How To GET REVIEWS on Amazon Fast [EXAMPLES]
How To Get Reviews on Amazon Fast [GUIDE & INFOGRAPHIC]
Getting Amazon product reviews without violating Amazon’s TOS is difficult, but you can get reviews on Amazon with time-tested, proven tactics as well as cutting-edge.
Amazon product reviews influence sales, click-through rates, product rankings, PPC performance and more.
Get your first Amazon product reviews and get Amazon reviews on existing products with these 10 methods.
The ability to get reviews on Amazon from Amazon reviewers without violating Amazon’s terms of service can be like counting grains of sand on a beach. Difficult & time-consuming.
The average customer product review rate on Amazon is about 1-2%.
The good news? Getting Amazon customer reviews doesn’t have to be that hard.
As a result of 10+ years of Amazon Consulting experience, I’m going to show you EXACTLY what to do for Amazon Seller Central Sellers, Amazon Vendor Central Sellers and those selling Amazon B2B that you can actually do today and that won’t violate Amazon’s TOS.
This is how to ask customers for reviews on Amazon:
Email Launch Lists
It’s no secret that an email list is your most powerful tool in eCommerce. It’s owned traffic in that it doesn’t cost you an extra penny to continually market to with the goal of getting Amazon customer reviews.
But did you know that when it comes to getting Amazon reviews that it’s also your secret weapon?
When I’m working with my Amazon Consulting clients, this is t typically where we start.
Here is how it works:
How Email Launch Lists Get Amazon Product Reviews:
- Prior to you even launching your product, you start by building a buzz online.
- You send people to a landing page where in exchange for their email address, they receive something of value to them. A free report, a guide, a book, etc.
- Leading up to your launch, you continually give them value and hype them up about your product launch.
- When it launches, you let them know and link to your Amazon product listing to buy.
- These customers are your early adopters and have the strongest relationship with you. Therefore they’re the MOST LIKELY to leave a review.
You see how powerful that is to get Amazon reviews?
But wait, there’s more…
Product Inserts
Even if you are doing Seller Fulfilled Prime this applies to you.
When is the best time to ask for a review from Amazon reviewers?
In my 15 years of Amazon Consulting Services, it’s right when they receive the product.
You know that feeling you get when you receive something in the mail, it’s like a present!
You have a little smile going, you have that excited feeling in the pit of your stomach as you admire the packaging and open it up.
But that’s just part of the story.
Then you open the packaging and check out what’s inside.
This is the best time to influence a customer and get your marketing messages across to them. They are riding high on just receiving the product while anticipating using your product and whatever problem it solves for them.
This is where you include a product insert that asks for an Amazon customer review.
You have a few goals with a product insert.
Goals of a Product Insert To Get Amazon Product Reviews:
- Ask for an honest review
- Offer a coupon or an incentive for return purchases
- Limit returns by ensuring the customer knows how to get the most out of your product.
This in and of itself will not get you in trouble with Amazon Seller Support and the TOS but you want to make sure you are not violating Amazons’ communication guidelines trying to get Amazon reviews.
Do Not:
- Include Logos that display your URL.
- Include IF statements that have conditional leading language such as: “If you love your product, please leave a review.”
- Include words that can be misconstrued as leading like “happy, satisfied, positive”.
- Include language that incentivizes or manipulates product reviews or seller feedback. (Example: “We are a small family-owned business” or “Get one free for a positive review.”)
- Include marketing or promotional messaging of any kind.
Here is an example of good verbiage in a product insert.
Amazon Product Insert Example Verbiage:
- “THANKS, HERE’S A COUPON!”
- “Thank you for your order! Here’s a Coupon Code for 25% OFF your next order!”
- (work images of 5 gold stars in this section)
- “ENTER OUR GIVEAWAY!”
- Post a pic of you using your Brand Name Meat Tenderizer Tool and tag @yourusername and use #yourhashtag and we’ll feature you and enter you into our monthly GIVEAWAY!
- “YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH A REVIEW!”
- ‘We’re a family-owned business, so your honest review of our product and us as a seller means the world to us. Here’s how:
- 1) Log into Amazon and visit your orders.
- 2) Click “Write a product review” and leave the review.
- 3) Then click “Leave Seller Feedback” and leave the feedback.
- (work images of 5 gold stars in this section)
There are other ways to direct customers off of Amazon to get Amazon product reviews that won’t violate Amazon’s TOS.
Free Product/Free Gift Funnel
If you’re thinking that incentivizing a product review is against Amazon’s TOS then you’d be right.
But, that’s not what this is.
Companies like GetReviews have a clever solution to getting Amazon reviews and acquiring customer data like names, emails, addresses and more.
Here’s how it works.
- You place a sticker on your packaging or an insert in your product with a QR Code and a website URL on it.
