When was the last time you were truly "delighted" by someone or something? What about the last time you were surprised, and in a good way?

As an Amazon seller, you have an excellent opportunity to surprise and delight customers every single day. In this post, we'll explore why doing just that often leads to a healthier seller reputation and, in turn, higher sales.

How to Surprise & Delight Your Amazon Customers

Just keeping up with order fulfillment and inventory replenishment can seem like a full-time job. In today's competitive Amazon marketplace, who has time to think up new ways to surprise and delight customers? If this sounds like you, I have some good news: Amazon has already created a list of "best practices" for delighting customers and avoiding negative interactions. You can find the full list on Seller Central, but allow me to share a few tips that we commonly recommend to our customers.

1) Build Awesome Product Listings

If you sell bundles or private label items, there's a strong likelihood that you control the product detail page content. Use this responsibility wisely. The last thing you want to do is set unreasonable expectations. Customers are delighted by items that exceed expectations - not those that fail to live up to them. Accurate descriptions matter. Don't overstate the truth. Also, use clear and accurate product images. If you don't have control over the product detail page, try reaching out to the merchant who does. Share your recommendations for enhancing the listing's content.

2) Create a Flawless Supply Chain

Surprising and delighting customers is hard when you fail to deliver on your promises. Prudent merchants take aggressive steps to control every aspect of their supply chains, from supplier management to timely restocking and inbound shipment tracking. Building a flawless supply chain helps minimize friction and sets yourself up to delight shoppers with on-time delivery. That being said, one of the best ways to delight and surprise customers is an earlier than expected arrival, so aim for this if you can.

3) Upgrade When Appropriate

With hundreds of merchant-fulfilled orders to process, shipments can occasionally fall behind schedule. When late shipments occur, it's important to upgrade the customer's package to expedited shipping. The customer shouldn't suffer from an operational oversight on your end. This probably won't be expected, so it will surprise and delight customers for sure.

4) Pack Like a Champ

Obviously, merchant-fulfilled and FBA orders have different packaging requirements. Either way, the customer is counting on you to protect the product without overdoing it. Take time to regularly review Amazon's packaging requirements and ensure your preparation workflow meets or exceeds standards. Needless to say, no customer will be pleased when a package arrives damaged due to poor packaging.

5) Make Returns Easy Peasy

Not everything goes perfectly, which is why returns and refunds are part of everyday life for Amazon sellers. Returns and refunds represent a great opportunity to show what you're made of. But don't make it overly complicated - that definitely won't delight anyone.

6) Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Amazon requires sellers to acknowledge customer inquiries within a 24-hour period. In addition, sellers are asked to publish support phone numbers and email addresses on their Amazon Help pages. Amazon wants sellers to be highly responsive and accessible. Sending a polite feedback request, as you can do with FeedbackFive, is a great way to confirm that the buyer had a good experience. You can also use a CRM and email builder to keep track of your customer outreach and experience. After all, it's hard for customers to feel delighted when they feel ignored.

7) Surprise Them—Literally

In my experience, being delighted usually involves an unexpected surprise. Something outside of the ordinary, in a really good way. For example, if you sell nail products, you might think about giving your customers a free emery board, or if you sell stationery, you could include a fun sticker or another small item. A free branded item or even just a branded resource, like instructions or nice handout with product tips and tricks, helps to raise brand awareness in a more engaging way. When you become memorable for the right reasons, you're much more likely to earn repeat business.

Happy Customers Help Your Amazon Business, and Here's Why

So far we've discussed a few ideas for surprising and delighting customers. This all sounds great, but is going above and beyond really worth the effort?

I say yes, and here's why:

Delighted customers are more likely to leave feedback. Your shoppers are busy people. Many of them may not even realize they are buying from a third-party seller. By going out of your way to ensure total satisfaction, you add a human element to an otherwise anonymous transaction. Delighted customers want to help you succeed, which is why many will express their appreciation by leaving positive feedback.

Positive feedback impacts your visibility as a seller. There's no question that a seller's feedback rating has an impact on the Buy Box. Feedback rating also plays a factor in a listing's "Other Sellers on Amazon" ranking. In short, all things being equal, sellers with higher feedback scores can expect more orders than those with poor scores.

Delighted customers come back. When a customer takes the time to share positive feedback about a seller, they make a real investment in the relationship with the merchant. Naturally, this investment of time and effort increases the customer's chances of returning for additional delightful buying experiences.

Surprise & Delight More Customers (and Earn More Business)

Selling on the Amazon marketplace is increasingly competitive. By seeking new ways to surprise and delight customers, you'll stand out from the crowd and solidify your long-term viability as an Amazon seller.