Editor’s Note: Thanks to Becky Trowbridge from eComEngine for the following guest post.
From establishing buyer trust to influencing search results, building and maintaining a strong Amazon seller reputation is key to continued business growth. In a digital marketplace, having the metrics to prove that you are a reliable seller with products that deliver is one of the best ways to convert sales. Let’s look at five ways to improve your Amazon seller reputation.
1. Set realistic expectations
Products that don’t meet buyer expectations tend to fail quickly. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes as you create your product page details and images. Make sure that your product page accurately reflects the quality and intended use cases for your product. Something as simple as an inaccurate description or photo of the color of your product can cause lots of issues, so make sure that the details are captured. It’s a good idea to enlist at least one other person to check out your listing and point out any areas that could be misleading to customers, as well as any sections that could use improvement.
Managing the details of your product pages to the best of your ability will help you to set clear expectations for prospective buyers. It also protects your seller reputation by ensuring that customers understand what they are ordering when they purchase your product.
2. Go above and beyond
Amazon is one of the most customer-centric companies in the world. As an Amazon seller, aim to treat buyers as well (or even better) than Amazon does. Offer quality products and service. If you’re a private label seller, read your customer reviews to understand what buyers like and don’t like about your products. Reviews can also help you find what’s missing from your product to find natural opportunities for creating a unique kit or bundle. For example, are many buyers mentioning that they had to purchase something to use alongside your product? There’s a great opportunity to add value.
You should also thoroughly test your products and try to break them. This will help you understand any potential customer issues and might even highlight some future product improvement opportunities.
When it comes to customer service, be exceptional. Train your employees to take customer inquiries seriously and respond in a professional and helpful manner. Create process documents for answering common questions or concerns to empower everyone to quickly be able to respond appropriately to a customer service request.
3. Proactively request seller feedback and product reviews
Seller feedback and product reviews are often spoken of as though they are interchangeable, but there is a distinct difference between them. Seller feedback is the rating a customer provides in relation to the service you provided as a seller. Product reviews (also referred to as customer reviews) are ratings for the actual products you sell. Both are essential to your seller reputation.
Seller feedback can affect buyer trust in addition to your eligibility for certain Amazon programs and incentives. Product reviews provide buyers with perspective from other customers regarding the quality of your products. They serve the “word of mouth” function in the online space, and having several product reviews can positively impact your product’s ranking in product searches… as long as most of them are good reviews.
Proactively requesting seller feedback and product reviews
You can send a polite request for honest seller feedback or product reviews through Amazon’s Buyer-Seller Messaging Service. However, this task can quickly become tedious and many sellers find it helpful to outsource to a tool such as FeedbackFive, which offers several ways to customize your messaging, exclude certain orders, and more. You can even sign up for email or SMS alerts for negative ratings, giving you and your team the ability to act quickly to resolve any customer issues.
4. Respond to customer communication
Amazon sellers constantly overlook the comments and question & answer sections of their listings. When you respond to questions or comments here in a way that aligns with Amazon’s Communication Guidelines, your response is publicly viewable. By showing that you are responsive and attuned to buyers, your seller reputation may be improved. When you receive a message from a buyer, it’s important to respond within 24 hours (including weekends and holidays) to avoid negatively impacting your seller performance metrics.
If a buyer leaves negative seller feedback or is otherwise dissatisfied with purchasing from you, respond and try to make it right. Always make sure to provide great customer service. Remember, your seller reputation is essential to the continued growth of your business.
5. Be consistent
When it comes to improving and managing your seller reputation, consistency is the name of the game. Take the time to build these reputation management strategies into your regular business practices and watch your sales increase!
As the Managing Content Editor for eComEngine, Becky Trowbridge works to bring you the latest eCommerce industry news as well as tips for running a successful Amazon business. When she’s not writing or managing content, she enjoys spending time outdoors, trying new recipes and reading.
