Want to succeed as an Amazon seller? Of course, you do. But anyone who has spent any time trying to build a successful Amazon business knows it's all about the Amazon product reviews.
If you are just starting out and haven't built up your reviews yet, it can be challenging to get the sales momentum going. As a consumer, when you consider two similar Amazon products, which way will you go? You're more likely to purchase the one that has several positive reviews rather than one that has negative reviews or no reviews at all.
The problem is that the reviews aren't always easy to come by, especially for new sellers. It's no secret Amazon has cracked down on fake and manipulated reviews. But that crackdown made legitimate reviews more challenging to acquire, too.
Sellers not only must face the uphill battle of getting the Amazon customer reviews in the first place. Now they also have to worry about Amazon deleting reviews from their listings because they question the legitimacy. Even more frustrating is seeing those sellers who are somehow managing to get thousands of reviews. It may leave you feeling like you are missing the boat, without a life jacket, with no idea how to swim to shore.
Well, we aren't going to let you drown!
We've compiled some of the top tips to help you get the reviews you need to increase your ranking and grow your Amazon business.
But first… want to listen in on our conversation with a couple of guys who routinely get 10,000 Amazon reviews on their products?
Where Are My Amazon Reviews?
Perhaps you've been selling for a while and have made several sales, but you simply aren't getting the reviews you hoped you would see. To maximize those sales' impact to boost your standing as a seller, you must focus on adding value to the customer experience. By adding value, you will compel your customers to leave positive reviews.
To explain this powerful phenomenon, let's take a closer look at the principle rooted in social psychology—The Law of Reciprocity. It goes like this:
When someone does something nice for you, you will have a deep-rooted psychological urge or compulsion to do something nice for that person in return.
This law applies to your e-comm business. When you add value to the customer experience, your customers are more likely to return the favor by leaving a positive review.
How Many Reviews Do I Need on Amazon?
The average review rate for Amazon products is around 1-2%. You can start ranking for as little as three five-star reviews. But ten seems to be the number that will cause Amazon's algorithms to rank you higher than other similar products.
Rather than focusing on how many reviews you need to rank well, a better strategy is to focus on what you can do to bring in as many as possible, and that's where we are going to help you.
Why Is Amazon Deleting Reviews?
You've likely heard horror stories of Amazon sellers having reviews disappear overnight, or discovering their customers cannot leave a review for the product. There are a few possible reasons for deleted or blocked reviews:
- A listing has too many "unverified" reviews. When a buyer purchases a product on Amazon at the full price and leaves a review, it is "verified." An unverified review means Amazon cannot confirm the consumer purchased it on the marketplace for a fair price.
- The review had words or phrases that Amazon deemed suspicious.
- Sudden increase in sales or reviews. Again, this comes back to Amazon watching out for bots. Amazon places a review limit on products—if they notice more, there's a chance they will block or delete.
How can you protect your listings from this unfortunate scenario? Simply put, play by Amazon's rules. Understand their Terms of Service, and make sure you are doing everything possible on your end to generate only legitimate reviews from your customers. For example, never use coercive tactics or phrasing to get buyers to leave reviews, and never buy Amazon reviews or offer incentives for reviews.
Here's What You Can Do to Get More Reviews
Enough about what NOT to do. Let's dig into the advice you need to start increasing your reviews so you can grow your Amazon business. These three tips come to you from sellers in the trenches, who've gone through the trial and error, so they know what works.
Tip #1: Create Velocity
You need to get sales to get reviews. You need reviews to get more sales. So, where do you start? With velocity. You need to get those sales moving, and paid advertising is an effective strategy to make that happen. Here's the thing: you can almost guarantee you are going to lose money in the beginning. Creating velocity will cost you, but it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to get where you want to be without it.
At this point in your new Amazon business, you will need to do whatever it takes to generate sales, including:
- Facebook ads
- Pay Per Click ads
- Discounts and rebates
- Reduced pricing
You are essentially feeding the Amazon system. Yes, this will be expensive in the beginning. In addition to producing a great listing, excellent photos, and paid advertising, you will need to price competitively. If everyone else selling a similar product is pricing it at $20, you need to price it at $18.
When you launch a product on Amazon, the goal is to maximize value. Therefore, you must come in at a lower price, in the beginning, to get volume through the system before you can bring the sales into a review-getting process. Since you are new, you have no social proof yet. Want new customers to give you a chance on Amazon? You must prove yourself and be willing to provide the discount to get the sales.
Keep in mind, you may not break even for a few months, but accumulating sales means you will then have the opportunity to offer the value piece that allows you to get Amazon reviews. Think of it as an investment to catapult your business.
Tip #2: Bring the Value
Contrary to what some sellers believe, offering discounts and rebates does not add value to the customer experience. That's simply a transaction. Bringing value is making the customer experience as positive and hassle-free as possible. It's about making customers feel special, helping them know you care about them as your customers, and going above and beyond to satisfy them, even weeks after the sale.
Remember the Law of Reciprocity? Your pricing strategy is not that. You build reciprocity into your Amazon sales system by reaching out to offer more and more value to your customers. This may look like extending different benefits and discounts when they engage with your business, whether joining your list or purchasing another one of your products. Or it may mean you are checking in with your customers a few times after the purchase to find out if you can help them with anything. The point is you are nurturing the customer relationship, creating goodwill, and showing customers their satisfaction is your priority.
Depending on the type of product you are selling, you may need to establish three to five different processes or touchpoints to connect with your customers. Only once you know you have provided real value more than once should you make the ask for the review.
