You can’t just tell shoppers that you’re amazing — they all want to see it for themselves! But since online customers can’t physically interact with your items, your product reviews often serve as the next best thing.
After all, that’s why Amazon reviews are so critical to your eCommerce success; shoppers are much more likely to trust an unbiased peer as opposed to the person trying to get their money.
The big question is how to get better Amazon reviews, especially when you’re just starting out as a seller. If you have lackluster reviews or no reviews at all, it can be difficult to get the foothold you need in the world’s most competitive –and potentially lucrative– marketplace.
Luckily, there are tried-and-true strategies for improving your Amazon reviews and getting more stars than you know what to do with. Below, we’ll share the best ways to get good reviews on Amazon and share more about why reviews are so important in the first place.
Why Good Reviews are Critical on Amazon
As we already mentioned, shoppers trust Amazon reviews more than a seller’s sales pitch. In fact, 92% of Amazon customers in the US said that they always read reviews before making a purchase. For a seller, that means your reviews aren’t just about verification or social proof – they’re also free advertising for your products.
But perhaps the strongest reason to invest in getting better reviews is the Amazon algorithm itself. The current algorithm greatly emphasizes a product’s reviews when determining what to show to shoppers on search pages and what to withhold.
In other words, good reviews create a snowball effect. More satisfied customers mean better reviews and great review numbers will get you more visibility on Amazon. And whenever the algorithm shows your products to more shoppers, you can expect a nice uptick in traffic and new customers.
Of course, the tricky part is getting started. Getting those first few 5-star reviews can be a challenge. On the bright side, any seller can take advantage of the tips below to jump-start the cycle of getting more reviews and more customers.
How to Get Good Reviews on Amazon: 5 Tips for 5-Star Reviews
1. Request Reviews at the Right Time
The most reliable and effective method for getting more reviews on Amazon is simply asking for them. These days, not many buyers are leaving reviews without some sort of prompting from you. Per Amazon policy, it’s perfectly acceptable for sellers to contact buyers within 30 days of purchase to request reviews, so long as they do it through Buyer-Seller messaging, Amazon’s “Request a Review” button, or third-party tools that connect with Amazon’s Selling Partner API.
Asking may be the most recommended way to get better Amazon reviews, but what most sellers don’t realize is the importance of timing.
You want to send the requests at a time when your customers are the most excited about your product, which isn’t always right away. Sometimes it takes more time for people to form an opinion on something, especially if the item is intended to produce a long-term benefit like skincare products or supplements.
To help you out, here’s what we found to be the optimal times for requesting reviews based on different product types:
- Small consumable products: 5-7 days after order delivery
- Sports, outdoor, and leisure products: 8-10 days after order delivery
- Long-lasting products: 14-21 days after order delivery
- Products that require extensive setup: 14-21 days after order delivery
- Beauty products, vitamins, and supplements: 29 days after order delivery
- Early holiday gift purchases: 14-21 days after order delivery
- Late holiday gift purchases: immediately following the holiday
Of course, there are exceptions, but these guidelines can be great starting points as you get to know your customer base.
2. Include Carefully Worded Product Inserts
Another way to request reviews directly from customers is with a product insert or a brief letter/card that you include in your product packaging. Inserts can be used to request seller feedback and reviews, promote your other products, and deliver warranty or customer support information. Product inserts are primarily effective because they’re a physical object that helps to keep this information top of mind for buyers.
The difficult part about using product inserts to get reviews is that Amazon has a lot of rules and restrictions about what you can say on them.
For starters, Amazon prohibits sellers from plainly requesting “good” reviews. The wording in your product insert must be neutral and unbiased. To put it another way, you’re allowed to request reviews in general, but not good reviews specifically.
To help you stay on Amazon’s good side, avoid these words when requesting reviews on your product inserts:
- positive
- happy
- good
- satisfied
- 5-star
A few other words of advice: never offer incentives for reviews or direct Amazon shoppers to your own website. You can leave instructions for writing a review, but don’t tell buyers what to say. Reviews need to remain honest for them to be effective in the online shopping ecosystem.
