Kristin Jaeger is a Project Manager at Bobsled Marketing.
Amazon Reviews have always been a critical factor in leveraging success and building a bigger client base online. In fact, reviews are quickly becoming one of the most principal ways to expand profits overall: research shows that the number of online reviews a product has on its page directly correlates with its sales performance. Recent research shows that a simple improvement from 4.7 to 4.8 stars in ratings can offer a 40.9% increase in conversion. Ratings and reviews matter significantly for brands that are continuing to experience growing pains on Amazon.
Here’s a recent example of this struggle: I currently have a client that has very few reviews across their products on Amazon. With stagnant sales becoming the norm, this client is becoming frustrated as they sit and wait for the reviews to come pouring in. Unfortunately, without a proactive effort to gain more reviews, it may not be possible to foster desired business expansion.
Reviews are harder to obtain on Amazon than they used to be. This complex eCommerce system is always changing, which is why I wanted to share Bobsled’s best strategies for navigating this review space. Getting more reviews on Amazon can be as simple as pushing the “Request a Review” button on a brand’s seller page - and that’s certainly one strategy that can help end anyone’s sales dry spell. But there is often a lot more to it than that as the eCommerce space only gets more competitive.
Follow along as I overview the 7 best ways that Amazon sellers can get more product reviews on amazon in 2022. I will be rating each of the 7 methods on an “effectiveness score” out of 5 and an “effort score” out of 5. Since each method can vary in the way it is used and its potential outcomes, it is important to weigh each option uniquely.
Preventing Overwhelm: The Rules Are Constantly Changing!
We understand that navigating the Amazon review process can be pretty confusing. It doesn’t help that Amazon’s rules and available program features continue to change, making it difficult for some brands to keep up. We totally understand! That’s why Bobsled’s founder Kiri Masters recapped all of the changes to Amazon’s review ecosystem over time in a recent article for Forbes. Be sure to take a look to gain more clarity on the review process before trying out the 7 methods mentioned below.
How to Increase Quality and Quantity of Sales on Amazon
For most omnichannel brands, Amazon is still the cornerstone of a company’s profits and success. While other channels are necessary for reaching key audiences and promoting products on a grand scale, new leads are ultimately funneled through their Amazon page. This makes it even more critical that brands understand how to successfully gain more reviews in 2022.
Below are 7 recommended methods for success:
1. Utilize the Amazon Vine Program
Amazon Vine is a unique way for reviewers with clout to post their own opinions about products to help other customers make the best buying decisions. Sellers can give these reviewers free products with the understanding that they will receive a real, honest review in return.
This is a method with high risk, but high reward. You can get reviews within a few days without having to make any sales, and you can gain an excellent customer report in the process. On the other side of the coin, the customer could end up leaving a bad review of the product that would make it easier for other negative reviews to come pouring in. You can sign up to make your products eligible for Vine Voices at no cost, and you’ll get reviews published in an average of 22 days after you put in your request.
Vine offers a new way for sellers to understand and track customer activity while gaining critical feedback in the early stages of your product’s life cycle. To qualify for Amazon Vine, your items must:
- Be registered with a brand
- Have less than 30 reviews
- Offer FBA with inventory
- Contain an image and description
After the $200 enrollment fee for each parent ASIN, the rest of the Vine program is free. This is a good way to jumpstart reviews and give yourself a big boost right out of the gate.
Score
Effectiveness: 4
Effort Required: 1
2. Visit the Order Details Page and “Request a Review”
You can manually ask for reviews with the “Request a Review” button that can be found on your product’s Order Details page. Using this method, you can manually request a review for each order that shows up on Seller Central. You can use this button within 4-30 days of the product being purchased.
When used the right way, this can be a powerful feature that helps you increase your product review potential exponentially. In a recent study, sellers who used the “Request a Review” button rather than asking for reviews through a message saw a 41% increase in the number of daily reviews.
