How to Respond to Amazon Messages
Updated on June 17, 2021
As Warren Buffet once famously said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”
Case in point. Remember the last time someone in customer service was rude to you or you felt like your patronage didn’t matter to the person handling your sale?
It probably left more than just a bad taste in your mouth. Most of us would tell our close friends and family. If the experience was REALLY bad, you might even post what happened on social media with screenshots or photos. You might even feel compelled to take a video because it was just that bad. Other people who’ve had similar experiences with the company will jump on the bandwagon and, before you know it, the post goes viral.
It’s being featured on local news, and people are sharing what happened all over Reddit—the snowball just keeps growing and growing.
You get the picture. A single bad customer experience is never just an isolated event. The aftermath of the incident usually has far-reaching consequences, rippling out and changing the impressions that your brand leaves in the public sphere.
Will a single bad review make or break your company? Probably not. But rack up enough of them and, no matter how many positive reviews you have, these accumulated negative reviews can seriously damage your Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) business’s reputation.
Strong branding sets great FBA businesses apart from the crowd, but a great product is just one piece of the puzzle—branding is all-encompassing.
Stellar customer service plays a big role in creating a reputable brand that people know, love, and trust. Providing good customer service for e-commerce businesses is a common challenge for online business owners. Unlike brick and mortar businesses where you can (usually!) get instant help by speaking to the store owner or shop assistant, the level of support someone can receive varies based on the support that has been set up on the storefront.
If you manage to provide support through all the right channels, your LTV shoots through the roof. People become brand advocates by leaving good reviews and telling their friends and family about your product or service. Potential leads see these reviews and are more likely to buy from you.
So how do FBA sellers take advantage of the platform to provide excellent customer service?
By mastering the Amazon Buyer-Seller Messaging Service.
What is Amazon’s Buyer-Seller Messaging Service?
Amazon Buyer-Seller Messaging Service is a dedicated messaging service you can access through your Amazon Seller Central Account. It’s a simple way for buyers to connect with sellers if they need help with an order or have a specific inquiry.
FBA sellers can access the messaging service through their Amazon account to follow up with customer messages or grievances.
There are a bunch of benefits to using this built-in communication system to provide customer service over just providing a phone number or an email address.
Benefits of Amazon’s Messaging Service: Why Should You Use It?
Mastering the system lets you provide customer support at breakneck speed and also opens up an avenue for you to get feedback on your service. Taking advantage of the Amazon Message Service will help your brand rank higher in search results and make it more likely to land the Buy Box share.
However, if you’re not familiar with the system, you could lose the trust of customers and potential leads quickly. One missed message can lead to another and trigger Amazon’s punishment system because of policy violations.
Successful FBA sellers prefer the communication channel because it provides security for both buyers and sellers by masking all correspondence. When a buyer or FBA seller sends their emails, they’re sent through an encrypted email address.
This means you keep your personal information safe while having an audit trail of past communication related to your orders. Whether you’ve set up replies to come from your personal or business email address, your details remain hidden.
Furthermore, Amazon has access to the entire communication thread through the buyer-seller messaging system. This really helps third-party sellers resolve claims or disputes faster by allowing an impartial third party to review previous messages to see if there was any misrepresentation or miscommunication to validate claims of fraud or poor service.
In turn, this can lead to fewer negative product reviews since you have a chance to help customers resolve their issues with ordering products or returning damaged wares.
By taking a proactive approach toward responding to these types of inquiries, you could even turn previously disgruntled customers into brand advocates.
Sound good so far? Let’s see how we take advantage of this messaging service to turn disputes into positive opportunities.
How to Respond to Amazon Messages for FBA Profit
First off, you need to enable the system so that you can contact buyers and vice versa.
In your Seller Account, head over to the dropdown menu. Under “Settings,” click on “Fulfillment by Amazon,” then “Product Support.” After you click “Edit,” make sure the “Enable” option is selected, then click “Update” for the change to take place.
To see previous correspondences and new buyer messages, access the portal from “Your Account,” found in the top right corner of your screen. Check out “Orders” and “View Your Emails With Sellers.”
From here, you’ll find the Inbox for incoming messages and Sent Items to see your sent messages to customers.
While the buyer-seller messaging service mainly lets customers contact third-party sellers about products and services, you might find it helpful to use the same communication channel to contact buyers.
It’s worth noting that buyers can opt out of seller feedback thanks to Amazon’s update. If that’s the case, you can reach out to buyers to ask for feedback instead. However, you can only message buyers directly after they’ve bought a product from your store.
When asking for feedback, make sure you avoid including any content that can be flagged as promotion by Amazon, such as links to sites, logos with a clickable link, and marketing material.
