Learn how to identify and deal with fake reviews on Amazon to protect your business’s credibility and the reputation of your products.
Jens Vittrup
Achieving success on Amazon is no easy feat – it requires dedication and hard work. One of the most effective ways to succeed is to ensure your customers genuinely love the products you sell. This leads to positive reviews for your product or business, which in turn helps Amazon’s A9 algorithm to boost your sales.
It is well known that fake reviews exist on Amazon, just as they do on many other platforms where customers can rate products and businesses. The reason some companies are tempted to secure numerous fake Amazon reviews is precisely because of the significant impact these reviews have on sales, especially on Amazon.
Don’t do it!
Although it may be tempting to use fake reviews, do not do it! Amazon has outlined clear policies and business terms specifying how companies must handle product reviews and communicate with customers. If you break these guidelines, Amazon will not hesitate to remove your business from the platform, and you will lose the opportunity to return.
At least 16 major brands, including Aukey and Mpow – both highly successful in the electronics/gaming equipment category – have recently experienced this first hand. In a data leak, these and other companies were discovered contacting consumers and offering them free products in exchange for positive reviews of their products.
Specifically, this has resulted in the 16 brands being removed from the platform and thousands of reviews being deleted. Only third-party sellers are now able to sell these products, but it has become significantly more difficult after the removal of so many positive reviews. Furthermore, it is no longer possible to review the affected products.
In this article, we cover the following points:
These actions are strictly prohibited
• You must not write a review of your own product – neither under your own name nor an alias.
• Do not ask friends, family, or employees to write reviews.
• Never pay customers to review your product, offer discounts, or send them anything extra or for free.
• Never review a competitor’s product or business.
• Do not ask a customer to remove a negative review of your product.
• Do not include a request in your shipments asking customers to leave a positive review.
The easiest way to get positive reviews starts with your product and your customer service.
• Ensure your product lives up to its promises.
• Make sure quality is top-notch. If you are aware of any potential faults with the product, get them fixed.
• Provide as much information as possible about the product so customers are not surprised by colours, sizes, shapes, fit, etc.
• Respond promptly to customer questions and deliver your products on time.
These steps are crucial for receiving positive reviews. If your customers have the best possible experience, good reviews will follow.
An effective way to collect reviews is to be proactive and encourage customers to leave feedback. One way to do this is by using a provider that specialises in helping sellers gather reviews.
By using such a service, the request to the customer is sent automatically, while you remain compliant with Amazon’s guidelines. One such service is edesk.com, which offers an excellent system for handling this task. A key benefit is that customers can leave their review directly in the email they receive, making the process easy and increasing the likelihood of receiving more reviews.
Edesk.com uses Amazon API access, meaning that when the customer receives an email, Amazon is shown as the sender. This greatly increases credibility and makes customers more likely to leave a review.
Another method for gathering reviews is to use a tool provided by Amazon. For each of your orders, you have the option to click “request a review”. This approach is effective as the customer receives an email making it easy for them to leave a review. The email is sent with Amazon as the sender, which, as mentioned previously, builds trust. With this method, you can be confident you are following all of Amazon’s guidelines.
The downside of this approach is that you must manually access each order to send the request. If you have many orders delivered at different times, this can be time-consuming.
Amazon reviews are essential for success on Amazon.
To win sales, it is important to collect many reviews quickly and consistently. If you receive five or more positive reviews within 30 days, your chances of conversion increase significantly. But remember to do it the right way, and do not fall into the traps that may seem tempting.
At WeMarket, we have helped many clients collect reviews and improve their listings and conversion rates on Amazon. If you would like to know more or have questions about how to improve your results, you are very welcome to contact us.
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