Breaking News: Amazon Vine Program Now Available To Sellers
Product reviews have a significant impact on a product’s ranking, traffic, and sales performance on Amazon. The more product reviews, the more likely a product will improve its discoverability and buyability – two vital components to success on the Marketplace.
The Amazon Vine program has historically helped Vendors only ramp up sales and advertising on new products.
As of now, the program is being offered to Sellers who meet the criteria below:
What is the Amazon Vine Program?
According to Amazon, Amazon Vine invites the most trusted reviewers on Amazon to post opinions about new products to help their fellow customers make informed purchase decisions. Amazon invites buyers to become Vine reviewers (called Vine Voices) based on the insightfulness of the reviews they published on their Amazon purchases.
Participating sellers can provide free units of their products in order for this select group of Vine Voices to post customer reviews for the products they submit. Participating in Vine helps build awareness of your product, boosts the sales of your slow and new products, and helps customers make informed decisions about new products you offer.
To participate in Vine, you must be a Professional seller, have registered a brand in Amazon Brand Registry, and have eligible FBA offers. Once your enrollment is complete, Vine Voices will have the opportunity to request your enrolled products to review.
Vendors and sellers should aim for an approach that will gain as many product reviews as possible. While reviews are not the only component sellers should base their strategy on, they do help sellers gauge how many reviews they should aim for to compete within their market. Sellers should research what kind of review volume they need to rank on the first page.
At the end of the day, vendors and sellers want to know which courses of action are going to increase the bottom line, and the Amazon Vine program is just one option brands can implement to increase the number of product reviews.
– Jeff Coleman, VP, Marketplace Channels | Tinuiti
How Does the Amazon Vine Program Work?
A reviewer’s rank is determined by the overall helpfulness of all their reviews, factoring in the number of reviews they have written.
Below is an example of how the Amazon Vine program works:
Amazon Vine Program: What Vendors / Sellers Should Know
Newer brands looking to increase market share are the most likely to leverage and benefit from a program like Amazon Vine (or other review platforms).
Amazon Vine offers 3 level of services including:
- Basic – Allows enrollment of 5 products
- Plus – Allows enrollment of 10 products
- Premium – Allows enrollment of 20 products
Amazon Vine Program: What About Negative Reviews?
Writing a negative review will not impact a Voice’s reviewer ranking. Vendors / Sellers have no contact with the Vine Voices, and have no influence over which Vine Voices will review their products.
On the brand side, in the event you do receive a negative review, it is considered best practice to publicly reply. Any way that sellers can engage their customers online is only going to help promote your brand. It’s a great way to show customers you care and that you are trying to work through the problem. It can be a little risky, so sellers should make sure that when they do respond to a negative review they shouldn’t be too defensive or let their emotional attachment to the brand get in the way.
Best practice is to sympathize with the customer and show that you genuinely want to address their concerns. Ask lots of questions to show that you are interested in resolving the issue at hand – whether that be because of a delivery issue or a problem with the product itself.
Visit here to learn more about the Amazon Vine Program.
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