Sure Fire Win for Managing Feedback

After a murder occurred just steps from their front door, the husband and wife team behind Salt Supply Co. wanted a non-lethal form of home protection. They created a business by selling air-powered guns that spray a combination of tear gas and pepper spray. Since this is a restricted product, it cannot be advertised online through some popular channels, but it can be sold through the Amazon marketplace.

This Amazon success story has had its fair share of bumps in the road. But, thanks to the owners' hard work and some helpful technology, Salt Supply Co. has grown to new heights. Continue reading to see how FeedbackFive has contributed to the company's success.

Pulling the Trigger

We recently talked to Christina Kennedy, who co-owns the business with her husband, about how the company got started. She shared that getting started on the Amazon marketplace was difficult at first because the product is considered controversial. The company received several negative feedback ratings just after launching. “All of the negative feedback was making it really difficult to become successful on Amazon,” she admitted.

Desperate to find a way to get more feedback and reviews, Christina did some web searches on the topic. She tried soliciting and managing feedback manually, but the task quickly took over her day.

“I was trying to do what FeedbackFive does by myself. It was horrible," she said. "I ended up sending emails to consumers asking them for feedback, but it was just a lot to manage and keep my eye on. It’s super time-consuming downloading all of the orders, figuring out who you emailed previously and when you emailed them and doing it on a timely basis.” Having never written a review solicitation email, she was unsure of how effective her efforts were. It was time to find a better solution, and fast.

Feedback Management with Precision

By sending individual product review requests manually, Christina quickly learned that she wasn’t getting a significant return on her efforts. This was especially frustrating because there were many other aspects of the just-launched business that demanded her time.

But being successful on the Amazon marketplace demands positive seller feedback and product reviews. Customers rely on feedback to help them determine whether or not to make a purchase from a particular company, and product reviews are critical, too.

A non-lethal gun isn’t exactly something you come across every day; the company needed reviews from customers who could tell others about their experiences with the product.

FeedbackFive automates the feedback and review solicitation process for Christina, giving her much better results with significantly less day-to-day work. “I was very excited [to find FeedbackFive] because it’s a program that allows me so much flexibility with my time, because I don’t have to think about it. I know that my customers are emailed requests for a review. It’s been very good for my business,” she said.

FeedbackFive also provides a daily summary email that keeps her up to date with the latest feedback ratings, no matter how busy she is.

Automatically Exclude Cancelled Orders

The non-lethal guns sold by Salt Supply Co. are manufactured and sold in the United States, but they are restricted products and that means there are some hoops to jump through. The products are legal in New York and Massachusetts but may not be shipped to those states. They are illegal in California. This means that Salt Supply Co. sees a lot of cancelled orders from potential buyers in those states.

Sending feedback requests for these orders would likely lead to negative feedback, since customers were unable to purchase the product in their geographic area. But manually excluding cancelled orders would require a lot of Christina’s time. That’s one of the many reasons she loves FeedbackFive. “If an order has been cancelled for whatever reason…FeedbackFive automatically takes them out of the system, which is awesome,” she shared. “I would never get rid of the service. I’ve never even thought about that because it has been so helpful in terms of seller feedback and also product feedback. It has been very critical to my business.”

Ready? Aim, Fire!

Salt Supply Co. had a rocky start on the Amazon marketplace that quickly improved and led them to success after they began using FeedbackFive to request product reviews and seller feedback for the private-label brand. If you’d like to try FeedbackFive, now’s the time!

This post spotlights a satisfied user of FeedbackFive. This article is part of our series highlighting merchant success stories. As a thank-you for participating in this article, the customer received one free month of FeedbackFive. If you’re currently using FeedbackFive and would like to participate in this program, click here to request information.