Building Your Rating Takes Work But Pays Off
Maintaining a high Amazon seller rating is critical to your businesss success. Without positive feedback, buyers wont trust you as a merchant and wont feel comfortable purchasing, and Amazons algorithms will minimize your products visibility. Maintain your reputation and both the marketplace and the shoppers will help boost your sales.
Getting this positive feedback takes work, though, so you need a plan for how youre going to collect great ratings. Weve laid out six strategies to help you gently encourage positive feedback from shoppers without violating Amazons rules, and weve suggested ways to provide excellent customer service to encourage great ratings. Follow these tips to slowly but surely build up to a high seller rating that drives more purchases.
Are There Any Limitations To Using The Button
The button is a simple tool, so there are several limitations to consider:
Perhaps the biggest drawback is that buyers who are having difficulty with the product might be further frustrated by being asked for a review, with no other options given. That can lead to a knee-jerk reaction of clicking the stars to leave negative feedback.
If you use buyer-seller messaging to ask for reviews, you can tell the buyer how to get help with the product, which gives you an opportunity to deal with any issues they are having. Resolving problems for buyers by providing support is by far preferable to receiving a negative review.
This article was by Henson Wu of FeedbackWhiz, a tool for Amazon sellers which helps repair seller feedback, improve product reviews and automate high-volume emails.
How Do I View My Seller Feedback
To view your Seller Feedback, first login to your account and click on Received Messages under Communications in your left navigation and then click on the Seller Feedback tab. From this screen, you will be able to view your Feedback and sort it out according to Rating and Status.;
By default, the Communications Center will only display the content of your neutral and negative seller feedback. This is to align with Amazons Code of Conduct, which is a set of standards established by Amazon, applicable to developers of third-party software.;
Positive seller feedback results will no longer show buyer information or feedback text. Instead you will be given the option to View on Amazon. ;
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If you have set up Seller Central integration clicking the View on Amazon” link will direct you to the Order Details page for that feedback within your Seller Central account.
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If Seller Central integration is not complete, clicking this will take you to view the Feedback Manager page in Seller Central.
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Create A Contact List For Emails
Since the seller messaging system and third-party automated responders have become limited, you will need to find other ways to communicate with your shoppers.
Remember: as long as theyre buying your products via Amazon, theyre Amazons customers. To get past this hurdle, you will need to build your brand off Amazon and one of the best ways to do that is by building your own email list.;
Thankfully, there are a number of ways to create an email list. You can build one through social media. Or you can create a blog that asks for people to subscribe. Another popular method is to add product inserts into existing products, encouraging people to join your list.
Once you have a mailing list, you can request reviews from those who have purchased from you.;
Seller Analytics Tools To Track Profits Losses And Sales Trends
Use FeedbackWhizs Profits & Accounting features to measure performance for all of your Amazon product listings quickly, easily, and intuitively. Personalize seller data with customizable graphs depicting the most important Amazon selling metrics and trends for your business.
Access all your global marketplaces with a simple drop down button. Even if you sell on multiple Amazon marketplaces, FeedbackWhizs Amazon seller tools can handle it.
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The Help A Seller Out
You dont have to frame your feedback request as coming from a small business. You can simply make it sound like it comes from you. A heartfelt personalized email could do the trick in obtaining positive feedback from an Amazon buyer.
If youre a one-woman or one-man business, then simply describe yourself as a Seller.
Heres a perfect example from Amazon expert Cynthia Stine:
Hi XXX,
Thank you very much for your recent order. I hope you are enjoying your copy of XXXX. If you have a moment, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on whether or not the book arrived on time and as you expected it.
Feedback helps me to be a better seller and lets other customers know what to expect from me. It also gives me a chance to address any unexpected issues that might come up during the warehousing and shipping process. Thanks again.
Warm regards,
Cynthia Stine
Negative Feedback Isnt The End Of The World
Having a high seller feedback rating is a critical part of being a successful Amazon seller. At the same time, negative feedback is by no means final on Amazon. Double check to ensure the comment doesnt contravene Amazons strict feedback rules. If it doesnt, look to resolve the situation to the buyers satisfaction, and try to have them remove it themselves.
The key is to not let negative feedback get you down when selling on Amazon. Take a deep breath and address feedback problems when they arise to improve your service, and your appeal, for future customers.
Over the long term, a few negative ratings here and there wont trip you up if you focus on improving your business and offering amazing customer service. With these goals in mind, sellers will have no trouble thriving in the Amazon marketplace.
