What is Amazon Vine and How to Get Vine Customer Review of Free Product

Do you sell your products on Amazon and want to get high-quality product reviews for free? Then Amazon Vine may be the perfect option for you!

The Amazon Vine program is one of the cornerstones of Amazon’s services. It was created to allow trusted clients and customers to review products that they get from Amazon and its partnered vendors. It helps products get the best and most accurate testimonials. Here are a few additional techniques on how to get more Amazon reviews.

The members differ from other reviewers, and their input is more valuable than an ordinary customer review. In addition, Amazon’s staff has checked members and, thus, are respected in the AMZ community. As a result, potential customers take these trusted reviewers more seriously.

If you want to get free product reviews and watch your bestseller rank soar, keep reading this article! Here is everything you need to know about being an Amazon Vine reviewer and how the program works for merchants.

Amazon Vine Program for Sellers Explained

The Amazon Vine Voice Program is a popular program developed by Amazon for both vendors and customers. It employs a group of trusted reviewers through the overall platform to review new listings. How does it work? The products can be ordered by a group of hand-picked users (so-called Vine Voices) who are to share an honest testimonial of the product. They don’t get any money for writing reviews, only the product itself for free. This initiative is to remove the option of publishing dishonest feedback for money. Get more information about how to remove feedback on Amazon. At the same time, Vine Voices can earn badges for their activities, granting such users a trustworthy status.

How does it look from a seller’s point of view? When you enroll in this program, one of the reviewers can request to test your product. In exchange for their testimonial, you need to provide a unit of your goods for free. The good news is that such reviews are usually very thorough, with a detailed overview of features as well as images of your product. Surely, participating in this program doesn’t guarantee positive feedback. In case Vine Voices find something wrong, they won’t hold back their criticism. 

What Is New on Amazon Vine in 2023?

Last year the platform made some improvements to the program to make it easier for companies on the platform to participate.

Let’s take a look at some of the new features.

Better usability

The solution has been improved to become more user-friendly. One of the main goals is to provide crucial information through tooltips that explain every field. Besides, you will find newly designed pages that provide a better user journey and improve ease of use.

Active enrollment capacity

Currently, sellers can have up to 5 different products actively enrolled in the program. Goods will remain active until they’re cancelled with no orders or until the enrollment is concluded three months after the scheduled starting date or the enrollment date, whichever is applicable.

Parent ASINs

Sellers can now enroll up to 30 units of a parent ASIN. The main objective is to make your item available for review in all its sizes and colors, ensuring the reviewer has access to the product that fits them best.

Enrollment commissions

The program enrollment commission will be charged per parent ASIN, with no regard to the number of variations submitted (up to 30). 

It means sellers will not have to pay for each of the product variations. The commissions are also standardized across all categories.

Should I Apply to Vine Voice?

If you are still hesitating whether to join the solution, let’s examine some of its benefits and drawbacks. 

Pros

Big review potential. If you have a Brand Registry, you can use up to 5 products and get 30 reviews from Vine Program Reviewers. Of course, there is no guarantee of receiving positive feedback or all 30 testimonials, as some people may decide not to share their thoughts, but no one will unreasonably put your product down.

Comprehensive higher-quality testimonials. Vine Voices are experienced and proven Amazon users with no prior bias towards leaving reviews. It means they will share detail-oriented, well-thought-out feedback instead of 1-2 plain sentences. In addition, they will most likely add images, videos, and pros and cons.

No enrollment fee. A couple of years ago, sellers paid hundreds of dollars to participate in a similar incentive. That’s why there are so many questions ‘How much does the program cost?’ The only cost now that you are to spend is that of each unit of your product. 

Better traffic and conversions. Believe it or not, customer testimonials are one of the strongest aspects that impact conversions and sales of your goods. Thus, high-quality positive reviews will increase conversion rates and boost your best seller ranking.

Cons

The number and tone of testimonials are not guaranteed. As we mentioned above, Vine Voices will leave detailed reviews up to even the slightest details. However, AMZ doesn’t promise that they will be positive or that users will leave them. As a seller, you won’t be able to influence the review or contact the reviewer.

Available to brand-registered vendors. If you searched for how to join the program, you must have seen one of the main limits: merchants are to be brand-registered. Otherwise, this initiative can give you a leg up. 

Best Alternatives to Obtain Trusted Feedback on Amazon

Verified feedback is hard to generate, but it promotes trustworthiness among your buyers. While there’re ample perks from the Amazon Vine solution, it might not be suitable for all merchants. So if your brand or goods are not eligible for Amazon Vine, you may look at the other options for the AMZ Vine program. Let us name a few of them:

AMZ Early Reviewer Program

Amazon Vine’s solution is similar to the AMZ Early Reviewer program. However, the latter goes with an additional cost and permits only five customer reviews. 

