As of March 10, 2021, Amazon no longer allows new enrollees into their Early Reviewer Program, which incentivized customers with a small gift card for their review. After April 25, the services will stop for any seller currently enrolled.
Previously, any customer was eligible to write a review for the program, regardless of the type of review written, and sellers could pay to enroll in the program and select certain products to participate. But now Amazon is ending the program to make room for ones it says are more effective.
Amazon believes consumers are more influenced by a rating system than written reviews by other customers. One potential rating metric is the length of time a purchaser spends on a page. A rating system could also help incentivize sales.
If you operate an FBA business, or you are looking to in the future, you will want to be aware of this change and remember other top ways to get reviews.
Of course, customers can write reviews organically. But if you are looking for more reviews of your products, the three main ways for a business to do that include buyer-seller messaging, requesting a review via Amazon Seller Central, or through a third-party software.
Buyer-seller messaging:
There is a messaging feature in Amazon Seller Central where sellers can manually request a review from a buyer. Sellers cannot include any language that provides customer service. If a buyer is unhappy, the language must remain neutral. Language such as, “Leave a review if you love our product,” is prohibited.
Requesting a review:
Amazon Seller Central also has a feature where you can request a review. This option is located inside the orders section and can easily be found by clicking on individual orders. This will send an automatic message requesting a review to the purchaser in their preferred language. There is no risk for penalization for the seller, since the communication is generic and sent and approved by Amazon. Although this method carries no penalization risk, keep in mind that it is time consuming.
Third-party software:
If you read the first two options and thought, “I wish this could be automated,” you’re in luck. Send review requests through Amazon’s API or through a third-party software. Automating review requests like this is a good way for sellers to maximize their time while building their Amazon reputation.
As always, make sure to monitor reviews and questions. One vocal complaint can often mean there are many other customers who think the same thing but are lurking in the shadows. If you aren’t seeing the ratings you want, reach out to buyers to find out what issues they are having with a product. This is also a fantastic way to maintain excellent customer service.
Additionally, Amazon is keeping the Q&A section alive and well, so it is important that sellers leave in-depth answers to any questions related to their products.
FBA sellers should always stay up to date with any changes to Amazon’s review policy, but the most important thing to remain focused on is maintaining happy customers. Stay on top of review updates, but always continue to provide quality service to your customers.