How to Generate Product Reviews
on Amazon
Proven Strategies for Growing Third-Party Sellers
R E T A I L A D V E R T I S E R C O U R S E
Jeff Coleman
Director of Account Management
 Amazon Specialist
 Google AdWords Qualified Professional
 Over 7+ Years Experience With Retail Search
Before We Get Started
Session Recordings Will Be Sent Next Week
Q&A Following the Presentation
Submit Questions In the Chat Box to the Right
Logistics Speakers
Jeff Coleman
Director of Account Management
CPC Strategy
Keith O’Brien
CEO
iLoveToReview
• Founded in 2007
• Over 300 active retail clients
• Top 50 fastest growing company in San Diego 3 years running
• Recognized as an Official Google Shopping Partner
• Custom-built retail search technology platform, CAPx
Solutions
 Retail-focused Paid Search (PPC)
 Google Shopping Management
 Shopping Channel Management
 Amazon Sales Acceleration
CPC STRATEGY HAS BEEN FEATURED ON
DELIVERING LASTING RESULTS FOR OUR CLIENTS
VISIT CPCSTRATEGY.COM
Poll Question
Do you solicit product feedback from customers?
o Yes
o No
Amazon TOS Update: The Spirit of the Law
www. C P C S t r a t e g y. c o m | 6 1 9 . 5 0 1 . 6 1 3 8 | c o n t a c t @ c p c s t r a t e g y. c o m
TOS Update Intentionally Vague
• Allows Amazon state their primary objective without identifying every possible way
an advertiser might get around it.
• Allows Amazon to continuously adapt to the arms race
Spirit Of The Law: Provide value to Amazon’s customers
Ask yourself 2 simple questions:
• What’s in the customer’s best interest?
• Am I deceiving Amazon or the customer?
Google Panda
www. C P C S t r a t e g y. c o m | 6 1 9 . 5 0 1 . 6 1 3 8 | c o n t a c t @ c p c s t r a t e g y. c o m
Cracked Down On
• Link farms: Intentionally deceived Google’s algorithm
• Duplicate content: Provided no value to the customer
Perfect Execution?
• Absolutely not
• Many legitimate businesses used these practices & they were
hurt as well.
Paid Positive Reviews & Super URLs
www. C P C S t r a t e g y. c o m | 6 1 9 . 5 0 1 . 6 1 3 8 | c o n t a c t @ c p c s t r a t e g y. c o m
2 Affected Strategies
1) Paid Positive Reviews
• Extension of Amazon’s continued scrutiny of product reviews
• Clearly an attempt to deceive the customer (or future customers)
• There are plenty of ways to solicit feedback honestly
2) Super URLs
• Obvious attempt to deceive Amazon’s ranking algorithm
• Still seems to be a viable strategy
• Only a matter of time before Amazon closes this loophole for good, & possibly penalizes retailers
for using them
Welcome you to...
REVIEWS, RANKING,
CONVERSION RATE & TOS
UPDATES
WHO IS TALKING?
• Keith O’Brien - CEO, iLoveToReview
• Father, Entrepreneur, 20+ years in Marketing &
Leadership Development
• Prior to iLoveToReview, Keith has been on the marketing,
training and sales end of a number of multi-million
dollar companies & campaigns
• iLoveToReview has worked with 100’s of Amazon Sellers
helping them launch, ramp up and expand sales through
strategic review campaigns
• We’ve generated 10’s of thousands of reviews for clients
- 32,401 since May 15 to be exact.
THE FACTS
• Reviews are an essential part of Amazon’s business
model
• Providing a product in exchange for an unbiased
review is clearly outlined within their Terms of
Service
• Organic reviews from general
customers come in at an
average of 1/2% - 2%
• Reviews (social proof) are one
of the biggest influences on
consumer buying behavior
SALES IS THE NAME OF THE
GAME
Sales = Traffic + Conversion Rate
Traffic
Organic Ranking
Paid Ads
Existing Customers
External Traffic
Conversion Rate
Price
Title
Bullet Points
Image
Description
Keyword Targeting
REVIEWS
Seller Feedback
Organic Rank
Price
Daily Sales
Conversion Rate
Seller Feedback
New Amazon
TOS Updates
PROHIBITED SELLER ACTIVIES
PROHIBITED SELLER ACTIVIES
The Big Questions:
• What does “excessive number of free or discounted
products” mean?
