Why Reviews are Important for Amazon Success: 5 Key Insights Every Seller Should Know
Amazon’s algorithm is smart and is actively monitoring everything about your product.
There’s been quite some noise around how to get more good reviews on your Amazon product listings. While tempting your family and friends with free Amazon products and encouraging them to leave positive Amazon reviews sounds like a shortcut, Amazon might flag this comment for violating their reviewing policies. Only genuine product reviews and ratings that reflect true customer experiences are valued by Amazon.
Sellers are beginning to understand the increasing importance of positive reviews because they can see the direct impact on sales. But why do your ratings and reviews hold so much power? How do they influence your Amazon sales, rankings, and listings?
In this blog, we’ll cover A-Z about Amazon product reviews and why focusing on them is essential for long term success. Whether you’re a new business owner, or an established brand selling on e-commerce, these reviews can significantly impact your Amazon journey.
Who can leave Amazon Reviews?
Not all customers are eligible to write a review on every product. Amazon’s strict guidelines do not tolerate fake reviews and false claims that may increase or decrease the chances of buying your products.
You can check whether you’re eligible through your order history. If you see buttons like ‘Write a product review,’ ‘Leave Seller Feedback,’ then you’re eligible to write the review for that particular product.
Additionally, if you’ve bought an item from an external seller or website, you can still leave ratings/reviews on the equivalent product listing on Amazon, however, this rating does not count towards the overall rating that appears on the search page. Only verified purchases contribute to the overall rating unless unverified ones are backed by a comment, image or video. Amazon’s algorithm knows what to count and what to ignore.
Why Positive Reviews & Ratings Are Essential?
With growing competition amongst the market, reviews help you leave a mark on your customers. More than just showing a number, four and above star ratings on your product listings instills trust in your customer’s minds.
Reviews are product checks.
Shoppers rarely make a purchase without checking reviews first. A user who is exposed to N number of products online will naturally rely on what others have to say before hitting that ‘Buy Now’ button.
Buyers are looking to see if the product matches what’s shown in the pictures, whether it really solves their problem or if others have faced issues like damaged or defective items, and overall, if it’s worth the money. Reviews from customers help them set their expectations straight before making a decision.
Amazon’s Algorithm favours positive reviews
The current Amazon A10 algorithm has doubled down on these trust signals and puts more weight on the customers’ experiences. While reviews may not be the sole factor for ranking, it definitely helps push your listings to the top.
Amazon reads and analyses keywords in your reviews and crawls this data to build organic rankings. Higher ratings helps you secure top positions while lower ratings will push your products down in the search results.
Amazon uses AI for review analysis
With Rufus AI, Amazon shows what majority of the customers are saying about your product under the ‘Customers Say’ section. This feature gives potential buyers an instant impression about your product for them to decide whether they need to scroll further or not. Positive pointers mentioned here can establish trust within buyers and can significantly impact your sales.
In short, reviews are your Brand’s testimonies.
Reviews help reduce returns
Products with 3.5 star ratings or less find it most difficult to convince their buyers that their product is good. Low ratings immediately raise red flags, making shoppers hesitant to purchase.
However, if you fall in the range 4-5, you are in a much better position. Potential buyers will thoroughly search amongst reviews, analyzing pros and cons to make an informed decision. The more time spent in this detailed research helps them set their expectations straight which also reduces the chances of returns or complaints.
Reviews allow for product improvement
Customers tend to leave more negative reviews than positives. This behaviour reveals that this section is used as a means to leave suggestions and highlight areas needing improvement.
For sellers, this presents a golden opportunity to identify flaws in their products or product descriptions and improvise accordingly. For example, if multiple customers mention issues like ‘size and fit problems,’ you can respond by including detailed measurement charts in your product images.
Addressing these concerns promptly helps enhance product quality and reduce future negative feedback.
What Affects Reviews on Amazon?
There are some common factors that directly influence the volume and quality of reviews your product receives.
