Reviews have become undeniably important for businesses to grow on Amazon. They’ve become a go-to source for customers considering a product. At this point, reviews have a direct influence on lead conversion rates, product rankings, and sales performance. In short, they can be a determining factor for the success or failure of your business. 

In this article, we’ll break down some of the most legitimate ways you can go about boosting reviews for your product page, without doing anything that would go against Amazon’s rules. 

To a lot of people, this might seem like a grey area since you’re basically trying to convince customers to buy your product using an incentivizing strategy. However, we intend to focus on review generating ideas that don’t involve manipulative tricks and techniques. These won’t put you at risk of getting suspended from Amazon or deemed fraudulent. 

What to avoid when trying to get Amazon reviews

Once you launch a product on Amazon and you begin to start selling, you’re likely going to face the question of how to get reviews. A lack of feedback to rely on can even turn away some of the most unsuspecting customers from your listing. This is because most of the research takes place online. And customers need a source of information they can trust. 

Let’s talk about unsavory ways of getting reviews that we totally do not recommend. The following are a few tactics that might either violate Amazon’s review policy and land you in trouble or are just really bad business practices.

• Amazon doesn’t allow you to write your own reviews, for obvious reasons. 

• You aren’t allowed to promise customers some reward in exchange for leaving a review. Even when you give customers an incentive to leave a review, it shouldn’t be conditional. In other words, you can’t stipulate that you’ll offer them a discount only if they leave a review on your product listing page. You can only frame it as a request.

• Asking people like family, friends, or work staff to leave a review is also not recommended. These are all people who have a clear vested interest.
• There are no quid pro quo exchanges when it comes to reviewing products. In other words, you can’t partner up with another seller, promising them you’ll leave a review on their page if they do so on yours.
• Customers should make the purchase prior to reviewing the product, which is pretty obvious.
• You should accept reviews from all customers. Amazon is strictly against cherry-picking satisfied customers and selling them out to review your product listing pages. It gives shoppers a false sense of brand hype.

Practical tips to get more Amazon reviews

Embrace all reviews

You should be willing to face criticism on a mega platform like Amazon. Get ready to embrace the negative reviews along with the positive ones. Don’t shy away from requesting your customers to provide feedback if you’re afraid of what they have to say.

At the end of the day, you simply can’t please everyone. Some of your customers won’t be satisfied no matter what you do and others might have valid criticism that will help you improve. Ignore the former to work on the latter.

Work with the Amazon algorithm

Reviews are a result and not an end goal of sales. Amazon’s search algorithm has a lot to do with how quickly customers can access your product listing. Work on getting your product to the top of the list, improving sales and reviews will naturally follow.

Avoid exchange offers

Let’s re-emphasize this point because a lot of newbie sellers end up falling into the same trap. Don’t make a deal with customers where you promise them products in exchange for reviews. Your account could end up getting suspended or even worse, deleted.

Elevate the quality of your customer support

The quality of your interactions with customers can greatly impact the likelihood of getting a review. Like we mentioned in the previous lesson, you need to give customers access to contact you and engage with them consistently on the site. It makes you more approachable, sets their mind at ease, and encourages them to try the product out.

A key aspect of improving customer support is giving your listing a personal touch. Instead of enumerating the various features, you need to focus on how the user can integrate the product into their daily lives. It makes your brand more relatable and urges them to be more forthcoming with their response and reviews.

Follow up on customers

It is very rude and unprofessional to cut off communication once the deal is done. You need to feel obliged to answer customer queries and maintain a healthy relationship with them even after you make the sale. This kind of follow-up process is what ultimately gives them an incentive to review your product. Delayed responses to urgent queries are a bad sign and indicate that you’re only interested in selling the product and aren’t the least bit concerned about how the customer receives it.

Request a review with personalized emails

Many follow-up emails that Amazon sends to customers are very generic. They’re basically a  template requesting a review of the product without any personalized touches. You can get a better response by remedying that.

Once you make a sale, follow up on the customer and inquire about their experience. Keep track of customer reply messages. Try and be willing to spend time going through their email responses. Attend to any concerns they might have. Address them in warm, friendly tones without crossing any respectful boundaries.

Make your page accessible

The better you are at building a rapport with customers, the more likely you are to get a review. You need only leave a link to your product page at the bottom of the email and request a review. By doing so, you’re saving them the trouble of tediously looking up your product page for the sake of dropping feedback. The easier and less time-consuming you make it for them, the better they feel about doing it.

Appreciate and reciprocate

You can add a list of reasons why their reviews matter and why you’d appreciate the gesture. Elaborate on how you care about their experience and are looking for feedback to improve the product. Also mention how their review can help other customers discover your product. Finally, don’t forget to thank them for getting in touch and express your willingness to do so in the future.

A crucial point to note here is that you can’t be suggestive. In other words, don’t nudge users in the direction of leaving a positive review, even if you’re being subtle about it. Be open to criticism and encourage them to provide feedback, be it positive or negative. What matters is that they respond.