• Does that mean that giveaway campaigns for reviews
are no longer within TOS?
• What about using Super URL’s?
• What else may be a violation of the new TOS?
Examples
• Sellers are having single buyers purchase multiple
units of the same product at a discount or free (using
coupon codes) to drive sales rank
• Sellers are setting up fake accounts acting as real
buyers - making purchases using coupon codes and
canceling orders…
• Sellers are offering buyers additional product to
change bad reviews into good ones
Our Conclusions
About The TOS Updates:
• The intention of the updates is to mitigate fraudulent
behavior from sellers trying to manipulate the system
• Providing buyers free or discounted product in
exchange for unbiased reviews is within TOS with
specific guidelines of what is necessary to remain
compliant (re: disclosure statement)
• Remove terms from your headline and bullet points
that promote rankings. Ex: #1 Best Seller, Best Selling,
etc.
• We are still researching and reviewing use of
SuperURL’s
WHY REVIEWS MATTER
• Social Proof is one
of the biggest
influencers of
consumer buying
• All things being equal…
those with more/better
reviews often wins
• High Reviews and
Rating can sway
decisions over higher
ranking products
HOW TO GAIN MORE COMPLIANT
REVIEWS ON YOUR PRODUCTS
• Follow up emails - autoresponder email series designed to engage
your customer to leave a review or seller feedback or both.
– Benefits - can raise organic review rate, fairly simple to use.
Recommend for all sellers
• DIY / Manual Method - Hunt down individual reviewers, find their email or connect through
Amazon, reach out to them personally, ask if they would be willing to review your product.
Follow up with everyone to make sure it happens.
• Benefits - free (other than time), can target reviewers
• Review Service - Companies that have done the legwork for you to build database of
consumers and systems for coupon distribution and potentially systems to enforce review
follow through and TOS.
• Benefits - Takes almost no time, customer service, potentially very high review rate
(85%+), increases sales velocity & conversion rate
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR
REVIEW CAMPAIGNS
• New Products
Solid Performers
Leading Products
– Drive needed reviews to
create social proof (new)
– Drive daily sales
– Increase conversion rate
– Stay ahead of competition
DAILY SALES AVERAGE &
CONVERSION RATE
# of visitors Sales
Conversion
Rate
Oct 1
100 15 15%
Oct 2 105 19 18%
Oct 3 104 22 21%
Oct 4 280 191
68%
5
Oct 5 175 90 51%
Oct 6 115 27 23%
Oct 7 112 25 22%
Daily
Average
56 31%
REMEMBER THESE GUYS?
• 100% organic reviews
• New competitor has taken over
#1 position and has 350+
reviews in a short amount of time
• This seller must get more
aggressive as competition enters the marketplace
• You can play the Price War Game = Everyone Loses
• Or you can out-market them (PPC, Optimize, Reviews)
We could drive 254 new reviews in about 3 weeks
• This is true in any industry and on any sales platform
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IF
CHOOSING A REVIEW SERVICE
• Reviews & Volume
How many reviews have they actually generated?
Do they even know?
Can they handle volume?
• Compliance
Do they guarantee reviews or star rating?
Do they say they will put reviewers in touch with you if they
have a problem with the product?
• Public vs. Private
Do you want your sale priced or free product open for everyone to see?
• Full Service vs. DIY
Do you want to spend staff time on managing this part of your business?
NEXT STEPS
• Review your products & run a comparison vs your
main competition
• Decide if you are going to get reviews through
email follow ups, manually or with a review service
(most sellers use a combination of these)
• Decide what you will need to do to reach your
goals - how much, how fast?
• Create a plan and take action
Questions for Jeff or Keith?
Session Recordings Will Be Sent Next Week
Submit Questions In the Chat Box to the Right
Logistics Speakers
Jeff Coleman
Director of Account Management
CPC Strategy
Keith O’Brien
CEO
iLoveToReview

How to Generate Product Reviews on Amazon

  • 1.
    How to GenerateProduct Reviews on Amazon Proven Strategies for Growing Third-Party Sellers R E T A I L A D V E R T I S E R C O U R S E
  • 2.
