Negative Amazon Reviews - Use Them to Your Advantage

Negative Amazon reviews can really hurt.

If you're a private label or brand-registered seller, you know exactly what I'm talking about. For starters, customer reviews are an important factor in an item's visibility on the Amazon marketplace. Amazon is obsessed with making its shoppers happy, which is why higher-rated products often have the upper hand in search results. Conversions are higher, too: for obvious reasons, customers find it harder to click "Add to cart" the lower the item's average star rating.

With so much negativity surrounding negative Amazon reviews, what possible value could they offer sellers like you?

In this post, we'll explore how to convert negative reviews into an asset for your business.

Better Understanding of the Customer

For a moment, let's take a step back, forget about SEO, and consider this simple question: Why does Amazon permit reviews in the first place?

As Amazon points out, "Customer Reviews help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. Customer Reviews should give customers genuine product feedback from fellow shoppers. We have a zero tolerance policy for any review designed to mislead or manipulate customers."

It's noteworthy that Amazon does not mention the seller anywhere in this definition. Rather, it emphasizes the importance of the customer's voice and needs. And, clearly, that strategy has paid off, as evidenced by the unbelievable number of purchases that happen on Amazon daily.

Although you're a seller, you're probably an online shopper yourself. Would you want to see reviews that are manipulated, sifting out any negative opinions, or would you want to see the real pros and cons before making a purchase?

In recent years, Amazon has faced scrutiny from sellers and even the authorities over illicit product review manipulation schemes. Black-hat sellers use tactics like paying customers to leave positive reviews on their own listings or negative reviews on competitors' listings. However, Amazon itself has also taken legal action against groups that use these tactics and made it clear that its ultimate goal is still to provide shoppers with honest, genuine reviews.

And real customers do occasionally leave honest negative reviews. So, when a negative review lands on your listing, as frustrating as that can be, take a deep breath and consider whether the buyer has a point. Maybe you can learn better what your buyer was looking for and provide it more adequately, which will encourage better reviews and more sales long-term.

Supplier Accountability

Negative Amazon reviews can be useful for keeping suppliers accountable. Let's say you're importing jewelry from India and selling it under your private-label brand. Lately, you've been noticing customers are posting comments like these:

"Cheap material - this was supposed to be silver, but it's clearly not."

"The clasp broke a few days after I started wearing it."

"Not bad for the price, but it's definitely not silver."

It's clear you have a bone to pick with your supplier. You're either being sold a bill of goods, or there's some misunderstanding to resolve. Either way, it's better to deal with it now before you fulfill (and refund) hundreds or thousands of orders. In other words, failing fast can help you create a more viable long-term sourcing plan.

Smarter Product & Marketing Decisions

By closely monitoring reviews for supplier-related issues and evolving customer preferences, you'll also find it easier to make smarter product and marketing decisions.

Let's be honest: not all of your private-label product ideas are destined for best-seller status. Some will struggle to get traffic in an oversaturated market where there are better or lower-priced options, and some might just not be what shoppers want. A few negative customer reviews might be an early indicator that the product is going to struggle to find product-market fit and sell well, at least in its current state.

Knowing this early on can help you prioritize your business initiatives. Instead of replenishing more of the same product, it might be time to develop a version 2.0 or focus on other products in your catalog that are performing better.

Steps for Turning Negative Reviews into an Asset

So, that's the theory, but how do you get all these insights from your negative reviews and put them into practice? There are three steps:

Monitor your listings so you know when you've received a negative review.
Short-term resolution with the individual reviewers, as far as possible.
Long-term resolution with your supplier, product, or business strategy.

Let's cover each of these in order.

Monitoring for Negative Reviews

If you have Amazon Brand Registry, you can see your recent reviews in Seller Central by going to Brands > Customer Reviews. (If you don't see Brands, you may not be brand registered.) However, you'll have to check this reviews dashboard daily to find out whether there are negative reviews that need your attention.

Alternatively, whether you have Brand Registry or not, you can sign up for a software tool (such as FeedbackFive by eComEngine) that will track reviews and even send you an alert by email or text when you receive a new review.

Knowing as quickly as possible that you have a new negative review increases your chances of turning the review to your advantage, especially in the short term.

Short-term Resolution: Contacting the Customer

For brand-registered sellers, the customer review dashboard also offers a way to contact buyers who left a negative review by sending a templated message offering either a refund or a replacement product.

While you cannot (per Amazon's policy) ask a customer to change or remove a product review, sending these templated offers is a very good practice. Put yourself in the buyer's shoes: if you left a negative review stating that your item arrived defective, and you got an email within a few hours responding to your review by offering to replace the product for free, you would be more likely to change your review to reflect the positive experience. Maybe you would even make another purchase from the company in the future, knowing you'll get good service. But if you don't get any response, or only hear back from the company days or weeks later, you'd be less impressed and might have even forgotten all about the review.

So, acting quickly to resolve the individual buyer's complaint is one way to preserve your reputation and maximize the chances that buyers will remove negative reviews on their own.

Tracefuse can help if you have negative Amazon reviews that are eligible for removal. While you can't ask the customer to remove a negative review, you can ask Amazon to do so if the review violates Amazon's policies. For example, reviews that include profanity or are only about the fulfillment experience may be removed.

Long-term Resolution: Improving Your Product or Listing

If you notice patterns in the negative review comments, it may be time to make bigger changes. Here are just a few examples:

Product detail page adjustments: A poorly executed product detail page can sometimes be the root cause of negative reviews. By making a few adjustments to your page's content and images, you might be able to set more realistic expectations, thereby mitigating future negative ratings. For example, if the customers typically complain that the item is smaller than they expected, add an image showing the dimensions of the product more clearly.

Improving existing products: Look for common threads in the negative reviews you receive. Could a tweak to the product design or material deliver more value to your customers? If so, how many of the negative reviews would have instead been positive? It's worth considering a new and improved version of your product, especially if that would help you capture more sales from your competitors. (Just be sure you understand whether you need a new ASIN and UPC or GTIN to reflect the changes.)

Identifying new product ideas: Customers might mention a major change they'd like to see in the product, another problem they want to solve, or an item they purchased alongside it, which might give you an idea for how to expand your product line. Also, some sellers monitor the reviews of their competitors' products, with the sole intention of uncovering weaknesses. Such weaknesses may represent a golden opportunity to seize market share by delivering a better product option.

Manage Your Negative Amazon Reviews

Positive reviews are incredibly beneficial for your Amazon business. While the occasional negative rating is to be expected (after all, you can’t please everyone all the time!), you should be monitoring your Amazon negative reviews to identify any concerning trends.

If you’re brand registered, you can see all of your reviews on the Customer Reviews page in Seller Central, where you can also filter by star rating and period (reviews are retained for up to 30 days). If you want even more details and a longer historical view, check out FeedbackFive and its powerful review analytics features.

FeedbackFive allows you to import 90 days of historical review data for each ASIN you choose to monitor. As new reviews come in, they are added to those initial 90 days of review data so you can get a more complete look at your review trends and mine them for ideas. You might find the next best-selling product idea waiting in the one-star reviews!