Product Reviews Fuel Outdoor Adventures

Outdoor enthusiasts tend to acquire quite a bit of gear. Bikes, skis, kayaks, surfboards, standup paddleboards, and other equipment need to be stored properly to keep them in good condition for the next adventure. In 2009, mechanical engineer Josh Gordon built a website called StoreYourBoard to begin selling specially designed solutions for outdoor gear storage. As sales grew, he began adding additional channels, including the Amazon marketplace.

Today the company sells gear storage products in the United States as well as Canada. We recently sat down with Josh's business partner, Andrew Mavraganis. A former corporate attorney (and high school classmate of Josh) and now Vice President of Operations at StoreYourBoard, Mavraganis talked with us about how the company uses FeedbackFive.

Product Review Alerts Inspire Change

Customer input often leads to product improvements. For example, Mavraganis shared a story about a wall rack the company created that was adopted from one of their other popular designs. “People do have valuable things to say, and if that’s the case we try to incorporate that into our products,” he said. By carefully monitoring product reviews, he was quickly notified that the recently launched product needed modifications to fit wall studs more effectively.

FeedbackFive makes it easy for Andrew to monitor product reviews, as well as seller feedback ratings. While seeing positive feedback and reviews is always a nice boost, those can be viewed at any time. Andrew’s main concern is learning of any issues right away so he can work to resolve them and make the experience right for his customers.

Communicate to Your Advantage

FeedbackFive has given StoreYourBoard an edge in a competitive marketplace by providing an easy way for buyers to contact sellers. The company has a great strategy for using the tools within FeedbackFive to communicate with clients. “You’ve created a channel of customer contact," Mavraganis said. "If you’re going to use it, you should be thinking about and preparing to have a system for responding to your customers and communicating with them in a professional way.”

For any Amazon store, but especially a private label brand like StoreYourBoard, product reviews are important. Having a better product review percentage... and a good customer feedback loop that you utilize and then engage with customers that way is an advantage over other sellers," Mavraganis said. "Just providing information to your customers and having that ability is going to be an advantage.”

Having a better product review percentage... and a good customer feedback loop that you utilize and then engage with customers that way is an advantage over other sellers."

More Reviews, More Success

Recently the team at StoreYourBoard realized that they had competitors with a similar design to one of their products. When they became aware of this, their product was behind the competitor products in terms of overall reviews. They watched closely, and over a period of time the product review requests they sent with FeedbackFive helped them gain the advantage. In fact, their product gained a significant lead in reviews over all competitor products. "As our product review rank goes up, that contributes directly to being ahead in number of reviews, and then we’re in a better position for that product,” Mavraganis said.

Product Review Management and More

Did you know that you can track and monitor product reviews with FeedbackFive? Simply upload your ASINs to get started and access powerful product review analytics.

This post spotlights a satisfied user of FeedbackFive. This article is part of our series highlighting merchant success stories. As a thank-you for participating in this article, the customer received one free month of FeedbackFive. If you’re currently using FeedbackFive and would like to participate in this program, click here to request information.