Amazon buyer feedback
Time is running out to ask customers to leave you feedback on items bought during the holiday season, and something as simple as reaching out to those customers could give you a big boost in your first and second quarter sales in 2018.
Amazon Limits Time for Consumers to Leave Feedback
Amazon provides a 90-day window for buyers to provide feedback on the items they bought, meaning if a customer bought something from you in late November at the peak of holiday sales, they have until late February to leave that feedback. This period between quarter four of one year and quarter one of the following year is referred to as “Feedback Frenzy,” the time in which sellers are trying their hardest to get Amazon buyer feedback to gain an advantage the following year. Now is a good time to make that final push.
Liz Fick of eComEngine.com joined CJ Rosenbaum, founder and CEO of Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C. on Amazon Sellers’ Lawyer’s Webinar Wednesday to discuss the benefits of receiving that feedback and why you should care about it.
“It’s a good time to ask for that feedback in a completely responsible, compliant way to try to capitalize on all of the sales you made in quarter four,” Fick said. “If you have a low amount of feedbacks, one negative can be devastating. So if you manage to get a bunch of good ones, that one won’t be as devastating as it would’ve been.”
Fick notes that it isn’t a bad thing to reach out and request feedback from your customers. In fact, you should be doing so if you aren’t already. If you’ve been selling authentic items with accurate descriptions, you should receive positive feedback, which can help you raise your brand and reputation, which is very important to Amazon.
More Sales Means More Feedback for Amazon Sellers
“When you have a higher volume of sales, you have an opportunity to get a higher volume of feedback,” Fick said. “If you build yourself a nice ‘buffer zone’ where you have lots and lots of positive feedbacks, then that one negative isn’t going to hurt you as badly. Seller feedback is part of your seller reputation according to Amazon.”
Seller reputation is likely part of Amazon’s algorithm to determine how much visibility your items have to a buyer. While it’s impossible to know to what extent Amazon takes feedback into account, we know that it’s at least part of the equation. That’s enough to give you an edge in quarter one and quarter two sales.
Amazon Sellers Need to Protect Accounts and Reputation
A lot of different things go into seller reputation. Feedback is a part of it, but it’s also important to be communicative with your buyers. If a buyer has a question or complaint, addressing that in a professional, prompt, and satisfactory way will go a long way towards keeping your reputation high.
There are some sellers who don’t think reputation is a major concern for their business or haven’t considered it to be something they should pay attention to before. However, there are a lot of benefits to making that a priority.
“There are a lot of sellers who don’t care about feedback,” Fick said. “They only care about their product reviews. Well, Amazon cares about your feedback so you should too.”
Sellers, Amazon Buyer Feedback & the Buy Box
“When it comes to the buy box, nobody knows the exact algorithm that they use but we know it’s pricing, we know it’s great results, low ODR,” Rosenbaum said. “But I think that the reputation is also vital. They’re such a reputation-centric, brand-centric, customer-based company right now that this is vital for sellers. Do you want that buy box? You have to have a great seller reputation.”
So don’t be afraid to ask your customers to leave feedback on the products they bought from you this holiday season. It could give you a huge boost to start off the New Year and get your business – whether big or small – moving in a positive direction in 2018.
This article was researched and written by Anders Jorstad. Anders is a content creator for Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C., the law firm behind AmazonSellersLawyer.com. Anders will be earning his degree in journalism from Hofstra and has 5 years of professional journalism experience. He has written for numerous online and print publications including SB Nation and The Hofstra Chronicle.