Selling on Amazon has been a successful venture for many sellers, whether that be private label sellers or resellers. With a rise in sales, it brings enormous responsibility to maintain good customer service and account health. Both of these can take up a lot of time, and ignoring these or letting them slow can lead to losing the privilege of selling on Amazon. In this blog, we are going to run through a quick overview of Amazon Account Health, giving tips on how to keep all of your metrics within the targets.
Let’s see what each of these means…
CUSTOMER SERVICE PERFORMANCE
Order Defect Rate (ODR) – With a target of less than 1%, this is a really difficult metric to manage.
This includes any negative feedback given by customers about the service given an A to Z claims against you allowing Amazon to send a full refund to the buyer.
Amazon automatically emails customers asking them to share their experience of buying on Amazon, which also gives them the opportunity to have their say about the seller.
This metric works with % of total orders in the last 60 days, which means even 1 negative feedback can make this metric drop below the target; so, it is best to keep on top of this.
If you see signs of an unhappy customer, get it sorted immediately. Tools like Xsellco Feedback can help you keep track of feedback and help you improve them.
Another part of ODR is A to Z claims which acts as a guarantee to Amazon customers allowing them to claim money back on transactions they are not happy with. Customers don’t really understand how fatal this can be for a seller, but to avoid claims like this we really recommend trying to understand the nature of the complaint. It is best to refund orders and avoid this situation in most cases.
DELIVERY PERFORMANCE
With a target of 4%, late dispatch is a lot more manageable compared to ODR. This metric is triggered if you dispatch an order later than the promised date of dispatch. If there is no handling time, your orders received must be dispatched the next day.
Your delivery time includes your handling time + more, as seen below.
If you are not confident in dispatch time, it is best to add handling time by a day or 2 to give you some wiggle room. It is always best to do this rather than to not dispatch on time.
We have also seen many cases, especially during busy periods like Christmas, where sellers have forgotten to dispatch on Amazon, even though they have actually dispatched the product. This is commonly due to staff errors or third-party errors. In this case, customers will receive products on time, however, your metrics will still be affected because you have not dispatched it on Amazon; and Amazon will take this as a late dispatch.
Pre-fulfilment cancellation generally occurs due to overselling of the item. You can easily avoid this by updating stock on time and if you are too busy, use a third party software like Pentymarkets to manage stock automatically.
If you prefer to DIY via CSV, use Qty and Price template file as seen here (login required). It is very easy to use and updates do not take very long.
Another common reason for cancellation is due to orders going out to Jersey or Gurnesday or Scottish highlands or NI. Cost of shipping to these regions are often very high and Amazon does not allow sellers to increase the price of shipping to these destinations or bar shipping to these destinations, unlike eBay. This is often a big problem for sellers of large items like sofas, for example.
Very often we see sellers trying to prevent this by adding a contact number in their content, but as this is against Amazon’s listing policy it could cause issues. Some examples are below:
PRODUCT POLICY COMPLIANCE
The target here is “0”, however, it is not very clear in this area when the account will be suspended; so it is always best to avoid this issue altogether.
IP Complaints can occur if you use a competing brand name on listings; this can be within the hidden search term are found in the backend of Seller Central. The screenshot at the very top of this post and just above shows the account getting IP complaints because of the use of competitor brand names in content. Both accounts are active but listings were removed.
Product Authenticity Complaints can easily happen when products are sent without the original packaging or if the product does not match the image or description of the product. You can avoid this by sending the product in the original packaging and any documents that come with the original packaging.
Listing Policy Violations can happen if your product description is misleading or content is not accurate.
To conclude…
Amazon’s metric method allows them to keep seller performance in the interest of customers and ensures all sellers are at the same level, whether you are a new private label seller or a top brand.
Another key metric Amazon is hot on is email response time. Amazon expects you to reply to all emails within a 24-hour window, which includes weekends. If you don’t hit this target, Amazon will warn you and suggest there may be a chance you’ll lose the privilege of selling on Amazon. The most common time this becomes an issue is during busy periods like Christmas when there are staff shortages.
If you’re struggling with Account Health, and you think you may be at risk of losing the privilege to sell on Amazon, you can outsource this to an experienced agent based in the UK and USA, leaving you to focus on generating and improving sales
ZonSupport starts as low as $5.00 a day, but costs vary depending on the level of service you want.
Find out more here — ZonSupport