Any attachments like images (.jpg, png, gif) and plain text or word documents (.txt, .docx) are governed by the same rules as copy in the email.
As long as you’re adhering to these rules and politely asking for feedback without spamming the customer, you should be golden.
That covers the basics of how the Amazon Messaging Service works. But how you use it can really strengthen your brand and develop a loyal customer base with increased LTV.
Win Loyal Customers through Amazon’s Message System
To start winning loyal customers, you’ll need to work hard at keeping the response time as low as possible. Replying quickly to messages reflects that every customer matters and you’re doing your best to look into the issue.
Even if you can’t provide an immediate solution, you buy yourself some time to investigate the matter and see how you can help. It also gives you a chance to manage orders effectively, especially when you’re receiving a lot of queries or requests to return a product.
If you’re going on vacation, you can turn on “Vacation Mode,” which notifies new customers that you can’t respond within the usual 24-hour time frame.
However, this doesn’t apply to any customers who placed orders before you turned Vacation Mode on. If you need some time away where you can’t actively respond to requests, I’d suggest finding cover to help you respond to previous buyers.
It’s alright you need some time away from responding to customer messages, especially if you receive harsh feedback.
While it’s tempting to reply back with an equally mean burn, it’s best that you keep your cool. Fighting fire with fire will just result in an inferno, leading to two very upset individuals and more negative reviews for your Amazon business.
If you receive any messages that sting, take a breather. The last thing you want to do is to agitate the end user. Once you’re more calm and collected, you’ll be in a better position to turn this sour experience into a great opportunity to solve a problem and win a brand advocate over to your side.
Once any disputes or return requests are dealt with, you might think the job’s over.
You still have a chance to gather more customer feedback by integrating the Amazon Messaging Service with an email autoresponder tool.
These types of automated follow-up tools give you a chance to show your appreciation for a customer’s patronage and ask for feedback at the same time.
Now, most customers usually don’t leave feedback unless something stands out about the experience of engaging with a brand. If you’ve gone through all the hard work and effort to help a customer resolve their issue with a swift turnaround time, a simple follow-up email prompts a satisfied customer to let others know how awesome your customer service is.
It’s a small gesture, but adds a personal touch.
These tools also save you a lot of time from emailing each customer individually. The key to these best practices is speed and managing expectations.
Here are the practices to avoid if you want to keep your brand’s reputation stronger than the competition.
Types of Messages to Avoid
Like Amazon’s guidelines imply, you want to avoid annoying the customer. Even though you can message them, you should only do it when you need to.
Keeping this in mind, it’s easy to imagine the types of messages you shouldn’t send to a buyer.
At all costs, avoid promoting any products. The messaging service is there to clear up any queries or issues, not be your personalized and secret marketing channel. Abusing the messaging service in this way could lead to serious repercussions like your brand losing Amazon Prime status.
That’s why you should keep your communications to the bare minimum.
Every message should have clear intent, whether you’re asking for certain information or to update the customer on your progress.
While we mentioned earlier that you can reach out to buyers to ask for seller feedback if they opted out, be wary of begging for it. This comes across as desperate and spammy in its own way.
Gauge the customer’s sentiment through your interactions. If they showed signs that they were happy with how you handled their issue, this gives you an indication that they might be open to leaving seller feedback.
Remember that the purpose of this communication channel is to provide great customer service.
Good Customer Service is the Hallmark of a Valuable Brand
Just as you’ll remember the store clerk who was rude, snappy, and dismissive when you needed help finding a product or exchanging an item, you’ll remember the store clerk who was upbeat, positive, and super helpful with equal intensity.
When you provide consistently excellent customer service, customers will be much more likely to leave positive feedback for your Amazon business. These types of comments centered around the positive experiences associated with an FBA store are what grow its brand equity.
This is why mastering the Amazon Buyer-Seller Messaging Service to improve customer service increases the value of your FBA store. You become accessible to customers who need support, and it gives you a chance to demonstrate to Amazon how your service differs from the competition.
Combined with a product-market fit, you have a lucrative FBA business that many interested buyers will gladly pay a high premium for.
The great thing about FBA businesses is how they can scale when you’ve got an in-demand product that’s selling in a profitable niche.
Having your customer service game down means you’ve developed a great way to generate deal flow. Customers with issues have a system that helps them resolve their problems, which leads to happier customers who’ll leave positive feedback.
Potential customers will see those reviews and be much more likely to buy from your store because they can see that you care and take active steps to rectify any problems with a stand-out product.
Amazon FBA businesses with strong brands sold for an average of $334,968 as you can see from our data study.
If you’re curious how much your FBA business is worth, try our free valuation tool for an estimate. On the other hand, you can register a free account on the marketplace to buy an FBA business today.
