Updated 2/18/2020
In March 2017, Amazon allowed customers to opt out of unsolicited emails that come from email automation services, making it more difficult for sellers to solicit reviews. Sending review requests through an email service will result in you receiving an undeliverable message.
In October 2019, Amazon changed “Reviews” to “Ratings”, and now allows shoppers to leave star ratings without a written review. This change helps increase the overall rating seen by customers.
Amazon Marketplace Sellers know the importance of positive product reviews. Of all the factors that go into Amazon’s algorithm for ranking products, reviews often come to mind as one of the most important factors for a lot of sellers – and for good reason; reviews hold the ability to directly impact the rating of your product and, in conjunction with other factors, determine your rank.
But are all Amazon reviews created equal?
As a seller on Amazon, it’s likely that you’ve come across both verified & non-verified Amazon reviews – and while the difference between the two might seem clear cut, there’s a far greater impact than the simple outward facing “Amazon Verified Purchase” label.
At the most basic level, what separates verified & non-verified Amazon reviews is the sheer fact that verified reviews are “verified” – meaning the purchase has been confirmed as a purchase made through Amazon.
Reviews, in order to be verified, cannot be made by users who purchased at a heavy discount (greater than 50% of product cost), received the item for free, or purchased the item from another website. Additionally, as of October 2016, incentivized customer reviews are prohibited from Amazon.
Non-verified Amazon reviews can be made by any Amazon user, on any product – regardless of purchase history with Amazon. While there may be no verifiable purchase history – this doesn’t always mean the user has had no interactions or experience with the product, it has just been unverifiable by Amazon.
What Does This All Mean To You, As A Seller?
Non-verified Amazon reviews will still show up, but due to Amazon’s algorithm, the product will likely show up lower in search results than a similar product with more verified reviews – such is simply a result of the “Verified” badge, or lack thereof.
This isn’t reason to fret however, Amazon’s Verified Review process is designed to help seller’s in the long run by ensuring that actual purchasers of the product are actually reviewing the product.
Make important AMAZON decisions with confidence
Even 40 % discount is considered as unverified review.