Product Quality
In most cases, customers have issues with the quality of the product. They either received the product made of a different material or they did not find it up to their standards. In such cases, it is wise to accurately list details about the product in the descriptions to avoid confusion.
Customer Experience
As a user what’s more frustrating is not receiving the product on time than meeting the right quality expectations. At one point, users can accept that the product did not suit them well, but they cannot forget the bad experience associated with it. Everything from fast delivery and quality packaging to responsive customer service plays a significant role in shaping customer satisfaction.
Amazon’s Guidelines
Following ethical practices is crucial. Manipulating reviews through unethical methods can result in account suspension and long-term damage to your brand. Authentic reviews further establish a sense of trust within your buyers and convert them from happy customers into loyal ones.
Any of the above factors are not only applicable on Amazon, but also on Flipkart. Read more about negative review management in this blog.
How to Encourage More Reviews & Ratings?
Now that we’ve listed fair points as to why you should channelise your efforts into improving your product reviews, it comes down to how can we actually get more positive reviews? Follow these methods:
Amazon’s Request a Review Button
While Amazon sends notifications for successful delivery of the products, writing a review often slips out of customers’ minds. Use this built-in feature to request reviews directly through Amazon’s interface that serve as a reminder.
Amazon Vine Voices
For products experiencing a halt on new reviews, resorting to Amazon review services through the Amazon Vine Program is the best option. This Amazon review program allows Vine Voices, who are reviewers trusted by Amazon, to receive free amazon products for review. Since these reviewers are onboarded through an invite-only basis, their reviews are extremely credible. Any user coming across a review under this special badge, has a higher chance of believing them over other random reviewers.
However, this program is currently active only in the United States. Indian sellers and users are yet to receive this update.
Exceptional Customer Service
Sometimes, even with detailed listings, customers have extra queries that they ask through the Amazon Q and A section. Providing quick responses to these queries makes users believe the brand is committed to transparency and instills a feeling of ‘no-tension’ that if they face any problem, the brand’s customer care and services will be there to address it.
Consider the Q and A section to be a pre-requisite for all that you may receive as Amazon complaints and reviews . It helps you prepare for what may come next.
What Not to Do to get reviews?
While reviews and rating get boost your organic rank and help build credibility, attaining them from unverified sources can add potential risk to your account. Sellers need to ensure they avoid obtaining reviews from the following methods to ensure fair and ethical business practice.
Talk good about your product in descriptions
While mentioning good points about your product is essential to highlight the benefits users will get, boasting about the product features and claiming “top quality” or “100% safe” or “best product online,” will only let Amazon flag your listing. To be one of the best Amazon sellers, you need to avoid over exaggerating about yourself.
Further, if your product doesn’t prove true to its descriptions, it will attract negative reviews with dissatisfied customer experiences.
Product Inserts
Including polite notes in your packaging requesting positive feedback in exchange for a free sample or discounted offer sounds like a safe option but isn’t. If Amazon notices these tactics that you’re playing, your account is at a higher risk of being flagged.
Buying yourself
You may think if I can’t influence others’ decisions, I might just buy a few quantities of the products myself and ask my friends and families to leave a positive review on them. This again may be picked up by Amazon’s algorithm as it is actively checking every account history, location, previous buying habits. This can be detected that they are people in your vicinity lured by you into putting in a good word for your brand. Additionally, beware of any Amazon review agencies who claim to leave positive reviews in exchange for money.
Final Thoughts
In the Amazon marketplace where competition is extremely high, reviews and ratings are a clear way to set yourself apart. This is a powerful method to influence your product’s rankings, brand’s reputation and overall business success. It is essential to understand the importance of any feature Amazon is providing sellers and how to correctly use it to your advantage.
With many fakes and duplicates out there, maintaining integrity of your brand is crucial and that is where genuine reviews by users help you. It quickly becomes a point other users can fall back to while planning to make a purchase from your brand.
At RB2F, we specialize in scaling your business on e-commerce places end to end that includes problems faced regarding reviews and ratings. Contact us today to discover how we can assist you in building a successful Amazon business.