Amazon ratings and reviews are among the most important information shoppers look at when evaluating a product on Amazon or anywhere else. The higher the Amazon star rating and review count, the the more confidence buyers will have to purchase. Moreover, ratings and reviews are a key input to Amazon's relevance ranking, which drives how products are ranked in search results and related products lists. For these reasons, sellers should pay close attention to their customers' feedback. Here are 5 ways to get more 5-star customer Amazon reviews.
1. Reach out to low star reviewers right away
It takes 40 positive reviews to undo the damage from 1 negative review. There's some interesting psychology behind that ratio. But the point it is, you can't afford not to understand and address your 1-star issues. Get in touch with the customer, either directly if possible, or by commenting on the review in Amazon while you are logged into your seller account. Reaching out to frustrated customers creates an opportunity to transform their negative experience into a positive one by providing a solution. But you may also be able to learn more firsthand from your customer about areas for improvement. Use what you learn to improve your positioning, packaging, listing descriptions in order to better meet customer expectations and avoid any frustration or dissatisfaction.
2. Ask for feedback
Unhappy customers readily leave reviews when they are not satisfied to let others know about it and maybe try to get some sort of compensation. Whereas happy customers often remain quiet. In fact, a dissatisfied customer is more than 5 times more likely to leave a review than a satisfied one. So, being proactive and asking for feedback can help balance that out. Not hearing anything from buyers most often means that everything went smoothly and the customer is satisfied. Don't miss the opportunity to ask these silent, probably happy, customers for their feedback. You can request it through your seller account by contacting the buyer under Manage Orders, or you can do something more personal like including a feedback request card in their package or product documentation.
3. Answer customer questions on Amazon
For a brand to thrive on Amazon, it is critical to proactively address any doubts potential buyers may have about your products. As a best practice, answer customer questions within 24 hours, if they aren't already answered effectively by existing buyers. This will not only minimize missed sales opportunities, but also it will improve your customer experience overall creating a long-lasting, loyal customer base.
4. Screen reviews for trends
Amazon reviews are often a rich source of insights when it comes to product enhancements and competitors comparison. By regularly screening your product reviews looking for trending patterns, you can find out about issues like product defects, difficult packaging or poor instructions that may be impacting the likelihood to purchase your products on Amazon. For a large product catalog with lots of reviews, look into Semantic Analysis tools. For a smaller catalog, you can download your feedback report from your seller account and read through the recent reviews. Addressing recurring themes right away will reassure existing customers and positively surprise potential buyers leading to higher ratings and positive Amazon reviews.
5. Leverage the Amazon Guidelines on Ratings and Reviews
The importance of addressing negative feedback right away is clear. Reaching out to unhappy customers and offering a solution can increase their level of satisfaction. But, sometimes, a negative feedback may be non-compliant with the Amazon Guidelines. Should the negative review be non-compliant, reach out to Amazon to request its removal. As a rule of thumb, when you deal with a negative review, you should check for Amazon Guidelines compliance before taking any further action.
That bring us to the topic of fake negative Amazon reviews. The pressure of competition can create incentives for bad actors to try to sabotage other sellers. Amazon has sophisticated monitoring to spot negative fake reviews and takes steps to screen reviews to remove fraudulent ones. Alternatively, you can also click the report abuse button on a suspicious review or send an email to community-help@amazon.com to report abuse.
Establishing a routine to monitor and manage your ratings and reviews is essential to increase your success on Amazon. At Gradient, we offer multiple tools to track patterns and unusual behaviors on Amazon ratings and reviews. To learn more about your brand on Amazon, create a Gradient account and get a brand audit!
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