Because of Amazon’s vast reach, it’s become a highly competitive marketplace where customer reviews significantly influence purchasing decisions. The more glowing reviews you have, the more likely you are to attract even more customers. However, this also means that there’s been a rise in unusual reviewing activity on the platform, sparking concern among sellers.
Let’s get into what this means for Amazon sellers, the common signs of unusual reviewing activity, and what you can do to combat it.
What Is Unusual Reviewing Activity?
Unusual reviewing activity refers to patterns in customer reviews that stray from the norm. This can raise suspicions about their authenticity or integrity. Unusual reviewing activity can manifest in several ways, such as:
- Sudden spike in reviews: A product suddenly receiving a high volume of positive or negative reviews within a short period could indicate manipulation. Sellers with a sudden spike in reviews may be engaging in review buying, or competitors may be orchestrating attacks to damage reputations.
- Highly similar review content: When multiple reviews have identical or overly similar language, it may suggest they were generated by bots or written by the same person.
- Unverified purchase reviews: Reviews marked as “unverified” imply that the reviewer did not purchase the product through Amazon. While unverified purchases don’t automatically mean that a review is fake, it does indicate that there’s no way to know for sure if there was a legitimate purchase connected to the review.
- Clustered negative reviews: A series of negative reviews appearing in rapid succession could be the result of a coordinated attack from competitors or disgruntled customers.
Why Unusual Reviewing Activity Matters to Amazon Sellers
For sellers, reviews are critical to building trust and boosting sales. Unusual reviewing activity can disrupt this ecosystem, impacting your brand’s reputation and your product’s visibility. Here’s a breakdown of different ways this negatively affects Amazon sellers:
- Lower search rankings: Amazon’s search algorithm prioritizes products with high ratings and positive reviews. A surge in negative or fake reviews can lower your product’s rankings, reducing visibility and sales.
- Loss of customer trust: If potential customers suspect reviews are fake or manipulated, they may avoid purchasing the product altogether. This undermines the credibility you’ve worked hard to build.
- Risk of Amazon account suspension: Amazon has strict policies on review manipulation. If the platform detects unusual activity linked to your account (whether intentional or not), it may suspend or ban your seller account.
- Competitor sabotage: Malicious competitors may use fake reviews to sabotage your product’s ratings. Identifying and preventing these attacks is critical to protecting your business.
How to Detect Unusual Reviewing Activity
As an Amazon seller, staying vigilant and proactive is essential to address strange review patterns. Here’s how you can identify unusual reviewing activity:
- Monitor review patterns: Regularly check your product reviews for sudden spikes or patterns in content, especially spikes in negative ones. Tools and services like Tracefuse, Jungle Scout, or Helium 10 can help automate this process.
- Analyze review authenticity: You can use an Amazon review checker or manually look through your reviews for vague or generic content, repeated phrases, or reviews that don’t align with typical customer behavior, such as five-star reviews for a defective product.
- Check purchase verification: Focus on “Verified Purchase” reviews as they carry more weight and are less likely to be fake.
- Track competitor behavior: You may not be alone in being affected by sudden review spikes. Observe whether competitors in your niche experience similar activity. A shared trend may point to broader manipulation tactics.
How to Respond to Unusual Reviewing Activity
Noticed unusual reviewing activity lately? You can take these steps to manage its negative impact:
- Report abusive reviews to Amazon: Use Amazon’s “Report Abuse” feature to flag suspicious reviews. Provide as much evidence as possible to support your case, but note that it will take time for Amazon to act on your report. You may also have to follow up with additional documentation – patience is key.
- Contact Amazon support: If unusual reviewing activity is affecting your account, open a case with Amazon Seller Support. Clearly explain the situation and request a thorough investigation.
- Communicate with customers: A surge in negative feedback may be due to problems with your product, creating a bad customer experience. Address genuine concerns reflected in negative reviews. Show that you care about customer feedback and are willing to improve.
- Strengthen your brand by improving product offerings and customer service: Build a loyal customer base through exceptional service, quality products, and transparency. Satisfied customers are more likely to leave authentic, positive reviews.
Prevention Strategies for Sellers
Prevention is always better than cure. Implement these Amazon ToS-compliant strategies to reduce the risk of unusual reviewing activity and get more genuine positive reviews from buyers:
- Comply with Amazon policies: Avoid incentivizing reviews or engaging in any behavior that violates Amazon’s review guidelines. Even if you mean well, offering discounts, free products, or compensation in exchange for reviews is against Amazon’s rules.
- Encourage authentic feedback: Use Amazon’s “Request a Review” button to invite customers to leave genuine reviews without offering rewards or incentives. Send review requests at the right time so the experience is still fresh for them. For example, you can request a review around a few days after the customer receives their product.
- Invest in product quality: Test your products and package them well to ensure that they meet customer expectations and naturally earn positive reviews. Provide clear, detailed, and accurate product descriptions to set realistic customer expectations.
Conclusion
Unusual reviewing activity on Amazon can damage your brand reputation, lower sales, and even result in account suspension. Safeguard your business by being proactive and keeping an eye out for suspicious review patterns.
If you’ve noticed a sudden influx of shady negative reviews, Tracefuse can help you report them for removal. Tracefuse can go through all your reviews, check which ones violate Amazon policies, and take care of time-consuming reporting and following up to protect your brand image.
