For the purposes of this article, ‘feedback’ can be considered either Seller Feedback or Customer Reviews left on the Amazon site.

Why Feedback?

Two words: social proof.

Despite what we might think of ourselves, the fact is that it is human nature to rely on and, to a certain extent, copy our peers. (The big issue is actually who you identify as your peers!).

So if we see a group of people doing something, we tend to react favorably to that thing. The more we know and respect someone, the more likely we are to trust their behavior. But, in the case of not knowing anyone, the number of people doing something will have an impact.

There are lots of studies and papers about this that dive into the details but basically that’s it.

This is why Amazon promotes items that have more, and more favorable, reviews over two otherwise equal products. They know people are more likely to buy the one with more social proof.

5 Ways To More Feedback

1. Remove Negative Feedback

Hey, it happens.You will get negative feedback at some point in your Amazon Seller career. And in some cases you can have it easily removed. To see the official guidelines and what Amazon will remove click here.

2. Focus On Customer Service

Jeff Bezos has said it. Amazon has said it. As Amazon Sellers, you should do it: focus on the customer.

Answer customer questions within a maximum of 24 hours. Faster if possible. Pre-sales (i.e. in your Amazon listings) give the customer as much honest information as possible.

Don’t hype. Help.

3. Stay Active on Social Media

Track down people talking about your products and engage with them. If no one is talking about your products, look for people talking about your niche and engage with them. It should go without saying, but, do this is a non-spammy, non-salesy way!

Start conversations, not funnels.

4. Make The Unboxing ‘YouTubeable’

Your customer’s experience starts from when they open the Amazon packaging. Make your packaging small, but fun. Add some extras – stickers, cards, engaging pre-printed notes with your social media channels on them asking for a follow. Put these inside your packaging, but also put some url’s on your packaging too. Don’t ask for positive reviews, just give some fun.

And if someone does put an unboxing video up on YouTube or Twitter or wherever , like and comment!

5. Follow up, nicely

Depending on the type of product you sell, follow up with your customer via email a few days after they receive your product. Not so long after that they forget their excitement, but long enough after that they can give some feedback. Don’t ask for a positive review. Just mention that reviews help.

Luckily, this last step is easily done using Zonmaster. With our extensive triggering options you can configure emails to go out and prompt users for reviews or give additional infomation. Even better, you can flick on ‘Auto Review Request’ option and we’ll get Amazon to send out their Review Request form at the right time! It truly is set and forget. This is available on all Zonmaster plans (even the one starting at just $6.99 a month!)

Sign up today to start your free trial, no credit card required.

“Alexa, please stop telling me that voice search is the next big thing!”

“Sorry, Dave. I can’t do that.”

Yes, voice search is a growing trend that shows no signs of stopping. And Alexa, searched by Amazon products such as the Echo and Amazon Fire TV, only looks on Amazon for products. It means that there are potentially new customers for your products, but only if they can find you!

Voice vs Text Search

Before we get into specific tips on how to boost your ranking in Alexa searches it is important that you are aware of some key differences between text – how people search on the web – and voice – how people search via Alexa – search.

It’s a Conversation

Humans use their voice to communicate. As such, even things like voice search is seen as a conversation. And in a conversation we tend to be specific. So we don’t tell someone to ‘pick us up some tea’ from the grocery store. We say ‘pick us up some Red Rose Orange Pekoe’ from the grocery store.

This is a key reason to raise brand awareness. You want your brand to be the brand associated with a product.

Because of the conversational aspect of speech, voice searches tend to be longer as well. We might write (because we have been trained over the years of text search) ‘green pillow case’, but in a voice search we will say ‘What is the best pillow case that comes in green?’.

You need to optimize your listings for longer, more complicated search queries.

How Does Alexa Decide?

Previous Orders

First thing Alexa/Amazon does is look through your past orders for something that matches. This is a good reason to target new customers (versus repeats) in your Amazon ads. You need to get on that ladder!

Amazon Choice Badge

If there is no matching past purchase the next port of call for Alexa is Amazon Choice badged products.

The Amazon Choice badge is completely different than the Best Seller badge.

