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👶HOW 1 REVIEW CREATED $600,000 of DEBT

Here’s how a single review on Amazon, that is 100% Amazon’s fault, can have devastating consequences for small businesses.

The February 12th edition of BDSN featured a story about how return fraud is a rampant problem on Amazon. One of the examples given was that of Paul and Rachelle Baron, a couple who created a successful washable swim diaper business on Amazon.

Earlier this week Spencer Soper of Bloomberg published the full story of what happened and how it devastated the Baron’s business. For years the couple tried to get the review removed, but it wasn’t until Soper’s story was published that Amazon took it seriously and immediately took down the review.

A single error in Amazon’s system can be devastating to your business. Always remember you are playing in their sandbox.

I recommend reading the full story in Bloomberg, Here are the highlights:

• The Barons designed a washable swim diaper that became popular on Amazon, reaching $1 million in sales.

• A customer received a used, stained diaper and left a scathing one-star review with photos (see above)

• Amazon had mistakenly resold a returned, used diaper as new, despite their policy to inspect returns.

• The negative review severely impacted the Barons' business, causing sales to plummet.

• For years the couple tried repeatedly to have Amazon remove the review but were unsuccessful.

• The Barons are now $600,000 in debt and struggling to recover their business.

• Amazon only removed the review after Bloomberg published the story.

• The incident highlights issues with Amazon's return inspection process and review system.

• The original reviewer confirmed the story and expressed regret for not updating her review.

🔭YOU GOTTA SEE THIS

“By using Marketplace to extend the aisle, it’s helped us be much more efficient and achieve sales we wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.”  Nathan Fett, Head of Sales at Tineco 

Tineco is a floor care brand that’s changing the way people clean. By selling on Walmart Marketplace, they’ve been able to build their brand name and reach new customers, all while becoming more efficient and growing sales.  

With Walmart Marketplace, you can do more than just expand reach.

Sell on Walmart.com and get:  

• Innovative programs that help you scale 

• Walmart’s omnichannel advantage 

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• And if you join now, you’ll save up to 50% on referral and fulfillment fees.*
  
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REFER YOUR FRIENDS and COLLEAGUES
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🔎 SHOW RATINGS in AD/INSERTS in VISUAL FORMAT

Nick Kolenda recommends you always show ratings in a visual format tomake them more persuasive because of anchoring and momentum.

• Don't show number ratings (e.g., 3.5/5)

• Show visual ratings (e.g., 3.5 stars)

Visual ratings boost purchases because they seem higher,

Why? Because of left-digit anchoring: A 3.8 rating feels like 3.0 because customers ignore the rightmost digits.

But Kolenda also blames momentum.

For example, participants in a study guessed where a moving box disappeared, and they consistently guessed locations that were further ahead (Hubbard, 2005).

We displace forward motion.

Imagine a Top 10 ranking.

Customers prefer items that ascend from 6th to 4th (vs. descend from 2nd to 4th). Despite the same rank — 4th place — items feel closer to 1st place if they're moving toward that direction.

Same with star ratings. Customers might imagine forward motion of these visual ratings, so they feel even higher.

But if that's true, then star ratings might be suboptimal too.

Star ratings are discrete icons, so there's less motion.

Perhaps continuous ratings feel highest:

Therefore, use continuous ratings in your marketing when:

• Ratings are important

• You display multiple ratings (e.g., price, quality, service)

🚀INSTANTLY TRANSLATE to OTHER LANGUAGES

Redaka is a cool tool that makes it super easy to translate your infographics, ads, social media images and more to any language.

See a short demo of how it works:

Amazon's new bundling rules got you down?

There IS hope!

While many "bad bundlers" are getting shut down, NOW is the perfect opportunity for sellers who are creating great bundles and doing it within TOS.

Watch the replay of my webinar last week where I show you how you can actually benefit from the new rules when you bundle properly!

Even if you've been doing it the wrong way, you can easily and quickly learn my personal bundle process I outline in the webinar.

Check out the replay

✌🏼 Have a great weekend.

See you again on Monday.

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