As an Amazon seller, there are two problems that cause a lot of stress, lack of sales and bad reviews. Although these two are co-related, in this article, we will be focusing on bad reviews and how to remove them.
Unfortunately, sellers would always have to deal with negative reviews regardless of high product quality and stellar customer service. People are just hard to please and sometimes, something just goes wrong or a customer’s expectations are not met. Unless you already have hundreds of reviews, receiving 3 stars or less can tank your business.
Shoppers look at the negative reviews to check the issues of a product. Too many bad reviews would lead potential customers to assume that the products aren’t worth purchasing. So, knowing how to remove bad reviews and preventing even more from coming in can lead you to success.
Handling Bad Amazon Reviews
There are two different approaches to handling bad or negative reviews. These are not mutually exclusive and can be done simultaneously or one after the other. The first one is the customer service approach. By responding to the review left by the customer and reaching out to address the concern, it showcases your store’s dedication to the customers and your willingness to deliver after sales service.
The second approach is to request the deletion or removal of the review if there is reason to believe that the review is in violation of Amazon’s guidelines.
Responding to the Customer
If the review doesn’t violate any Amazon guidelines and you want to resolve the issue, respond to the review in a professional and timely manner. Be concise, polite and offer them solutions or compromises. If there was an error or misunderstanding, offer your apologies and explain your side of the issue.
Amazon has a buyer-seller messaging system that you can use to directly communicate with your customers. If further communication is needed, redirect the conversation to this service. Keep in mind that asking buyers to contact you outside of Amazon is against the terms and conditions of the platform.
Responding to the negative review means both the review and your response are visible on your product page but your response, depending on how you wrote it, will likely mitigate the impact of the bad review. The customer may also change or edit their review to a better rating if they are satisfied with how you handled their concern. Please note that only sellers can use the buyer-seller messaging service. Vendors do not have this option.
You can contact a buyer regarding negative feedback by using one of the following options:
Use the Feedback Manager
- Go to Feedback under the Performance tab.
- In the Recent Feedback table, select Contact Customer under the Actions column next to the designated Order ID.
Use the Buyer-Seller Messaging templates
For more information, see Email templates for Buyer-Seller Messaging.
Important: You can only use the Buyer-Seller Messaging templates to contact a buyer in regards to an order or a customer service question.
Note: Buyers can remove their feedback on a seller transaction at any time within 60 calendar days from the date they originally left the feedback.
You can also use the same steps to address incorrect feedback. If a buyer makes a mistake when evaluating and submitting feedback, you can’t edit it, but the buyer can delete it.
Respond to Amazon buyer feedback
Use the Feedback Manager:
- Go to Feedback under the Performance tab.
- In the Recent Feedback table, select Post a public response.
For buyers who decide not to remove or modify negative feedback, you can post a response on the Amazon website.
Note: Your response will be available for public viewing. Please don’t use this as a way to communicate with the buyer.
In your posting, you can explain how you worked to correct the problem. Your response won’t change your feedback rating, but other buyers will be able to read your explanation when they see the buyer’s feedback.
When replying to negative feedback, keep your comments brief and professional. Even if the buyer comment is not courteous, replying in a similar manner can backfire and reflect badly on you.
To remove your response:
- In Seller Central, click Feedback under the Performance header.
- Click the Order ID of the Feedback containing your response.
- Find the comment you want to remove and click Request Removal.
- Click Request Removal again to confirm, or click Cancel to cancel your request.
After you submit your response, you can’t edit it, but you can delete it. If you delete your response, you can’t submit a second response. In addition, if a buyer removes or modifies their feedback, your response is also removed, and you can submit a new response.
Removing a Amazon Bad Review
Amazon has two methods that a seller can use to report and remove a review. Reviews can actually be removed for your products page if they violate Amazon’s terms of service. The first method is by emailing the Amazon support team at [email protected]. The second method is to report a review on the product details page.
A bad review here means an inappropriate, irrelevant or malicious review. A review can be very critical and scathing but it still may be within the guidelines. Amazon has an alleged zero-tolerance policy for manipulative, irrelevant or misleading reviews. So what are Amazon’s grounds for removal?
Here they are:
- The review should talk about the product, not about the seller (or anything else)
- Reviews that compare prices, alternate options, and product availability are not allowed by Amazon
- Content of the review should not be libelous, harassing, threatening, or inflammatory (i.e., it should not contain profanity and hate speech)
- Content that promotes nudity or is obscene
- Reviews that offer personal contact information or email addresses
- Promoting other products or website URLs
- Requesting or offering compensation in exchange for content
- Reviews from competitors
- Multiple negative reviews by the same customer for a single product
Contacting Amazon Support
By sending an e-mail to [email protected], you can ask Amazon to check up on a review you want to have removed. To streamline the process and make it easier for their team to go check on your request,
make sure you include all the relevant information and concisely explain your reasons or arguments for the removal.
The following details should be included:
- The ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) of your product,
- The date and time of the review in question,
- The account name or username of the reviewer, and
- The URL of the review.
For “Fulfilled By Amazon” or FBA Sellers, if a bad review is related to shipping, condition, or delivery or all of the above, that can be easily removed as these fall under Amazon’s responsibilities and not the sellers.
If the Removal Failed
Requesting for removal or reporting the review does not guarantee that the review will get deleted. Most of the time, the bad review will remain in your products page for as long as your product is listed and your shop exists. However, this is not the end of the line for your success story. Bad reviews can be taken as constructive criticism. These comments would allow you to understand the shortcomings of your products and your services. And because your responses to these reviews are visible to everyone, your potential customers will be able to see how you handle irate customers and fake reviews.
Request a review from a customer
Amazon doesn’t require you to request reviews because their systems already do that on your behalf at no cost to you. If you would still like to request a review for a specific order, it is recommended that you use the “Request a review” feature on the Order Details page instead of asking the customer via email or Buyer-Seller Messaging.
When you request a review using this feature, Amazon asks for both a product review and seller feedback for the order in the same email. These requests use standardized language and are automatically translated into the customer’s preferred language.
You can use this feature to request reviews once per order between 5 and 30 days after the order delivery date. This ensures that customers receive relevant, recent review requests.
Let Remove Digital help you
Removal Digital specializes in online reputation management, content suppression and removal.
If you read through this article and still have some questions or you wish to have your concerns looked at by our expert, Contact us today so we can help you manage your online presence and profiles. Email us at [email protected].