The Best Seller badge is determined by sales velocity – typically the product that has sold the most units per hour in their category.

The Amazon Choice badge is determined primarily by SEO. Products that are the ‘best match’ for a keyword or phrase will get the Amazon Choice badge for that search result. Amazon also factors in if your product is ready to ship, or Prime eligible.

Tips For Improved Alexa Ranking

1. Optimize Your Listing

First and foremost your listing needs to be ‘optimized’. This means you need to do keyword research and write great listing copy that naturally incorporates those keywords. You also need to have great images that show your product in the best possible light (literally!).

2. Create a Conversion History with Ads

To get Alexa’s attention you need to have conversions. The best solution at the moment is to run ads on the keywords or phrases you want to target. Ad conversions let you rank organically. When you are launching let ads with a higher ACoS to run until your conversion history is stable.

3. Be Available

As we said, a factor in getting the Amazon Choice badge is product availability. It is essential (in our opinion) that you list your product in FBA and be eligible for Prime. But FBA is not infallible, so have a backup plan of fulfilling by merchant. MFN orders can now be Prime eligible as well.

4. Target Repeat Purchases

To increase the number of purchases that your product receives on Amazon, you might consider adjusting some of your campaigns to focus on customer acquisition. Amazon brand dashboard now provides new customer data to tell you which customers repeat-purchasers and which customers are first time buyers. You can design campaigns specifically to generate new customer adoption, especially if your product is consumable and will likely be reordered multiple times.

5. Get Reviews

Reviews show customer satisfaction. Luckily, if you are a Zonmaster subscriber you have an easy one-click solution to getting reviews – Zonmaster’s Auto Review Request tool which will fully automate the Amazon Review Request button. The easiest way to get reviews is to ask for them!

Amazon Sellers often spend between 5% and 20%(!) of their product costs on shipping. Here at Zonmaster we’ve pulled together 7 top tips about how maybe you can save a little bit of money on freight costs when arranging you shipments to Amazon.

Some of these may seem obvious, but, the obvious can sometimes be forgotten in the rush!

1. Pack Small

Make sure that your product packaging AND outer packaging is as compact as possible. Often suppliers and their factories have a standard packaging size they use. But, they are not the ones paying the freight costs, so investigate whether anything can be done to trim it down.

Smaller packaging means more items can fit in a box. Combined savings can sometimes reduce freight charges by 40% or more!

2. Pre-Warehouse

Most Amazon Sellers get their goods shipped directly from the supplier or factory (often in China, or abroad) to the FBA Warehouse. But, recently Amazon has pushed the responsibility of warehouse distribution down to the seller, asking you to ship to multiple warehouses. If you are doing this directly from China, then your shipping costs may be triple what they should be.

You can save money by first shipping to an ‘in country’ warehouse. For example, if you are selling on Amazon.com, then ship to an intermediary warehouse in the US. Then from that warehouse have shipments sent to the FBA Warehouses. Domestic shipping is a LOT cheaper than international (and this is without anything like customs brokerage fees, etc).

3. Compare Points of Entry

If you are having your goods sent via sea, then look at which port they are going to. All ports are not the same, and prices can also vary widely depending on season. Keep on top of this as it is easily ignored!

4. Multiple Quotes

There are many ways to get goods from A to B. Get a shipping quote from your supplier, but also look at other freight-forwarding services.

Ask around, but remember that small forwarding companies won’t have good rates. A good metric is to look for a forwarding service that has at least 2 offices.

5. Sea vs Air

Air freight is seen as being more expensive, but this is not always the case. For small shipments, or very lightweight items, air can be the same or cheaper than sea, and of course significantly faster.

Sea freight usually comes with a minimum fee, whereas air does not.

As with a lot of things on this list – it pays to compare!

6. Plan Ahead!

Shipping rates can vary during the year, with peak times like Christmas being significantly more expensive. Save money (sometimes a lot of money!) by getting your Christmas goods in the autumn or earlier.

7. Measure Your Profit

Inside of Zonmaster you can track your true profits, by entering all your landed costs like shipping. Using our Financials area you can see just how each product is performing in each marketplace. This feature is supported for all marketplaces on all plan levels – even our $6.99/month plan

Start your 14 day free trial today – no credit card required!