    Jeff Coleman Director ofAccount Management  Amazon Specialist  Google AdWords Qualified Professional  Over 7+ Years Experience With Retail Search
  • 3.
    Before We GetStarted Session Recordings Will Be Sent Next Week Q&A Following the Presentation Submit Questions In the Chat Box to the Right Logistics Speakers Jeff Coleman Director of Account Management CPC Strategy Keith O’Brien CEO iLoveToReview
  • 4.
    • Founded in2007 • Over 300 active retail clients • Top 50 fastest growing company in San Diego 3 years running • Recognized as an Official Google Shopping Partner • Custom-built retail search technology platform, CAPx Solutions  Retail-focused Paid Search (PPC)  Google Shopping Management  Shopping Channel Management  Amazon Sales Acceleration CPC STRATEGY HAS BEEN FEATURED ON DELIVERING LASTING RESULTS FOR OUR CLIENTS VISIT CPCSTRATEGY.COM
  • 6.
    Poll Question Do yousolicit product feedback from customers? o Yes o No
  • 7.
    Amazon TOS Update:The Spirit of the Law www. C P C S t r a t e g y. c o m | 6 1 9 . 5 0 1 . 6 1 3 8 | c o n t a c t @ c p c s t r a t e g y. c o m TOS Update Intentionally Vague • Allows Amazon state their primary objective without identifying every possible way an advertiser might get around it. • Allows Amazon to continuously adapt to the arms race Spirit Of The Law: Provide value to Amazon’s customers Ask yourself 2 simple questions: • What’s in the customer’s best interest? • Am I deceiving Amazon or the customer?
  • 8.
    Google Panda www. CP C S t r a t e g y. c o m | 6 1 9 . 5 0 1 . 6 1 3 8 | c o n t a c t @ c p c s t r a t e g y. c o m Cracked Down On • Link farms: Intentionally deceived Google’s algorithm • Duplicate content: Provided no value to the customer Perfect Execution? • Absolutely not • Many legitimate businesses used these practices & they were hurt as well.
  • 9.
    Paid Positive Reviews& Super URLs www. C P C S t r a t e g y. c o m | 6 1 9 . 5 0 1 . 6 1 3 8 | c o n t a c t @ c p c s t r a t e g y. c o m 2 Affected Strategies 1) Paid Positive Reviews • Extension of Amazon’s continued scrutiny of product reviews • Clearly an attempt to deceive the customer (or future customers) • There are plenty of ways to solicit feedback honestly 2) Super URLs • Obvious attempt to deceive Amazon’s ranking algorithm • Still seems to be a viable strategy • Only a matter of time before Amazon closes this loophole for good, & possibly penalizes retailers for using them
  • 10.
    Welcome you to... REVIEWS,RANKING, CONVERSION RATE & TOS UPDATES
  • 11.
    WHO IS TALKING? •Keith O’Brien - CEO, iLoveToReview • Father, Entrepreneur, 20+ years in Marketing & Leadership Development • Prior to iLoveToReview, Keith has been on the marketing, training and sales end of a number of multi-million dollar companies & campaigns • iLoveToReview has worked with 100’s of Amazon Sellers helping them launch, ramp up and expand sales through strategic review campaigns • We’ve generated 10’s of thousands of reviews for clients - 32,401 since May 15 to be exact.
  • 12.
    THE FACTS • Reviewsare an essential part of Amazon’s business model • Providing a product in exchange for an unbiased review is clearly outlined within their Terms of Service • Organic reviews from general customers come in at an average of 1/2% - 2% • Reviews (social proof) are one of the biggest influences on consumer buying behavior
  • 13.
    SALES IS THENAME OF THE GAME Sales = Traffic + Conversion Rate Traffic Organic Ranking Paid Ads Existing Customers External Traffic Conversion Rate Price Title Bullet Points Image Description Keyword Targeting REVIEWS Seller Feedback Organic Rank Price Daily Sales Conversion Rate Seller Feedback
  • 14.
  • 15.
  • 16.
  • 17.
    The Big Questions: •What does “excessive number of free or discounted products” mean? • Does that mean that giveaway campaigns for reviews are no longer within TOS? • What about using Super URL’s? • What else may be a violation of the new TOS?
