Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program allows consumers who have already received a product to post their genuine review. This is irrespective of whether it is a 1-star or 5-star rating. Customers rely on feedback to understand more about items they intend to purchase. This initiative allows early product reviews for products with few to no reviews, to help customers make smarter buying choices.
Customers who purchased an item that participates in this program may be required to write feedback. Those customers who write feedback will receive a small reward within the promotional period.
Why Did Amazon Launch The Early Reviewer Program?
As the name suggests, Amazon launched the Early Reviewer Program Program to help its sellers get feedback on new products. Sellers pick the items to be enrolled in the program. After that, Amazon randomly contacts people who bought these products, to ask them to leave an informative review and share their opinions. It helps both the user, who for their true review get something in return, and the seller, who receives early reviews for their products.
Whether you are simply beginning as a new vendor on Amazon or launching a new product, one of the biggest challenges is getting feedback. Without that, gaining new customers and visibility becomes difficult. Consumers participating in the program get an Amazon gift card, anywhere from $1 to $3, in return for their testimonials.
As per Amazon, the program aims to “help brand owners obtain early reviews”. This helps customers make better buying choices, and can lead to higher page hits and transactions. This is a win-win for consumers and sellers. Consumers get a bonus for expressing their feedback. Retailers gain popularity for a product or service more quickly.
PS: Check out smartminded to get more Amazon seller tips
Things To Know
Only U.S. product approved Amazon sellers can use this program. If you own the copyright to your brand name that appears on your product and packaging, you may be eligible to apply to register the product.
Read the full Amazon FAQ on the Early Reviewer Program here.
Sellers choose ASINs to participate in this program, but in no way can they control reviews content or star rating. Amazon does not alter or remove reviews from the Early Review Program. As long as they are within the parameters of the Amazon forum, they are allowed. Vendors pick the items they want to include in the program, but they cannot choose the reviewers.
Amazon randomly selects customers from a list of all the customers who have bought items that are part of this program. They do this as long as they have no history of abusive or misleading reviews, and meet the criteria of Amazon. Not all consumers that have bought products will receive offers from Amazon.
Amazon receives feedback for 1 year, or once five reviews for the item are received through this reviewer program.
Advantages
Amazon offers sellers another new way of generating their first feedback with this Program to help increase sales of newer products and items.
This Program could be beneficial for vendors seeking to gain feedback on newer products, but it also brings clear advantages to Amazon themselves.
Amazon started this program for the sellers and buyers to fill the void and can help retailers collect feedback on newer products.
Reviews are one of the biggest hurdles entering the market. Without a decent number of reviews, it is hard to gain profits and compete with the best sellers. The Early Review Program makes it easy for a new Amazon product to get reviews.
To collect feedback, sellers can send email follow-up sequences. Once, Amazon received reports, and in March Amazon customers were given the right to opt-out of all Seller Contact, making it almost impossible to gain reviews. Sellers were forced to wonder if their user base could be extended to compete with existing products. It is estimated that the industry’s average review rate is around 1%. But a seller can see around a 5 percent response rate with an automated email follow-up string.
Even with a brilliant email plan, only 5 reviews from 100 purchases might be seen by a seller. That sounds fairly tricky for an established product. But it looks nearly impossible for a new brand. Amazon acknowledges this uphill struggle, and with the Early Reviewer Program gives a little boost to sellers.
The program is fair. When you have a bad product your ratings will be poor. With a good product, your ratings follow the same path. No additional benefits for a good review. Buyers participating in the Early Reviewer Program post their unbiased opinions.
And that’s exactly how Amazon intends it to be.
Enrollment
To enter the portal of the Program in Seller Central, you will need to be listed in the Brand Registry of Amazon. Sellers who wish to take part in this Program must be brand registered. So, if you’ve not already completed a brand registry, then you will have to start with that move.
Watch for Amazon’s official website under the Seller Central Marketing page. You can upload up to 100 SKUs at once using Amazon’s CSV template.
Through reviewing the Submission History & Item Registration Details section at the bottom of the website, you can check the state of your registration request within the portal.
There is a fee of $60 per program enrollment service. If an item has variants, all variations will be included in the system by sending the parent product.
Participation in the program ceases after 5 customer reviews are received through this program or at the end of one year, whichever occurs first. You will not be issued the $60 fee till the successful completion of your first Early Reviewer Program product review.
To qualify for the program, goods must have a purchase cost of at least $15.00 and must have fewer than 5 ratings at the date of registration.
How Does The Early Reviewer Program Differ From Incentivized Reviews?
The presence of the retailer in this Program is not noticeable to the consumer, which means the buyer cannot be swayed by the appeal of the reward to buy any particular product. Only after buying the item will consumers be informed of the opportunity for a reward in return for a review.
Amazon is also in charge of the process. Since the vendor does not have direct contact with the buyer in connection with the product review, there is no chance that a retailer can sway a customer to encourage higher review scores.
Conclusion
Does this program imply it’s super easy to get ratings now?
Sadly, no.
But it tells us Amazon hasn’t left you to struggle for yourself in the forest alone. When you launch a new brand and struggle with the process of sales/need feedback, Amazon provides a helping hand to pull you out of the loop.
Maybe you’ll just need to drive 20 or 30 instead of driving 100-150 sales for 5 reviews now. Amazon encourages you to receive this feedback. This is a perfect opportunity for new items that need a little drive. It helps the new sellers with new product listings to get more visibility. When a product gets good reviews, buyers also have faith in that product.
As always, be sure your product, listing, and customer service is excellent. That will position you with great consumer knowledge to help convert into positive feedback.
With this Program of Amazon, we have a great feeling that there are more benefits and rewards to come.
Moritz Bauer studied industrial engineering at the university of applied sciences in Constance (DE) and has 5 years of experience with E-Commerce and Online Marketing. His Blog is smartminded (https://www.smart-minded.com/