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Treat Neutral Feedback As Negative
3-star feedback is neutral but in Amazons customer-centric eyesits not good enough and as such, you should treat this as you would a 1 or 2-star review. Its important sellers dont ignore neutral/negative feedback as removing just a handful of bad reviews can have a huge impact on your chances of getting a sale or winning the Buy Box.
Imagine, youre buying a product that is similarly priced, are you more likely to buy from a seller with 98% positive feedback or one with 92% positive feedback?
The vast majority of consumers will always go with the seller with the better feedback score, which is why collecting positive feedback and removing neutral/negative feedback quickly is so important. With that in mind, lets take a look at some strategies for collecting great feedback and eliminating negative reviews.
You Can Also Ask Customers To Remove It
When you receive negative feedback, you will have a chance to respond and if you do this in the right way, the customer may agree to remove the negative feedback. For example, if you can reassure the customer that the problem was not your fault, but was down to the courier, they will probably be happy to remove the feedback.
Equally, if you can put the problem right, such as by issuing a prompt refund or by agreeing to send a replacement product, you may defuse the situation. Most people are reasonable and will be willing to amend their feedback if they are happy with the way you have responded. If they really are angry, though, and refuse, its probably a good idea not to press the point.
It is important to note that Amazons guidelines forbid asking explicitly for a customer to remove negative product reviews. However, Amazon does allow sellers to ask buyers to amend or remove negative seller feedback.;Sellers need to resolve the issue before asking the customer to remove the feedback. For example, you mustnt make a refund contingent on the customer removing the feedback. Instead, you should simply offer to solve the problem however you can , and then politely mention in another section of the email how important feedback is to your company and if they are satisfied to please amend or remove the feedback. Its a delicate line, but basically the goal here is to insinuate that they update their feedback instead of asking them to outright.
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What Is Negative Feedback
Amazon customers have the ability to leave feedback after every transaction on the website. This rating is out of 5, with anything above 4 considered positive. That means those marked with 1, 2 and even 3 are seen as a mark of a poor exchange between a seller and the customer.
Dealing with negative feedback is by far one of the most stressful things an can go through. No one wants to take a hit on a 100% 5-star rating, so every 1 or 2-star rating is going to feel like a big blow. Bad feedback wont just bruise your ego; it can actually impact your ability to win the Buy Box, so directly impact your ability to generate sales at the same rate.
Thankfully, a lot of the feedback is eligible for removal.
Mixing Templates For Maximum Success
Notice how the above example also has some elements of The Let Us Fix it First template? Theres a reason for that. Youll likely want to pick a couple elements to bring together for the perfect template.
You can test what works, the type of responses you receive, and also make some guesses based on your product and who its target customer might be. No matter what, be brief and polite.
You can by automating them and reusing your most successful template.
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If Feedback Violates Amazon Guidelines Request Removal
Getting rid of negative seller feedback can be as easy as checking whether the buyers response follows Amazons feedback rules. Feedback that violates their guidelines will be removed by Amazon upon request, allowing the seller to maintain a high feedback rating.
Here are Amazons rules about what counts as ineligible feedback:
- Product reviews Amazon allows customers to write product reviews on product pages, so theres no need for product reviews in seller feedback comments too. Transaction feedback has to be a review of the service the customer received from the seller, not a review of the product they ordered.
- Promotional content Any comments or links about other merchants or websites is considered inappropriate feedback.
- Obscene or abusive language
- Personal information Amazon prohibits feedback that includes identification information of Amazon users.
Products that are listed under the Fulfillment-by-Amazon program have even wider conditions for feedback removal. Under the FBA program, Amazon takes care of a sellers product storage, order packing, shipping, and customer service. Since an FBA seller isnt responsible for these duties, any negative FBA seller feedback that relates to these tasks will be removed by Amazon.
For non-FBA listings, negative feedback about product condition, shipping, and delivery will not be removed since non-FBA sellers are responsible for those tasks.
Sell An Awesome Product
The most important thing, if you want to get more reviews, is your product.
Even the best outreach strategies wont make a difference if your product is boring and unreviewable.
Additionally, if you product is unremarkable or low-quality, any reviews you do get are unlikely to be five-star reviews.
Its vital to sell a product that people naturally want to review. This will make results much easier to come by when you request reviews. Youll also get more organic verified reviews, without asking.
Before you launch your product, search competitors reviews and look for common complaints or negative issues. Fix these complaints with your product, and youll see a lot of positive reviews from customers who were looking for a solution you have now provided.
Combine this with high-quality and engaging product photos to create a positive feeling for your customers well before its time to ask for a review, which will greatly increase your chances of success.
Summary: your product is the single most important factor for getting reviews on Amazon. Sell high-quality products that customers love, and youre going to get more five-star reviews.
