Amazon Early Reviewer Program: How To Take Control Of Your Amazon Reviews

If you’ve been selling on Amazon for any length of time, then you likely know of the Early Reviewer Program. This program was created by Amazon and it encouraged buyers to leave reviews on new products in exchange for a small reward.

Amazon announced the cancellation of this program with an email that stated:

“Amazon continuously innovates to improve our shopping and selling experience”

Listen, Amazon is always changing policy. Not all policy changes are good for you the seller. In fact, improving the selling experience is not always the result.

The news of the Early Reviewer Program cancellation left many sellers wondering what to do next. This blog post will briefly discuss the Early Reviewer Program, how to adapt to these changes, and how to drive your own reviews.

Why Was The Early Reviewer Program So Beloved?

Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program was a popular option for sellers to get reviews for their products.

The Amazon Early Reviewer Program was a popular option for sellers looking to increase reviews on their products. It provided an incentive of up to $60 in Amazon Gift Cards for customers who left verified product reviews.

This made it both attractive and cost-effective for businesses, as they were able to get feedback from real customers without spending large amounts of money on marketing or advertising campaigns.

Thanks to its affordability and convenience, the Amazon Early Reviewer Program quickly became beloved among online retailers and helped many small business owners gain traction in the e-commerce market.

However, the Early Reviewer program has been canceled, here’s why…

Amazon’s Constant Evolution

As Amazon mentioned in their email, they are constantly innovating to improve the shopping and selling experience on their platform. While this is good for buyers, it may not always be good news for sellers.

Regardless of how much the Early Reviewer Program showed great promise when it was first introduced, it became common knowledge that effectiveness dropped rapidly during the final year. Many sellers reported zero reviews from the program.

Was the cancellation of the Early Reviewer Program a big loss?

It depends on how heavily you relied on the program to get reviews. If you ever used the program as your primary source of reviews, then you may need to adjust your strategy to get reviews.

Adapting to the Changes

Canceling the Early Reviewer Program highlights the importance of not relying on a single platform for reviews. Platforms rise and fall. Innovative software engineers may find a new hack the algorithm or find some crack in the A10 algorithm, but they will almost always lose effectiveness.

Why?

Amazon wants their platform to remain fair and their shoppers to remain happy. Because of his, Amazon actively monitors the platform for any suspicious activity or attempts to manipulate its algorithm.

They hunt down and eliminate any hacks used to try to cheat the system, such as fake reviews or paid-for endorsements. This helps protect shoppers from being misled by false claims and preserves the integrity of the Amazon shopping experience.

This means that as a business owner, you must take control of your reviews and never depend on any tool or platform (including Amazon-developed tools like the Early Reviewer Program).

Driving Your Own Reviews

To drive your own reviews, you need to incentivize your customers.

Incentivized reviews are not the same as fake reviews, which are illegal according to the Federal Trade Commission (FCC): https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/consumer-review-fairness-act-what-businesses-need-know.

Fake reviews lie about the effectiveness or the value of products or purposely mislead shoppers to gain trust.

Instead…

Control the Traffic

One effective way to incentivize customers (without asking for fake reviews) is by offering shoppers giveaways or inserts. However, be careful not to be cheap here, and don’t offer contests or enter-to-win promotions as customers are too savvy.

To control the traffic you need to offer value to your customers. Build your own mailing list, messenger list, or text list. These lists allow you to interact with your customers directly and offer them value, such as exclusive discounts or early access to new products. By controlling your own traffic, you can drive your own reviews and take control of your business.

How To Supercharge Your Reviews

If you would like to ramp up the effectiveness of your reviews consider SEO Optimized reviews. I have a great article that includes an email script to send to your email list.

Check out Amazon SEO Optimized Reviews

Conclusion

Amazon SEO optimized reviews can help boost your product’s visibility on Amazon and increase your sales. By following the steps outlined above, you can help your product rank higher on the platform’s SERP and improve your chances of success as an Amazon seller.

FAQ

Q: Why was the Early Reviewer Program canceled?

A: Amazon is constantly innovating and changing its platform to improve the shopping and selling experience. The effectiveness of the Early Reviewer Program had dropped, leading to its cancellation.

Q: Is the cancellation of the Early Reviewer Program a big loss?

A: It depends on how heavily you relied on the program for reviews. If you used it as your primary source of reviews, then you may need to adjust your strategy to get reviews.

Q: How can I drive my own reviews?

A: You can incentivize your customers by offering giveaways or inserts. You can also build your own mailing list, messenger list, or text list to control the traffic and offer value to your customers.

Q: Aren’t incentivized reviews illegal?

A: No, incentivized reviews are not the same as fake reviews, which are illegal according to the Federal Trade Commission (FCC).