Add product inserts requesting feedback

It’s a good idea to insert a message requesting reviews in the package itself. The visuals should be attention-grabbing and direct. 

It is a creative but not overly subtle way of reminding customers to leave a review for your product.

Again, don’t specify what kind of review you’re requesting. Let the customers evaluate their experience and share it with honesty. You can’t be coy about it either. 

For instance, don’t look for an easy out by telling customers to directly contact you if they have a bad experience, and to leave a positive review if it’s satisfactory. This sends a mixed message that you don’t want them sharing negative reviews about your product on the platform. First of all, it makes customers feel annoyed at your lack of transparency. Secondly, Amazon won’t allow it. 

Where to place the product insert?

Product inserts don’t have to be a label on the package per se. They can also be something as simple as a thank you card with a polite request to leave a review and share feedback. 

It would be wise to attach a scannable QR code to your product’s Amazon page. This makes it easier for customers to access the review section directly, saving them time and effort. 

Work on the product insert’s design to make it look attractive. Remember, it needs to be persuasive without being demanding. 

Request reviews in your email newsletter

Email newsletters are a good thing to set up when you’re an upcoming ecommerce seller with exciting new plans. It’s a great way to share brief tidbits about the latest deals and product features without being too elaborate. 

If you already have one, then it’s a good idea to add a link in the newsletter template that directs recipients to the review page. If they’ve already purchased the product, they’ll feel free to leave a review. We’re assuming that audiences who actively get email notifications from your newsletter are primarily customers who have already bought the product. So the link really functions as a reminder for them. 

Social media requests

Growth on Amazon is inextricably tied with brand growth on other platforms as well, especially social media. Reviews on your socials are visible to a wider audience, made up of shoppers as well as casual visitors. This way, you can compound the benefits of getting a review. You get more leads visiting your Amazon listing on the strength of good reviews you receive in the comments section of Facebook and Instagram pages. This is in addition to active online shoppers browsing through your Amazon product page reviews. 

This is why it is a good idea to occasionally request your followers on social media to leave reviews for your product when they purchase it. You could add a subtle reminder every now and then in the description of your latest posts, in your bio, and also in your story highlights. 

Provide links

Giving customers access to your social media chat links such as messenger, whatsapp, or Instagram is a great way to respond directly to them. This is also ideal for requesting reviews. If you’re short on staff, you can automate this whole process. 

Amazon early reviewer program

There’s plenty of perks to being a new seller on Amazon. We mentioned earlier how you can’t incentivize customers to leave a review in exchange for products. 

However, Amazon, the platform itself runs an early reviewer program where customers partake in reviewing your product. 

Now we can’t say for sure that the review won’t be negative. So it’s more of a last resort if your new product is struggling to attract reviews. 

Improve your product

The most obvious place to start is by improving your product. You need to be confident enough to market your product before you go any further with requesting reviews from customers. Naturally, enhancing the quality of your product listing pages through good content and top-notch product photos is all part of this. 

Follow up on Amazon

It’s a bit generic in execution, but Amazon buyer-seller messaging does get the job done. It sends an automatic request to the buyer for reviews. You don’t have to be too direct either. Start by building rapport with the buyers, updating them on their shipping details and other matters. Thank them at appropriate intervals when they book your product. A positive opinion is what contributes to a positive review and this is how you build that image. 

Do remember to stay within Amazon’s set of rules and guidelines when it comes to buyer-seller messaging. 

Some of the more general things you can do to maintain a healthy customer relationship and engage with your audience is to:

• Actively respond to their messages and comments on social media
• Email them with the latest updates occasionally. Don’t do this frequently because it might be irksome.
• Personalize all your messages, chats, and emails to fit the customer profile.
• Make sure your communication isn’t solely based on exchange requests. In other words, drop a message every once in a while to inform the customer about the latest development in your industry or any new feature you’re adding. It doesn’t have to be entirely product-related either.

Most of the time, customers aren’t so much concerned about a bad product as as they are about unresponsive sellers who seem to only care about making a sale.

Connect with reviewers who share similar interests 

Here’s a novel idea to connect with potential customers. Check your product page’s “Also bought section”. You’ll find similar products that are related to yours. You can reach out to those customers who actually bought the product and left a review, asking them if they’re interested in what you have to offer. It isn’t a long shot, especially if the product you’re selling is in any way complementary to what they bought.

For instance, if you sell vacuum cleaners, you could email a customer who bought cleaning supplies from another seller. Be sure to explain how you obtained their contact information and explain why you’re contacting them. Don’t alarm them without any preface or explanation.

Final thoughts

We’ve briefly covered some of the most common tactics sellers employ to get reviews on Amazon. It is quite evident that when your customer experience and support is up to the mark, then positive reviews will naturally follow. A lot of the ideas we mentioned in this article are more like creative guidelines for newbie sellers on the platform. We’d urge any online ecommerce seller to focus primarily on improving customer service as a priority. Ratings and reviews, however important, are often a natural outcome, and a means for growth. It’s wise to not see it as an end result that you aspire to reach.