Recently the folks over at Shopify released a report boldly called ‘The Future of eCommerce’, where they plumbed their extensive data to highlights changes in the eCommerce world.

From that they distilled 5 key predictions. Here we are going to look at those predictions, how they came to them and what they mean to you as an Amazon Seller.

1. Young Consumers Will Change the Landscape

Young consumers saw the biggest shift in shopping habits in the pandemic in 2020.

67% shifted more of their spending to online shopping compared
to earlier this year, ahead of older age groups (57%
for consumers 35-54, and 41% for 55+).

Also, young consumers (unsurprisingly) were the most influenced by social media, with 54% discovering brands via social media.

Finally, young consumers were much more likely to prefer to buy from ‘green’ or ‘sustainably minded’ companies – 62% stated it as a factor versus 53% of middle aged consumers and 44% for older consumers.

Action Points

• Take full advantage of Social Media
• Highlight your ‘Green’ credentials

2. Physical Retail isn’t going away, but it’s changing

We focus a lot on eCommerce, but the bricks and mortar store isn’t dead yet.

Technology is driving the changes.

Contactless payment is changing the way we interact at the checkout counter.

Shopping Appointments is changing the way we plan our trips to the store.

Alternative Pickup and Delivery options are changing the way we get the goods into our homes.

Key to this is the mixture. Online shoppers are choosing alternative pickup and delivery for their purchases. They are also 23% more likely to spend MORE when they use these delivery options to take advantage of the ‘box bundle’ of shipping, where they can add more items to the shipment at no charge.

Shoppers are also focusing on stores that are local to them and offering local delivery options. 65% of consumers support, or prefer, small businesses.

Action Points

• Offer ‘bundles’ of goods that are easily shipped
• Get you products into stores offering ‘local delivery’

3. Expand Your Options

To follow on from the last point – 65% of consumers support small business. 50% of consumers look for locally owned businesses.

Consumers want to support small, local businesses but often price point and product availability is holding them back. Trying to get your products into more outlets (as opposed to relying on the big boys) might have huge benefits when it comes to brand awareness and loyalty.

Despite intentions to support independent businesses, only 29% of consumers have shopped with an independently owned business since the start of the pandemic.

BUT, of these consumers, over a third (37%) are doing so more often now since before the pandemic was declared.

Action Point

• Start building relationships with small retailers
• Highlight your connections in your marketing

4. Go Green and Give Generously

The numbers are undeniable. Not only are young consumers (see above) more likely to buy from green companies but across the board 55% of consumers look at environmental impact.

In addition, 49% of consumers react positively to companies that donate to a cause.

People look for the story of the company, and you should be using features like Amazon Posts and A+ content to bring these to the buyer’s attention.

Action Points

• Find vendors with green credentials – especially for packaging
• Highlight your charitable causes

5. Go Global

Consumers in Canada, France, Australia, the UK, and India are more likely than US, German, and Japanese consumers to have shopped online for the first time since the pandemic was declared.

Consumers in the UK and Italy are most likely to have shifted more of their spending to online shopping since the pandemic was declared.

Luckily, Zonmaster fully supports all Amazon marketplaces around the world. So getting into international markets has never been easier.

You can read more about Zonmaster’s global marketplace options on our homepage!

Send To Amazon is a service that saves you time when you replenish your FBA inventory by letting your create reusable packing templates with information on how your SKUs are prepped, labeled and packed.

Once you create a packing template you can reuse it on shipment after shipment without having to re-enter the same details each time!

Send To Amazon Bullet Points

Send To Amazon is currently in beta, and may not yet support every feature that you have inside of shipping inventory to Amazon.

Here’s a few limitations/features to be aware of:

What it supports:

• One SKU per box (this is vital. If you can’t do this – like your supplier boxes multiple SKUs together – you cannot use STA)
• Small-parcel and pallet shipments
• Shipments via both Amazon Partnered and non-partnered carriers

What it doesn’t support:

• More than one SKU per box

How To Use Send To Amazon

After you’ve logged in to Seller Central go to the ‘Inventory’ menu at the top of the page and select ‘Manage FBA Shipments’

You should then see a ‘Send To Amazon’ link at the top of the page.

