Amazon Vine Program: A Strategy To Magnetic Amazon Reviews
Amazon’s Vine program helps genuine and trusted review makers post their opinions about the new products that may help customers make wise decisions while shopping.
Get on top of the Amazon Reviewer rank, have more reviews, and start analyzing your move before you make it.
The choice we have is simple, the more number of reviews on a product or higher a product ranks on the searched keywords, the better are the chances of it to get through. As a customer, these are probably the most valuable attributes we would like to consider while spending our money.
For a seller, here’s the thing, you want to improve your sales, explore all the possible ways to build an audience, help people to reach your product on the first go, and hope to get all the reviews to stay, thanks to Amazon Reviewer Rank Algorithm.
Before 2016, review policy sellers could give away their products for free in exchange for the positive feedback. That’s no longer allowed, and as a result, it’s become increasingly difficult to score early reviews on Amazon.
Luckily, a couple of other options came into the picture, including the vine program, which was initially available only for the first party sellers and now is open to third-party sellers as of late 2019. Let’s explore everything and see if it’s worth giving a shot?
What exactly is the Amazon Vine Program?
When amazon first starts adding reviews into its system, sellers try to take advantage of it by offering free products in exchange for good reviews. Now adding a step further, Amazon doesn’t let any customer into the amazon vine program; They are specifically restricted to Amazon’s most trusted reviewers.
“Amazon invites customers to become vine voices based on their Reviewer Rank, which depends on their ability to help other customers.”
How Does it Work?
Suppose your product is just listed, and it’s like a clean slate; there isn’t anything in the initial stage, no review, no Q&A anything. To drive initial traffic and sales, you just need to generate real reviews to build the customer’s trust. To be honest, it is a bit tricky. Amazon Vine can help you generate reviews, which can otherwise be extremely difficult.
Sellers should send samples to reviewers before the product hits the market and get the Amazon Reviewer rank algorithm to understand their work. Getting enrolled in Amazon Vine Program might also help you to build an awareness platform for all your potential customers. It’s simple, if an expert vine voice like your product, chances are that they will like them too.
According to various sources and reports, vines increase the conversion rates; for example, when somebody starts a product review on day one of your launch, your rankings will be higher than your equivalents and this will give you an edge over your competition.
Also, Amazon Reviewer rank adds a badge of authentication that lets others know what you are offering is quality.
How Can Sellers Enroll in Amazon Vine Program?
Does that ring the bell? Are you feeling the chills and looking for something to build big for yourself? Well, here’s what you’d be excited to know, the initial criteria of the vine are constantly evolving. To get enrolled in the plan, you must be a professional seller with a registered brand on Amazon.
Also, please understand that Vine is an invitation-only program and is based on many criteria, but mainly by the helpfulness of their reviews as judged by all other customers.
Initially, only first-party sellers could access this incredible program, and the fee was relatively high, i.e., around $3000 to $8000 per ASIN. Today, it costs nothing; all you need to do is cover the cost of the product provided to vine reviewers.
Here’s a Breakdown of all the requirements that must be fulfilled.
- You have to be a Brand Registered Seller.
- You have to have less than 30 reviews on your listings.
- You got to have your products in FBA offer in “New” condition.
- The product should not be an adult.
- You must have the available inventory.
- The listing must have an image and description available.
What is the value of joining the Amazon Vine Program?
The vine program has been a great initiative that Amazon has added recently. For example, the Amazon Top Reviewer knows what it takes for a product to stand out and helps others choose the right product.
The cost of being a credible vine voice is free, and there isn’t any hidden condition; all the vine voices receive the payment in the form of discount products.
For sellers and vendors to enroll, the price can be a deterrent. Initially, while the vine is now available for seller center instead, as it was only for vendor central, Amazon waived off the enrollment fee.
Here’s what you need to know:-
- Current cost $0, initial cost $2500 to $7500 per ASIN
- Free enrolments extend to sellers on ASC as well as VC.
Overall, it’s a great way to get started and get running to drive customers through the reviews and build trust on the basics of word of mouth.
How does it benefit vendors and sellers?
We have always believed in giving our readers the right information and making sure we are delivering some information rather than providing a marketing lecture.
