Look,
More than one million sellers joined Amazon in 2019.
That translates to about 3,700 sellers each day of that year!
These numbers can be overwhelming for any business that intends to thrive in this online marketplace, as you will need to make your company stand out from the intense competition!
If you want to be successful on Amazon by continuously converting leads into sales, you should aim to achieve top rankings in search query results on the platform.
One way you can achieve this is by optimizing your product descriptions. More specifically, leveraging your competitors’ negative product reviews and customer feedback.
What follows is an in-depth overview of how to do exactly that.
We’ll start at the top.
The Good and The Bad of Customer Reviews!
Amazon allows shoppers to leave reviews on sellers’ platforms about their purchases. This feedback allows other buyers to make informed decisions when considering purchasing products.
For this reason, many positive (preferably 5-star) reviews would be beneficial for your business! However, this is not always the case, and there are times you will have to deal with negative feedback.
In the world of online selling, negative reviews are akin to taking a direct hit in your stomach! Yes, it’s that painful to your business! Here is negative feedback can harm your business:
Customer Reviews Affect Amazon Rankings
Unlike a regular brick and motor store, customers on Amazon have to select products that they have not “physically seen or assessed,” for this reason, the Amazon algorithm has takes customer reviews and feedback into account when ranking stores or products.
A considerable number of negative reviews can reduce your ranking, thus rendering your business “invisible” to many potential clients, who are more inclined to do business with higher ranking stores or products.
Reviews Play a Role in Conversion Rates
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes!
You are buying a product that you can’t physically examine before the purchase. What are you likely to base your buying decision on?
Well, one of the ideal answers would be on previous user reviews and feedback. For this reason, a lot of good reviews from customers often lead to increased conversion rates, while negative reviews will lower your conversion rates.
The question becomes, “How can you make your competitor’s negative reviews work for your business?”
See an Opportunity in the “Negativity”
While negative feedback can bring your online business to its knees, they still present an opportunity.
This feedback can help identify the areas you need to improve on.
For instance, if a customer points out that they are dissatisfied with a product because it’s not what they expected based on the description, you can improve your product information, resulting in better future reviews.
On the other hand, your competitors are also likely to have negative reviews of their own. Herein lies the opportunity to analyze these reviews and ensure that these negative features or aspects are not present in your product(s).
Here is a look at some of the questions you should be asking as you comb through the reviews on your competitors’ Amazon pages.
- What are the specific aspects of the product are your competitors’ customers dissatisfied with?
- Is your product offering a solution to these complains, or how is your product different?
- Are they complaining about other extra services such as long shipping times, added costs, or poor customer service from your competitor?
- How can you improve these aspects and highlight them in an engaging way to your audience?
Apply the Solutions to Your Product Descriptions
Now that you are aware of the areas in which your competitors are “failing at,” it would be wise to convert their customers’ pain points into a solution you and your product can offer.
Here is how you can do that:
Step 1: Take Note of the Most Common Weaknesses
Amazon allows you to narrow down your review search to critical reviews only. Therefore, you can use this feature to view some of your competitor’s product’s most common weaknesses.
It would be best to highlight these weaknesses as they provide direct insight into your products. Some of the most common types of customer feedback usually center on the following:
- Product quality
- The sales process or activities
- The product description against the actual functionality of the product (Expectation versus Reality)
Step 2: Choose the Top Three Negative Reviews
While you might want to highlight all of your competitor’s product’s negative features, it is best if you narrowed them to the top three. That allows you to concentrate on what is most relevant.
These three negative reviews from your competition will help you better understand your potential customers’ expectations and enable you to adopt the relevant measures needed to meet these demands, thus allowing you to take the lead in the market.
Step 3: Optimize Your Product Descriptions to include your Competitive Advantages
Both new customers and those disappointed by a similar product to yours will be more inclined to go through your product description thoroughly.
For this reason, it would be best to highlight how your product is different from your competitors and how it is a solution to their problem (competitive advantages).
The above mentioned ‘three key negative reviews’ should form the basis for your product description.
For instance, if your store deals with children’s clothing and the top critical reviews are on low-quality material, you should highlight that your kids’ clothing use high-quality material.
If customers complain about the delivery/shipping time of your competitors’ products, you should consider highlighting the specific timeline in which your items are to be delivered.
Your product description should not seem like a direct attack on your competition: they should be informative, casual, and relatable to your potential customers. They should also include the relevant keywords in your niche.
The Bottom Line
Competitors’ negative reviews can offer tremendous business value when you want to optimize your product descriptions for improved Amazon product listings and conversion rates.
These reviews will highlight areas you need to improve on your product, your sales process and also inform your Amazon optimization strategies.
You might also wanna check Why is Using the Best Images for Your Amazon Product Listings Greatly Pays Off.