5 Easy Ways to Revamp Your Seller Ratings on Amazon
And as they say, are only good as their reputation…
The reviews on a particular product are as important as the product itself. You, being a seller might think that delivering a quality product is everything, keeping your fingers crossed when it comes to the feedbacks, wrong move! You need to act accordingly.
The very first rule of selling on marketplaces is — never ask for a positive review directly, never! You’re winning here, because the marketplace giant, Amazon, has actively encouraged you to do so. Rather, your product might outperform for three reasons: (i) Not enough reviews, (ii) Too many negative reviews, and (iii) Less positive reviews.
There is a difference between a negative review and a brutally negative review. One such review can become a highlight amongst ten other positive reviews; not necessary that you deserved it. So, Amazon has options to help you remove such reviews as well.
Now, just to make it clear, we are not talking about the product reviews here, but the seller reviews. Seller reviews throw a spotlight on your shipping mode, fulfillment, customer support, etc.
Some amazing strategies that can help you get the best reviews and tackle the bad ones…
#1 Become an Amazon FBA Seller!
If you are getting associated with Amazon by becoming an FBA seller, there are plenty and tons of advantages that automatically fall into your bag. The biggest benefit, if the fulfillment is done by Amazon, the customer reviews are also somewhere or another impacting Amazon.
In this case, Amazon automatically removes the negative reviews from the customer and thus helps you maintain a good reputation.
Some other benefits that can help you catch better reviews with Amazon’s FBA services.
- Fast 2-day shipping — If you are an FBA seller, your listed product will automatically get a ‘prime tag’. Once your product gets this tag, your product becomes eligible to be shipped within 2 days. As your products are stocked in Amazon’s fulfillment center, they will be accordingly taken care of, without you being a part of it.
- Buy box will boost sales — When you are an FBA seller and also have a ‘prime tag’, you are automatically boosted on the top as the first seller of that particular product. The customers always give a priority to the seller with a buy-box; in rare cases like late shipping or payable shipping do they opt for different sellers listed below.
- Sell globally — As an FBA seller, you grab a complete access to the Pan-European FBA and limited access to other geographics (such as India, Australia, and Japan). Amazon FBA is the easiest and the most cost-effective way to list your products on a global level, although there is a bit of effort required to be put in during listing.
- Advertise on Amazon — Being an FBA seller has its own perks when it comes to advertising. FBA sellers pay 20% less advertising cost compared to normal sellers on Amazon. Also, Amazon favors the FBA sellers at the time of lightning flash sales.
Image Source: Amazon Sellers Lawyer
#2 Always Request Customer Feedbacks Proactively.
It’s always recommended that you make the first move and request your customer to bless you with an honest and positive feedback. Because…
Your reputation will be made by how well you sculpt it! ~ Anonymous
Your review section should always remain flooded with customer feedbacks, making sure that they are positive. But how?
- One way is to request your customer directly for a feedback. This can be done via the ‘contact buyer’ feature from Amazon Seller Central. Draft an enticing email subject line, and do not forget to personalize every email.
- The second way is to include a reminder requesting for a feedback on the package slip. This, again, is a very cost-friendly but ineffective way of asking for a feedback compared to directly contacting. But yes, worth giving a shot!
- Another way to ask for a feedback or review is most likely to be a marketing scheme. Here, you can lure your customer by providing them some discounts ‘if and only if they submit their feedback’. This can be done with a well-designed email.
Image Source: Sellbrite
#3 Offer Solutions, Not Apologies!
Responding to a negative customer feedback has always been a common practice by many sellers on Amazon. Required are the efforts you put in to sort out the queries mentioned in the feedback.
- Do not emphasize more on returns, refund or concession, it will eventually happen. On Amazon, once the customer posts a review, they have 60 days to either delete it or make it stay. Enough time for a seller to come on a common ground with the customer.
- If after 60 days the customer still wants to vent away, let them do so. Holding on to a particular customer might sometimes waste your time. They would really don’t care about how much efforts you are putting in to bring them back. Rather, take a deep breath and move on!
Your deep apologies would work, but might sometimes simply echo in the remains… Try them out!
#4 Negative Reviews — Removable*
Negative reviews can indeed prove out to be a critical hit to your retail business. But can they be controlled or removed, certainly! Although it’s not at all a good practice, rather focus on not getting them in the future.
Well, a seller doesn’t have an authority to remove a customer review, so need to inform Amazon to do so. Now, a negative review can be removed only if…
- the customer uses offensive or abusive language, can be removed using the profanity filter
- you are an FBA seller and the review is directly hampering Amazon’s reputation
- the review reveals much of customer’s or seller’s personal details
- the review is inclined towards a product and not the seller
Certainly, Amazon has it’s own terms and conditions to get the reviews removed, but you can always try the classic way of either apologizing to the customer or providing the right product or refund and get the review removed.
But, never let the negative reviews obstruct your selling on Amazon. Consider them to be a stepping-stone and improvise your services for future customers.
Image Source: The Daily Dot
#5 Always Consider Customer’s Advice
You need to take into consideration the feedback given by the customer, or at least pretend that you have. Well, do this publically and let the future customers also see how well you have tackled the queries and implemented the customer feedbacks.
Taking advice from a customer will elevate their esteem and help you get more sales from word of mouth. This will establish a stronger relationship between you and your customer.
To Conclude…
When your presence is on such a huge marketplace, Amazon, if one customer is not satisfied, just assume that they are all unsatisfied. Do let us know if we missed anything that could be mentioned in the article. Suggestions are welcome in the comments section below!