How to Get Positive Reviews on Amazon (Fast and Legally)

If you’re a seller on Amazon, you need to know how to get positive reviews on Amazon. Why? Because getting reviews is a hot topic in ecommerce for a good reason: they build credibility and trust.

Online shoppers rely heavily on reviews when making purchase decisions. Need a number? According to recent statistics, 95% of users read Amazon reviews before purchasing a product. The number of positive ratings influences the buying decisions of the majority of shoppers.

So how do you become successful on Amazon?

You need plenty of positive reviews to stand out, build brand credibility, and continue to drive conversions.

But what does it take to get more positive reviews? And where do Amazon’s review rules come into play?

This post will teach you how to get positive Amazon reviews quickly and legally without putting your account at risk.

What is Amazon’s Review Policy?

The Amazon marketplace is home to over 350 million products showing both positive and negative reviews. These reviews contain valuable information that consumers rely on when making purchasing decisions.

Amazon’s review policies set the standard for what sellers can and cannot do to maintain the authenticity of reviews and avoid fake reviews.

Here’s a quick breakdown of Amazon’s review policies:

1. Incentivize reviews: Offering products at a lower price or for free in exchange for reviews was banned in 2016. Today, you can’t offer any financial rewards, discounts, free products, or other compensation for reviews.
2. Review your or your competitors’ products: Sellers are prohibited from posting reviews for their own products or competing products. This rule also applies to friends, family members, and employees.
3. Cherry-pick for positive reviews: Asking buyers specifically for positive reviews is not allowed. Sellers cannot encourage satisfied customers only to leave reviews on Amazon while directing unsatisfied ones elsewhere. Using the if/then language is also prohibited in soliciting reviews as shown below.

A real-life (and non-compliant) review request found on a product insert.

4. Ask a reviewer to change or remove a review: While buyers can choose to edit or remove their reviews, sellers cannot offer refunds or other compensation to influence this decision.

Got it? Good. Now here’s what Amazon sellers can do to solicit reviews:

1. Send a product review request to buyers. While there are additional rules for communicating with buyers, Amazon does allow you to send one feedback and/or review request per order.
   
   However, you should send the message within 30 days of order completion, include the order ID, and have the message translated into the buyer’s preferred language.
2. Enroll in Amazon Vine: The Vine program invites trusted Amazon reviewers to post unbiased ratings about new products with fewer than 30 reviews. It recently expanded to include Brand Registry sellers.
3. Use product inserts: Including a card in your packaging that neutrally asks for an unbiased review, complete with instructions, can help reach customers who might not otherwise leave a review or know how to do so.

Amazon maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy towards customer review violations, so it’s crucial for sellers to monitor these policies regularly for any updates.

How to Get Positive Reviews on Amazon in 5 Steps

Now that you know Amazon’s review rules, let’s look at how to get positive reviews on Amazon without breaking any of them.

1. Request Amazon Reviews From More Buyers

This is by far the best way to get more Amazon reviews. Yes, you can expect to receive some reviews organically, but your odds increase tenfold when you take the first step.

Amazon’s Seller Central platform allows you to individually contact Amazon buyers for reviews through templated Buyer-Seller messages or the Request a Review button.

The second (and highly preferred) method sends out a combined seller feedback and product review request and is guaranteed to be compliant with Amazon policy.

If individually contacting buyers seems like a lot of work, you’re right – it is. But, it doesn’t have to be. Amazon also allows you to send feedback and review requests via third-party software applications or its Application Programmer Interface (API).

One of the most widely recognized tools in the industry is eComEngine’s FeedbackFive, which sends out automated Amazon review requests on your behalf. You can choose between custom-branded Buyer-Seller Messages or Amazon’s official Request a Review message.

To really scale your reviews, if you sell your products somewhere else (your website, for instance), then you’ll also want to reach out to your non-Amazon buyers and ask them to leave you a review back on the marketplace. 

This is where your email lists, social media groups, external ads, influencer relationships, and affiliate connections will all come in handy! 

Since these reviews fall under “unverified reviews”, they won’t help in your listing page ranking, but they will help gain conversion from shoppers interested in your products.

2. Time Your Review Requests Just Right

You only have 30 days after the item is received to send an Amazon review request, so the timing is something you want to get right.

If you send the request too soon, the buyer may not be ready to write a review. But if you send the request too late, you could miss the boat entirely.

Here are some guidelines that typically yield the best results:

• Send review requests for small consumables within a few days of delivery.
• Send review requests for longer-lasting products that require additional setup or extra time for buyers to see their benefits 14-21 days after delivery.
• Send review requests for gift items purchased early in the holiday season at least a few weeks after delivery to allow for the gift to be opened.
• Send review requests for gift items purchased late in the holiday season right after the holiday (e.g. after it’s been opened and enjoyed). 

Each product you sell is unique, and each buyer is too. So, it makes sense to send different product review requests for different products at different times of the year.

FeedbackFive also makes it quick and easy to send a unique request for each item that you sell.