Let’s divide the whole structure into two parts, i.e., for the seller and customer:-
Let John be a customer, who is looking to buy a gaming mouse on Amazon, so what John will do is perform specific searches, and based on those, he could land on a couple of pages that A9 feels are right for him.
It’s up to John to choose a product that he feels might suit his preferences, and Amazon indeed gives way for him to decide by offering relevant Reviews, Q and A, that happens because of the Amazon Reviewer rank.
Similarly, Suppose XYZ has just launched their brand on Gaming Consoles, and they are offering a great deal in Gaming Mouse, so what Amazon Vine does is that they can map customers to sellers while building the trust that both are a perfect match for each other.
We all know it takes a lot of time to get reviews on a listing, especially when it is new, so what vines bring to the table is that it reduces the time that often requires to fulfill a listing with relevant reviews.
Isn’t the Amazon Reviewer rank program just AWESOME!
Here are a couple of quick Advantages that sellers must be aware of.
- Better traffic for better conversion.
- It helps in improving brand awareness.
- It helps in building trust flow among the customers.
- If ‘A’ being a product with ‘X’ number of reviews and ‘B’ being a product with ‘X + 10’ number of reviews, the possibility of it would improve drastically over 25%
- A better understanding of user expectations and behavior.
How is it helpful to the buyers?
As a customer, I cannot touch and feel the product; it doesn’t matter if Amazon delivers it in 48 hours; getting a bad product is always the worst feeling ever. To make the best decision about the choices we are making, it’s always a wise practice to go with the ones with the best reviews; here we are mentioning the word ‘Best’ and not ‘Most.’
Having a method to select reviewers who are best suited to comment gives buyers more confidence in their opinion.
Is it Worth it or Not?
Be it Amazon Reviewer rank or anything else, Amazon’s objective is to serve and continuously work on is building a meaningful virtual relationship between the seller and buyer to serve the needs of both in exchange.
Having a review program with a badge of trust helps the customers believe that they invest their time and money in something that’s worth it.
Amazon has selected vine Voices because of their reviewer rank, which reflects the helpfulness of their reviews as perceived by other Amazon customers. This also means that the reviews they would leave will be well-thought-out and detail-oriented compared to the average customer review. Hence, more practical and useful!
Helps In Driving The High-End Traffic
There is a famous saying in “Search Engine Optimization” if the traffic isn’t converting, it isn’t worth the traffic!
Similarly, a genuine customer review is possibly the strongest factor that influences conversion on a particular listing.
If you have a decent number of vine voice reviews on your product, the probability of those would be higher and ultimately provide a boost to your overall selling rank as well, i.e., BSR
Set-up Amazon Review Alerts, and don’t miss any critical changes
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What are the product restrictions?
Here is the list of products that still aren’t able to make their way to the vine club.
- Hazmat items
- Sample products
- Items sold in bundles
- Heavy or bulky items
- Drop-ship items
- Adult-only products
There are millions of buyers on Amazon and even more customers, and it can be tough to stand out from the crowd.
Combining everything that needs to be worked upon to get the right thing and reviews are critical factors in determining whether your brand will be chosen or people will bounce off. Since customers often search for products by star rating, it’s imperative to rank highly among customers to increase sales.
Initially, the new products can struggle on a primary basis to find footing in a saturated market with duplicates.
Implementing vine voices can help build your brand visibility among the audience and give you the best sales result. Also, it offers Amazon Reviewer rank to understand your product in a much better manner.
How can you cancel your enrolment?
Click Cancel or Stop. You will be able to cancel before the Voices claim your item and stop the enrollment after the first Voice has claimed one of your items.
Please understand that:-
If you want to send emails after the customers have received your package, that would be great to build a connection with them. This will enhance brand engagement and increase your chances of winning reviews on Amazon.
To Sum Up
If you are not part of the top-selling batch or you have just started selling on Amazon, we advise you to start working on getting some reviews;
Even if you are a brand new seller, it will help you build your brand’s visibility among the audience and allow people to know what the experts think about it.
Remember, people still love and admire that so many people have already reviewed the product they plan to purchase.
Thanks for going through our article, and I hope you had a great time with it.
