Handling Negative Reviews on Amazon

Being a seller on Amazon, you might have experienced unpleasant negative reviews for your products. The sellers are highly concerned about these negative reviews as they can leave an adverse effect on sales and seller metrics on Amazon.

On a positive note, negative reviews give you valuable insights about buyers’ experience of your products. Research indicates that bad reviews improve sales conversion by 67%!! That is surprising isn’t it? The customer trusts the product and the seller when they find both negative and positive reviews. Only positive reviews can be perceived as fake reviews posted by the seller themselves.

Possible Reasons of Earning Bad Reviews

As a seller, you cannot please all the customers with diverse choices all the time. Still, there are some significant factors which can get you negative reviews –

• Late Shipping of the product
• Product not as per description
• Product quality not matching with the price
• Negligence in handling the customer

The sellers providing high quality products & services as well as quick delivery also earn negative reviews. How is that possible? That is just because of difference in opinions and choice of the buyers.

Smart Ways to React to a Negative Review

Bad or negative reviews can be opportunities hidden behind the problems. These reviews help you in finding flaws in your products and take necessary steps to make them competitive. So, just don’t panic, there are several smart ways to react to negative reviews –

Get in touch with the Buyer

The sellers can contact the buyer and persuade them to modify or remove the review by offering them refund, exchange or discount on their next purchase. This can get negative reviews converted into positive ones. However, finding the contact details of the negative reviewer can be a challenging job as many buyers use pseudonyms while posting reviews.

Read More: Effective Strategies for Handling Amazon Reviews

Procedure of finding the negative reviewer

In order to find the reviewer with pseudonym, the seller needs to play the role of a detective. The review date and the pseudonym needs to be compared with the orders received around that date. Once the negative reviewer has been identified, you can contact them through email, phone or post. Still, if you’re not able to find the reviewer, ask them to contact you by commenting on their review.

Get product review removed by Amazon

There is an option of getting negative review deleted by Amazon. But, Amazon will remove the negative review only if it doesn’t comply with its review guidelines. For example the reviews that is written in harsh and abusive language.

It is quite easy to request Amazon to delete a negative review. All you need to do is to click on the negative review and then click on “report abuse”. A pop-up window will open asking you for the reason for your request. Alternate method is to send an email to community-help@amazon.com providing information about the ASIN of the product, date and time of the review posted and name/pseudonym of the reviewer. Sending review link would be the best option. If you want to increase the chances of that review getting deleted, you should mention the specific review guideline it is violating.

Comment on negative review

The sellers can post a comment on the negative review informing the reviewer about the steps taken to solve the issue and why there would be no similar problem in future. A polite comment on a negative review can form a positive impression in the minds of potential buyers. The impact of negative review on product ratings is not going to change by posting the comment. But, it can change the perspective of the negative reviewer and other review readers. All you need to do is choose your words wisely as you are commenting publicly. This method can be an ultimate option when you are not able to convince the reviewer or Amazon to modify/remove the negative review.

Best Practices to Handle Bad Reviews

Bad reviews mean product criticism. It is always smart to handle criticism with patience and positive attitude. You need to comply with Amazon’s guidelines while communicating with your customers. Treat your customers well and you will start reaping positive results.

Be Polite

Whether you are publicly commenting on the buyers’ review or communicating over phone, you need to explain your point of view politely. Go through the negative review carefully and find out the root cause of the problem. If it’s really genuine, there is no harm in accepting the fault and assuring the buyers that you are working towards resolving it. The buyers feel contended when their problems are heard and resolved.

Respond Quickly

A quick response to the query can not only impress your present buyers but also your potential buyers. When the buyers notice how quick you have responded to the negative issues relating to your product, they tend to develop trust for you. Most of the buyers go through reviews before purchasing a product.

Be Professional

Best customer service is all about solving problems and issues your buyers are complaining about. Bribing customers with discounts instead of solving issues can go totally wrong. You need to be professional and provide right solutions at the right time which can satisfy even your unhappy customers. After resolving the problems, you can ask your customers to share their positive feedback and don’t push further if the buyer is not convinced to give you a positive review.

Check Reviews Regularly

Go through the reviews posted by your buyers regularly in order to respond to them quickly. If you don’t find time for this, assign this task to someone from your staff as your online business on Amazon majorly depend on the reviews your products earn.

Final Thought

The reviews whether positive or negative can prove to be free market research tool for your business. Manage reviews efficiently and get inspired for new product enhancements. Give your customers the products which they would love to use. After all, customer satisfaction is the ultimate key to the growth of your online business.