- Posted on
- • March 12, 2019
Got a few 1-star product reviews on Amazon? Don’t panic—if you act quickly you may be able to get them removed. We’ll tell you how.
The world of Amazon can be an unforgiving place for sellers. Back in the old days an unhappy customer would just demand a refund, storm out of your store, and never buy from you again. These days, they can leave evidence of their displeasure in the form of a stinging amazon review and a dreaded one-star rating. Not only will this hurt your pride, but if you get too many negative product reviews, you could see a drop in sales. Unfortunately, since Amazon outlawed the practice of incentivizing reviews, it’s become pretty difficult to control what people say about your products. Even so, there are still options available to any seller looking to address any negative reviews.
Why Bad Reviews Matter
Amazon reviews have an impact on your discoverability. The more positive reviews you have, the higher your products will rank on Amazon search results. Users can also search for products based on the quality of reviews. For example, if someone only wants products with an average of three or four stars and you’re languishing with two stars, they’ll never get to see your product.
Likewise, buyers often rely on reviews to inform their buying decisions. Even if you have a relatively good rating, they may still go looking for bad reviews to find out what can go wrong with your product. So, no matter how well you’re doing on Amazon, it pays to keep track of your product reviews. Failure to address a negative review will tell a potential buyer even more about you than the review itself.
Combating Bad Reviews
The first thing you need is a good review management platform to provide data on all your reviews. These will alert you when you receive a negative review. You can see what’s gone wrong and who has left a review. This helps you to get to work as quickly as possible putting things right.
There are two ways to remove negative product reviews on Amazon.
- Have the review removed by Amazon.
- Take steps that will remedy the situation with the reviewer.
The first option only really applies if the review is not genuine. Sellers have, on occasion, been known to target their competitors with fake Amazon reviews to push their products down the listings. If you believe this is what has happened to you, you can report the review and reviewer to Amazon. Leave a clear concise message about why you feel it should be deleted and send it off.
Amazon will only intervene if they see clear evidence that this profile is acting fraudulently.
Engaging With Customers
The second option mentioned above is much more likely to be of use, but you have to make sure you follow Amazon’s established rules. Amazon is very clear about when you can and cannot contact buyers. Most importantly, you cannot incentivize someone to remove a review. This means you cannot, for example, tell a buyer that you will only offer a refund if they remove their negative review.
However, if you’re open, helpful, and courteous to the reviewer, there’s a good chance they will remove or amend the review all on their own. Most customers leave negative product reviews on Amazon for a very good reason–they hope you will resolve the matter.
Using a review management platform like Feedbackwhiz will let you receive a notification the moment someone leaves a negative product review. This will allow you to publicly comment, offering to make things right.
In many cases, if customers receive a speedy and satisfactory response from you they will feel inclined to remove or amend their negative review.
Learn From Mistakes
Even if someone does not remove their product review, you can still learn from this experience. Using your review management platform, you can track all your reviews and identify issues as and when they arise. If you spot a trend developing this is a good chance to take action to change things for the better.
Commenting directly on the review with contact information and the steps you are willing to take shows potential buyers that you are a trustworthy brand who will stand behind your product and make things right should something go wrong. This creates buyer confidence and can only work to your advantage.
No matter what happens, whether a buyer removes an Amazon review or not, it pays to be on top of all your product reviews. A review management tool can be vital in getting rid of negative reviews. This allows you to track reviews and immediately resolve any negative reviews or issues that can crop up from time to time. Taking these steps can boost your ratings and put you on the path to improved reputation and increased revenue.
