Why getting feedback from your customers is important

Customer feedback is one of the most important metrics that you have to look out for when selling on channels such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, and NewEgg. Consumer research has revealed that 91% of buyers read product reviews before purchasing an item. Not only that reviews tell potential customers that your product is worth buying, they also let you know what you’re doing right and most importantly, what you’re doing wrong. We’ve thought about putting together a blog post to help you understand why buyer feedback is essential for your business, and how can you make sure that your product reviews are as positive as possible.

On platforms such as Amazon, there are two types of feedback:

Product review

This feedback is all about the product that you are selling on Amazon. After buying any product on Amazon, the buyer is entitled to leave a review for the product and give it a star rating out of 5. The buyer can then also upload photos of the product and can write a review based on their opinion of the product and the unboxing experience. In the product reviews, you can find out whether the buyer is happy or not with their purchase, if the item matched the description on the Amazon site and the overall quality of the item. Product reviews are important as they affect the overall ranking performance of the product and they serve as a buying guide for potential customers.

Seller feedback

Seller feedback gives buyers the opportunity to directly express what they think about the seller. After making a purchase from you, the buyer is invited to leave seller feedback to describe their overall purchasing experience. The review may include information about delivery, packaging, and customer service.

The buyer will be invited to give a rating that can consist of 1-5 starts. The buyer is then asked to answer a series of questions the express their level of satisfaction on a number of factors including delivery time, quality of the item received, and its correlation to the description on Amazon and customer service. The buyer is also given the opportunity to leave a short comment in order to expand on their answers.

How seller feedback affects you as a seller

After understanding what the two different kinds of feedback are, it’s time to look at the most important aspect – how this customer feedback impacts you as a seller. Buyer feedback is like a report card for you and your products and affects your seller ranking and your relationship with the sales channel you’re selling on (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc.). Here are the most important ways buyer feedback will affect you and your business.

Seller Metrics and site relationship

Most sales channels like Amazon and eBay continuously monitor their sellers and grade them using a number of different metrics. One of the most important metrics is the order defect rate (ODR). The seller order defect rate looks at your negative feedback- more specifically, the percentage of your sales which received what is deemed to be below standard feedback for whatever reason. A high number of negative feedback which you receive will be considered a red flag to any platform.

In Amazon’s case, they want to help sellers to continue with selling products on their website, so they will usually get in touch with you if your seller profile falls below their standards. In this case, you will normally be given 60 Days to show improvement. If you can’t improve the feedback and buyer experience that you offer, they will suspend the store and block you from the site.

Product Ranking and exposure

Buyer feedback directly affects your product ranking. Each sale and piece of feedback can count toward your product’s overall rating which is measured against other products in similar categories (often identical products). If a seller performs well and consistently gets positive feedback from customers, the platform, whether it’s Amazon or eBay, will move their products higher up in the rankings, meaning that you have a much higher chance of your listing being served to potential customers.

Conversion rate

One of the most important things for sellers is the conversion rate – the number of views that lead to purchases. In order to have a high conversion rate, your store must have a lot of reviews and good seller feedback. Once a customer has clicked onto the listing page, the purchase decision will be affected by the reviews left by previous customers on the page.

Bad Feedback

Although nobody enjoys receiving negative feedback, it’s essential, because this is the only way you can know what you’re doing wrong. It’s natural to become defensive when receiving negative feedback, but it can actually help you to provide a better service. When receiving negative feedback, read it carefully, and then try to help the customer somehow in order to get a better feedback. Contact the customer and offer a replacement or refund and assure them that you take customer satisfaction very seriously.

Customer loyalty

By listening to your customers and making improvements when negative feedback is received, you will gain the trust of the customer who, subsequently, will feel confident in buying from you again. This is particularly important if you’re selling a product that has a lot of competition – buyers have expectations and you will have to meet them in order to gain their trust. Online and offline, customer loyalty is the foundation of any business.

Conclusion

No matter on what platform you’re selling your products on, customer feedback should be at the very top of your priorities. Good feedback instills confidence in a new customer, improves your ranking and exposure, and leads to more sales and increased customer loyalty. As a seller, you should be actively inviting feedback, and when you receive negative comments, you should respond to these immediately in order to build a strong and trusted brand reputation.

Read more:

• How to scale your eCommerce business in 2021
• Is selling on Amazon worth it if you’re already selling on eBay?
• The main reasons why customers choose to shop online
• How to manage your eBay store
• How can customer feedback help improve your business
• What is PIM?
• How to contact Amazon seller support?