In the competitive landscape on Amazon, reviews are the main currency. They not only demonstrate customer satisfaction, but also influence potential buyers, impacting your product’s ranking, visibility, and overall sales.

Therefore, obtaining customer reviews is a critical part in scaling you brand on Amazon. 

So, how do you get more reviews on Amazon? Here are some effective strategies to help boost your review count and build a robust online presence. 

How Amazon Estimates Product Rating? 

As a customer browsing through the extensive catalog of products on Amazon, you’ve likely noticed the star rating prominently displayed next to each item.

This seemingly simple number, summing up a multitude of customer experiences, acts as a compass guiding future customers in their purchasing decisions.

Yet, the process Amazon employs to arrive at this rating is far from elementary. Utilizing a sophisticated, machine-learned model rather than a plain average, Amazon’s system thoughtfully weighs multiple factors to estimate an accurate product rating. Let’s delve into the inner workings of this mechanism.

Strategies you should AVOID: 

Review manipulation is a prevalent concern in the world of e-commerce, affecting both sellers and buyers.

Amazon, as the world’s leading online marketplace, is at the forefront of this battle, continually strengthening its efforts to ensure the integrity of its review system.

Amazon employs machine learning technology and specialized teams dedicated to analyzing and eliminating suspicious reviews.

Rigorous community guidelines are also in place, setting clear standards for posting reviews, with the intention of discouraging manipulation.

Make sure to review Amazon Product Review Guidelines and NOT to do the following:

1. Offering financial incentives, discounts, or complimentary products in exchange for a review. 
2. Asking reviews from those who have a personal bias towards you or your product, such as family, friends, or employees.
3. Engaging in review exchanges, where you swap positive reviews with others
4. Accepting reviews before a customer makes a purchase
5. Writing review for your own product 
6. Asking only satisfied customers to leave a review. It’s called ‘cherry-picking,’ where only satisfied customers are asked to leave reviews. Amazon insists that all customers should be asked to review their purchase experience, regardless of whether it was positive, negative, or neutral.
7. Buying fake reviews 

What is a good sales-to-review rate on Amazon?

A good sales-to-review rate on Amazon is often considered to be around 1-3%. That means for every 100 items sold, a seller can expect 1-3 customers to leave a review.

However, This number is an estimate, as Amazon does not officially disclose this information, and it can vary greatly depending on the product category, price, and other factors.

Ways to get more reviews on Amazon. 

1. Add a product insert asking to leave a review 

Product inserts can be a useful tool for Amazon sellers to increase their number of reviews. They are small cards or leaflets included in the product packaging that provide additional information, instructions, or marketing messages. Here’s how they can help get more reviews:

1. Personal Connection: A product insert can help establish a personal connection with your customers. By thanking them for their purchase or offering helpful tips on using the product, you make them feel valued and appreciated. This positive experience can encourage them to leave a review.

2. Review Request: You can use product inserts to politely ask customers to leave a review. While you must not offer any kind of incentive for doing so (as that violates Amazon’s terms), you can still kindly request feedback. You might explain how reviews help other customers make informed decisions and how they help small businesses like yours.

3. Provide Contact Information: An insert can also provide your contact information, giving customers an easy way to reach out if they have any issues or concerns. By resolving problems directly, you can turn potential negative reviews into positive ones.

4. Instructions and Tips: For complex products, an insert can provide additional instructions or tips for use. If the customer has a better experience using the product, they’re more likely to leave a positive review.

However, it’s crucial to ensure that your product inserts comply with Amazon’s policies. Amazon prohibits any forms of manipulation or incentivization of reviews, so be careful with your wording and make sure your insert does not violate these rules.

It’s always a good idea to familiarize yourself with Amazon’s latest policies before creating your inserts.

2. Send personalized email sequence asking the customer to leave a review 

After customers make a purchase, Amazon typically sends a standard, automated email requesting them to leave a review.

However, because it’s automated and not exciting, this email often fails to capture the attention of customers, leading many to ignore it.

