Amazon-Reviews: Build positive reviews and recognize fakes

Reviews can not only help, but also harm a product if they are mostly negative. In this post, we will give you tips on how you can get positive reviews and how you should deal with negative reviews.

Amazon Reviews: Current seller and vendor guidelines

Because Amazon reviews play an important role, Amazon has established special guidelines that govern the handling of reviews. Compliance with the current customer review guidelines at Amazon is essential for retailers. In the worst case, a breach of such provisions may result in the closure of the seller’s account.

The following points are particularly relevant:

• In order to submit a review, purchases for at least 50 Eur must have been made within the last twelve months.
• Only up to five non-verified reviews can be published per week for one product.
• Reviews originating from the closer surroundings of the seller are not permitted.
• In addition, it is inadmissible to manipulate the “useful” evaluation function.
• Incentive-based reviews are also prohibited.

How can positive reviews on Amazon be acquired?

Especially with new products, it is not always easy to generate the first reviews. No purchases without reviews, no reviews without purchases. A chicken and egg problem.

Figure 1: Especially honest and positive reviews are mostly colloquial and brief.

Strictly speaking, there is only one way for manufacturers and retailers to actively generate reviews. For a fee, both Amazon vendors and Amazon seller can order product reviews at the Amazon Vine - Club of product testers.

The product testers receive the product free of charge if a retailer has approved a certain number of products for testing. The review is also marked as a Vine-review.

Good to know: The Amazon Early Reviewer Program is also available for the UK and US markets. Again, customers are encouraged to leave reviews when a product has certain specifications.

Moreover, many methods can be applied to achieve positive reviews. However, they are illegal. According to Amazon, some of the methods are clearly considered inadmissible, whereas other methods are more likely to be assigned to a gray area. These include:

• Customers are asked for a review in an additional email.
• Customers are called by the seller and asked for a review.
• There are “inserts” in the product package that are used to request a review.
• Sellers use product tester groups or rating services to generate reviews.

Recognizing fake reviews – this is how it works

Figure 2: A glance at the reviewers profile reveals the user's activity – German example.

If you are unsure whether the product has real or fake reviews, there are some helpful tips to help you identify fake reviews:

• Many five-star ratings in a short time: Numerous five-star reviews are produced in a very short time. This is rather unusual especially immediately after the product launch.
• Very long and detailed reviews: Satisfied customers are known to express themselves with rather short and clear words. Negative reviewers, on the other hand are somewhat more detailed. Thus if many positive reviews are described in detail and are supported by images, this suggests a fake review.
• Review includes advertising phrases: An authentic customer expresses himself more colloquially when rating honestly. However, if the review has been purchased, advertising phrases are often included. These include, the use of superlatives, numerous positive adjectives and advertised product names.
• Only five-star reviews by the reviewer: A glance at the re viewer's profile reveals a lot. It is suspicious if only five-star ratings are shown here, which also occur in the similar subject area. A review text that is always the same is also a clear indication.

This is how you deal with negative Amazon reviews

What happens if a product has received negative reviews? In such case, retailers must take action and give factual comments on such negative reviews. In addition, an attempt should be made to solve the problem. If communication can be established with the reviewer and a solution is found (replacement product, refund, etc.), an attempt can be made to convince the reviewer to adapt the submitted rating.

To avoid negative reviews before they occur, consider the following:

• Sell only flawless products. Your product must keep up with the promises you have made.
• Deliver the products on time and in perfect condition.
• Ensure fast, uncomplicated handling of returns.
• Provide good customer service to your customers.

Worth knowing: If there is a negative review that does not comply wit the Amazon review guidelines, you can try to have the review deleted by Amazon. However, this rarely works, and if so only in case of clear violations such as insults or obscenities.

Monitoring Amazon reviews

In order to be able to react to negative reviews, it is necessary to quickly become aware of new reviews. This can be done either as a part of a manual inspection, or can have your products monitored by an Amazon monitoring tool. Even with mid-sized product portfolios, manual monitoring is often impossible and very time consuming.

These tools can monitor all your products on a daily basis and will alert you as soon as new ratings have been posted or reviews have been changed.

However you choose to approach the subject of reviews on Amazon, it is important that you do it, because once negative reviews prevail, the sales will be considerably affected.