There are more than 2.3 million active sellers on Amazon Marketplace in 2020, and they all want to know how to increase sales on Amazon. The following guide is packed with expert advice, Amazon tips, and best practices to boost traffic to your Amazon listing and increase sales on Amazon.
Expert Amazon Seller Tips to Increase Amazon Sales in 2020
As of 2020 there are millions of SMBs selling on Amazon but less than 10% of the currently active sellers are able to achieve $100,000 in yearly sales, and fewer than 1% achieved $1 million in sales. Why?
Because every year the largest portion of sales on the Amazon marketplace are generated by the smallest fraction of sellers. What do these brands have that 90% of Amazon sellers don’t?
Collect Seller Feedback to Boost Amazon Sales
Amazon doesn’t spell this out anywhere, but there is a direct correlation between your organic search rankings, your seller feedback, and Amazon sales.
Unfortunately, too many Amazon sellers never realize the impact that positive feedback can have on their Amazon sales and never take any steps to gather more positive feedback. Amazon reviews can make or break your business.
Seller Feedback is Not the Same as a Product Review
Before we go any further, we need to clarify the difference between Seller Feedback and a Product Review.
In the Amazon Marketplace, seller feedback refers to the customer’s buying experience, and is intended to help buyers decide whether they should purchase from you or another Amazon seller based on:
- Product Packaging;
- Shipping Time;
- Seller Professionalism;
- Customer Service, and
- Overall Experience.
A product review, on the other hand, is a review of any specific product sold on Amazon and has nothing to do with the seller’s performance. Though positive product reviews are important, they do not have the same impact on overall sales, as seller feedback.
How do I Get More Seller Feedback on Amazon
As of 2020, providing Amazon seller feedback is entirely optional. Thus, the percentage of customers who actually leave a seller review is miniscule. But that doesn’t change the correlation between increased sales and seller feedback on Amazon.
Think of feedback like a “report card” from customers regarding the buying experience. If you collect too much negative feedback, your average star rating next to your brand name will decrease. But there are ways to keep that from happening.
Best Practices to Maintain Positive Feedback and Rating on Amazon
Now that you understand the correlation between positive feedback and sales on Amazon, you can take steps to gather as much positive feedback as possible and avoid the addition of negative feedback.
The following tips are considered best practices for identifying and resolving potential problems, which may lead to positive ratings and increased sales on Amazon.
- Avoid Stock-Outs
Stockouts not only affect your sales, they ruin your brand image and tarnish your reputation with your customers. Though it’s never a good idea to overstock inventory, running out of inventory is even worse. Fortunately, you can avoid stockouts and overstocking if you:
- Do not list backordered items;
- Maintain a minimum threshold of inventory;
- Remove offerings that are consistently out-of-stock;
- Ensure that you process Amazon orders quickly;
- Set aside dedicated inventory for Amazon orders, and
- Ensure your drop-shipper inventory is up to date.
- Minimize Late Shipments and Misdeliveries
One of the best ways to avoid negative seller feedback on Amazon is to minimize late shipments and misdeliveries to your customers. Though the occasional shipping mishap is bound to happen, you can keep them to a minimum if you:
- Set an accurate lead-time-to-ship for each SKU;
- Notify buyers of any errors as early as possible, and cancel the product or order by default;
- Check your packing, picking, and shipping processes for issues that cause errors;
- Upgrade automatically to an expedited shipping method if you are shipping an order late;
- Remove offerings that are consistently shipped late, and
- Send tracking information with your fulfillment feed.
- Perfect the Return Process
Returns are bound to happen, but customers are more likely to forgive your brand (and avoid leaving negative feedback) if you make the return process as easy and pain free as possible. We recommend that you:
- Provide full product refunds for a standard 30-day period;
- Rigorously review and clarify the language of the returns policy in your online Amazon Help pages, and
- Streamline and simplify complex returns processes wherever possible.
- Ensure Products Are How You Describe Them
The source of many negative feedback reviews on Amazon is a product image that does not accurately depict the size and/or features of the item. You can avoid “product not as described” reviews on Amazon if you:
- Provide clear images at the maximum allowed image size;
- Describe your product carefully;
- Provide custom sizing charts;
- Do not use phrases like “high-quality” for a product whose best attribute is its low price;
- Check that your SKU matches to the right product on Amazon;
- Offer multiple views of a product for thoroughness and accuracy of detail; and
- Ensure that the images meet all product image requirements.
- Provide Top-Notch Customer Service
Ultimately, the best thing you can do to ensure a positive seller feedback rating, and the associated boost in sales is to provide superior customer service. The best way to do that is to ensure buyers can always reach your customer service department and always receive timely responses.
- Make sure that your customer service phone number and email address are correct in your online Amazon Help pages.
- Use short, easy-to-type email addresses for customer service.
- Adjust your spam filter to ensure that incoming buyer messages are not categorized as junk.
- Acknowledge every phone call and email within 24 hours.
Top Amazon.com Marketplace Sellers Use Flowspace
We dropped a lot of information on you here but, ultimately, this guide hardly cracks the surface of what sellers can do to increase sales on Amazon. From SEO, social media, to trademarks and affiliate marketing, there are hundreds of ways to increase sales on Amazon, but none of it means anything if you can’t deliver a quality customer experience.
If you’re an Amazon business and Amazon seller rating is negatively affecting your sales, then it is time to switch to a fulfillment provider who can help you deliver a top-notch experience to your customer every time they buy.
Fortunately, all you need to do to get that process started is to contact Flowspace. With a nationwide network of 1000+ warehouses and fulfillment centers, Flowspace is the best choice you can make for your growing e-commerce business. With Flowspace’s Amazon order fulfillment integration and these tips on how to increase sales on Amazon, Flowspace is here to help you.
Written By:
Allison Champion
Allison Champion leads marketing communication at Flowspace, where she works to develop content that addresses the unique challenges facing modern brands in omnichannel eCommerce. She has more than a decade of experience in content development and marketing.
