Customer obsession rather than competitor focus is one of the guiding principles of Amazon. The tech giant strives to be the world’s most customer-centric company, so it is crucial for Amazon that third-party merchants extend high-quality Amazon customer service to their shoppers.
Some newbie online sellers think that by selling products on Amazon, the need to interact with customers is unwarranted, especially for Amazon FBA sellers. However, such a line of thinking is flawed. Amazon sellers will still have to interact directly or indirectly with customers, whether handling Amazon returns or responding to customer feedback.
To help you deliver excellent Amazon customer service to shoppers, here are some of the essential customer service strategies and insights you should know.
Why Is Customer Service Important for Amazon and Its Sellers?
Offering a high-quality service to your customers is crucial when selling on Amazon marketplaces. Customer satisfaction is of paramount importance, especially since Amazon is obsessed with customer service.
High-quality customer service is a critical component of the Amazon business operation. None other than Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, emphasized its importance during an interview.
“I would define Amazon by our big ideas, which are customer centricity, putting the customer at the center of everything we do, invention, says Bezos.”
The tech giant has incorporated features that encourage customer empowerment to stress the importance of Amazon’s customer service. Some of these notable features include customer feedback, product star rating, surveys, and seller rating.
In particular, the Amazon seller rating measures the quality of experience that third-party merchants deliver to Amazon shoppers. Some of the factors that can affect Amazon seller rating include but are not limited to the following:
- On-time shipping
- Order cancellation
- Amazon returns rate
- A-to-Z claims
- Customer feedback and reviews
- Seller’s response time to customer inquiries
Must-Try Customer Service Strategies and Tips
Amazon FBA or FBM sellers should not neglect the importance of customer service along with seller rating. To help you improve your seller rating and overall Amazon customer service performance, here are some tips and tricks you can incorporate into your Amazon business.
Ensure Product Quality
Perhaps the best way to deliver excellent Amazon customer service is to provide shoppers with high-quality products. When you offer quality items to Amazon shoppers, you are not simply selling but creating firm customer loyalty, contributing to increased lead generation.
To help you with your product research, you can use Amazon product research tools. This Amazon seller tool can give you insights regarding product quality, market performance, and potential suppliers.
Provide Well-Optimized Listings
Not all Amazon sellers are mindful of the fact that their Amazon listings indirectly contribute to their customer service. Providing Amazon shoppers with clear, precise, and honest listing details can result in customer satisfaction.
The benefits of a well-optimized product detail page are not only exclusive to shoppers. An optimized listing also contributes to the likelihood of your product appearing on organic search result pages. Thus, improving sales conversion, reducing Amazon product returns, and avoiding negative product reviews.
Amazon highly recommends constantly checking your product listings for potential issues, such as (i) missing information, (ii) mismatched information, and (iii) invalid information. If you wish to resolve such concerns, you can follow these steps provided by Amazon:
- Click on the Inventory tab and select Manage Inventory from the drop-down menu.
- Click Edit (not the arrows) to the right of the ASIN you want to update.
- On the product detail page, click the relevant tab (More Details, Description, Keywords, etc.)
- Scroll down to the product detail field for which you received a recommendation, click on the field, and enter the correct information.
- At the bottom of the page, click Save and finish.
Upload High-Quality Images
Apart from the details you will input for your product listings, you should also ensure that your product images are relevant and high-quality. Providing Amazon shoppers with high-quality images likewise expresses proactive customer service.
High-quality images are essential for online shoppers who cannot physically inspect the product they will purchase online. The images you will be posting will guide Amazon shoppers in place of a physical evaluation of an item.
Amazon has laid down some guidelines that can help improve your customer service strategies. In particular, the Amazon site standard for all product images includes but is not limited to the following:
- The product must fill at least 85% of the image.
- Images must not exceed 10,000px on the longest side.
- JPEG is preferred. Our servers do not support animated .gifs.
- Images must not be blurry, pixelated, or have jagged edges.
- Images must be JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg), TIFF (.tif), PNG(.png), or GIF (.gif) file formats.
- Images must accurately represent the product that is for sale and should accurately match the product title.
Offer a Competitive Price
To increase customer satisfaction, you should also offer a competitive price to consumers. Besides the product quality, Amazon shoppers also check the product price before purchasing an item.
Top Amazon sellers use AI repricer to help them adjust their listing prices to a competitive level. Moreover, using a repricing software can also influence the likelihood of your product being featured on the Buy Box.
Respond to Customer Feedback
Responding to customer feedback is a critical component of Amazon’s customer service. Amazon encourages third-party merchants to contact Amazon shoppers who have purchased from your store to resolve any concern or issue raised in the feedback section.
You can either respond to a buyer or resolve buyer feedback via the Amazon dashboard. To respond to buyer feedback, you can use the feedback manager:
- Go to Feedback under the Performance tab.
- In the Recent Feedback table, select Post a public response.
Moreover, to resolve buyer feedback, you can also use the feedback manager by following these steps below:
- Go to Feedback under the Performance tab.
- In the Recent Feedback table, select Contact Customer under the Actions column next to the designated Order ID.
Replying to or resolving Amazon customer feedback is essential for your Amazon business. The ratings you will get from shoppers signify their experience while shopping on their platform. Thus, allowing Amazon to evaluate your Amazon customer service.
Deal With Amazon Returns
Another aspect of Amazon’s customer service you should familiarize yourself with is handling Amazon returns. When buyers are not satisfied with the products they purchase, they have a chance to return the item.
The general rule is that Amazon requires third-party merchants to accept returns. The first step in handling returns is to know the reason for return, and from thereon, you can start implementing Amazon returns protocols.
Important Amazon Customer Service Details You Can Share With Shoppers
If you are running a marketing campaign outside the Amazon website, you should provide quick customer service access to online shoppers. Some of the avenues through which Amazon sellers can also improve their customer service while promoting their products offsite include YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and other affiliate websites.
One of the common questions regarding Amazon customer service includes “how to contact Amazon customer service” or “how do I call Amazon customer service.”
As part of your marketing campaign outside the Amazon website, you should have an Amazon customer service phone number or link to the Amazon customer service chat displayed on your marketing website. You may also place it under the description section or heading of your chosen social media platform.
By showing the Amazon customer service chat link, Amazon customer service email link, or Amazon customer service phone number: 1-206-922-0880 or 1-888-280-4331, you are leaving a good impression on your platform to visitors.
Key To Customer Service
Amazon sellers should never forget that having a good relationship with their customers is key to successful Amazon customer service. Being proactive with your listings and having a positive, helpful, and friendly approach to any customer concern or query can increase the satisfaction rate of your customers.
Always remember that in this kind of business, a happy shopper will often return and spend more money on your listings.