3. Make Your Buyers Your Biggest Fans

Let’s stop and rewind for a moment. Even before you send that perfectly timed review request, you already want your customers to be big fans of you and your brand.

It’s much easier to get positive ratings when you exceed someone’s expectations right from the start and continue to do so every step of the way thereafter.

Here’s how you can turn your customers into loyal fans:

1. Sell a quality product. Only a product that’s truly worthy of receiving positive reviews will go on to get a good number of positive ratings and reviews. Don’t cut corners with your product quality and test everything (parts, materials, and packaging) extensively before launching.
2. Provide excellent customer service. Communicate with your customers about their orders and continue to update your FAQs as needed. Make sure buyers can reach you if they need assistance and respond quickly. (If you can resolve the problem, ask for a review as soon as possible!)

3. Set up pricing promotions. A good deal will make anyone happy! Plus, when this happens, buyers often feel more compelled to leave positive reviews as a thank you. Be sure to ramp up your review requests whenever you run a coupon or set up a promotion.
4. Find ways to add extra value. It doesn’t have to be big – a small bonus item, a fun branded sticker, or even a simple handout with helpful product tips or unboxing instructions can instantly paint you in a more favorable light. 

These are also great ways to get more repeat customers.

4. Turn Negative Reviews into an Asset

Negative reviews don’t always have to be bad. In many ways, they can actually be a good thing.

Let me explain.

Say you launch a new product and many of the critical reviews mention a certain product feature. Maybe it’s a flimsy clasp or a faulty zipper.

Instead of bemoaning your bad luck, do something about it!

By monitoring your Amazon reviews for key trends among buyers, you can keep a close eye on the performance of your products and make changes as necessary to prevent the same negative ratings in the future.

This could include:

• Editing your product listings: A common reason for poor reviews is misleading or incorrect information in your product listings. Correcting this can produce more satisfied buyers.
• Improving your existing products: Yes, it could cost you, but this is short-term pain for long-term gain.
• Changing suppliers: Negative reviews help keep your suppliers accountable. If the problem persists, it may be time to make a change.

Negative reviews also help you identify new market opportunities. Buyers often leave product suggestions in their comments, so you could use them to your advantage and create a new (and highly profitable!) product line, kit, or bundle.

It’s important to address negative reviews right away. Amazon does not notify sellers when new customer reviews are published, so you’ll need to watch for them on your own.

Leveraging Amazon review monitoring software like FeedbackFive can be a more efficient way to stay on top of your reviews. The tool continuously monitors all of your products and notifies you when a negative review requires your attention.

You can use this Amazon feedback removal request template to resolve your buyer’s issues and have them edit their negative review.

5. Use Amazon’s Contact Customer Feature

Prior to December 2020, Amazon sellers were able to publicly comment on their product reviews. When this feature was suddenly retired, you no longer had a direct line of communication with your buyers, most notably those who left critical reviews.

But how can you hope to resolve someone’s issue when you can’t properly communicate with them? Amazon introduced the Contact Customer feature in July 2021 as a new solution to that problem.

Available only to Brand Registry sellers, the Contact Customer link lets you send direct messages to buyers who have left critical (1-3 star) reviews with templated Buyer-Seller Messaging emails that offer a courtesy refund or additional customer support.

To use Amazon’s contact customer feature, you must:

1. Navigate to the Customer Reviews page on the Brands dashboard.
2. Filter your reviews by star rating to see eligible 1-3 star reviews.
3. Click the Contact Customer link at the top of the critical review. 
4. Choose your contact reason. Amazon will generate the automated email on your behalf. The email templates cannot be customized in any way. Negative reviews must also be linked to a verified purchase. 

While this new feature isn’t quite as effective as review commenting, it can help you improve the customer’s experience with your brand. Ideally, the customer will then go on to remove the negative review or, even better, change it to a positive one.

Does Amazon Remove Negative Reviews?

Speaking of negative reviews, here’s a question I get asked all the time: Does Amazon remove negative reviews?

Despite what you may read elsewhere, Amazon has strict review removal policies and will only remove reviews for these reasons:

• If the review conflicted with its Community Guidelines
• If the review was removed by the reviewer
• If multiple products were found to be incorrectly listed as the same product and it requires the reviews to be separated
• If unusual review behavior has been detected
• Only Amazon Verified Purchase reviews are being accepted at that time

If you suspect a review violation, ask Amazon to remove it through the “Report abuse” link on your product page. You can also email Amazon Seller Support at [email protected].

This can be a lot to keep up with on your own. Thankfully, you don’t have to. TraceFuse’s negative review removal service can flag questionable negative reviews that meet Amazon’s criteria for removal and file cases with Seller Support on your behalf.

The Perfect Strategy for More Positive Reviews

All of the methods mentioned here are meant to positively influence the types of reviews that your products receive without breaking Amazon protocol.

You need to craft and deliver the best customer experience possible. This is how to get positive reviews on Amazon.

It may take some trial and error to get it right, but the results will be worth it. And remember, there is plenty of help available to help streamline the process.

Happy selling!