When it comes to generating consumer trust, few things can match the sway and influence of real, honest user reviews.
The numbers back this claim up, with 95-percent of online shoppers reading up on reviews before they make a purchase, and 85-percent of buyers saying that they trust reviews as much as a personal recommendation. From these numbers, it should be clear that reviews hold a tremendous amount of power for online consumers, meaning it’s vitally important to generate genuine customer feedback.
Why Are Amazon Reviews Important?
It’s all about product rankings.
This is perhaps one of the key reasons that generating Amazon reviews is so vital to success on the platform.
The number and overall quality of the reviews your products generate goes a significant way towards determining where they appear on Amazon’s product lists. The Amazon platform has millions of sellers, with many offering the same products, and an essential part of how Amazon separates the wheat from the chaff is to push the sellers that garner the best reviews. At its core, Amazon wants to offer a convenient, reliable and good quality experience for online shoppers, and the best way to do that is to promote the sellers that its users deem to be the best.
People Trust Amazon Reviews
55-percent of shoppers use Amazon reviews to research products, and that includes people who may be standing in a physical store in front of the product they’re interested in buying. What this underlines is that people deeply trust Amazon reviews, and they’re more likely to believe and act on the information they find on the platform.
The reason people trust Amazon reviews so much is because the platform takes a great deal of care in weeding out fake reviews. Add to this the fact that Amazon’s algorithms afford more weight to detailed, longer reviews, and it’s easy to understand why good reviews for your Amazon products are paramount to building trust and increasing sales.
How to Generate Amazon Product Reviews
The Amazon Feedback System
We’ve all received those post-purchase emails from Amazon, but what many sellers don’t realise is that they can customise the emails to encourage reviews.
However, it’s important to know that you shouldn’t actively ask for positive reviews, as this is something Amazon doesn’t like. Instead, ask for ‘feedback’ in a positive tone. If the product and buying experience was good, then you’ll generate the good reviews you seek without having to ask for them.
Use Inserts
An excellent way to remind a buyer that you’re a business that relies on reviews for success is to include inserts in the packages you ship out.
An insert that tells the buyer about your business and who you are has a good chance of fostering a review – and it also keeps your business in the customer’s mind for longer. When a customer feels more connected to your brand – as they should after receiving an order that meets or exceeds their expectations – they’re more likely to go the extra mile and leave you a glowing review.
Amazon’s Big Three
When it comes to the types of reviews Amazon prefers – and these are things the platform users to determine the ranking of your product – there are three key things you need to know.
- Amazon puts more weight on Verified Purchase reviews than other types of reviews. The platform knows these types of reviews are genuine, so they consider these reviews as the gold standard.
- Secondly, Amazon prefers reviews that are longer and more detailed over shorter reviews or simple star ratings. Again, the platform sees these reviews as a more authoritative source and will take them into account when ranking your product on search results.
- Lastly, the platform loves photo and video reviews or attachments. These elements provide real insight for other potential customers into the benefits and features of a product – which is great for Amazon and great for the business generating the review.
