Reviews form a crucial part of purchase decisions made on Amazon. More positive reviews on a product detail page, could translate into better sales conversion and vice versa.
If you are an Amazon seller, you know very well how difficult it is to get good reviews within the first few weeks after a product launch. Amazon Vine could be the answer you have been looking for.
What is Amazon Vine?
Amazon Vine requests the most reliable reviewers on Amazon to share opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make informed purchase decisions.
Amazon invites customers to become Vine Voices based on their reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of their reviews as judged by other Amazon customers. Amazon provides Vine members with free products that have been submitted to the program by participating vendors. A Vine review is identified with the green strip customer review from Amazon Vine Program.
Why the initiative?
The program was designed to provide customers with adequate information together with candid and unbiased feedback from some of Amazon’s best reliable observers.
Criteria for selection
Membership of Amazon Vine also known as Vine Voices is strictly by invitation, thus reviewers are carefully selected based on several criteria of which the topmost is the usefulness of their feedbacks and established interest they exhibit in the types of products that are introduced in the program. Customers who consistently write helpful reviews and develop a reputation for expertise in specific product categories are most likely to be invited into the program.
Ultimately, Vine Voices become eligible based on the value and trust other Amazon.com customers place in the Voices’ ability to provide helpful and insightful reviews. In addition to the reviewer rank, Amazon also weigh customers’ demonstrated interest in products similar to those enrolled in the Vine program. This facilitates product reviews by people who are familiar with the category they belong to. For example if a Vine Voice mostly purchases and/or reviews home and garden products, it is more likely they will be offered similar products.
Where does Amazon get the products?
Products are provided by publishers, labels, studios, manufacturers or any vendor participating in the program. Products available for review often include books, furniture, office supplies, home decor, movies, fitness equipment, homeopathic medicine, groceries, vitamins, personal care products (shampoo, soap and hair products), makeup, jewelry, luggage and other sundries. In return for products received, members are required to post a review within 30 days of delivery. The Vine Voices are allowed to giveaway or sell reviewed products after six months.
Are Vine Voices paid for writing reviews or pressured to write favorable reviews?
Vine Voices are not paid to participate in the program and write reviews. Voices are selected to participate based on their helpfulness of reviews voted on by other Amazon customers.
All comments are genuinely made without influence
All Vine products are submitted by vendors to Amazon and distributed by Amazon to the Vine Voices. Vendors have no contact with the Vine Voices and have no influence over which Vine Voices will review their products.
How to enroll
It is quite simple for sellers to be part of the vine program. All they need to do is log in to Seller Central and enroll their products into the program by selecting the ASIN to enroll and agreeing to Amazon’s terms and conditions. Sellers then select their targeting criteria such as age, interests and gender. Once enrolled, the seller needs to create and prepare the shipment of samples as per Amazon’s requirements and send in the stock.
Based on the targeted criteria and product category, Amazon’s algorithm will match the items to their Vine Voices, ensuring the products get in the hands of the most relevant reviewers that will write a detailed review for that product. They will offer the product to this targeted group and these Vine Voices can then decide if they would like to review any of the products. If a Vine Voice wants to review the item, they just order the product and post a review within 30 days of receipt of the item. Sellers can track the number of items that have been selected to review and the review ratings in Seller Central.
Until recently, the process has taken at least 42 days from the date of enrollment to the item being available to reviewers. However, the process has now changed with a goal to reduce this to 21 days. Vine Voices would receive a monthly newsletter from which they could select the item they wished to review. They can enter the system and see the items available for them to review as soon as the items are in stock.
