Since a huge percentage of your product traffic will come from Amazon search results, time invested getting more Amazon reviews is well spent. This is because the more reviews your products have, the higher your visibility within Amazon search results.
In addition there are other advantages to collecting positive reviews on Amazon such as establishing trust with buyers or improving ranking factors for your Amazon Seller account as a whole.
So you want to stack the cards in your favor when it comes to getting more product reviews on Amazon. As long as you are not breaking any of Amazon’s rules, of course.
In this blog post we’re going to walk through getting more Amazon product reviews for your Amazon FBA business and how to manage existing product reviews.
Amazon Reviews Give Your Product Credibility & Context
When consumers view your product they may be looking for information such as:
- How easy is the product to use?
- Is it sturdy enough to use daily?
- What are the practical uses of the product?
- How many people use it regularly and are happy with it?
- Why did they buy the product?
- How has it helped them?
- What is included in the package?
- Is the seller reliable?
If buyers have questions or further curiosities about how your Amazon product works they will check out some of your product reviews.
People also want to see social proof that your product does what is says it does and is not junk. If positive reviews match up to what they were expecting when purchasing — the product you will sell in higher volume.
Amazon SEO is Improved with Product Reviews
It is pretty obvious to most at this point that without positive reviews you will struggle to get your products listing high in Amazon searches.
For starters with any new product try getting four or more Amazon product reviews for your product. Without those in place it is going to be a struggle for your new products to have visibility if you have some product competition.
Of course me just saying “go get four reviews for your new Amazon listing” is easy to say, but how to get more reviews?
There are some tricks you can deploy.
Getting More Amazon Reviews
Use Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program
Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program includes a number of ways to get product reviews. The Amazon Early Reviewer Program is a great value and most of the time it makes sense to enroll your new products.
The program is cheaper than most of the black hat services out there, but the downside is that the results can sometimes take weeks or months to take effect.
Early Review Key Points/Requirements
- The cost is $60, and you pay it after you get your first review
- Selling price of product must be over $15
- Eligible only for products with less than 5 reviews
- No guarantees that your reviews will be 5-star
Use Amazon’s ‘Request a Review’ Button
Go to your Amazon Feedback Manager and look for orders with good feedback.
Then click on an order ID to open up the order and look for the Request Review button.
Click on the Request Review button and you will see that Amazon reminds you to only ask this one time. Harassing your customers is bad business and can get your Amazon account suspended.
You can also use this same tactic for other buyers and not just those that left positive feedback, but of course your chances of negative reviews would be greater.
Possibly consider asking buyers who you had a positive customer support experience with to ensure they will probably leave a decent review.
Fueling Sales with Discounts Means More Buyers to Ask for Reviews
With a brand new Amazon product a good tactic can be too heavily discount the product.
This way you sell more of the item and have more potential customer to ask for reviews.
Once you have established your initial review goals, you can restore normal pricing.
Consider Trying Rebate Key
You could also considering using services such as Rebate Key to offer special rebate deals on their platform to drive sales.
I see many deals on Rebate Key that are even 100% off rebate offers which obviously will lead to many sales.
Be careful to not break any Amazon terms of service here, but I believe this is still technically allowable.
Use Your Personal Email List to Generate Sales and Reviews
I hope you are building an email list of interested customers. If you have your own store and can start building up a list of fans — you can inform list members when you have a new product out on Amazon.
You can send a link straight to the item on Amazon and using your own email system can engage in conversations about the product and product reviews.
Sign Up for the Amazon Vine Program to Get Product Reviews
If you have a registered brand with Amazon, you can participate in the Amazon Vine program.
Amazon says that Amazon Vine “invites the most trusted reviewers on Amazon to post insightful opinions about your products.”
Joining Vine connects you with Vine reviewers who can publish reviews of your product and help provide product feedback.
Vine reviewers are invited to join the program by Amazon and must meet the criteria to ensure they are decent candidates.
Is it OK to Ask Family, Friends, and Employees to Give You Amazon Reviews?
No, do not do this. For one it is against Amazon’s rules.
For two, it makes you look unprofessional to your friends or even family.
Trust me, even if they love you, most have other things they would rather be doing with their time.
You will also feel better about yourself, not harm your reputation and credibility , and avoid putting loved ones in an uncomfortable position.
How to Handle Negative Amazon Reviews?
Amazon says “you can add a comment in compliance with the Community Guidelines by clicking the Comment button.”
Amazon also states that “you can reach out to customers by replying to their review on the product detail page and asking them to contact you through Buyer-Seller Messaging Service to resolve their issues.”
Before you do this think about some important guidelines in leaving public feedback on your products:
- Never be rude or negative in these exchanges. This will just make you look small and hurt your reputation.
- Keep emotions out of it. This may not be easy, but only engage in such conversations while thinking calmly.
- Be proactive and positive in general, but if the customer is unhappy with the product due to their own failures (not reading instructions, assuming product did something it was not designed for, etc.) don’t hesitate to educate in a friendly way.
- Be graceful and remember this is someone who purchased from you and may again if you handle this situation well.
Pro Tip: Easily Remove Negative Product Reviews Sent as Seller Feedback
Amazon Seller Feedback is supposed to be about your performance as a seller and not be about the product. Buyers often get confused about this and leave negative seller feedback that is just about them not liking the product.
You can easily & immediately remove these by going into the Amazon Feedback Manager. Do keep in mind that you can only remove feedback from the past 90 days. So monitor this often.
Use Your Best Reviews for Product Marketing
You should always use your best reviews for your product marketing.
But do remember that Amazon says that “the reviewer owns the copyright of the review. You can ask for the reviewer’s permission by responding to the review.”
It is always a good idea to ask for permission from any customer before using them in marketing. I have always found that nearly 100% will say yes anyhow, so why risk creating negative drama out of a positive situation?
Amazon Reviews Conclusions
The more Amazon reviews your product has typically means the more you sell. So it is important to think strategically about your Amazon product reviews.
Spend time getting more positive reviews, deal professionally with the negative reviews, and use your best reviews within your marketing efforts.
* Please note we may include affiliate links in some posts. But only for products we use personally and have deep faith in.