Amazon Review Strategies with Pete Moran and Danny McMillan – Session 014

Richard Morgan
September 12, 2017

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_3]
This session we’re with Pete Moran, discussing Amazon Review Strategies and how you can work with a customer to turn negative Amazon reviews in to positive. Either using tools or managing it empathetically and manually with your buyers.

Pete has been an Amazon Seller for over two years and is the Technical Co-Founder of the Amazon tool PPC-Scope with Brian Johnson.

What is the impact of a one star review

Most of the time negative reviews are unwarranted (used wrong) or placed by competitors
Pete looks at it like a bucket and a 1 star review is like a hole in your bucket losing you sales
Buyers come and see the negative review and don’t buy
You can one of two Amazon Review Strategies:
- Fill more into the top of your bucket with more sales
- Or Fill the holes in your bucket and get the negative review removed/resolved
Dropping half-a-star has a big impact on sales
Anything with sales velocity needs 4* upwards

Recovering from a one star review needs how many 4* or 5*

It’s approx 15 positive reviews to counter-act that one 1 star review
How many ‘sales’ do you need to achieve these 15 positives?
Conversion rate of 5% sales to 1 review – that’s a lot of sales that you need
This often gets overlooked in many amazon review strategies
If you work off a 5% conversion rate (5 out of every 100 sales leaves you a review) then it takes you 5 new reviews per 100 units sold
So it will take you 300 units sold (to get your ratio of 15 positives against a negative review) just to start to recover
And that’s only if all 15 are positive reviews

How do you find the dreaded “Amazon customer”

Some reviews don’t show the customer info but just ‘Amazon Customer’ so are pretty anonymous
Do how do you get in touch and try to remedy the situation and resolve the negative review?
If the customer leaves their name then you can search your order list to find them
A hack is possible that if you go to your ‘orders list’ there is a Chrome HTML view from Amazon there is a match on info between the reviewer profile and the Amazon Order list – possible but advanced hack
Difficult as time is not on your side as you need to get back to the reviewer ASAP

The Timing is everything

If you go back to the customer after 2-3 weeks you have missed your moment and opportunity to remedy things for them – no Amazon Review Strategies can help if you’ve left it too late
You have to strike when the iron is hot
It is important to understand what has made that customer feel the need to go and leave a negative review
They are frustrated and are taking it out by leaving you a negative review
You HAVE to demonstrate to the customer that you are genuine and care about their feedback – even if their view is rubbish you must empathise

Steps to contact your amazon customer in the messaging system

Assume you have found the customer in the HTML and that you have found that customer in your ‘order list’
First thing is to understand what went wrong in the first place
- Did something not work, was it broken, did they get a faulty unit or did it just not work for them
- This is the first thing I want to know
THEN I go and match that negative reviewer to their order
- Now I have their name and their address
- I can now if I wish to contact them via Amazon’s messaging system
- You can try contacting via the Amazon messaging system but Pete’s found it not to be very successful
- You need to be a lot more creative

If your customer has opted-out of Marketing

Do you contact them?
NO – not worth it

Reaching them off of Amazon

Let’s say they have received a faulty unit
I find their order and I immediately send them a replacement order without contacting them
Image their feeling when they complain and the very next day they get a replacement item
Pete has found that reviewers are surprised by that because they haven’t contacted you and yet this has turned up
NEXT Pete totally WOWS them – sends them a SORRY CARD from Moonpig
- Empathise with their situation, very sorry this has happened, like to offer them a refund if they kindly get in touch with us via email (to an address we’re monitoring)

Sorry Messages

Go to Moonpig.com and pay per card about £3 to send the card
How much does it cost to get over a 1 star review?
Spending £3 on a card may sound expensive, but consider it in context of the 300 sales you need to overcome the one star review
Choose a basic card that says SORRY
In it make it clear “I take full responsibility for this happening”
Least I can do is make it right and offer a refund
Whole point of this is that I want to contact them off of Amazon
If the buyer has initiated an email conversation with you off Amazon and outside the ToS
You can have a more ‘open’ conversation with the customer and subtly get the review changed

The Cost of fixing the negative review

Cost of Goods (CoG), Marketing costs, Amazon Fees, Cost of Refund and a Card
Assume a smaller item product selling for approx £15 each
Total cost per ‘correction’ is approx £20
Add that up against going down from 4.5 stars to 4 stars and losing 10 sales a day from 25-30 sales a day
Not every ‘correction’ will be effective and Pete’s current success rate is 40% approx currently but increasing as the strategy and tactics mature

Amazon review strategies to deal with 1 Star “It Doesn’t Work” review

They have not given you any reason why it doesn’t work or what has caused the review
Not send them a replacement straight off
Just send them a card and explain more info would be helpful and if it is a faulty unit will replace it straight away, would it be possible for you to get in touch with me via email and I will arrange the replacement
There will be some customers that will throw the card in the bin and your hands are tied
It is important to open the dialogue with them
Do things that people do not expect – the Sorry card is proof you are a caring company
This makes the customer feel more perceived value from your company and hopefully increase you from a 1 star to a 4 or 5 star

How do you END a negative reaction

Empathise with the customer straight away to disarm them and hear their concerns
The more you fight the deeper into it you get
Don’t get frustrated yourself
Your intent is to get this 1 star amazon review turned around or removed – that’s all

Competitors will leave negative reviews

A verified review means a person has actually purchased your product
An UNVERIFIED review is someone that has just left a review without buying
Amazon does not give as much weight to unverified reviews
Amazon has not turned these types of reviews around in Pete’s experience
Also, try looking at the review history from the negative reviewer – there may be signals that it’s a malicious review
Are they a ‘hater’ and leave a lot of negative reviews
If someone who rarely leaves a review but have left you a negative review – they are the best customers as they care and are probably most likely to respond to the Sorry card strategy
They are likely to feel guilty for leaving the poor review after you’ve gone above and beyond to apologise