- It encourages customers to visit the website to claim their free product or free gift.
- The customer visits the website and is requested to enter their email address, name and address to get their freebie.
- Along the way, they are asked for feedback on the product they bought from Amazon. It is clear to the customer they don’t have to leave feedback to receive their freebie.
- If the feedback is good, they offer a special link the customer can click to leave an Amazon product review.
- If the feedback is bad, they offer a means to contact the brands’ customer service.
This doesn’t violate Amazon’s TOS because you aren’t requiring the customer to leave an Amazon product review to get the freebie.
You also aren’t requesting positive feedback specifically.
Speaking of product packaging inserts, let’s talk about how product packaging itself can help you get Amazon product reviews.
Product Packaging
Did you know, that premium product packaging does a lot more than get more Amazon reviews?
Benefits of Investing in Quality Product Packaging:
- Increases Brand Credibility
- Decreases Buyer Remorse
- Limits Returns
- Increases Product Reviews
- & More
Product packaging helps you get Amazon customer reviews because it helps the customers understand the value of your product through visual and tactile interaction.
If the product packaging feels and looks cheap it does not enhance the experience and limits the connection with your brand.
PLUS, I can tell you as a consultant for Amazon this is prime real estate, you can do whatever you want with your product packaging.
How Product Packaging Adds Value:
- Invite the customer in
- Tell them what to expect
- Tell them how to use the product
- Ask for a review
- Give a coupon
- Upsell & Cross-Sell other products
- & more
Want to sweeten the deal?
The nicer your packaging, the fewer returns you will get!
But let’s say you’re already selling on Amazon and your inventory is already in Amazon FBA fulfillment centers.
Or, you’re using FBA Small and Light.
What does this mean for you? How do you get Amazon reviews from Amazon reviewers when your products are already out there selling?
What is the Amazon Request A Review Button?
The Amazon Request A Review Button appears on the Orders page and lets Amazon Sellers request a review with a preset message by Amazon via the Buyer-Seller Messaging platform.
Getting reviews on Amazon recently became much easier through the implementation of the Request A Review button right in Amazon Seller Central.
The Request A Review Button helps you get Amazon reviews by using a pre-defined message that comes directly from Amazon to request a review.
The Amazon Request A Review button is compliant with Amazons Customer Communication Guidelines.
You cannot customize the review request to get reviews on Amazon.
This is what the Amazon Request A Review looks like:
How To Use The Amazon Request A Review Button To Get Amazon Reviews:
- Log Into Seller Central
- Click on Orders in your main navigation
- Head to the Shipped Tab
- Click on the Order Number which is a link for one of your orders
- You will see a “Request a Review” button on the right-hand side
- Click the button and then click Yes
Email Follow Up Sequences
You probably know that you don’t have access to your Amazon customers’ email addresses.
But, did you know that Amazon Seller Central Sellers can still email their customers to get Amazon reviews?
This is how to ask customers for an Amazon review and not violate Amazon’s communication guidelines.
So how do you actually do this?
Popular Amazon software tools like Helium 10, Jungle Scout & more offer follow-up email sequences that you can use that will automate the Amazon Request a Review Button for you.
You will want to make sure you do not violate Amazon’s communication guidelines here either.
Do Not:
- Send more than one request for a review or seller feedback.
- Send more than 2 communications to the buyer in total.
- Include Logos that display your URL or link to your website.
- Include IF statements that have conditional leading language such as: “If you love your product, please leave a review.”
- Include words that can be misconstrued as leading like “happy, satisfied, positive”
- Include language that incentivizes or manipulates product reviews or seller feedback. (Example: “We are a small family-owned business” or “Get one free for a positive review.”)
- Include language requesting the customer to remove or update of an existing product review.
- Include marketing or promotional messaging of any kind
- Use: “[Important]” in the subject line when the message is not necessary to complete the order.
- Include a link to opt-out of messages.
- Include any links or attachments that are not needed to complete the order.
What if I am a Vendor Central Seller? How can I get Amazon reviews?
Good news.
You’re not left out, the added benefit of the partnership with Amazon makes things more straight forward to get more Amazon reviews from Amazon reviewers.
Here’s how…
Amazon Vine
What is Amazon Vine?
Amazon Vine helps get Amazon reviews by allowing sellers to send samples to Amazon, which Amazon then distributes to their top Amazon reviewers called Vine Voice.
How Does Amazon Vine Work?
- You enroll in Amazon Vine through Vendor Central under Merchandising or if you are a Brand Registered Seller Central Seller on Brand Registry 2.0 Beta, under Advertising.
- Fees are FREE
- You select how many samples you want to send to Amazon Reviewers.
- This would be between 10 and 100 units depending on the product category
- You send in the samples to Amazon. Not the Amazon Reviewers.
- Amazon makes the Amazon Reviewers aware that your product is eligible to review through their Vine Voice Newsletter and other channels.