Although we are focusing on the sales and reviews, it's worth mentioning that you need to make sure you have a stellar product to sell. It needs to be the best, highest quality product within your price range. Otherwise, you can forget about getting the five-star reviews!
Tip #3: Treat Customers Like Gold
As you work toward growing your Amazon reviews, it's important to remember that you must treat your customers like gold. Treat them as if they are your business because they are! Online entrepreneurs often overlook customer service, but that's not an option if you want to build a successful Amazon business. You must blow your customers away, repeatedly. Then, once you are sure you've done that, you are in a prime position to ask for the reviews.
Communication with customers is one of the most effective ways to create goodwill and help them know you value them. ManyChat is an interactive social bot tool you can use in your business to engage with each customer in a personal way. Rather than the customer having to wait to hear from you following a purchase or submitting a question, ManyChat's automated bot connects with them immediately through Facebook Messenger.
You can even include QR codes on your product packaging, insert, or label that will plug them into your ManyChat system so you can provide instant rebates and responses. If they purchase through a Facebook ad, they will also receive a ManyChat message right away. It's the consistent, immediate customer service that will help you establish rapport with your customers, enabling you to leverage the Law of Reciprocity. As you overwhelm them with value and a top-quality experience, they will be far more likely to leave a positive review.
Amazon Consumer Review FAQ
Now that you know how to get those positive reviews from your customers, what if they have questions about leaving reviews for your products? There's a lot of confusion out there about the review process from a consumer standpoint. Let's uncover the answers to some of the top questions from real Amazon shoppers so you can help your customers gain clarity on the process.
How Do I Do a Review on Amazon?
Leaving a review for a product you've purchased on Amazon is straightforward. Here's how:
- Go to the product detail page for the item or find the item under "Your Orders."
- Click on "Write a Customer Review" in the "Customer Reviews" section.
- Choose the star rating.
- If you want, you can then add a text review, a video, or photos.
- Click "Submit" to submit the review.
Perhaps you've left reviews in the past and are now wondering, "how can I find my Amazon reviews?" You can see all the reviews you have ever submitted by following these steps:
- Click the "Accounts & Lists" drop-down menu in the top-right corner of the Amazon home screen.
- Under the "Ordering and shopping preferences" section, click on "Your Amazon Profile."
- Find your reviews listed under "Community Activity."
It may take up to 48 hours for Amazon to approve the review.
Are Amazon Reviews Legitimate?
There are many legitimate Amazon reviews—mostly because the company and the Federal Trade Commission have cracked down on review bots and other unethical practices, such as Amazon reviews for money and post-review refunds. In fact, Amazon banned incentivized reviews in 2016. Although Amazon does it's best to keep the product reviews genuine, there are still plenty of fake reviews out there.
BuzzFeed News reported a story of one reviewer who had spent over $15,000 on Amazon products in 2019 and left more than 700 five-star reviews. Why would anyone buy that many products in one year or take the time to leave so many reviews? There's a good reason! The woman claimed the companies selling the products on Amazon had reimbursed her for her purchases if she left a five-star review.
While some gray hat tactics like these are tricky for Amazon reviews checkers to catch, they have implemented review guidelines and developed the Amazon Verified Purchase label to minimize the problem of fake reviews.
How Many Reviews Can I Leave on Amazon? How Many Amazon Reviews Can You Do a Day?
In 2016, Amazon put a new limit on customer reviews. You can now leave no more than five each week unless you have a verified purchase. However, there is no current limit on Verified Purchase Reviews.
Why Can't I Leave Reviews on Amazon?
If a customer goes to review a product and discovers they can not leave a review, there may be a few possible reasons for this issue:
- Amazon believes you have a bias in your relationship to the product or seller.
- Amazon has detected unusual reviewing activity.
- You may not have followed the reviewing guidelines, and your reviews have contained suspicious patterns or wording.
- You have submitted the maximum number of reviews for the week.
Is It Bad to Buy from Amazon?
While some people believe it's better to shop locally, it's hard to beat Amazon's commitment to fast shipments and product variety. The truth is customers trust Amazon, and it is one of the world's largest e-commerce platforms. Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the high traffic and build a successful Amazon seller business for themselves.
Whether you need to stock up on toilet paper or are looking for fun, new products you didn't even know you needed, Amazon delivers. TwentyTwoWords.com shared the 37 Unexpected Buys on Amazon That Reviewers Say Changed Their Lives. From this article, it's easy to see that there are a plethora of unique and handy products that customers love to discover.
Take, for example, a jacket with a built-in heater. TipHero.com gives all the details in its thorough review. You may have never even thought about such a product before, but now you know it exists, you will undoubtedly think it is the jacket to have on a cold winter's night.
Simply put, there's no shame in being a devoted Amazon buyer or seller. Amazon has created a unique, world-changing platform, so go ahead and shop and sell to your heart's delight.
The Takeaway
From the seller’s side, the best way to get a flood of excellent reviews is to follow the process we shared in the video above. Create the best product you possibly can. Build reciprocity with your audience by giving a ton of value. Then use a 100% legitimate process for encouraging them to leave reviews of your products.
We talked with someone who’s using this exact process to cultivate tons of great reviews - and they’re on track now to make multiple-millions this year. You can watch it here.
Finally, if you’re looking to start or grow your business to seven figures or more, you should check this out. We’ve put our very best advice into this free video mini series. We predict your entrepreneurial brain will find it fascinating and that it will get you going on the process.
