“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all” – Michael Leboeuf.

Michael Leboeuf said it, and boy oh boy, do we agree with it! Positive reviews are a direct indication of a satisfied customer and they carry immense importance for your brand, especially on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon where potential customers almost entirely rely on the experiences of others who have bought your product.

Positive Reviews Make You Stand Out

Needless to say, the Amazon marketplace is now a GIANT. And the competition, phew! It’s pretty crazy!

In July alone, Amazon’s e-commerce platform had a total of 2.65 billion mobile and desktop visitors. According to some Statista surveys, it is the highest visited e-commerce platform in the US.

Today, Amazon is one of the major e-commerce giants with millions of active customers all over the globe. In 2018, Amazon’s net revenue peaked at $232.88 billion straight from $177.86 billion near the end of 2017. In general, there has been a rapid increase in the e-commerce giant’s net revenue since the year 2004, as indicated by the graph below:

These results instantly reflect the scope that your product could have on the Amazon e-commerce platform. But at the same time, it also shows you just how much work you need to put in to make your business a success.

Because Amazon receives such heavy traffic every month, positive reviews on-platform can significantly drive your sales revenue. This is primarily because a large number of potential buyers tend to read Amazon reviews before making a purchase, both on-platform and off-platform.

You should never forget that positive reviews also have a direct impact on your product’s ranking on Amazon. Simply put, if your product has a higher number/quality of reviews, it will simply appear higher on Amazon’s product ranking. This will increase your product’s visibility, and more importantly, give your product more credibility which will result in a higher number of sales!

9 Tips to get positive reviews on Amazon

And so, with the crazy competition out there, we present 9 pretty cool tips on how you can get genuine, reviews from your customers prompting a boost in your sales by improving your product’s visibility and its impact on new potential customers.

Make your product unmatched in terms of quality

Duh. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised at the number of poor performance products out there!  Before you start employing any other strategies to receive positive reviews, you need to have a very strong product!

If this requires more investment, take that route if you’re able to, because at the end of the day, there is absolutely no point in spending money to keep your business afloat if the product that you are selling is of sub-par quality. It’s only a matter of time before it catches up with you, and becomes the reason for your business to flounder.

If you’re just starting on Amazon, now is the perfect time to make sure of this. But if you’ve already started and feel that the quality of your product is not being received well: change your supplier, pump in more money to improve the product quality – do what it takes to make your product the best out there.

A product that delivers great value, high performance, and phenomenal endurance always warrants for a positive customer experience which in turn, would likely result in you receiving 5 stars and a great comment from your happy customer.

Go off-platform to collaborate with influencers

Influencers are usually perceived as highly trustworthy experts in their particular niche. They have a massive impact on their loyal audience who often fully rely on their recommendations.

Collaborating with influencers is one of the quickest ways to increase the visibility of your product. Sometimes, a single social media post by an influencer could be all you need for your business to take off.

Reach out to influencers who dominate your niche. If you sell baby or children’s products, reach out to mum influencers, or family oriented YouTubers. If you sell kitchenware, look for successful cooks (Professional and self taught) who can promote your product. Once you’ve built a great relationship with your influencers, you can even request them to suggest that their audience leave you a positive comment (Since, of course, your product is worthy of this! *Loop back to point 1!*)

An influencer liking your product, promoting your product and asking their audience to support your business is a sure way of getting credible and authentic reviews. It does take quite a bit of effort to get here, but it’s definitely worth it!

Ask for feedback

According to most Amazon sellers, only about 10% of buyers are likely to leave feedback. This is because product reviews on the internet are based on highly polarised experiences.

Generally, buyers are likely to leave a positive review either when they are very satisfied or extremely dissatisfied. The ones in the middle of the spectrum simply do not take the effort.

So, what can you do to encourage more positive reviews? One simple solution would be to include friendly inserts inside the package. This way, you could request your buyers to leave you a positive review (because – once again – you have a great product!) Also, don’t forget to couple it with the assurance that if they are not satisfied or have any queries, they can always reach out to you.

Include creative flyers and freebies in the package

Sometimes, small surprises in the package along with the product itself can help a lot in creating goodwill. Ideally, the ‘small surprise’ should complement the main product. For instance, in case you’re selling laptops, a basic laptop cleaning kit as a freebie would be highly appreciated by the customer. This may also prompt them to write a positive review, all due to great customer experience.

Provide great customer service

Great customer support has the power to transform negative reviews into positive reviews! This is a tactic that many popular Amazon sellers use daily. To compensate for a negative experience, do not hesitate to take necessary actions that include refunds or replacements.

There are several other benefits of customer service and this includes customer loyalty, increased goodwill, and an enhanced public image.

What about the unfair negative reviews?

Sometimes an angry customer who has had a bad day will leave a negative review despite receiving an exceptional service/product. While this is a rare occurrence, it does happen. You will run into a handful of these customers throughout your entire selling career.

So, what could you do to deal with existing negative reviews? Luckily, Amazon has a system in place that can help sellers minimize the impact of unfair negative reviews. In case you feel like a review is unjust, you can request its removal.

In this regard, head to the seller account’s dashboard and click on ‘customers and orders’. From here, click product ID, and request a removal. Do note that it is important to be very concise while you are explaining the context in your request. Based on the legitimacy of your claims, the review may or may not be removed by Amazon admins.

Use Amazon’s vine program

Another highly effective (but rather pricey) solution is the Vine program by Amazon. Simply put, it is a service by Amazon that you can use to increase the number of reviews on your products.

You can sign up for this program for a specific fee, which depends on the vendor and package. Nevertheless, the fee to submit products in the Vine program typically ranges from $2500 – $7500 per ASIN.

This exclusive service invites unbiased and top-rated reviewers to write well-articulated and detailed reviews on your products.

Do note that the Vine program does not always guarantee you positive reviews. This is primarily because the reviewers are fully unbiased. However, for as long as the quality of your product/service meets high standards, you’re good to go!

Increase customer engagement

Engagement with existing customers plays a great role in creating goodwill. It directly impacts the decision and perception of potential buyers, who may have just landed to check your product out.

By responding to existing reviews, both positive and negative, you could increase your credentials as a reputed seller who cares about customers.

If a customer says something good about your product, write a short thank-you note with a promise to keep up with it. On the other hand, show great courtesy to unhappy customers and respond with an offer to make things right.

Social media presence

Social media presence plays a key role in impacting the mindset of your customers, and the perception that they may have about your product.

Create pages for your products and engage with your target audience. This will not only promote your product and make you more sales, but also contribute towards your audience trusting your brand. And reaching this milestone is a phenomenal achievement considering the sea of competition out there.

If your audience trusts your brand and your product, you can be certain that they would leave you positive comments (And you can always – confidently- ask if they don’t!)

Conclusion

Getting positive reviews on Amazon takes some work. That’s for sure. It is extremely crucial to have a working plan at hand to implement the best strategies to obtain these reviews. While it may be hard work, the rewards certainly bring with it plenty of  $$$.!

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and try out some of these tips. We promise you, you will see the fruits of it. Happy selling!

Sources used

1. https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/G1801?language=en_US

2. https://www.statista.com/topics/846/amazon/

3. https://www.sellbrite.com/blog/how-to-get-more-positive-feedback-on-amazon/

4. https://www.nchannel.com/blog/amazon-selling-tips/

5. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/04/10/amazon-reviews