3. Enroll in Amazon Vine
If you’re already enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry, you have the option to receive reviews through Amazon Vine. This program allows sellers to get thorough, detailed reviews written by Amazon’s own hand-selected team of trusted, professional reviewers called Vine Voices.
What’s the catch? First, Amazon Vine reviews are not free; they cost about $200 per parent ASIN. You’ll also need to send Amazon anywhere from 5-30 free samples of the product you want to be reviewed.
Secondly, Amazon Vine reviews are only eligible for products with less than 30 reviews. This program was designed as a way to help struggling or new sellers increase their reviews, so if you have an established product with more than 30 reviews you won’t be able to participate.
Lastly, Vine reviews aren’t guaranteed to be positive. Reviewers are instructed to provide an honest review of the product. There’s also a small chance that a reviewer won’t select your item, but in that case, you’ll get your money back. But on the plus side, if you do receive a review, you can generally expect a more in-depth review of your product that you and shoppers will likely find more useful.
And if the review is negative or pin-points issues with your product? You can use that insight to hopefully improve your product. Which brings us to our next point…
4. Improve the Quality of Your Products
If your items have some kind of problem, or if your product description says something misleading, it’s going to be needlessly difficult to get good Amazon reviews. You want to handle these issues first before you get started on requesting reviews from buyers.
First and foremost, sell high-quality products. Products with defects, missing parts, or compatibility issues are not going to get positive reviews no matter which strategies you use.
If your products are sound, but you’re still getting bad reviews from buyers, check your product description. Do you promise something that you can’t deliver? Or are the product images too far removed from the actual product? Sometimes you can mitigate bad reviews just by managing shoppers’ expectations. Try being more transparent in your content and images.
5. Address Negative Reviews
Even if you have plenty of good reviews, it only takes a few timely negative reviews to start to turn potential buyers away. When you see a string of bad reviews, it’s time to go into damage control mode to curb a larger decrease in sales.
Previously, the most recommended method for addressing negative reviews was to publicly comment on the review in an attempt to reach the reviewer for more details. Unfortunately, Amazon never notified buyers when the seller commented, so this strategy was mainly useful for demonstrating good customer service and letting other shoppers know that you weren’t taking this issue lightly.
Amazon retired the review commenting feature in December 2020 and replaced it with a new way of communicating with customers. If you’re a brand registered seller, you can now use the “Contact Customer” link in Seller Central to reach out to unsatisfied customers who left a critical (1-3 star) review with templated emails. The messages allow you to offer a refund or replacement item or to contact the buyer for more information.
No matter what, you should always read your negative reviews very carefully before responding or moving on. Negative reviews are a normal part of the selling process, yes, but you should try to do something about them to prevent the same type of response in the future.
For example, if the customer received a defective product, reaching out with a refund or a replacement item can turn a bad experience into a positive one. The reviewer may decide to remove or update the negative review, or even purchase again from you. (Note that Amazon’s review policy prohibits you from asking buyers to remove or edit a review.)
If the same type of problem persists, it’s in your best interest to examine your inventory and make any changes as needed.
A Strong Review Strategy Makes All the Difference
In theory, submitting reviews is in the customers’ hands, but in practice, that’s just not the case. Left to their own devices, too many customers will ignore or forget to leave reviews, leaving it in the hands of the sellers to give them a little nudge.
This process can be daunting, especially if you sell a lot of products. Luckily, automated software like FeedbackFive by eComEngine can handle a lot of the busy work for you, freeing you up for more urgent responsibilities — like getting more sales.
FeedbackFive is part of Amazon’s Selling Partner API and is the top-ranked review software in Amazon’s Selling Partner Appstore. You can use the software to schedule review requests through both Buyer-Seller Messaging and Amazon’s Request a Review button, whichever you prefer. Not only will you easily be able to reach more buyers, but you’ll also ensure that you send the right message at the right time, every time.
FeedbackFive can also help you manage your seller reputation with listing status change alerts, negative review alerts, a review monitoring dashboard, email campaign analytics, and more.
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