How I use the ‘Product Tester’ method to get legit Verified Reviews Fast!
When you ‘launch’ a product on Amazon, one of the most important parts of this is to GET REVIEWS FAST. Amazon is all about those reviews! Over my 6+ years of selling on Amazon, I’ve found giveaways to be the fastest and most efficient way to get your first 10+ reviews.
In years past, Amazon sellers would promote 99% off Amazon coupons to Facebook ‘dollar deal groups’ and email lists. But now the rules have changed – shoppers who paste in a coupon code at checkout are no longer eligible to leave a review if the discount % is high (~50% or above). If the discount % is not that high, they can post a review, but it is not ‘Verified’.
Now, brands are utilizing ‘rebate’ promotions. This way, shoppers order your product for full price, thus are eligible to leave a Verified Review.
The Product Tester method
This method has been around for years across all industries. It involves offering someone your product for free or at a discount in exchange for testing out the product and giving you feedback. In the past, Amazon sellers would do this using coupon codes. But Amazon changed the rules so shoppers who use coupon codes higher than 50% are ineligible to leave a review. So to get around this, everyone now offers rebates after the purchase.
So how do you find product testers? There are different places you can find them, but the best and most legit place I’ve found is FBAreviews.com. It’s a site that handles everything for you – for a fee of course. They have a network of real Amazon Prime shoppers in the US who signed up to be product testers. What’s unique about them compared to other places is their testers can only test 5 products max, thus deterring the type of testers who abuse the system and leave too many reviews on their account (potentially getting their reviews wiped).
Their fee is $25 per product test (for a discount code, reach out to me), and they handle the whole process for you including issuing the rebate to the tester for you, thus saving you a lot of time. Is this within TOS, you ask? Yes, because an Amazon review is NOT required, however about 90% of testers do leave an Amazon review (a very good review rate – the best I’ve found). They are only required to test the product and leave honest feedback directly to FBAReviews. Check out their website for more details.
For a new launch, I usually start with 10-30 product tests per parent ASIN, depending on the product price and the client’s budget. Personally, I think getting to double-digit reviews ASAP is important for conversions, so I shoot for at least 10. Tip: Place your order at least 1 week BEFORE your product is live, so testers are ready to order on day 1.
How it works
See their website for details on how it works. But here’s the general process.
1. Broadcast – Your product is broadcasted to a large network of over 20,000 real US shoppers who signed up to be product testers. People opt-in to buy your product for full price on Amazon, then they get a full rebate after the order is confirmed.
2. Search-Find-Buy – A ‘search-find-buy’ is when the shopper searches on Amazon for the keyword of our choice, then they find your listing, and order it for full price. After they order, we send them a full rebate.
3. Reviews Come In – Reviews are highly encouraged, but not technically required. Each giveaway results in a review about 50-75% of the time. They typically come in within 1-4 weeks. They are Verified Reviews. I personally give away at least 20 units to be sure I have 10+ reviews in a month.
A few notes on other ways sellers get reviews:
Amazon VINE: I usually allocate 3 units to this. Just keep in mind that VINE reviewers have a notorious history of being picky reviewers. So this is optional.
NO Friends & Family: Don’t have friends or family leave reviews. I’ve been flagged for this. If they are associates at arm’s length, it’s probably fine. But don’t rely on this.
Influencers: It’s OK for influencers that you give away your product do via rebate to leave reviews, as long as you don’t require them to leave a review or pay for them to say things! It must be totally unbiased. They have to have ordered it from Amazon on their account for it to be a Verified Review. But I’ve found most people to be SLOW, so its not a part of my ‘quick reviews for launch’ game plan as part of best amazon marketing agency
Set up Review follow-up systems: you should definitely do this!
- Turn on Jungle Scout ‘Request Review Button’ Automation (email follow-ups are phasing out)
- Have a packaging insert with come CTA like ‘FREE Product’ or “Register your Warranty’ with a QR code that takes them to a landing page to collect their email & follow up.
FAQ
See FBAreviews.com for a full list of FAQ and more info, but here are a few.
Are the reviews legit? Yep. The reviews are thoughtful, and written by actual shoppers who have used the product.
Is it within Amazon’s TOS? Yes, because a review is not required to receive the rebate. But shoppers are highly encouraged to leave a review.
Is it safe? All I can say is, I do this for my own products. I personally haven’t heard of anyone’s account being suspended for doing rebate promotions. There are MANY rebate sites out there, and they are perfectly legal, used by thousands of sellers.
Who are the shoppers? They are real Amazon shoppers in the US who opted in to receive special deals. The email list is owned by another US company, which has built up this list over time. A shopper is not eligible to order more than 1 product from your brand.
Do the reviews last? Yes. But occasionally, Amazon’s algorithm runs ‘review purges’ where reviews are removed from Customer accounts who are deemed to be leaving too many reviews, or biased/dishonest reviews (e.g. too many 5-star reviews with the same copy-paste verbiage, etc.). I’ve found that shoppers from this list tend to leave thoughtful reviews.
When are the reviews posted? Shoppers are encouraged to leave a review between 3-21 days after their purchase.
Are the reviews guaranteed to be 5-stars? No. Shoppers will leave honest reviews.
How does this compare to Rebate Sites? It’s similar, but I’ve used rebate sites before and found them to have a lower review rate – around 10-20% (compared to 50% for this method). This is because shoppers on this private list are highly encouraged to leave a review via a very effective post-purchase follow-up system. Also, most review sites don’t do the ‘search-find-buy’ method, which is crucial. Rebate sites are advertised as ‘review sites’, that as effective ways to boost traffic to your listing, thus boosting ranking. I’ve used Rebaid.com before and it’s a great way to boost your ranking because they utilize ‘search-find-buy’. I even had the founder on my podcast! Feel free to give them a try!
Got other questions? Feel free to contact them!
Bonus benefit:
You can get the ‘Sale Price + You Save’ badge by getting sales at a higher price.
Make sure the price during your giveaway HIGH (the ‘Regular’/MSRP price), NOT the Sale price that you plan to sell at. This enables you to get the Regular price crossed out when you finally add a Sale price. And turn off Coupons b/c that costs you a $1.60 fee per use.
I recommend running the giveaways at a higher price than your intended long-term price. Delete the sale price on your listing and keep the ‘Regular Price’ and/or MSRP price (depends on the category). This should be at least 50% higher than your intended price. When you get sales at this price then add in the ‘Sale Price’ afterwards, you should see the ‘Regular Price’ crossed out and a new price shown with savings. This leads to increased CVR!
❌ If you don’t do this, your listing will look like this by default.
✅ If you implement this strategy, your listing should look like this. This is crucial! This results in a significant CVR increase.
Best practices
- Order the product tests before you’re in-stock – so on day 1 when my new product is in stock, your product testers will be ready to order.
- You can give away more when sales ramp up. When organic sales ramp up, many sellers do another round of giveaways to boost reviews and ranking even more. For example, if you’re selling 10 units per day, you can give away 5 units per day.
- Combine giveaways with Amazon PPC Ads and a 10/10 optimized listing.
Summary:
Overall, I’ve found this method to be the most effective & fastest way to get the first 10 reviews for a product launch on Amazon.
If you have any questions, tips or tricks, put them in the comments!
Cheers!
Riley Bennett
Seattle, WA
“I help brands CRUSH it on Amazon.”
