Today, we’ll be discussing exactly how to get more reviews on Amazon in 2023. The game has changed since the golden days of 2015 – 2018. Rebates, giveaways, and incentivized reviews have been struck down and now you risk permanent closure of your account if you get caught.
However, gathering more reviews is essential to building a “moat” on Amazon.
In this Tips edition, I’ll cover
- 5 main strategies to get more reviews
- On and off amazon ways to get more reviews
- What an ideal Amazon review rate is
After reading this, you’ll know exactly how to launch new products, get more reviews, and sustainably sell on Amazon for multiple years.
Getting More Reviews on Amazon in 2023
1. Amazon Vine Program
For any new product, your first step in getting reviews should be enrolling in the Amazon Vine program. This is one of the benefits Amazon gives to brands that are Brand Registered and should definitely be taken advantage of.
Whenever you launch a new product, you are eligible to enroll 30 units in the Vine program. If there’s interest, eligible reviewers will claim your product and leave a review.
Caution: Amazon Vine reviewers tend to be harsh so make sure your product is high quality. Don’t get discouraged if one of your first reviews is 4 stars.
2. Request a Review
To discourage illegal methods of obtaining reviews, Amazon introduced the Request a Review tool in 2020. You can find this button if you go to Manage Orders -> Click on an Order -> Request a Review
You can request a review 5 days after an order has been delivered to a customer. Every seller should be using this button on every order.
Pro Tip: You can automate this process using software like Helium10 or Jungle Scout. If you use Helium10 Seller Assistant, it will automatically Request a review for 100 orders at a time. I would recommend using a software like one of the above to automate this process as doing it manually is tedious.
3. Use Product Inserts to ask customers for a review
What elements of your marketing have a 100% open rate?
Your packaging.
Every customer will open your package and at least glance at your product insert before (maybe) throwing it in the trash. Use the space on your product insert to request a review.
Make sure your product insert is compliant! You should NOT be asking customers to leave a review if they had a good experience.
Helium10 provides a good overview of what’s compliant and what’s not compliant in this blog post.
Pro tips for building product inserts:
- Use QR codes to direct customers automatically to the Leave a Review URL on Amazon
- If you put an URL, use https://amazon.com/RYP – this automatically links them to the Leave a Review page (and is easy to remember)
- Make it well designed – hire a graphic designer and make sure the review request stands out!
4. Use follow up emails on Amazon to request reviews
The effectiveness of this strategy has decreased drastically in recent years. However, it is simple to set up and automate. And when it comes to reviews, a 1% change in review velocity will put you drastically ahead of competitors in the long run.
On Amazon, you’re allowed to email customers through Amazon’s messaging system after they order. What I like to do is use a 2 step sequence.
- Email them with information about how to use the product. This can be the same information as you have on the product insert. The delivery date of this email should be when the customer receives the product.
- After 5-7 days with the product, email them again. Ask them how they like the product and if they would consider leaving a review.
Your best bet for sending these emails is using a software like Helium10 or Jumpsend.
5. Use your off-Amazon email list to request additional reviews
A commonly overlooked way to get more reviews on Amazon is to use your off-Amazon email list. As part of launching your product, you should be collecting emails off of Amazon and using these emails to help you market.
When you launch your product, tell customers to reply if they purchased your product. Post-launch, email all customers who purchased your product on Amazon and ask them to leave a review.
One of the best things about this method is that this communication does not go through Amazon. With this method, you can say things like:
“If you had an amazing experience with our product, would you mind leaving a 5 star review on Amazon? You can just go to [insert link] to leave a review.”
This would be illegal to say on Amazon – but you can put it when talking to your off-Amazon email list.
Review Velocity and Review Rates
It used to be that a review rate of 5-10% was ideal. That is, 5-10% of all orders would leave a review. As time has passed though and Amazon has made it harder and harder to get reviews, the average review rate has dropped significantly.
In 2023, the average review rate is around 1-2%.
Using the ways above, you can increase it to 2-5% depending on your product category and price. In some categories, people are more likely to leave reviews than other categories.
One metric to monitor is your review velocity compared to competitors. This is a ranking factor in the Amazon A9 algorithm. If you have a low review velocity, you may see declining organic rank. Shown below is an example.
Using the 5 methods above can help you increase your review velocity and improve your review structure on Amazon.
3 Actionable Takeaways
Here are actionable takeaways that you can apply to your business today:
- Use every resource at your disposal to increase your review rate (Vine, Request a Review, follow up emails, etc)
- Monitor your review rate monthly and strategize how to improve it compared to competitors
- Use software such as Helium10 or Jumpsend to help improve your review rate and gather more reviews than competitors.