Automate your feedback with emails

Send a series of emails post-purchase and develop a connection with your clients. For instance, you can send emails after order confirmation, delivery, and after a couple of days of purchase, stimulating them to share reviews. It will boost brand engagement and improve your chances of winning reviews in the marketplace. 

SageMailer review management tool

SageMailer will automate your work by enabling you to send multiple review requests from your Amazon Seller Central account in one go. 

How Are Products Chosen for Amazon Vine?

The program is open to all kinds of products. It includes books, gadgets, food items and more. In addition, thanks to Vine reviews, vendors can offer pre-release products for promotion. Vendors do this so that their products are already reviewed when they launch.

The main thing, you need to become an Amazon Vendor to participate in the program. Only AMZ Vendor Central program participants are allowed to offer products through Vine. Yet, there are rumours about third-party merchants being invited to the program. So, the exclusive Amazon Vine for vendors rule may change in the future.

How to Submit a Product for Review on AMZ Vine?

Only the seller who meets the following requirements can participate: 

• Be approved by Amazon Brand Registry.
• Have fewer than 30 testimonials for each listing.
• Listings should be with a description and an image
• Have a buyable FBA offer in ‘New’ condition.
• Products shouldn’t be adult ones
• Have available stocks.

If your business and products meet the above criteria, follow these steps to join the program.

1. In Seller Central, visit the Advertising tab, and choose Vine.

2. Check to Enroll in Amazon Vine on the next screen.

3. Then, fill in your ASIN and click the Begin Enrollment button.

Can be done with your eyes closed, can’t it? 

When enrolled, send 5 samples of your goods to Amazon. The platform will decide what products to offer each of the Vine Voices depending on their purchasing decisions. For the first 4 weeks, the platform will display your product to a targeted group of shoppers. Then, if there are remaining units, to other Vine Voice reviewers. 

Once a Vine Voice gets the goods, it can take up to 1-2 months to receive a testimonial. Obviously, reviewers need some time to test the product before evaluation.

Important: Ensure that all the information contained in your listing is accurate and correct. If a reviewer notices some false claims or inaccuracies compared to the actual unit they receive, they will focus on the inconsistencies when writing feedback.

Once your product gets 30 testimonials, it will be automatically removed from the program.

How Are Vine Members Chosen?

Vine members are chosen based on one standard: the helpfulness and quality of their Amazon reviews. Remember that this platform is based on how much customers trust the reviewer.

How do you know if a review is of high quality? Customers can rate reviews as “helpful” when they like the content and information. Customers will simply ignore product reviews that aren’t helpful.

Reviewers are ranked in the marketplace based on customer ratings and the number of reviews they’ve posted over time. Reviewers who constantly get high ranks may also be added to the Hall of Fame.

Look at your previously reviewed products. Were your reviews rated as “helpful”? Have you reviewed a good number of products? If you have many reviews that are largely rated as “helpful”, you have a good chance of becoming an Amazon Vine reviewer. AMZ needs reviewers who customers already trust, so make sure every review you post is detailed and accurate.

How to Become an Amazon Reviewer?

The trickiest part about the Vine program is becoming a reviewer. Unfortunately, there is no step-by-step guide to becoming a reviewer for Amazon through Vine. There is no sign-up for Vine, and you can’t request an invite to the program. Amazon hand picks every Vine reviewer. While this makes it hard to get into the program, it also ensures that all the reviewers are qualified and trustworthy.

While there is no guaranteed way to become a reviewer, there are a few steps to take that will improve your chances.

First, you should go through all your old reviews and ensure they are of good quality. Then, update them with more detailed and helpful content if you need to.

Secondly, start writing a lot of reviews. The more helpful reviews you write, Amazon has more chances of being noticed by Amazon. If you specialize in writing make-up reviews, go through your make-up and start writing reviews for every product. Write one a day or one a week if you can.

Thirdly, make sure you specialize in a certain category. Becoming an expert in your field will likely improve your chances of being chosen. In addition, once customers begin to notice your helpful reviews in a category they shop in, they will look for you and rate your reviews.

Lastly, try to answer your review questions a potential customer would ask. If something is confusing about the product, explain or clarify it with your review. Customers will appreciate your answer and probably rate you as “helpful”, too!

Conclusion

The Vine program can be greatly rewarding! Vendors benefit from the Amazon reviews Vine provides, and reviewers benefit from the free products. While it may be difficult to get into the program, it is achievable if you are dedicated to providing honest and informative reviews.

The Vine program isn’t for everyone. You’ll need to follow the tips in this article and be persistent if you decide you want to be a Vine reviewer.

In the meantime, you can start receiving free, high-quality Amazon reviews using SageMailer.

Try its 30-day free trial to see the immediate results on your own. This automatic service sends friendly reviews and feedback requests to your customers, thereby increasing the number of your product reviews, improving the feedback rating and boosting sales on full autopilot.