Maintaining a healthy Amazon account is crucial for success on the platform. A healthy Amazon account not only increases your sales, it is also necessary if you want to remain an Amazon seller! We’ve put together these essential tips and strategies for monitoring and improving your Amazon account health. This guide will cover key steps you should take to keep your Amazon account healthy, such as Order Defect Rate (ODR), managing feedback and claims, shipping performance, and preparing effective Plans of Action (POAs) to correct any problem areas.
Check Your Amazon Dashboard
Regularly
Treat your Amazon dashboard like
it is your best friend. A true best friend gives you praise when you deserve
it, but isn’t afraid to let you know when you’ve made
a mistake or need to improve. If you listen carefully to what your Amazon
dashboard is telling you and take action based on that feedback, then you will
safeguard your seller account and set yourself up for success. There are five main areas of your dashboard that deserve
your attention. Check your dashboard once a day at a minimum, and respond to
all notifications as quickly as you can.
Order Defect Rate (ODR)
Having a low order defect rate is one of the
best things you can do to keep your Amazon account healthy. Let’s
take a look at some tips that will help you achieve this goal.
Negative Feedback/Reviews
Nobody likes to receive negative feedback. If you’re like most sellers your emotions can easily take over
when the feedback is undeserved. However, the best way to handle negative
feedback is the exact opposite. Start by putting your emotions aside and
objectively evaluate the situation. Look at the feedback from the buyer’s point
of view and try to understand where they are coming from - even if you disagree
with it! Is there room for improvement in your processes? If this order had
been handled differently could the negative feedback
have been avoided? Not all negative feedback is a sign that you need to change
how you handle your business, but sometimes it is. If there is a change that
you can make to avoid this type of complaint in the future then seriously
consider implementing that change.
After you have objectively and without emotion
evaluated the negative feedback, if you still believe it was unwarranted, check
to see if it qualifies for removal. Typically Amazon
will only remove a negative review if it violates their Community Guidelines. If you know the feedback
qualifies for removal, or even if you think that it might, then request that
Amazon remove the feedback.
If the feedback does not qualify for removal
then reply to it. The only emotion that you want to come across in your reply
is empathy. This is not the time to argue or disagree with the customer. You
are not only replying to this specific customer - you are also communicating
with all of your potential customers that read the review and your reply. A
measured reply will show them that you are engaged and
will fix problems as they come up. Include in your reply any steps that you’ve taken to remedy the situation and prevent it from
happening in the future.
A-to-Z Claims and Chargebacks
The best way to handle A-to-Z claims and
chargebacks is to prevent them from happening at all. Even if you are
completely in the right, the case can still be ruled
against you. You run the risk of losing both the product and money if your
customer wins the dispute, and disputes can take a great deal of time and
effort to handle. The best solution might be to stretch your policies and give
your customer more than you think they deserve to resolve the case before it is escalated to a claim or dispute.
Not all claims and disputes can
be avoided. What do you do when they happen anyway, despite your best
efforts? Some sellers make the mistake of setting them aside to deal with
later. Responding to disputes is one of the least enjoyable parts of being a
seller, and can seem less important than other necessary tasks. The best
approach is to treat them as high impact issues that need both a quick and
thoughtful response. This will increase your chances of winning and show that
you care about your account health and treat it as a priority.
Disputes can be ruled against you even if you’ve done everything correctly with your reply. Sometimes
you have the option to challenge a lost dispute. If you have that option then
take advantage of it and use it. There is nothing to lose by
challenging an A-to-Z claim that you have lost.
Keep Your Order Count High
Easier said than done, right? Every seller
wants a high order count for obvious reasons. You might not know that a high
order count can also help you keep a low order defect rate. For example, if you
have 101 orders a month then this means you can only have one defective order
to stay under your ODR of less than one percent. If you find yourself with a
high ODR, then consider temporarily lowering the price of one or more of your
items so that it is selling at cost. Pick a product that gets very few
complaints and is usually well received by your
customers. The profit for these orders will not be immediate dollars, but will
pay off in the long term with the additional profitable sales you will get by
keeping your Amazon account healthy.
Policy Compliance
Always take a look at
any policy compliance notice that you get as quickly as possible. These are
more common with certain selling categories and products, so if you’re lucky this won’t be something that you have to deal
with. If you do get a policy compliance notice then review it immediately. The
notice should include any impact to your Amazon account health and your options
for next steps. The impact of these notices can range from none at all to
account deactivation. Be sure to take action accordingly.
Shipping Performance
It is critical that you not only meet your
customers’ shipping expectations but that you exceed them. This isn’t only about how quickly you get the package in the
hands of the shipping carrier. It is also about your shipping carrier’s
performance, which Amazon will hold you accountable for.
Shipping speed and delivery time promises can be as impactful to your business
as the prices of your products, and it can be tempting to be aggressive with
your promises. When you get more aggressive with your promises
you will need to pay very close attention to your performance and that of your
shipping carrier. It might be necessary to scale back on your promises or even
consider changing how you ship.
Keep Your Contact Information
Accurate
This is an easy one with the potential of a
massive impact to your Amazon account health. Be sure that your emergency
contact phone number and email are accurate and current. Amazon does call about
account health related issues and you want to be ready to take that call and
show you are serious about fixing any problems. Be prepared to answer any
questions that Amazon has and follow up accordingly.
Be Proactive and Communicate with
Amazon
When there is a poor metric or some other
issue that will impact or even has the slightest
potential of impacting your Amazon account health, it is best to call Amazon or
open a support case with them. In the call or message to Amazon
include your plan to address and correct the issue. That way if your account
gets into trouble because of this issue in the future there is a record showing
that you have been proactive in resolving the issue. This can only help your
case as it shows that you care about and manage account health issues when they
arise.
Achieve Access To
Amazon Account Health Assurance
Not everyone qualifies for Amazon’s Account
Health Assurance (AHA) program. If you are a
professional seller and you meet the qualifications, then use it! If there are
changes that you can make to your business that will help
you achieve AHA status then consider making those changes. This program helps
you avoid account suspensions and gives you 72 hours to work with Amazon when
issues come up.
Learn How To
Write a Plan Of Action
There are many different formats and examples
of Amazon Plans Of Action (POAs) that can be found
with a quick internet search. In general you want to
make sure your POA includes three main pieces of information.
●
A detailed explanation of what
happened. This should be data driven and void of emotion. It should include
numbers, timeframes, and other concrete data. An example is “For the past 30
day period our account achieved a 1.5% order defect rate. This was driven by
four negative feedbacks on SKU XYZ with ASIN 123456789.”
●
The specific steps you have taken
to remedy the situation. These steps should directly address the issue that
happened. Be specific and concise with your reply. An example might start with
“All four of the customers that left negative feedback on SKU XYZ were refunded
in full the same day the negative feedback was received. In addition
we have shipped them replacement products at no charge. The tracking
information for the replacements is . . .”
●
The specific plan that you have to
prevent this problem from reoccurring. The plan should address the issue that happened and give specific actions on which you are committing
to execute. An example might be “Our warehouse has inspected our entire
stock of SKU XYZ and removed all products that are missing part #1234. In
addition we have worked with our supplier to ensure this problem does not
happen again in the future.”
Final Thoughts
Keeping your Amazon account healthy is an
ongoing process that requires diligence and proactive management. Monitoring
and responding to issues related to key metrics like your ODR, customer
feedback, A-to-Z claims, and shipping performance is critical. Being ready to
create a POA when issues do arise will allow you to respond quickly and
efficiently. Do what you can to achieve AHA status and always be as proactive
as possible when addressing current and potential issues with your Amazon
account health. Good luck and happy selling!