One pitfall of using the “Request a Review” button too often is that sellers have to pursue the button manually for each order, which can be a tedious and time-consuming job if a lot of products are being sold. Thankfully, automation tools like Feedback Five and Jungle Scout are available to expedite this process for you.
Score
Effectiveness: 3
Effort Required: 3
3. Create a Post-Purchase Email Sequence
Post-purchase emails may seem like an older technique to gain more customer testimonies, but they can still be an effective tool for omnichannel brands looking to reach buyers outside of the Amazon platform. Plus, you can use some of those same automation programs listed above (like Feedback Five) to create and track post-purchase email sequences.
There are a few restrictions to this method, however. Amazon won’t allow you to ask for a positive review specifically, and brands need to follow pretty strict communication guidelines. Unfortunately, this is an easy way for clients to receive a temporary restriction from Amazon’s system. But as long as buyers don’t consider these emails to be spam, it is still an option that can work in some situations.
Score
Effectiveness: 1
Effort Required: 4
4. Get More Email Subscribers Outside of Amazon
There are some great ways for brands to navigate around the tough social restrictions Amazon puts on its sellers. Instead of trying to communicate through the platform itself, it is possible to create a contact list using social media and other channels. By adding messages inside your products through product inserts, or by reaching out to customers through social media, you can work around the guidelines to find a way to directly ask your clients for reviews.
This can be done by asking customers to sign up for your email list. These are customers who already want to hear more from you and are more likely to respond to your posts. All this really requires on your end is consistent management of your social media channels and email contact lists.
Score
Effectiveness: 3
Effort Required: 5
5. Personally Ask Customers for Reviews
There’s nothing wrong with incorporating some tried-and-true sales methods into an omnichannel strategy in order to leverage positive reviews. Whenever you find yourself having a one-on-one conversation with a buyer through Amazon, whether you are helping them resolve an issue or answering general questions about a product, you can also ask them to leave you a review. Once you have ensured the customer’s satisfaction, they are a lot more likely to leave a review for you after having had such a personal experience.
But if you have stellar product pages with high-quality products, you might not find yourself in conversation with customers very often. Don’t rely on this method as the best way to earn more reviews overall.
Score
Effectiveness: 1
Effort Required: 2
6. Address Negative Reviews Properly
It is possible to reduce the number of negative reviews that might be posted about a certain product. Whenever a bad review is published, the seller should contact that customer to address the issue at hand. If brands can provide resolution and customer satisfaction, that person is likely to change their review to a more positive one.
Some buyers will still refuse to edit their reviews even after their issue has been resolved, so I don’t recommend focusing on this method with high hopes of success. But it is always worth it to reach out to a customer personally and see what can be done to improve their experience.
Score
Effectiveness: 1
Effort Required: 4
7. Launch with Promos to Increase Your Sales
A lot of successful brands will launch highly-anticipated products alongside a promotion, which reduces its price for a designated period of time. Coupling an exclusive coupon with a product launch can be an effective way to make a good first impression with customers. Buyers will be more willing to leave reviews - and good ones at that - when they feel like they got a great deal along with a great product.
As an additional side effect, this method can also work to increase a product’s demand. Discounts and bundles are beneficial for many aspects of your omnichannel approach to growth, as they will draw customers in for many different reasons.
Score
Effectiveness: 2
Effort Required: 1
Never Pay for Product Reviews!
The above methods for increasing customer reviews are all honest approaches to increase your success as a seller on Amazon. The platform poses a very strong stance against the act of paying for fake reviews - and has even banned dozens of sellers who got caught buying massive amounts of reviews. This includes offering incentives, using rebate tools, and paying for automated review services.
Continue to utilize different methods and strategies highlighted here to garner increased recognition and, ultimately, more customer reviews. Connect with Bobsled’s expert marketing team to help your brand stay afloat in the midst of these changes and updates were are seeing in 2022.