A guide to getting reviews for new product listings on Amazon in 2019: How to successfully get the first review

Amazon has updated its policies several times over the past few years to combat fake reviews. While this makes it harder for sellers to manipulate customer reviews, it also raises barriers to new products entering the market:

• Without any reviews, it’s difficult for new products to get organic rankings in the first few pages of search results;

• If a product doesn’t rank, then organic sales are almost impossible;

• PPC advertising can be expensive and is not recommended for products that have not yet received any reviews.

So what can sellers do? This article will tell sellers some methods and problems of getting reviews for new products.

Before you begin, you need to explain to sellers what you can and cannot do when requesting reviews to comply with Amazon policy:

so……

To get a review, the seller may have done the following:

1. Optimize your listing content

Search results on Amazon are displayed based on the A9 algorithm. This algorithm ranks products based on relevance and probability of sale. The best way to improve organic rankings is to optimize your content. Including important keywords related to your product in your title, bullet points, and product description will not only help customers make purchasing decisions, but also improve your ranking. Higher rankings mean more exposure and potentially more sales. Finally, more sales will also lead to more reviews.

Problem: While this is an effective long-term strategy, many sellers find that even if their listings are highly optimized, new products without any reviews have a hard time ranking high in search results.

2. Provide first-class customer service

One way to get positive reviews is to keep your customers happy with great customer service. Even if a customer returns an item or complains, providing great customer service is likely to still earn you positive reviews. It’s also easier to just encourage customers you’ve spoken with before to leave a review.

Problem: You can only provide great customer service to people who have already purchased your product. But if your product has no reviews and no rankings, then you may not have any sales.

3. Selling a really great product

Selling a great product can encourage buyers to leave a review, but you have to remember that people tend to react to extremes. If the product is particularly bad, he will definitely take the time to leave a bad review and let others know his disappointment with you. If the product is particularly good, the buyer may want to share the excitement with others.

Problem: You still need that first sale.

4. Amazon Early Reviewer Program

Amazon knows that it’s hard to get the first few reviews for new products. So, it developed the Early Review Program. However, this program is only available to US brand registered sellers.

Here’s how it works: For a fee of $60 (per SKU), Amazon will send follow-up emails to people who purchased your product and reward sellers $1 to $3 for writing a review. Only products with fewer than 5 reviews and cost more than $15 are eligible for the Early Reviewers Program. The program will end after one year or when your product receives 5 reviews. After a buyer leaves a review, your product will have an orange “Early Reviewer Rewards” badge.

Problem: While this increases your chances of getting reviews, it doesn’t improve your search rankings.

5. Amazon Vine (only available to VC sellers)

Amazon Vine is Amazon's own reviewer program. Reviewers who have a large number of reviews and are considered useful and trustworthy are invited to become "Vine Voices". Participants receive free products to test and provide honest reviews.

The Amazon Vine program is currently only open to VC sellers. To participate in the program, suppliers must submit their products to Amazon and pay a fee of $2,500 to $7,500 per ASIN. Depending on the category, sellers can only provide a certain number of free products for evaluation.

Problem: The price is too high and it’s only available to VC sellers.

6. Discount Codes

This is still a common way to get early reviews. Sellers can offer buyers discount codes and by lowering the price they can incentivize more sales, which in turn can potentially get more reviews.

Problem: Amazon now marks products purchased with discount codes as “unverified” and buyers may not trust such reviews as much, and Amazon also limits the number of such reviews.

7. Packaging Inserts

Package inserts are promotional materials you can include in your packaging to solicit reviews. Be sure not to ask for positive reviews or offer incentives in return.

Problem: You still need to get buyers to find your product first, and package inserts have very low conversion rates.

8. Email List Marketing

This is a common strategy. Build an email list on Amazon and then send your target audience information about your new product along with a link to your Amazon listing.

Problem: While this can be very effective, it takes a long time to build an email list large enough to generate a significant number of sales and reviews.

9. Facebook Bot

Facebook Bot is the answer to almost all problems. Bot is an interactive Facebook ad that allows you to communicate with potential users.

The ad appears in the newsfeed and encourages interaction. It asks questions or hides answers to questions to create an effect that makes potential users interested. A good product video can also be very effective.

Once a user clicks on your ad, they immediately start interacting, just like chatting with a friend. Keep asking questions to make it fun and engaging. The goal is to provide additional value to your customers and hopefully get them to convert.

Here’s an example mockup you could design for a new product using Facebook Bot:

Setting up a Facebook Bot for your Amazon launch

The secret is to drastically reduce the product price to generate your first sale and let the buyer know that the promotion is only for a short period of time. While you can’t directly ask for positive reviews, you can tell them that this is a new product and their honest feedback is important.

Sellers can:

• Significantly reduce the price of your product on Amazon (e.g. normally sells for $60, cross-sell and sell it for $20);

• Set up your Facebook Bot (this requires a third-party service). It works similarly to Sponsored Ads on Facebook. Then define your target audience (for example, if you just started selling products on Amazon internationally, choose specific countries) and set the message;

• Direct external traffic to your new product’s Amazon listing.

Also consider the following points:

• Be honest and tell the buyer it’s a new product;

• Actively encourage buyers to leave reviews, but don’t ask them to leave positive reviews.

• Create a sense of urgency. Let people know that the lower price is only available for a short time.

Facebook Bot is a great way to actively engage with your user base. Facebook Bot ads are known to have a 90% open rate. Interactive messaging allows sellers and buyers to connect and communicate, encouraging first sales. After a purchase, you will be able to inspire reviews by providing additional value.

Text✎ Fang Xiaoling/

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