- The Amazon Reviewer decides to review your product and then leaves a review.
How Are Vine Voice Top Amazon Reviewers Selected?
Amazon Vine Voice Top Amazon Reviewers are selected by invitation only.
Some of the criteria evaluated is believed to be:
- Helpfulness (Helpful Votes)
- Quantity of Reviews
- Quality of Reviews (images, videos, text)
- Frequency of Reviews
Are You Guaranteed To Get Amazon Reviews From Top Amazon Reviewers On Vine?
No, Amazon Reviewers on Vine are not guaranteed to choose your products to do Amazon reviews for.
Amazon Reviewers participating in the Vine Voice are not obligated to leave reviews.
What Are The Benefits of Amazon Vine Amazon Reviewers?
Participating in Amazon Vine to get Amazon Reviews will help Amazon Sellers get more Amazon reviews like this:
- Amazon Vine Voice Top Amazon Reviewers carry more weight.
Top Amazon Reviewers with the Vine Voice badge that appear in product reviews drive conversions on Amazon product listings because they have consumer trust.
Additionally, these reviews feature prominently in a sea of Amazon Reviews.
- Amazon Vine Voice Top Amazon Reviewers tend to leave more positive product reviews.
In addition to the likelihood that your product would get reviewed, when you get Amazon reviews from Amazon Vine, they tend to be more positive.
- Amazon Vine makes it incredibly easy to get your first Amazon reviews.
Anyone who has sold even 1 product on Amazon knows getting your first Amazon reviews is the hardest.
Programs like Amazon Vine make it simple and is a big part of most brands’ launch strategy on Amazon.
Are You Guaranteed To Get Positive Amazon Reviews From Top Amazon Reviewers On Vine?
No.
Top Amazon Reviewers on Amazon Vine are not obligated to leave positive reviews.
Can I Communicate Directly With Top Amazon Reviewers and Bypass Vine?
No, you must go through the Amazon Vine program.
Amazon describes Amazon Vine as follows:
“Amazon Vine invites the most trusted reviewers on Amazon to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make informed purchase decisions. Amazon invites customers to become Vine Voices based on their reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of their reviews as judged by other Amazon customers. Amazon provides Vine members with free products that have been submitted to the program by participating vendors. Vine reviews are the independent opinions of the Vine Voices. The vendor cannot influence, modify or edit the reviews. Amazon does not modify or edit Vine reviews, as long as they comply with our posting guidelines. A Vine review is identified with the green stripe Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program.”
Amazon Vine has been around a long time and is widely used by brands selling on Amazon to get Amazon Reviews.
Just take a look through some of your competitors’ product reviews, you will see many VINE VOICE badges.
Amazon Vine isn’t the only game in town for product testers though.
There are 3rd party product testing companies that don’t violate Amazons TOS as well.
Product Testers
Product testing companies like FBA Reviews offer a way to get verified reviews on Amazon safely and compliantly.
Here’s how it works:
- You sign up for a package with FBA Reviews.
- They make the product available to their pre-screened community of Amazon product reviewers.
- The product reviewers search, find and buy your products on Amazon, test them and review them.
The reason this doesn’t violate Amazon’s TOS is that:
- You aren’t incentivizing a review.
- You aren’t communicating with the product tester.
- You aren’t guaranteed a review, just like Amazon Vine.
- You aren’t reimbursing a customer after they leave a review. FBA Reviews reimburses customers for their purchases regardless.
That said, there is a great way for both Vendor Central Sellers and Seller Central Sellers to get Amazon reviews by contacting customers outside of Amazon’s system and it perfectly adheres to Amazon’s communication guidelines TOS.
Facebook Messenger Funnels
Imagine being able to reach out to customers directly to get Amazon reviews without violating Amazons TOS.
Wouldn’t that be great?
Well, you can!
Enter Landing Cube.
Landing Cube helps you get Amazon reviews by getting them subscribed to your email list or Facebook Messenger subscriptions before they head to Amazon to purchase your products.
You know you need to send traffic from OFF of Amazon ONTO Amazon to drive your sales.
So you are already trying to grow your email list, Facebook Messenger list and build your brand off of Amazon anyway.
Here’s how you can do this yourself:
How To Contact Customers Directly To Get Reviews on Amazon:
- Instead of driving traffic from your Social Media, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Blog Posts, YouTube, etc. directly to Amazon, you direct them to a landing page on your site specifically designed to collect your customers’ information, pre-sell your product, then ship them off to Amazon to buy.
- Landing Cube helps you with this AND gets them signed up to your email list or Facebook Messenger.
- Now they’re “your” customers and not just Amazons, so Landing Cube’s automated tools can follow up with your customers to get reviews on Amazon for you without violating TOS.
