Amazon reviews are always a hot topic for sellers. Getting them can be a challenge, but they’re crucial to your success on Amazon. The impact of Amazon product reviews affects everything from how your products are displayed in Amazon’s search results to whether you’re eligible for certain Amazon advertising options.
Buyers rely on them when making purchases. Customer-obsessed Amazon also looks to your average review rating and return rate to ensure buyers are generally having a good experience with your products. But while you know you need reviews, you might be wondering what other sellers experience when it comes to getting them. Are you following industry best practices or just winging it?
We recently surveyed over 200 Amazon sellers to find out the impact Amazon reviews have on their businesses and what they’re doing to get reviews. Keep reading to see how your current practices stack up!
84% of the sellers surveyed feel that reviews are extremely or very important to their Amazon business. No surprise there! Amazon prominently features the average review rating for each product on the search results page as well as on each Amazon listing itself.
Buyers are more likely to purchase a product that has a high average review rating. And when it comes to the Amazon algorithm, just having great reviews isn’t enough. You also need to be getting reviews regularly, which means that a one-time push isn’t going to do you many favors a year from now. Amazon also factors in the relevance of your reviews.
Amazon’s search algorithm is largely a mystery. However, we do know that Verified Purchase reviews (which are left by customers who purchased your product on Amazon rather than outside of it) and Vine reviews (provided by Amazon’s own Vine reviewers) have greater weight in search rankings. Sending review requests to customers who purchased your products is a smart way to continually generate new and relevant reviews. You might also consider participating in the Amazon Vine program.
Sellers frequently ask us how many reviews they should be getting. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to answer this question, as there are so many variables between products and categories.
However, our survey found that 55% of Amazon sellers receive less than 100 reviews per month. And, 40% of the sellers who participated in the survey sell fewer than 50 ASINs. You can see the full breakdown here:
As you can see, getting 1-2 reviews per day or a few reviews each week on average is normal for most Amazon sellers. In fact, 45% of the sellers we surveyed receive fewer than 30 reviews each month. Relatedly, getting Amazon reviews was cited as the top review-related challenge for sellers.
The top review challenges sellers face are:
When it comes to getting reviews, the best thing you can do is to ask for them. When doing so, it’s important to understand and follow all Amazon review policies. We’ve got some great resources to help you get started!
Managing negative reviews is also a challenge for sellers. Remember, you cannot ask a buyer to change or remove a review on Amazon. If you see a negative review that violates Amazon’s Community Guidelines, you can report it to Amazon to try to get it removed.
Brand-registered sellers have access to a feature that allows them to contact buyers after receiving a negative review. Amazon sends a templated message on your behalf to either offer a refund/replacement or ask for more details about what went wrong. The second option can be particularly helpful if the buyer only left a star rating with no written commentary about the product. Getting context about the negative experience gives you the information you need to prevent a similar issue from arising for future buyers. For example, maybe your listing bullets need to be updated to make a feature clearer.
Although Amazon itself has done a lot to try to prevent fake reviews, they are still a challenge for many sellers. In some cases, Amazon will remove a fake review. You can report abuse or email community-help@amazon.com if you suspect multiple fake reviews. Other than that, your best bet is to try to offset fake reviews by getting new legitimate reviews. Review monitoring can help you quickly identify suspicious reviews.
That brings us to the last top challenge, monitoring new reviews. Amazon doesn’t send you notifications for new reviews, but you can use third-party software like FeedbackFive by eComEngine to get alerted when you receive new reviews.
FeedbackFive also includes detailed review analytics, allows you to easily request reviews using Amazon Request a Review or Buyer-Seller Messaging, and much more.
89% of Amazon sellers who participated in our survey monitor reviews for their ASINs. If you’re not one of them, you’re missing out! Whether you automate the process using a tool like FeedbackFive or regularly designate time to check each of your listings, keeping up with the reviews you receive is important.
See more survey results in this free downloadable infographic
In addition to monitoring reviews on their own ASINs, 41% of the sellers surveyed monitor competitor ASINs. This is a smart and often underutilized strategy. By keeping track of what buyers are saying about your top competitive ASINs, you can identify feature gaps and get an even better understanding of what shoppers are searching for.
74% of sellers surveyed check their Amazon reviews at least once a week. You can see the full breakdown here:
Having a strategy in place to regularly check your Amazon reviews can help you identify and address potential issues quickly. Plus, it’s fun to read about what people love about your products!
The survey found that 55% of Amazon sellers use the Amazon Request a Review message to ask for reviews. This message cannot be edited and is sent from Amazon on the seller’s behalf. It includes a product review request as well as a seller feedback request.
Many sellers find this message to be incredibly effective. It also has the benefit of being 100% compliant with Amazon review policies. It’s a foolproof way to request reviews that gets results. You can send this message from the order details page for each of your Amazon orders or use software like FeedbackFive to automate the request.
The remaining 45% of respondents use Buyer-Seller Messaging to send review requests, whether by using one of Amazon’s templates or by creating a custom message. You can use FeedbackFive to build custom templates for each of your ASINs so the message can be tailored to your product and brand. It’s important to follow Amazon review policies when sending Buyer-Seller Messaging requests, whether you’re using automation software or sending your message directly from Seller Central.
Getting reviews isn’t easy, but the impact of Amazon product reviews is wide-reaching. Many many sellers combine multiple methods to request reviews. Here are the main ways sellers get reviews:
Organic reviews are fantastic, but they can be few and far between. The best product review strategy is to continually request reviews, whether you send manual requests or use software found in the Amazon Seller Central Partner Network, now called the Selling Partner Appstore. (For the record, FeedbackFive is the top-rated feedback and reviews tool, so we’re not the only ones who think it’s a great choice!)
FeedbackFive is designed to save you time by automating the tedious aspects of Amazon review management. You can automate review requests so you never forget to request a review for each of your orders. The software also gives you the flexibility to exclude specific orders, create custom messages for each of your SKUs, and schedule the message to go out at the right time for your specific products.
You'll also get access to product review analytics for your top ASINs (with the option to monitor all ASINs you sell as well as competitor ASINs) and much more. Check out our short demo video to learn more and get started today!
If you have any questions about getting or managing Amazon reviews, contact us or leave a comment below. We're here to help!
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