You can also get to Send To Amazon directly via this link

On the ‘Send To Amazon’ page you’ll see a list of all your FBA SKUs. If your SKUs are not yet FBA managed you’ll need to update those by going to the ‘Manage FBA Inventory’ area and switching your SKUs from ‘Merchant Fulfilled’ to ‘Fulfilled By Amazon’.

Create a Packing Template

First step is to actually create the packing template for the SKU you want to send to Amazon. Click the ‘Create Packing Template’ link next to the SKU you want to send.

The packing template saves information about how you prep, label and pack the SKU.

The field are:

• Template Name – give this template a relevant name. You can have up to 3 templates per SKU.
• Units per box – how many items will be in a box
• Box dimensions
• Box weight
• Prep per unit – many units require prep and labeling to be received correctly at the fulfillment centers. Any required prep and labeling must be applied to each sellable unit.
• Who labels? – Pay Amazon to do it, or you have done it

Print Labels

After saving your template you will be able to print off the labels by clicking the ‘Print SKU Labels’ link.

Create Additional Templates

Simply click the ‘New Packing Template’ in the Template dropdown.

Create a Shipment

1. Choose the Address

In the top left (called Step 1) choose the address you are shipping FROM. If no address is listed, click ‘Ship from Another Address’ and enter in the details.

2. Make sure you have the right packing template selected

3. Enter the number of boxes

It will automatically show you how many units (number of boxes x units per box) Amazon will expect to receive.

4. Confirm And Continue

Now you are taken to Step 2 – Confirming Shipping

5. Enter Expected Ship date

You can update this later, so give a ‘best guess’.

6. Choose How it is being shipped (Shipping Mode)

Right now STA supports Small Parcel or Less than or Full Truckload

7. Choose Your Carrier

You can use either partnered or non-partnered.

8. Accept and Confirm

9. Print Your Box Labels

Amazon supports some different formats that will print a PDF for the right labels for you.

Note that if you are not using a partnered carrier you will probably need to create labels for the carrier separately. These labels are just the Amazon labels.

For non-partnered carriers you will also need to enter the tracking number for your boxes.

Amazon’s Buy Shipping service enables you to buy shipping labels individually or in bulk from recognized carriers. It also facilitates the shipping and confirm your orders, and the tracking your shipments. You can do all of this through either Seller Central or the Merchant API.

Buy Shipping ensures that your products are delivered to your customers using a trusted network of shipping carriers.

Buy Shipping – The Benefits

Amazon Sellers who use Buy Shipping can:

• Buy labels in bulk – up to 100 orders at a time!
• Track delivery status on the Orders page of Seller Central. Amazon claims to ‘instantly’ update tracking information as it comes in.
• A-to-Z Guarantee Claim ‘insurance’ – if a buyer says the order wasn’t received, Amazon funds the claim, not the seller. Your stats as a seller are not impacted

Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP)

Amazon Sellers participating in the Seller Fulfilled Prime program must purchase their shipping from Buy Shipping. Even if you are not in SFP, if you use Buy Shipping anyway there is some indication that it eases acceptance into the program, should you wish to do so.

An interesting side-benefit of being in Seller Fulfilled Prime is that it allows the seller to ship even products labelled as containing hazardous materials (anything from batteries to hairspray!) via Prime.

Since participating in SFP means your listings get a ‘Prime eligible’ badge, and data shows that Prime users tend to filter on only Prime eligible products, it could provide a boost in sales.

Impact on Seller Feedback

Amazon allows sellers to remove Seller Feedback related to product shipping if the shipment was done using Buy Shipping – as long as you shipped within the Amazon shipment window.

Seller Feedback is one of Amazon’s key performance metrics when it comes to assessing a merchant. Having a way to remove negative feedback is big plus.

You can keep track of your Seller Feedback inside of Zonmaster, where you can get alerts any time a negative Seller Feedback comes in.