  • 18.
    Examples • Sellers arehaving single buyers purchase multiple units of the same product at a discount or free (using coupon codes) to drive sales rank • Sellers are setting up fake accounts acting as real buyers - making purchases using coupon codes and canceling orders… • Sellers are offering buyers additional product to change bad reviews into good ones
  • 19.
    Our Conclusions About TheTOS Updates: • The intention of the updates is to mitigate fraudulent behavior from sellers trying to manipulate the system • Providing buyers free or discounted product in exchange for unbiased reviews is within TOS with specific guidelines of what is necessary to remain compliant (re: disclosure statement) • Remove terms from your headline and bullet points that promote rankings. Ex: #1 Best Seller, Best Selling, etc. • We are still researching and reviewing use of SuperURL’s
  • 20.
    WHY REVIEWS MATTER •Social Proof is one of the biggest influencers of consumer buying • All things being equal… those with more/better reviews often wins • High Reviews and Rating can sway decisions over higher ranking products
  • 21.
    HOW TO GAINMORE COMPLIANT REVIEWS ON YOUR PRODUCTS • Follow up emails - autoresponder email series designed to engage your customer to leave a review or seller feedback or both. – Benefits - can raise organic review rate, fairly simple to use. Recommend for all sellers • DIY / Manual Method - Hunt down individual reviewers, find their email or connect through Amazon, reach out to them personally, ask if they would be willing to review your product. Follow up with everyone to make sure it happens. • Benefits - free (other than time), can target reviewers • Review Service - Companies that have done the legwork for you to build database of consumers and systems for coupon distribution and potentially systems to enforce review follow through and TOS. • Benefits - Takes almost no time, customer service, potentially very high review rate (85%+), increases sales velocity & conversion rate
  • 22.
    EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR REVIEWCAMPAIGNS • New Products Solid Performers Leading Products – Drive needed reviews to create social proof (new) – Drive daily sales – Increase conversion rate – Stay ahead of competition
  • 23.
    DAILY SALES AVERAGE& CONVERSION RATE # of visitors Sales Conversion Rate Oct 1 100 15 15% Oct 2 105 19 18% Oct 3 104 22 21% Oct 4 280 191 68% 5 Oct 5 175 90 51% Oct 6 115 27 23% Oct 7 112 25 22% Daily Average 56 31%
  • 24.
    REMEMBER THESE GUYS? •100% organic reviews • New competitor has taken over #1 position and has 350+ reviews in a short amount of time • This seller must get more aggressive as competition enters the marketplace • You can play the Price War Game = Everyone Loses • Or you can out-market them (PPC, Optimize, Reviews) We could drive 254 new reviews in about 3 weeks • This is true in any industry and on any sales platform
  • 25.
    WHAT TO LOOKFOR IF CHOOSING A REVIEW SERVICE • Reviews & Volume How many reviews have they actually generated? Do they even know? Can they handle volume? • Compliance Do they guarantee reviews or star rating? Do they say they will put reviewers in touch with you if they have a problem with the product? • Public vs. Private Do you want your sale priced or free product open for everyone to see? • Full Service vs. DIY Do you want to spend staff time on managing this part of your business?
  • 26.
    NEXT STEPS • Reviewyour products & run a comparison vs your main competition • Decide if you are going to get reviews through email follow ups, manually or with a review service (most sellers use a combination of these) • Decide what you will need to do to reach your goals - how much, how fast? • Create a plan and take action
  • 27.
    Questions for Jeffor Keith? Session Recordings Will Be Sent Next Week Submit Questions In the Chat Box to the Right Logistics Speakers Jeff Coleman Director of Account Management CPC Strategy Keith O’Brien CEO iLoveToReview

Editor's Notes

  • #8 Historical context: Amazon cracking down on title length & standards. Does a 500 character title stuffed with keywords that barely form a legible title benefit the customer? Probably not. Are there valid titles that require that many characters to describe the product? Probably, but that’s another example of a loophole that allowed savvy marketers to come in & game the system by keyword-stuffing their titles. Lo & behold Amazon is cracking down on title length to try & provide a uniform experience for all customers that decreases the opportunity to keyword-stuff titles.
  • #10 There was a time when you didn’t even need to be a verified buyer to leave a review