This case study highlights the critical role of customer reviews in the success of a product on Amazon and how negative reviews & ratings can rapidly derail even a high potential product — despite a strong initial sales velocity and an appealing price point.
Initial Launch
Despite the absence of reviews, the product began to sell quickly. This was driven by a few key factors:
- Strong product-market fit
- Visually appealing gallery
- Competitive pricing
- Eye-catching main image
Within the first few weeks of launch, the product reached a strong Best Seller Rank (BSR) in its category and was beginning to gain organic traction.
The turning point: The arrival of the first negative review
As customer reviews started to accumulate from March 19th (week #11), the overall rating quickly averaged below 2 out of 5 stars (4 stars being the ideal rating).
When reading through the reviews, it was clear that the negative sentiment revolved around product quality and longevity. The product is also sold in other locales and similar feedback was reported.
An important note is to be made around week 3 and 4 where the product both ran out of stock due to high popularity and was blocked by Amazon, assuming high return rates.
- Conversion Rate Drop: Drop of 2 points in conversion rate versus previous week.
- Sales Decline: Sales dropped by 55% over the following week.
- BSR Impact: Product BSR rose by 4,360 positions, leading to a significant loss in organic visibility.
- Advertising Efficiency: ROAS worsened by 2.5, as negative reviews weakened consumer trust.
Key Learnings
- No review buffer = high risk. Launching without early reviews leaves a product extremely vulnerable to the first few customers’ experiences, which Amazon and future customers heavily weigh.
- Amazon algorithm penalizes low ratings. Amazon’s ranking system deprioritizes low-rated products, pulling them down in search results and deal eligibility.
- Perception > Promise. Even with a great offer, if the perception (via reviews) is negative, conversion plummets.
Recommendations & general ways to tackle this issue
- Activate review generation pre/post-launch: use Amazon Vine (if eligible) or product inserts and follow-up campaigns to build review volume early.
- Customer experience alignment: ensure that product expectations set on the listing match the real-life experience (size, color, quality, etc.)
- Monitor and respond to feedback: Track reviews in real time and address issues either through product improvements or customer service outreach.
- Improve post-review infrastructure: Once the negative trend begins, quickly review them and take the necessary steps to prevent more to come:
- If the reviews are about product quality, quickly limits sales and try to bring back the product to the factory to fix the issue before putting it back on the shelves
- If the review is implying that there was missing information about the product before buying it, review your content on the product detail page: rework some bullet points, readjust your picture gallery and make sure you leverage the negative review to rebuild your content and provide all needed information.
- Rebuild reviews and bring ratings back up: While you’re working on fixing your product and product detail page, try rebuilding reputation by requesting your inner circle to purchase the product and leaving a positive review: even if you fix your product, the damage would be done so you would need to tackle the bad reviews and rating as well, one way or another.
