Delete Negative Reviews on Amazon using these Simple Steps

Dealing with negative reviews is something unavoidable for Amazon sellers. There’s no way around it. 

Can you delete a negative review on Amazon? How can you handle reviews from unhappy customers? Let’s discuss it today!

When you are selling online, you are bound to face a few dissatisfied and unhappy customers. That’s a part of the package. Most of the time, these unhappy customers leave negative feedback. These negative reviews impact sales and profits. 

Though you get numerous positive reviews, customers tend to look at the negative reviews to understand the underlying problems of the product. Whether you are a new seller or an experienced one, you are going to face this situation at least once. In this article, I’m going to share the steps to delete a negative review and improve your customer experience on Amazon.

Quick Guide:

1. Here’s what the figures say
2. How to handle negative reviews on Amazon
3. How to delete a bad review on Amazon
4. Amazon review removal policy
5. Not all negative reviews are bad
6. Manage your negative reviews – Be proactive

Here’s what the figures say

The number of negative reviews on Amazon grew by 170% during 2019-20 (Source). Customer reviews are the best indicator of buyers’ behavior. Without stellar reviews and ratings, sellers can’t build the buyer’s trust. Almost always customers tend to choose products that have higher ratings, especially if they are deciding between the products with similar features and prices. Having a negative experience with the product is the major reason for customers to leave negative reviews on the product listing.

How to handle negative reviews

You can handle a customer review in one of the following ways:

• You can choose to reply to the customer review directly. Find a way to fix the issue. This can reduce the damage caused to the reputation of the seller and product.
• If you think that the review isn’t abiding by Amazon’s guidelines, then you can request Amazon to delete the review.

Let me explain in detail.

Respond directly to the customer review

When you want to comment on the customer’s negative review, consider the following options:

• Be polite and present your perspective on the issue
• Let them know what you can do/what you did to fix the problem, and that it will not happen again in the future
• Show that you care about them and captivate them with exceptional customer service
• If they want further resolution, ask them to contact you via buyer-seller messaging service so that you can fix the problem

Note: Asking buyers to contact you off-Amazon is against Amazon’s terms and conditions. So avoid offering email addresses or personal contact information in your response.

When you respond to a negative review

The review still stays on your product page. However, the negative impact can be reduced, as you provide additional information to shoppers.

The customer may update/edit the review if they are satisfied with the customer service you provided. However, do not ask them to change/remove their reviews.

When you get a 1-star or 2-star review, do not panic. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is this from a genuine buyer or a competitor?
• Why is the customer unsatisfied?
• Does the customer’s review violate Amazon’s guidelines?

Recommended Guide: Firefighting Negative Reviews on Amazon.

How to comment on a negative review?

• Log in to your seller central account. Go to the comments section of the product page. Navigate to the review in question, click on ‘Add a comment.’ Ensure that the buyers recognize you as a seller of the product.
• Make sure you provide as much value as you can in the comment.

Note that customers cannot get in touch with the vendors as they do with the sellers (using buyer-seller messaging). Vendors can only ask the customers to get in touch with Amazon customer service.

How to delete a bad review on Amazon

Bad reviews have a negative impact on your product sales. That’s why you shouldn’t wait to get it removed from the product page. Yes! Amazon will delete customer reviews if they don’t comply with their terms of service.

However, the likelihood of Amazon deleting reviews is low. You need to write an email to the support team at community-help@amazon.com or report a review on the product details page. 

To do that, go to the product details page, navigate to the comment in question, and click ‘report abuse.’

You can also send an email with the ASIN, time, date, and name/pseudonym of the reviewer, along with a link to the review.

Sometimes customers may leave reviews that don’t talk about the product, shipping, or packaging. Instead, they may use offensive language which is against Amazon’s guidelines. 

In this case, it is easy to get the review deleted by Amazon. All you have to do is contact Amazon’s seller support team and get the review removed.

If you think that the feedback is given by a competitor, you can report it to the support team. For Amazon to delete the review, you have to show strong evidence to prove that the review is from a competitor. 

When a user violates Amazon’s guidelines, get the review removed, and improve your chances of making a sale. However, don’t get tempted to bulk report all your negative reviews. Only report reviews that aren’t abiding by Amazon’s guidelines. 

Do you find too many abusive reviews on your listing? This might be due to some malicious attacks. If you think that your listing is subjected to malicious attacks by multiple negative reviews, it’s time to alert Amazon. Email their support team by including the details of your listing and reviews. Amazon will look into it further.  

Amazon review removal policy

A review can be harsh, but it can still be fair. On the contrary, you may find a few generic reviews that are inappropriate. So how will you identify these reviews?

Amazon’s review removal policy can help you with that. Here’s what it says:

• The review should talk about the product, not about the seller (or anything else)
• Reviews that compare prices, alternate options, and product availability are not allowed by Amazon
• Content of the review should not be libelous, harassing, threatening, or inflammatory (i.e., it should not contain profanity and hate speech)
• Content that promotes nudity or is obscene
• Reviews that offer personal contact information or email addresses
• Promoting other products or website URLs
• Requesting or offering compensation in exchange for content
• Reviews from competitors
• Multiple negative reviews by the same customer for a single product

Not all negative reviews are bad

Most of the time, when a customer leaves a bad product review on Amazon, you’ll find an opportunity to improve. For example, you can update the product description based on the customer’s negative review. You can thank them for the heads-up!

Another way to use a bad review is to analyze them. Identify the customers’ pain points and use this information to address the gap in the listing or enhance your product further.

Recommended Reading:

1. How to use negative reviews to improve your products
2. Amazon buyer-seller messaging

Manage your negative reviews – Be proactive

If your product portfolio is large, Amazon review management can be tiring and time-consuming. However, you need to be aware of the negative reviews as soon as you get them, and take measures to handle them effectively. You should focus on the 1-star and 2-star reviews, which can be harmful to your product sales if ignored. 

Bad product ratings can lower your Amazon product ranking. The SellerApp ‘Business Alerts’ can help you manage your reviews effectively. All you need to do is:

• Login to SellerApp dashboard –>  Click ‘Add Product’
• Go to ‘Tools’ –> Business Alerts –> Click ‘Explore Tool’

• Select the product of your choice, or add a new product

• Hover over to the ‘Negative Reviews’ and click ‘Set Alert’

• You can set an alert when the rating is less than 2-stars or 3-stars

Selling on Amazon is indeed a learning experience. Try your best to remove the negative reviews, and address them by offering a stellar customer experience.

Additional read:

How does AmazonAI review summaries work?