Amazon is not infallible. Sometimes mistakes, or overzealous bots, incorrectly suspend Amazon seller accounts. Maybe yours is one?

In this article we are going to take a look at why you might be suspended, how you can try to fix it, and what you should be monitoring so that it doesn’t happen again!

It’s important to know what metrics you need to be on top of so you don’t get suspended. Every day you are suspended is a day you are not selling!

Why Am I Suspended?

The most common reason for an Amazon account getting suspended is violation of Amazon’s own Terms of Service (ToS) or Amazon’s Seller Code of Conduct (SCC).

Here’s some common ToS and SCC issues

1. Multiple Related Accounts

If Amazon thinks you are running multiple seller account without their permission (and yes, you can ask for permission first!) they will flag your account with a ‘Related Account Suspension’. You need to contact Seller Support for this, because they won’t tell you what the related account is! Even accounts that are not eligible to sell, but are related to yours, might cause this error.

2. Selling Restrict Products

Amazon has a list of products that cannot be sold on the platform. If any of your items are seen as being in violation of this your account will be frozen and a request for more information will be sent to you. Restricted products can include restricted ingredients! Know exactly what is in your product and on the label (especially important in Health and Beauty).

3. Poor Performance

This one is a bit nebulous, but, if you are not selling anything and not logging in and trying to update listings or sending inventory then your account can be flagged.

4. Consistent Late Shipment

A key performance metric for Amazon is when you ship (assuming you are not FBA, though we have heard of times this affects FBA accounts in error). Amazon promises a delivery window when a customer buys. If you are consistently (> 5% of the time) outside of that, you can get flagged.

5. Inappropriate Customer Communication

ToS clearly states what you can and cannot say and do in an email. This is being updated all the time. Luckily, if you send emails via Zonmaster, we are always updating our Compliance Checker to let you know. You can read more about that here.

6. Copyright Violation

The Amazon bot is constantly scanning listings for images or text that violates copyright. If they believe you are in violation of copyright they will flag your account.

7. Not Selling What You Describe

If you are getting frequent customer complaints or returns that site that the product you have sold is not what you described in the listing you can get flagged. Amazon takes this one very seriously!

How Long Will My Amazon Account Be Suspended?

If you do not appeal, then your Amazon Seller account will be suspended permanently. If you appeal it can take 2 to 5 weeks. Also, Amazon will withhold all future payments and may dispose of FBA inventory if too much time passes. This is why it is important that you appeal as soon as possible!

Can’t I Just Open a New Account?

No. If you have been suspended your request to open a new account will never be authorized. You must appeal and get your original account unlocked. There is also evidence to suggest that Amazon considers you trying to open up a new account while the old one is suspended as a red flag, making your chances of a successful appeal even slimmer.

Also, if you do manage to open up a new account by using different identification or other means and it is discovered by Amazon that account will be immediately suspended and both accounts locked for life, and you with no way to open a new one.

How To Appeal an Amazon Seller Account Suspension

There is an appeals process in place in Amazon for account suspensions. You will need to submit a claim to Amazon’s Internal Review Team, update that claim with any requested evidence they may ask for, and wait for a decision. All this can take 2 – 5 weeks, but staying in touch has been proven to keep you in their sights.

Here’s the process in detail:

1. Put Together Your Appeal Claim

As soon as possible after receiving notice of your suspension get together a detailed email to send to the Review Team. In particular, we here at Zonmaster suggest that you address these 3 key factors:

1. Why YOU think Amazon suspended you. Amazon will have told you some basic info about your suspension, so if you think they are in error (which presumably you do, otherwise you wouldn’t appeal) give as much detail as possible about how the error could have happened. Be nice about it. It is possible Amazon missed some details.
2. Your PLAN to prevent this happening in the future. This can be quite varied, anything from asserting credentials on virtual assistants if they are logging in to clarifying sourcing and shipping, clarifying your business name to ensuring that you use a secure wifi connection with Two Factor Authentication (2FA) when anyone logs into your Seller Central
3. Your EVIDENCE that supports what you are saying. Anything is better than nothing. Emails, order receipts, screenshots highlighting points, screen recordings, etc etc. Better to give too much (as long as it is relevant) than too little!

