10 facts about Amazon feedback no one talks about

1) A lot of negative feedback on Amazon isn’t your fault.

In fact, it’s your fault probably less than half of the time. You will get negative feedback, and a lot of it you won’t deserve.

To fully appreciate how unwarranted much feedback is, here are some gems from my profile:

•The customer who ordered a book described as “Acceptable condition – has some water damage to first chapter”, and complained that there was water damage to the first chapter.
•The customer who ordered a book described as “Good condition – signed by the author,” then complained there was “writing on the first page.”
•The customer who ordered a VHS copy of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, then complained when they received a VHS copy of “It’s a Wonderful Life” (they wanted a DVD).

2) Then again, it probably is your fault.

…because you haven’t stepped up to do what it takes to have it removed. Oh you think you’ve tried everything? You’re wrong. There are many tricks you haven’t even thought of.

If you sit back and do nothing about negative feedback, you’re at least 49% at fault through pure negligence. Exercise the full range of your options and watch bad feedback disappear.

3) 90% of negative feedback can be reduced to 7 things.

And if you’re selling with FBA, only two of them are of concern to you.

•Late shipment / item not arriving on time
•Unhappy with the return process
•General customer service
•Packaging
•Product quality (customer didn’t read your condition description)
•Product not as described / listing errors
•Inaccurate / unwarranted feedback

4) People will try to tell you 10% of customers leave feedback. They’re wrong.

With books, its less than 5%. If you’re lucky.

5) You’re allowed to bribe customers to remove their feedback, if you do it right.

I call this tactic “bribery-lite.” And its not against Amazon‘s rules.

The basic tactic goes like this: Contact the disgruntled customer, offer them a (unconditional) $10 Amazon gift card for their trouble, then after you send the gift card (via email), ask them if they’ll remove the negative feedback.

You’re invoking the “rule of reciprocity.” Aka “bribery-lite.”

Yes, this works.

6) Amazon claims there are only four reasons they will remove feedback. They’re lying.

If you listened to them, they would say these are the only reasons they will take down negative feedback:

•If the feedback is about a late or lost package (applies to FBA sellers only).
•If the comment contains obscene language.
•If it reveals personally identifying information (like an address).
•If the entire comment is a product review, such as “this book is poorly written” (this happens).

A lot of feedback gets removed that doesn’t fall into any of these categories. You just have to know how to ask – and where. And sometimes when

(There is actually one day a week where you have a greater chance of having feedback removed than the other six, but Amazon might be reading this and fix this loophole, so if they want to know what I know, email me).

7) There are totally unfair types of feedback Amazon won’t remove (but should)

•Feedback left for a different order (not from you).
•Clearly positive feedback with one to three stars.
•Feedback for overlooked condition description.
•Feedback for an error on the product page.

Again, totally unfair.

8) There are services that will automate the feedback repair and solicitation process.

FeedbackFive is one.

Feedback Genius is another.

9) There are really only two reasons a customer will remove their feedback

•They see that they are in the wrong.
•They are properly “incentivized.”

The second one is very powerful, when done properly (see the “bribery-lite” trick above).

10) You’re allowed to solicit positive feedback from your customers by contacting them directly

But almost no one does it. And for this reason, they are not properly buffered against the impact of negative feedback when it comes (and it will).

-Peter Valley