Why are Amazon Reviews Important for Your Business?

With millions of online viewers and buyers daily, including almost 2 million active sellers in the Amazon marketplace, online entrepreneurs need to build a reliable brand to stand out in the mix. One of the best ways to do that is to focus on Amazon reviews when working on your business model.

The process of getting Amazon reviews has changed over the past few years, and we’re here to clear things up for you. To start off, let’s go over why solid reviews and ratings can be a necessary tool to boost your business in the Amazon Marketplace.

How Amazon product reviews help FBA sellers like you

Getting good feedback on a product or service from a customer is helpful for any business, and this is especially true when it comes to your Amazon store. First of all, consumers trust reviews to help them find their perfect product. Secondly, an authentic review can help lead people to discover a brand that they like.

These are just some of the reasons why a good Amazon review or store rating is essential for sellers.

When a detailed, written review is up on your Amazon storefront, it can help shoppers by informing them about any specifics with your products, if the product is something they are looking for, and how well the products work for buyers like them.

But with some of the updates in Amazon’s reviewing system in recent years, are you wondering how Amazon reviews work in 2021? We break down all the details below, plus give you some tips on how to get those helpful reviews and ratings straight to your storefront so you can boost your business and become a successful ecommerce entrepreneur.

Positive customer feedback helps boost your store profile

On the technical side of things, good reviews and ratings also help increase your conversion rates, your store’s presence online, and your brand’s reputation. They dictate how your store takes up occupancy in the Amazon sphere. Positive reviews will boost your store’s ranking on Amazon, making it easier for shoppers to find your store and buy your products. You can check out this blog post to discover more tips on improving your Amazon conversion rate.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is another important factor in your Amazon business. When it comes to product reviews, know that the number of reviews on your store’s page will directly affect your search engine ranking. In this previous post, we outline how keywords and product descriptions are also essential to building your store’s visibility on Amazon.

At the end of the day, any good rating or review will lead to a boost in your business, whether big or small.

So in a marketplace such as Amazon, reviews and ratings are a useful way to help funnel those potential customers to your store so that they can start browsing, clicking, and buying – thus boosting your business on the world’s largest online retail platform.

Your first customer reviews are essential

If you’re a new seller on Amazon, a good review is a surefire way to boost your seller profile. It will also help any potential customers get to know your products and your brand a little more. When a brand is lesser-known but has an interesting product, consumers tend to look for any store or product reviews to help them get to know a new seller.

The latest research has revealed that over 90% of consumers read online reviews occasionally or regularly. That’s a lot. On top of that, 84% of consumers admit that they value online reviews as much as simple word-of-mouth. Taking all of this into account, it would be pretty hard to sell items on your new online store without any published reviews to back your products and your brand.

What is the Vine reviewer program?

A few years ago, Amazon updated its community guidelines to clean up the reviewing process for sellers and buyers alike. Under the new guidance, this new system elicits any incentivized reviews unless they are done through the Amazon Vine program.

Basically, this update has helped filter out the sellers that are buying fake product reviews.

And while this change made the process to get written reviews of your products from Amazon customers somewhat trickier, it also made a good review even more important to boosting your business.

As an Amazon seller, you can join the Vine program if you:

• Have already launched your Amazon store
• Have inventory of the product you’d like reviewed
• Register your brand with Amazon’s official Brand Registry
• Have an image and description of the new product
• Have less than 30 reviews on a product detail page
• Can offer a purchasable FBA product that’s in ‘New’ condition

Amazon’s Vine program is designed for sellers to secure reviews of products that are ready to be launched. The reviewers are called “Vine Voices”, which is an invitation-only program where registered and trusted reviewers on the platform will be added.

If you want to participate in the program as a seller, you’ll have to first enroll the product you’d like to get reviewed and ship some free samples to Amazon. Your new product can get featured in Vine’s Monthly Newsletter, and the Vine Voices can order your product to be shipped to them in exchange for an unbiased review.

How to get the best Amazon reviews and ratings

Joining the Amazon Vine program is one way to get the best product reviews to your store. Check out these other tips that you can apply if you’d like to get more reviews to your page and boost your business.

• If you want to request a review from a buyer, spend your time targeting the buyers with a good profile. You don’t want to waste your time asking for reviews from customers who don’t have a good track record. The reviewer matters, so sellers should always check the rating of the users leaving reviews if they’re serious about boosting their business using reviews.
• Check out the buyers leaving seller feedback, as those ones are more likely to also leave a product review.
• Add the automatic ‘Request Review’ button to your buyer order page through Amazon Seller Central.
• Ask for reviews from buyers where you’ve done some customer service with, i.e. any extra communication, fulfilled a return/refund to, or anything that goes the extra mile from a typical purchase. Because you’ve already developed a bit of a connection with that buyer, it is more likely they will leave a review for your services.
  

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions about Amazon reviews? See these frequently asked questions on the topic below.

1. How can I see my reviews on the Amazon app?

To find your Amazon reviews, start by opening the app and go to your profile. Click on the top left corner, then tap the section marked Your Account, then tap the Profile section under Personalized content. Scroll down to the section marked “Community activity” and click on the drop-down menu where you can see “View: Reviews”

2. Are Amazon reviews reliable?

The reviews you will find on FBA seller accounts through the Vine program are authorized and therefore designed to filter out fake previews. As the program works by invitation-only, trusted reviewers are able to post opinions on the latest products set to launch on Amazon. According to the official Amazon website, “the program was created to provide customers with more information including honest and unbiased feedback from some of Amazon's most trusted reviewers.”

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