Amazon Customer Reviews: How to use customer feedback the right way

Intro

In contrast to the retail sector, Amazon makes it especially easy for customers to share their product experience with others. The classic star rating system has the ability to build up or destroy trust in a brand or a product. Together with supplementary text, image, or even video material from other purchases, a relationship of trust between the customer and the products emerges, that otherwise has to be carefully constructed and maintained. How you receive reviews for your products, how Amazon limits the amount of direct contact between customers and sellers, and how exactly reviews can be used in the optimisation of a listing, is the focus of this article. 

How are reviews obtained on Amazon? 

With the Amazon Vine programme, sellers and vendors can have their products evaluated by qualified Amazon users and receive authentic product reviews. To be eligible for the program, products must be new and have fewer than 30 existing reviews. 

Another possibility are external “Tester clubs’ , through which sellers can exchange their products for reviews separate from Amazon. However, these services remain a legal grey area and Amazon takes a strict approach and will delete reviews if they don’t appear to be genuine. 

A less risky but nevertheless effective method to encourage customer reviews is to further establish a strong brand presence and offer great service. Amongst other options, the use of high-quality A+ content and brand stores leads to satisfied, loyal customers who genuinely want to recommend the products they buy to others. In addition, the smooth handling of a customer issue can ultimately lead to a satisfied customer review. 

Status quo: Amazon Reviews

Customers review products for different reasons and from various perspectives. On the one hand, Amazon Reviews are of a positive nature and other customers want to be sincere in recommending an item, but at the same time, customers are expressing their frustration regarding insufficient product information or a poor product quality, and want to dissuade others from purchasing. 

Particularly in the latter case, sellers want to enter into direct communication with customers, to gather feedback, remove any doubts, or answer questions. Negative reviews are lessened through this and shoppers are given the positive feeling that they are cared about and that the seller is being transparent. However, from the 15th December 2020, Amazon removed the opportunity to communicate directly with customers – to the dismay of many sellers. Since then, unwarranted or unintelligible negative reviews can now no longer be commented on. Amazon considers this function superfluous, as it is apparently so rarely utilised, but according to Amazon’s own sources, they are working on other ways of facilitating connecting with customers and continuing to support successful selling.  

Given this, it is even more critical to address as many potential customer questions or problems as possible through an optimised Amazon product description. The question-and-answer section is also ideal for sellers to clarify customer queries in advance. We’ve discussed other important factors and measures for success on Amazon in our article here. 

Amazon Reviews as market research

“The only free market research is to take a look at Amazon Reviews” 

A valuable aspect of Amazon Reviews is the possibility to use customer feedback as a form of market research. Sellers should pay attention to useful customer voices, to continually optimise their products and receive input for new listings. Customers often only really know what they want when they have it in their hands. Numerous aspects of a product can subsequently be optimised afterwards if new customer needs are discovered post-purchase:

• Any missing product information in the description or on the packaging can be adapted.
• Problems with packaging can be addressed, so that customers do not receive damaged or incorrect products.
• Accompanying information like instruction manuals can be improved.
• Do customers want additional functions? This data can be used for new products.

In addition to product optimisation, the insights from reviews can be used to optimise marketing efforts:

• New applications for a product can be discovered and used. For example, adapting keyword optimisation for a baby safety gate to also target dog owners.

• Which target group buys and evaluates the product most positively (or negatively)? From these findings, the brand language can be optimised and the Amazon marketing strategy adapted.

Therefore, positive and negative Amazon Reviews are an important tool in order to plan wider strategies on Amazon. In addition, there are indicators about which information should be added to the product description to reduce the return rate.

Optimal Amazon Review management does not have to be complex. Our own tool Remdash can help provide an overview of Amazon Reviews and help you to react in a targeted manner.

Application of Amazon Reviews for content

If you are receiving positive customer reviews, you shouldn’t hide it! As part of the graphics optimisation of a product, positive reviews on Amazon can be used in a product’s image gallery or as A+ Content. 

The following are examples from NIVEA, which show how real customer reviews can be integrated into a product’s branded gallery:

We have a few tips when incorporating Amazon Reviews into your own content:

• Ensure the review is formatted in the correct CI (Corporate Identity) of the company of product
• Emphasise particularly positive aspects of the review with bold text
• Anonymise the reviewer

Conclusion: Using reviews for Amazon optimisation

Amazon Reviews can build a great deal of trust in a brand and are an important decision-making aid for customers when it comes to purchasing a product. The reviews can also serve as a form of optimisation for the product pages of both the reviewed product in question and of future products. They are the key to responding to the needs and questions of customers, enabling a seamless shopping experience as well as positive experience with your own brand. 

Notably positive reviews can be inserted into the picture of text material of a product detail page. Negative reviews are likewise helpful when it comes to optimising the product description or accompanying supporting documents. Ultimately, these measures can lead to higher conversion rates, more sales, and fewer product returns.