The issue of course is that Amazon is notorious for not giving a lot of detail. So you are a little in the dark sometimes as to why your account has been suspended. But, this is not a court of law and the responsibility is yours to ‘prove your innocence’.

Put all this info together and email it at Amazon Account Health. Amazon Account Health is the layer of Amazon support BEFORE the Internal Review Team. It is a cryptic nightmare trying to find how to contact Amazon, so here is the link for you:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/contact-us/cmn/SAFETY

2. Stay in Touch with Amazon Internal Review Team

As we all know, Amazon is not the most pro-active in communicating with you about status updates. This is why it is vital, once you have submitted a claim, you contact Amazon daily (yes, daily) to check on the status of your appeal. Often there will be notes or comments on your case that the customer service rep can tell you about that will let you give them more info.

After several days of that, if you think things have stalled, it is time to try to escalate.

3. Ask to Submit to the Internal Review Team

If you have given enough evidence and been polite in your communications with Account Health, they will most likely be receptive to having your case pushed up to the Internal Review Team. Communicate clearly with your Account Health rep that you think you have the evidence to prove you are legitimate and serious seller. They can then push your claim, with all the notes attached, up to the IRT who will then have the last word.

Please be aware that this process does take time. Be patient, but thorough.

Have a Plan B

All of this back and forth with Account Health may have discouraged you, but, there are things you need to think about.

Your Inventory

If you believe that your claim is going to take more than 45 days and you have inventory in Amazon warehouses, you have to arrange shipment of that inventory out of them. Otherwise Amazon may destroy it.

Your Listings

If (when! Let’s be positive!) your account is reinstated all of your listings will be inactive. Log into Seller Central and go to the Listing Status page. You will need to click each listing and make it active.

We hope this info helps you!

Shoppers are tired of having to use the strength of ten men to break into their online orders when they arrive. First impressions count, and the first impression of having to cut through wires and plastic to get to your purchase does not lead to a happy customer, or a 5 star review.

Luckily, Amazon has introduced a new service to cut down on this annoyance – Frustration Free Packaging. Let’s take a look at what it is and how you as an Amazon Seller can get in on the action.

FBA Frustration Free Packaging

The reasoning behind the frustration free packaging program is to provide something that protects the product, but is designed to be easy to open. It is designed as an e-commerce shipping solution.

The goal is to get to the point where the customer opens up the Amazon shipping box, perhaps opens an internal box for smaller items, and then can immediately use the product. This increases the customer experience, by decreasing the packaging wrestling.

It also reduces packaging waste.

How does it do that? Amazon’s Frustration Free Packaging (FFP) program uses mostly 100% recyclable materials.

Other Packaging Options

You might not qualify for Amazon’s Frustration Free Packaging program. Or you might choose not to participate in the FFP. Either way, as an FBA seller, there are things you can take into account for your packaging.

1. Subscribe and Save

The perfect solution for consumables such as health and beauty items like shampoo and detergent. Also worth nothing that Zonmaster’s email template triggers can specifically target Subscribe and Save customers, so you can send them an email a few weeks after purchase to remind them. Customer’s also save money, and you get recurring income.

2. Small and Light

You can get lower fulfillment costs, and provide free shippin, if you sign up for Amazon’s Small and Light program. Enrollment is fairly simple (about 6 steps), and costs you nothing.

3. FBA Export

Helpful for those Amazon FBA Sellers who are selling internationally. Amazon FBA Export ships your products direct from US-based fulfillment centers to international companies, without you needing to list on all marketplaces.

Key Advantages of Amazon Special Fulfillment Programs

Amazon’s fulfillment programs come with some other benefits:

• (Potentially) lower costs
• Free Certification
• Quick Approval

That being said, Amazon at the moment is retooling it’s Frustration Free Program (which is, ironically, frustrating) so we strongly recommend you look at the other options listed above.

If you customers have a better initial experience then you are going to get more positive reviews (as reviews are most commonly left within the first few days of getting a product. So you should see a bump in your Amazon product reviews and seller feedback.