This post is about the Amazon Early Reviewer program with the goal of educating you on how to generate your first product reviews quickly. Launching a product on Amazon is not easy. It is difficult to generate sales on a listing without reviews, and it is impossible to receive reviews without sales. Reviews on Amazon are crucial to the success of any listing. Product reviews on a listing increase consumer confidence and clarify product expectations leading to a better shopping experience for the customer and increase long-term sales for the seller as their listings will receive more visibility. Luckily, the Early Reviewer Program can be utilized to help speed up the process of receiving early reviews. Once your product is listed on Amazon, enrollment in this program can help your first sales also become your first reviews.
What is the Amazon Early Review Program
The Early Reviewer Program encourages customers who have purchased a product to share their authentic experience about it through reviews. The program helps brand owners and Amazon sellers jumpstart their listings by allowing them to easily acquire their first reviews. This program is a win-win-win for Amazon, the seller, and the customer. Amazon is able to build out their marketplace with better product information, sellers get reviews on new products, and customers get a reward for taking the time to leave a review. The Early Reviewer program allows sellers to generate product reviews while maintaining compliance with Amazon’s community guidelines on review incentives.
How the Amazon Early Review Program Works
When a customer receives a product they’ve purchased that is enrolled in the Early Reviewer Program, they will receive an email from Amazon asking them to leave a review on the product. Amazon will offer the customer a $3 Amazon Gift Card to leave an authentic review within an offer period on the listing. The review left by the customer could be either a 5-star review or a 1-star review, as long as it complies with Amazon’s review guidelines. The reward for the customer will not be dependent on the rating of the review they provide.
The Early Reviewer Program will generate up to 5 reviews for your product enrolled in the program. If you enroll the parent SKU of the variation, the program will generate 5 reviews for the Parent ASIN, not 5 reviews for each child ASIN. If you enroll your product at 0 reviews, the program will continue running until your product receives 5 reviews through the program. Any reviews that are received through means other than the Early Reviewer Program will not count against your 5 reviews.
When to use the Early Reviewer Program
The Early Reviewer Program is the perfect tool for launching any new product on Amazon Seller Central. New products to Amazon benefit from this program as it expedites the time needed to build a healthy sample size of product reviews. When launching a fresh product, enrollment in this program provides great long-term return at a reasonable cost. This program also is beneficial to existing products on Amazon that have been established, but are not generating sales. By enrolling in the program, more of your sales will convert to reviews.
Your product should be retail ready before enrollment in the program. The Early Reviewer Program only incentives a customer to leave a review, not necessarily a positive review. To increase your likelihood of a positive customer experience, it is important to ensure that the customer fully understands the product and has realistic expectations, which translates to a better customer experience. Before enrollment in the program, you should ensure your listing meets the following criteria:
Product title, bullet points, and the product description accurately describe the product
The listing has multiple, quality images of the product that detail what the customer will be receiving
Variations, A+ Content, and other available product information fields have been filled to accurately merchandise the product
Eligibility of Early Reviewer Program
All Seller Central accounts have access to the Early Reviewer program, although not all products will qualify for enrollment. Here is how you can determine if your product is eligible for enrollment in the Early Reviewer Program:
This program is only currently available for Amazon US (Amazon.com)
Your SKU must have less than 5 reviews at the time of enrollment
Your offer must be priced greater than $9.00 - If you price drops below $9.00 when enrolled, the customer will not receive a review request from Amazon
You may not openly advertise or merchandise the fact that your products are enrolled in the Early Reviewer Program.
You agree to pay all fees charged in connection with your participation in the Early Reviewer Program.
Costs of Early Reviewer Program
Enrollment in the Early Reviewer Program costs $60 per listing, plus any applicable taxes. This equates to $12 per review gained. Enrollment in the program is determined at the listing-level, meaning if you have a product with many size or color variations housed under a single listing, you will only pay a single $60 that covers all SKUs in the listing. The $60 fee is not charged until you receive your first review that was incentivized by the Early Reviewer Program. There will be no additional fee for any of the other four reviews that you may receive through the program. If your product enrolled in the program does not receive any reviews, you will not be charged for enrollment. You can cancel your enrollment in the program before you receive your first review and avoid facing any fees.
Charges for the Early Reviewer Program can be reviewed under the “Transaction View” tab of the “Payments Dashboard”. These charges will appear as “Early Reviewer Program fee” under the “Product Details” section of each transaction.
How to Use the Early Reviewer Program
Here are the steps to how to generate Amazon reviews with the Early Reviewer Program:
Navigate to the Amazon Early Reviewer Program - the tool can be accessed in Seller Central via the “Early Reviewer Program” dropdown on the “Advertising” tab.
Enroll Products - Enter the SKU of your product into the available field to check eligibility
Review and agree to the fees and charges and enroll in the program
Once your product have been successfully enrolled in the program, you can monitor their status in the “Enrollment Dashboard” tab. The table on this page displays the following information:
Item name, Parent SKU, and ASIN that is enrolled
Number of Child SKUs housed under the enrolled Parent SKU
Date of enrollment
Number of reviews received through the program
Status of SKU in the Program (Enrolled or Completed)
Amount billed
Contact Goat Consulting to Jumpstart Reviews on Your Product Listing
Generating reviews on Amazon is one of the most common obstacles that sellers face. The Amazon Early Reviewer Program, when used successfully, is a great tool for any new seller or new product launch. If you want to learn more about growing your reviews on Amazon or how to effectively use these programs we encourage you to reach out to Goat Consulting with any additional questions through the contact form below.