Product reviews are a key aspect of the Amazon ecosystem. They’re a driving force of sales and a key decision maker when it comes to selling. When customers leave a review on one of your products, you have the option to respond to that review. But how does responding to reviews help your business, and how exactly should you respond? In this blog, we’ll be answering those questions.
If you’re interested in how you can increase your product reviews, check out our other blog here.
Why You Should Be Responding to Product Reviews
Responding to product reviews is a great way to show your customers that you value their feedback. When you respond to a review, you are showing your customers that you are listening to what they have to say and are taking their feedback in. This helps to reassure them that you will continue to improve. According to a study by Jay Baer, 53% of customers expect a reply from their reviews. So, by not responding to reviews, you are ignoring about half of your customers. This may result in a decrease in customer advocacy.
You should aim to treat your online reviews in the same way you would treat in-person feedback. When a customer gives you some advice or criticism in person, you would immediately respond, you wouldn’t ignore them. The same should apply online. It’s not easy to respond to every single review you receive online, but you should try to respond to as many as you can. You should aim to prioritize the reviews with the most amount of detail in them. Those are the customers who have put in the most amount of time and effort to review your product.
Responding to Positive Reviews
You may not necessarily realize this at first, but there are actually quite a few benefits to responding to positive reviews. Let your customers know that you are grateful for their kind words and appreciate their time and business. This will help to encourage customers to keep coming back to you, as they know that you care about them. It will also help anyone who reads your response to become a future customer, as they will see that you treat your customers well.
When responding to positive reviews, there are a few things you could consider. For example, try throwing in some keywords. This will help the review to appear more frequently when customers search through the reviews, ensuring more people see this positive review. Also, for many listings, Amazon will add a “Read Reviews That Mention” field, which means customers can easily navigate to relevant reviews.
Example: “Hello [customer], thank you for your amazing review! We are pleased to hear that your expectations have been exceeded! If you require any further assistance, please feel free to contact us via the Amazon Messaging Service!”
Responding to Negative Reviews
Responding to negative reviews is essential to let your unsatisfied customers know that you understand their problem and intend to amend their issue. You also want to ensure that they do not experience these problems again in the future. This shows customers that you are committed to providing the best service that you can. When responding to a negative review, it is important that you let the customer know that you understand their issue and reassure them that you are doing everything in your power.
Successfully resolving a customer’s issue will often yield positive results as well. Customers you’ve helped may update their previous review, complimenting you on your ability to help them with their original issue. This will help to show customers that your company has effective customer service.
Example: “Hello [customer], we are sorry to hear that you are dissatisfied with our product. If possible, we would like to hear more about your issue, so we can find a way to make things right. Please give contact us through the Amazon messaging service when you can.”
Some Final Tips
Here are a few things to consider when writing your responses:
Respond quickly – You want to show your customers that you are responsive and are constantly looking at your reviews. Responding to a review quickly, say within the first 24 hours, will show customers that you are proactive.
Write personal responses – Using unique and personal responses shows the customer that you are interested in their feedback and their opinion is valued. You don’t want to come off as uninterested or lazy, which scripted responses may imply.
Stay Professional – The last you want to do when responding to a negative review is provoke your customers. Make sure that you are polite and professional with every review, even the harshest ones.
That concludes our blog on the importance of responding to product reviews. We hope that this blog was able to provide you with some useful advice for your product reviews. Stay tuned for more blogs from us in the near future!
