As an Amazon seller, it can be hard to not take negative feedbackA performance rating on a scale of 1 to ... More personally. It’s easy to feel disappointed that you’ve let a customer down. But beyond customer satisfaction, why is negative feedback important and how should you resolve it?
Negative feedback is part of the Order Defect Rate (ODR) that Amazon uses to measure seller performanceA measure of how well Amazon sellers are... More. A-to-z Guarantee claims and credit card chargebacks are also components of the ODR. Amazon urges sellers to maintain an ODR of less than 1%. You can improve your ODR as well as your your customers’ experiences by reviewing negative feedback and responding to the customers who leave it. A new Resolve button in the Feedback Manager makes it easy to start this process.
Are any negative feedbacks product reviews, related to Amazon.com’s service rather than yours, or otherwise irrelevant? If so, these can be removed. Read the post on dealing with unfair feedback to learn how.
Do you see any trends in your negative feedback? Are customers consistently receiving paperback books with bent corners? Maybe it’s time to take another look at your packaging methods and materials.
If you shipped a basketball instead of a baseball contact the customer directly and let them know that you’ll be sending out the correct item immediately (hopefully a customer with a problem this serious would contact you directly before leaving feedback, but that isn’t always the case). Don’t say the shipping department must’ve screwed up. Accept the mistake as your own and apologize. Your customers will appreciate it!
But what if a single customer wishes that you used recycled packaging paper instead of plastic bubble wrap? Send a short message thanking them for the feedback and ask if they have any other ideas or advice. Don’t try to justify your decision; you aren’t likely to change their mind and may come across as defensive. Be open to hearing their opinions and accept that you may learn something.
Only after you open a line of dialogue with a dissatisfied customer and fully resolve their complaint should you ask if they’ll consider retracting their feedback. Remember that it’s against Amazon’s policies to pressure a buyer to remove their feedback. Politely ask once and graciously accept their answer, whatever it might be.
If you’re unable to communicate with a customer who left negative feedback, then consider responding directly to the feedback using the Feedback Manager. But don’t feel the need to leave a response to every negative feedback you receive. Positive feedback left by other customers speaks volumes about your performance as a seller!