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Make Sure To Have Your Alerts Set Up
Once you have cleaned up any old negative feedback, make sure you have your Helium 10 Alerts set to notify you every time you get feedback so that you can take instant action to remove unwarranted feedback.;;
You might think that customers do not check your feedback, and for the most part that might be true. Its hard to find the feedback for sellers. Still, you should remember that there are a lot of metrics that go into how Amazon views your account health. If you go into the danger zone on many of these metrics, you could get your account suspended.;;
Let me know in the comments below how many Amazon negative seller feedbacks you have removed lately!;;
Happy selling!
Think Twice About Selling An Item In Acceptable Condition
I almost never sell an item that I think is in acceptable condition. Just like I wrote above, different people grade items differently, and what I think might be acceptable, someone else might see as completely unacceptable. Even if you provide the buyer with the most detailed condition notes describing exactly what the items faults are, they probably wont remember when they get the item days later and are more likely to post negative feedback on your account.
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Amazon Feedback Removal Request
Getting that nasty review removed from your seller page could be as simple as asking Amazon to remove it for you.
As long as the customer feedback violates the guidelines Amazon has in place regarding customer feedback, then you have a chance of getting the review deleted. Double check the details of the review and alert Amazon if the feedback contains any of the following:
- Curse words, obscenity or any profanity.
- Any personal information such as full names, email addresses or telephone numbers.
- If the entire feedback is a product review, then it may be deleted by Amazon. Take note that customer feedback with only partial product reviews does not qualify to be removed.
- Contains URL links to different websites or other merchants.
In case the feedback you received falls under any of these categories, then you can submit an Amazon feedback removal request for the bad review.
Removing Negative Amazon Seller Feedback
Conversely, many times you can easily remove Amazon negative seller feedback.;;
Here is a real life example of how I did that just this week.;
To begin, I have Helium 10s Alerts activated for my products in the Project X account and one alert that came through today was for negative feedback.;
Looks like someone said that the product was way too small as you can see from the feedback at the bottom. I decided to go to Amazon, and what I saw really illustrates how impactful negative feedback can be.;
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Amazons Request A Review Button: Every Question Answered
Amazons policy on review solicitation is a minefield, but the Request a Review button in Seller Central provides a 100% safe way to ask for reviews.
This article is by Henson Wu of FeedbackWhiz.
Its pretty clear that Amazon doesnt really like sellers asking for reviews. Over the years, they have brought in more and more restrictions on how sellers can request reviews and the overall message is clear: we dont really want you to do it.
Or so it seemed, until Amazon introduced its own Request a Review button which does exactly that a couple of clicks and Amazon sends a message to the buyer asking for a review! It seems to run counter to everything they have been doing to date.
So, heres everything you need to know about the Request a Review button. I cover how it works, why Amazon created it, the pros and cons of using it, and if you can still ask for reviews yourself.
Address Negative Seller Feedback On Amazon
First, not all negative feedback can be removed. However, Amazon has strict guidelines that customers need to follow while giving their feedback.
If you find the comment is not valid, you can have them removed by Amazon. Inappropriate customer comments include offering promotional links or comments to other websites, suppliers, or sellers, abusive or inappropriate language in the content, and personal information of other Amazon sellers or customers. For this, go to Amazon seller central Performance and initiate the process. Give a valid reason why Amazon should remove a specific comment. Usually, Amazon addresses the issue quickly. If it lasts longer than three days, make sure to follow up via email.;
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Responding To Negative Amazon Seller Feedback
If someone leaves a bad seller review, they are likely frustrated and unhappy with what they received. While this isn’t always the case, studies show that 30% of consumers post negative seller reviews to vent frustration, 23% because they are angry, and the rest just want solutions. Your first reaction should be to contact consumers who leave negative reviews, decide what is wrong, and try to find a solution that will make them happy.
Contact Buyers Whove Left Negative Amazon Seller Feedback
Amazon advices that you contact the customer to remedy the situation or the reason why they are unhappy with you as a seller. An ecommerce apology letter can go a long way, though there are restrictions on how you can contact a negative reviewer. When contacting a customer directly about their a review, remember to always abide by Amazons policies.
- YOU CANNOT pressure the customer to remove their review.
- YOU CANNOT bribe the customer to remove their review
As responding to negative seller reviews is a constant cycle, create a template for your customer service to use to contact a customer who has left a negative seller review and have them customize it with order specific details. Make the template appealing to the customer. You are asking a customer to take time out of their day to do a favor for you. If the roles were reversed, what would make you change your negative review?