How to Get Amazon Reviews Fast for Viral Product Launch
When it comes to launching a product on Amazon, the difference between a successful product and a flop often boils down to generating initial sales and reviews. Why? Because the key to going viral and ranking on Amazon’s first page—where over 70% of all online sales happen—requires both. A strong foundation of product reviews builds social proof, boosts conversions, and helps your listing rise through the ranks. In this post, I’ll share a five-step strategy to help you get high-quality reviews fast and an advanced strategy to keep reviews rolling in consistently for the long term.
How Many Reviews Do You Need?
To make a noticeable impact, aim to get around 10 reviews right away. Ten reviews tend to be a psychological tipping point where potential buyers feel confident enough to trust your product. Let’s break down the strategies you can use to reach that number quickly.
5-Step Strategy for Getting Amazon Reviews Fast
Think of each of these steps as “fishing poles in the water” to increase your chances of catching reviews. By combining multiple approaches, you’re maximizing your chances to generate reviews and start building social proof for your product.
- Enroll in Amazon’s Vine Program
The Amazon Vine Program is one of the fastest and easiest ways to secure initial reviews since it’s officially supported by Amazon. Here’s how it works:
• You offer up to 30 units of your product for free to Amazon’s “Vine Voices,” a select group of trusted reviewers.
• In exchange, these reviewers leave detailed, honest reviews.
Timing for Amazon Vine Reviews:
• 25% of reviews are received within 5 days of the order.
• 99% of reviews are received within 35 days of the order.
Pro Tip: If you’re a new seller, you may be eligible for the $200 New Seller Incentives credit, which can cover your Amazon Vine enrollment fee. That’s 30 free reviews at no cost!
- Reach Out to External Product Testers
Once you’ve exhausted Vine’s 30-review limit, use external product testing services to build up additional reviews. Some of the most trusted services are:
• RebateKey: Connects you with a community of shoppers interested in discounted products.
• FBAReviews.com: Offers access to a community of testers likely to provide honest feedback.
Why This Is Amazon Compliant: Amazon’s terms of service are not violated here because reviews are never required; these testers are simply encouraged to share feedback. Neither RebateKey nor FBAReviews asks testers to leave reviews, ensuring compliance with Amazon’s policies.
- Get Reviews from Friends and Family (with Caution)
If you’re willing to take on some risk, you could also reach out to friends and family for initial reviews. However, you need to be extremely careful:
• Friends/family members must have spent $50 on Amazon within the last 12 months to qualify to leave reviews.
• Ensure you don’t share any detectable connections with them, such as:
• No shared Wi-Fi networks
• No common last names
• Different zip codes
• No connections on social media (e.g., Facebook)
By following these rules, you reduce the risk of Amazon’s system detecting the connection and flagging your account.
Pro Tip for Friends/Family Reviews: Since you have control over what they say, guide them to write impactful reviews by answering the following questions:
• What problem did the product solve?
• Why did you choose this product over others?
• How has it improved your day-to-day life?
Encourage them to add photos or videos in the review for even greater impact. Remember, this strategy walks a fine line with Amazon’s policies, so proceed only if you’re comfortable with the risk.
- Automate Review Requests with Helium 10
Amazon allows you to send review requests to buyers directly within Seller Central:
• While Amazon sends a reminder automatically, you can send one additional follow-up message.
To streamline this, use Helium 10’s email automation tool. With Helium 10, you can:
• Set up filters to target specific buyers or products.
• Automate requests to go out after a set amount of time, ensuring you’re capturing reviews consistently without the manual effort.
If you don’t already have Helium 10, I offer a free trial and a discount code to my community for accessing Helium 10’s full suite of tools.
- Use Insert Cards with Review Scan Go
This powerful long-term review strategy involves product insert cards, which encourage feedback without directly asking for a review:
• Instead of a simple “Thank You” card, offer something valuable, like a free gift or discount code.
• Insert a QR code that customers can scan to claim the reward, leading them through a simple process on your own branded page.
Using a tool like Review Scan Go, you can easily set this up without technical skills:
1. Create a campaign on Review Scan Go.
2. Choose your reward type (e.g., free gift, coupon).
3. Download the QR code to print on your insert cards.
Key Benefits of Review Scan Go:
• Collects order details and contact information for email marketing.
• If a buyer isn’t 100% satisfied, it redirects feedback to you for internal use only.
• Fully Amazon-compliant as it doesn’t incentivize positive reviews—buyers aren’t required to leave any review to claim their reward.
This strategy will help keep reviews coming in and also allows you to build a valuable email list for future launches.
Strategy Cost Timeline for Reviews Compliance Amazon Vine Program Free with new seller credit 1-4 weeks Amazon-approved External Testers Varies 1-4 weeks Amazon-compliant Friends/Family Free 1-2 weeks Risky Helium 10 Automation Subscription Ongoing Amazon-approved Review Scan Go Insert Cards Free Trial Available Ongoing Amazon-compliant
Keep the Reviews Coming
While the above methods are great for a product launch, here’s how you can maintain a steady flow of reviews long-term.
1. Request Reviews in Seller Central: This simple tactic can be automated with Helium 10, as covered above.
2. Product Insert Cards with Review Scan Go: The long-term benefit of this strategy is that it incentivizes future buyers to review without offering incentives directly related to Amazon reviews, which keeps it compliant.
Final Thoughts
Getting Amazon reviews fast is crucial to boosting your sales and setting your product up for a successful launch. By following these strategies, you’ll have an initial batch of reviews to attract even more buyers and build lasting social proof. Make sure to check out my video on keyword optimization and PPC strategies to further enhance your listing’s visibility and conversions!