Landing Cube takes a proven tactic that you’re doing anyway to the next level to get Amazon reviews and grow your Amazon sales.
But what about the types of customers you are targeting?
There is another way to get Amazon Reviews that involves the types of customers you target.
Let me explain…
Targeting Passionate Enthusiasts
At my eCommerce Consultancy, I’ve always had a secret weapon when it comes to how to get Amazon reviews.
Target passionate enthusiasts.
Since they are passionate about your subject matter, they are more likely to leave product reviews than the average consumer on Amazon.
How Passionate Enthusiasts Help You Get Amazon Product Reviews:
- Enthusiasts are passionate
- They tell everyone about things they like
- They purchase repeatedly from brands
- They leave feedback
- They leave positive feedback
You see the power in this right?
You want people like this buying your products on Amazon because this will help you get reviews on Amazon.
I guarantee whatever niche you are in, you have enthusiasts.
Focus on them and reviews will flood in and that rising tide will raise all ships because the great seller metrics and sales velocity you build focusing on those folks, makes you more visible and appealing for the broader customers.
How To Target Passionate Enthusiast Customers To Get Reviews on Amazon:
- They are super easy to find on:
- YouTube
- Blogs
- Social Media
- Medium
- Quora
- Facebook Groups
- Forums
- Twitch
- Go there, learn how they talk, what’s important to them, what they like, what they don’t like.
- Infuse this crucial information into your product listings and your advertising campaigns.
- Go back there, engage with them and show them you’re an enthusiast too, then tell them about your products for sale on Amazon.
- Many of these folks are Amazon Affiliates, sometimes called Amazon Influencers.
- Amazon has the largest affiliate network in the world and it’s been around since 1996.
- Recruit an army of them to promote your products to their massive audience of enthusiasts.
- Done
They earn a commission from Amazon directly that isn’t taken out of Amazon Sellers pockets.
Ever see an article like this?
Of course you have, that’s an Amazon Influencer.
Not only are they great at building awareness, but Amazon Influencers drive sales and are experienced in referring sales to Amazon specifically.
Referazon has a tool that helps brands find Amazon Influencers instantly.
They find them for you, tell you what to say to influencers to recruit them, tell you what to ask for from them and even make tracking & managing them easy peasy.
Referazon has a fully functional free trial, take no commissions and even have a money-back guarantee.
That said, you want to avoid violating Amazons TOS.
Here’s what not to do to get Amazon reviews.
What Not To Do To Get Amazon Reviews
To keep yourself protected, these are the things you do not want to do to get Amazon Reviews.
Do Not Violate Amazons Communication Guidelines To Get Reviews On Amazon
In my experience, Amazon consistently gets more strict month to month about crawling buyer-seller communications and handing out temporary suspensions of buyer outreach priviliges.
That said, here is how to not violate Amazons Communication Guidelines.
Do:
- Message a buyer with messaging needed to complete an order.
- Message a buyer to respond to a customer service inquiry.
- Message a buyer with a canned request from the Amazon Request A Review Button
Do Not:
- Send more than one request for a review or seller feedback.
- Send more than 2 communications to the buyer in total.
- Include Logos that display your URL or link to your website.
- Include IF statements that have conditional leading language such as: “If you love your product, please leave a review.”
- Include words that can be misconstrued as leading like “happy, satisfied, positive”
- Include language that incentivizes or manipulates product reviews or seller feedback. (Example: “We are a small family-owned business” or “Get one free for a positive review.”)
- Include language requesting the customer to remove or update of an existing product review.
- Include marketing or promotional messaging of any kind
- Include content that is different from the contact reason selected on the Contact Buyer page
- Use: “[Important]” in the subject line when the message is not necessary to complete the order.
- Include a link to opt-out of messages.
- Include any links or attachments that are not needed to complete the order.
Do Not Use Incentives To Get Amazon Reviews
Anything that incentivizes a person to leave a review, avoid at all costs.
This includes but is not limited to:
What Not To Do To Get Amazon Reviews:
- Contests
- Freebies
- Discounts
- Asking people who haven’t bought or tried the product to review your product
- Asking people to leave a good / positive review in any way (don’t try to get creative with your verbiage)
- You, friends or family reviewing your own products
- Using manipulative language such as: “we’re a small family-owned business”
Frequently Asked Questions
By the way, marketing in Amazon & eCommerce is complex, with lots of challenges that cost you time & money.
If you want to sell more and spend less, I’m a top-rated Fractional CMO, Amazon Consultant & eCommerce Consultant with 10+ years of Fractional CMO Services, Amazon Consulting & eCommerce Consulting experience, and come with a proven, one-of-a-kind system to drive sales.
Whether it’s consulting Amazon brands, working with great companies at my Fractional CMO Agency or helping grow eCommerce website sales at my eCommerce Consultancy I can help you sell more & spend less.
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