We all know Amazon has extremely strict policies on contacting customers. That's what makes it all the more frustrating when you receive a 1, 2 or even 3-star review on your products for issues that seem to have a simple resolution.
Until now there was very little you could do for negative reviews that did not violate Amazon's ToS (which very few do).
That has now changed as Amazon recently rolled out a new feature for brand owners that allows limited, templated contact to customers who have given your products poor reviews.
You can find this new feature, called "Customer Reviews" under the Brands tab on Seller Central
If a customer has left you a product review with 3 or less stars, this new functionality allows you to reach out to them in one of two ways:
- Offering a courtesy refund
- Offering direct support to resolve their experience directly through the Customer Reviews feature itself
In either case, please be aware that the process follows a templated email that Amazon sends on your behalf. This email contains the usual disclaimers stating that there is no expectation that the buyer remove their rating and review even if there is a resolution reached.
While it's not a huge step by any means nor is it a way to count on getting the poor feedback removed, Amazon has at least provided a path that is worth pursuing for sellers, since product reviews can be so critical to success in the early stages of a product's life cycle. This new feature can be especially helpful in situations where there seems to be a clear misunderstanding that you may be able to resolve with a reasonable customer at a very low cost to you, the seller.
This feature was automatically enabled for the primary account holder. If you are a secondary user, you can still request access to this feature. For the primary user - once you navigate to the Manage Permissions section, Customer Reviews is located under the Advertising area.