Product insert cards have been an age-old method of getting direct feedback from your customers – and hopefully a few tasty 5-star reviews!
But now, Amazon is cracking down on what you can say on the card, prompting several account suspensions in the process.
Many Amazon sellers use insert cards – the little card that comes tumbling out of the package when your customer opens it.
There are several reasons we do this. Insert cards help build a relationship with your customer and set yourself up for future sales; they allow customers to communicate any issues they may have directly with you rather than involving Amazon; and finally, you can ‘encourage’ some of those much-needed 5-star reviews.
Unfortunately, the issue lies in the ‘encouraging’. Amazon’s customer product reviews policies (very much worth reading btw) forbid asking for a positive review AND diverting negative feedback.
And boy, do they take it seriously – as my friend who had his US Amazon account suspended can attest!
He has been adding insert cards to his shipped goods since forever, to great success. But, when Amazon began cracking down on such things, they suspended his account and ordered him to stop sending packages with the inserts.
That might not sound like such a big deal. But with 12,500 packages needing to be opened and their insert cards removed or swapped, it suddenly becomes a tall – and expensive – order.
So, what did he have written on his insert card?
All of his products went out with this message:
“Thank you for your order. Are you happy? If you are, give us feedback. If you are unhappy, send an email to support and we’ll fix it for you.”
Soundly lovely, right?
It might appear to be brilliant customer service to you and me. But unfortunately, Amazon sees it differently as it explicitly violates one of their customer product review policies:
- A seller diverts negative reviews to be sent to them or to a different feedback mechanism while positive reviews are sent to Amazon.
You can’t do this anymore either…
Heaps of us have used services like RebateKey to get reviews – but sadly, it also goes against Amazon’s policies.
Once a customer has proven they’ve bought a product from you, RebateKey will give your customer a cash rebate in exchange for a review. Therefore, blatantly violating this policy:
- A seller offers a third party a financial reward, discount, free products, or other compensation in exchange for a review on their product or their competitor’s product.
The policies are mainly affecting sellers in the US. But keep in mind that, with Amazon, what starts in the US soon spreads to Australia and other markets too, so best be on guard if you want to remain in Amazon’s good books.
So, what can you write on your insert card?
To avoid having your account suspended, it’s best just to ask for a review – NOT a good one – just a review.
In an ideal world, we would only ask for reviews if the customer was thrilled with the product and beef up our 5-star reviews, and deter the negative ones by dealing with it ourselves.
But of course, we want to avoid the dreaded suspension and keep on selling and growing our Amazon business. So, best to stick to the rules.
Thanks for reading and good luck out there!
Hugs and kisses!
Stacey xx