What is the best software to help a seller get Amazon reviews?
In the past, our team has worked with lots of different software options, helping Amazon sellers (our customers) get reviews. Some software provided mediocre results, some worked great, but most stopped working well after a while. We have seen this kind of software change and evolve.
So, does this “feedback software” still work? Are there email follow-up/feedback software applications worth investing time and energy into? Should I? Well, here are our experience and thoughts.
Background:
What did the software actually do? After the client purchased a product, the feedback software would immediately, automatically send out an email to the buyer. This email, along with providing other functions, invited the buyer to leave a review for the purchased product.
Early on, it was easier to get reviews using these types of software. People were signing up and leaving reviews and sellers got tremendous results. Today however the guidelines for these emails are more precise in what a seller can say, suggest and ask for. This, along with crowded email boxes have reduced the number of reviews that can be expected.
However, we still feel like this type of buyer follow-up is beneficial.
Current follow up feedback environment:
Currently there are over 20 different software options for sending follow-up emails to customer. Frequent buyers can be overwhelmed with the number of emails they are getting. Therefore, it’s important for us to:
- understand the software options
- to know how they work
- to choose the best option for our own business
- and to set realistic expectations.
In-Depth Benefits:
What can follow up emails can do for your business?
1) Automate your follow-up messaging -
How it works: when a customer makes a purchase from your store on Amazon, you can automatically follow up with an email saying -
thank you for your purchase
did the package arrive on time?
please leave us a review.
You are reaching out to your customers, making sure their order was received successfully.
2) Enhance the buyer experience
When a customer makes a purchase, that's our first time interacting with them. We can reach out to provide more value with information about how to use the product. We could attach a PDF or a video. This is our brand's first interaction with the customer.
With feedback software you have the ability to further communicate with customers about the product.
Follow-up emails are great for brands whose products are new and may need a little explanation. For example, you could send an eBook for cooking and how to use the utensils. You can do a number of things to bring the next level of knowledge to your customer.
3) Overall account health
While communication with customers is very helpful, arguably the most important feature is its ability to help you monitor your Amazon account's overall health.
The feedback software gives you the ability to get notifications about positive or negative feedback, and from there you can reach out to your customers to fix a problem they may have, as well as respond to other people who have questions.
Feedback Software Difference:
Pricing is a pretty straightforward difference between software options. Another one is tracking notifications. Not all of them have the same options for reviewing positive and negative feedback.
Warning: Some offer the ability to track a customer review to a specific order so you can reach out to that customer and try to fix problems. That’s against Amazon’s terms of service, so stay away from the ones that do that.
Another differentiator is that software’s available templates. The feedback software should give you the ability to create different emails. Think of it like a miniature mailing software like Mailchimp, with which you are following up with your customers. This is Amazon’s version of that. With these templates we can create different types of messages to reach out to our customers. Some can be informational, some can have a request for a review or store feedback, others are simply introducing your brand and other products. Think of all the different ways that you can create different email templates.
Some of these software options are very sophisticated, and some of them are very simple. It all really depends on the software you choose and the customer support on the other end of it.
Set Realistic Expectations:
We want to make sure that we set real expectations: You will be able to reach out to your customers when they first get that order and this will be your first contact with them, but will you be able to monitor all your feedback in one spot?
That email could be the difference between them leaving a negative review and just messaging you to fix the problem. Will this software allow you to reach out to them and fix the problem before that even ever occurs?
This is not just about bringing in a whole lot of reviews simply because you are sending them an email. Customers get tons of emails. You should expect to maybe see a slight increase, but open rate is going to be very low. There is still a lot of value here, but keep your expectations in line. This isn't a perfect solution for Amazon reviews.
Make sure you choose software that fits your goals as a brand on Amazon. These companies work to get you in and get you to subscribe, so pick one that works for you. Make sure you are doing your diligence and work with one that’s going to bring the best out of your brand.
Our Software of Choice:
Our partner of choice is “Feedback Five.” We believe that they provide a lot of value.
They’ve been around since the beginning their customer support is great they allow you to monitor all of your feedback and reviews in one spot.
They make it easy for the customer service manager to keep the account healthy.
Feedback Software can be a great tool, but it all depends on you having clear expectations, best practices in using emails and knowing how to use your software.