On the otner hand, personalized emails can be an effective method to encourage customers to leave reviews on Amazon, but they must be used carefully and in line with Amazon’s policies. Here’s a brief overview of how to do this:

1. Timing: Try to send the email after the customer has had enough time to use the product but while the purchase is still fresh in their mind. You might wait a few days to a week after the product has been delivered.
2. Personalization: Address the customer by their name and reference the specific product they bought to add a personal touch. However, remember to respect privacy and don’t use any information that isn’t directly related to the purchase or your product.
3. Request, Don’t Demand: Politely ask the customer to leave a review. Do not pressure or incentivize them, as this is against Amazon’s policies. You might explain how their review helps other customers make informed buying decisions.
4. Provide Value: In addition to asking for a review, provide some value in the email. This might be tips for using the product, helpful information related to the product, or customer service contact information in case they have any issues.
5. Keep It Short and Simple: Respect the customer’s time. Keep your email concise and to the point, making it as easy as possible for them to leave a review if they choose to.
6. Compliance: Always ensure your email complies with Amazon’s communication guidelines. Don’t ask for only positive reviews, offer incentives, or otherwise attempt to manipulate the review process.

Remember, while you can encourage customers to leave a review, the final decision is up to them. Also, not all customers will appreciate follow-up emails, so it’s crucial to respect their preferences.

Softwares we recommend: Helium 10, Sagemailer, Feedback Whiz. 

3. Ask for reviews on social media channels 

Many of your social media followers are also your customers, and they have a good understanding of the value and quality of your products.

Using social media platforms to request reviews for your Amazon products can be an effective strategy to increase customer feedback. However, it’s important to follow each platform’s guidelines as well as Amazon’s rules concerning reviews. Here are a few tactics you might consider:

1. Share Product Links: Post about your product on your social media channels and include a link to the product on Amazon. After a brief description or interesting story about the product, you can politely ask your followers to leave a review if they’ve already purchased it.

2. Engage with Customers: Engage with customers who mention your product on social media. You can thank them for their purchase and kindly ask for a review. But remember, engagement should be genuine and not solely review-focused.

3. Provide Excellent Content: Create valuable content related to your product. This can build a strong relationship with your audience, making them more likely to want to support you by leaving a review.

4. Utilize Stories and Posts: Use the Stories feature on platforms like Instagram or Facebook to ask for reviews. You can create engaging visuals and brief text asking for customer feedback.

5. Direct Messages: While you should never spam or harass customers, if you have a friendly relationship with a customer or follower, a polite direct message asking for a review can be acceptable.

4. Take advantage of Amazon Vine Program.

Amazon Vine is a program that invites trusted reviewers, referred to as “Vine Voices,” to post honest and unbiased reviews on new or pre-release items in order to assist customers in their buying decisions.

The Vine Voices are selected by Amazon based on the helpfulness of their reviews as judged by all customers and are not influenced by sellers or manufacturers.

Here’s why you should consider using the Amazon Vine program:

1. Build Trust: Reviews from Vine Voices are generally perceived as trustworthy due to their status as proven, unbiased reviewers. This can contribute to a sense of credibility and reliability around your product.
2. Enhance Product Understanding: Vine Voices often write detailed reviews, explaining the product’s features, benefits, and potential drawbacks. This can help other customers understand the product better and may lead to informed purchasing decisions.
3. Constructive Feedback: The Vine program can also provide sellers with valuable, honest feedback about their products, which can be used for future improvements.

However, it’s important to remember that participating in the Amazon Vine program comes with costs.

Amazon charges a fee to cover the program and any Vine Voices are given the product for free. You should weigh these costs against the potential benefits when considering the program.

Also, it’s crucial to note that the Vine program strictly adheres to Amazon’s review policies. Vine Voices are asked to write unbiased reviews and they are not obligated to write a positive review. Their reviews are based on their true experience with the product.

Final word 

In conclusion, the importance of reviews on Amazon as part of listing optimization cannot be overstated. As the primary currency in this competitive landscape, reviews reflect customer satisfaction, guide prospective buyers, and significantly affect your product’s ranking, visibility, and ultimately, sales.

Thus, securing customer reviews is an essential component in expanding your brand on Amazon.

However, the pursuit of reviews should always be done ethically, respecting both Amazon’s guidelines and your customers.

By leveraging strategies such as Amazon’s own programs, personalized communication, excellent customer service, product inserts, and social media engagement, you can steadily increase your review count, reinforcing your online presence and brand reputation.

Remember, each review represents a customer who invested their time and money in your product.

So beyond just accumulating reviews, consider them as valuable feedback to continuously improve your product and customer experience. In this way, your journey to get more reviews also becomes a journey of growth and excellence for your brand on Amazon.