Ever noticed that “Verified Purchase” badge next to some Amazon reviews? It’s like a seal of trust that makes certain reviews stand out from the crowd. As more shoppers rely on reviews to make buying decisions, knowing how to write helpful, verified reviews isn’t just useful. It’s becoming an essential skill for the savvy Amazon customer.
Whether you’re an occasional shopper or a frequent buyer, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know about creating trustworthy, verified reviews that help other shoppers make informed decisions.
Understanding Verified Reviews
Verified reviews are reviews written by people who have purchased the product on Amazon. If they already bought the item on Amazon at the time of review, their review will have a “Verified Purchase” tag on it.
Generally, verified reviews are only for people who bought the product at full price. However, reviews from people who purchased the item with vouchers can be verified as long as the voucher is under a certain value, which prevents review manipulation from bad sellers.
Verified reviews help Amazon combat fake reviews by helping potential buyers see product reviews from people who actually bought the items.
Prerequisites for Writing a Verified Review
When talking about the prerequisites of writing reviews on Amazon, there are different requirements for writing regular reviews and writing verified reviews.
To be able to submit Amazon reviews and ratings, you need to have spent at least $50 on the site within the last 12 months. This ensures that only people who have actually shopped at the store can leave reviews.
To submit a verified review, you need to have bought the item on Amazon and paid a price that’s available to most shoppers. If Amazon can confirm both, then your review will be labeled as a Verified Purchase.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Leaving a Verified Purchase Review on Amazon
If you’re already eligible to leave verified purchase reviews on Amazon, it’s time to learn how to write them. Make sure you’re logged into Amazon and have purchased the product you wanted to review before following this guide.
1. Finding the Product to Review
If you know the name of the product you want to review, you can search for it and go to its product page. If you forgot, you can go to your profile and check your recent Amazon purchases to find the product in question.
Once you’ve found the product page, you can click the Write a customer review button to go to the review page.
2. Writing the Review
The review page is where you’ll write about the product. In addition to the review body itself, you can add a headline to provide a quick summary of your review. You can also add star ratings to score your overall and per-feature satisfaction of the item.
Pictures and videos help other shoppers better understand the point you’re making in the review, so you can add them as well.
3. Submitting and Editing the Review
If everything’s in order, all that’s left is to click the Submit button. Generally, your review won’t be instantly posted because it needs to go through moderation. Your Amazon review usually will take 24 to 72 hours to show up.
If you made mistakes or want to add something to your review, you can go back to your profile and edit it by choosing the Edit review/Delete review option.
Best Practices for Quality Verified Reviews
High-quality reviews are helpful for sellers because they help them understand whether or not you’re satisfied with the product. They’re also helpful for other potential buyers because they help them make informed purchase decisions.
However, writing high-quality reviews might not come naturally, especially if you don’t write reviews often. Here are some best practices to follow when leaving verified product reviews to ensure high quality:
Be Honest and Unbiased
Being objective and unbiased is important because that makes you look more trustworthy. Being too negative makes you look angry and irrational while being overly positive makes you look like you’re paid to review the product.
Even if you’re very happy or very angry with the product, it’s important to get your point across professionally and rationally. If you’re happy with the product, explain why convincingly. The same goes if you’re disappointed with it.
Focus on Personal Experience
Your opinions on the product you review will be strengthened if you tell the story of how you use it. Share how you use the product to give context to readers so they can get a better picture of how the product can help or benefit them.
Include Specific Details
To further support the point you’re making, you can write about the results of using the product and observations you made while using it. Things like “This mattress feels really comfortable, and my back doesn’t hurt in the morning” or “With this drill, I can do work that usually takes three hours in half the time” gives readers more context on how the product can help.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Verified Reviews
Some things can make your review look less credible. Let’s take a look at some of the more common mistakes you may encounter when writing reviews.
Rushing the Review
Many people review items immediately after receiving them. Most of the time, you don’t know if a product works for you if you haven’t used it, so rushed reviews often lack the depth and insight of reviews made after using the product for some time.
If you want to write a review, you should at least use the product for enough time to form educated opinions that can bring extra value to your reviews. Depending on the product, that can be a few days to a few weeks.
Being Too Vague and One-Sided
Balanced feedback is important in making your review look credible. When you talk about the product’s benefits or drawbacks, make sure you provide enough detail beyond “I find this very useful” or “I don’t like this product” that doesn’t have any other context. Think of it as telling a story. The more details you put in, the more the reader will understand.
Sounding too harsh or praising the product too much is a common mistake, too. If you do have actual grievances or really love the product, get the point across in a way that makes you sound rational and unbiased.
Conclusion
A verified review is more than just a badge. It’s your opportunity to share genuine experiences that thousands of potential buyers will trust and rely on. By taking the time to write thoughtful, verified reviews, you’re not just sharing your opinion; you’re helping other shoppers make confident decisions and enabling sellers to improve their products.
Your authentic feedback shapes the Amazon marketplace and makes online shopping better for everyone. So the next time you make a purchase, remember: your verified review matters more than you might think.
