Enhancing user reviews and feedback

By Jiang G., Solutions Architect, Selling Partner Developer Services | October 12, 2023

In today's e-commerce ecosystem, user reviews give us a clear picture of what customers think and guide potential buyers in their decision-making process. Recognizing the paramount importance of these reviews, Amazon offers the Selling Partner API (SP-API) for Solicitations Solicitations API . This powerful API is specifically designed to assist sellers in seamlessly requesting reviews from their customers. By integrating this feature, sellers can not only enhance the trustworthiness of their products but also foster a transparent relationship with their buyers and ensure a thriving marketplace.

Background

The Solicitations API allows you to create apps that send non-critical requests to buyers and manage solicitation types for specific orders. These reviews are not mere comments; they influence purchasing behaviors and build trust between sellers and buyers. The simplicity of the "Request a Review" feature has made it easier than ever for sellers to seek feedback. However, it's not just about accumulating positive feedback. Addressing and managing negative reviews is equally crucial. They present an opportunity for sellers to understand areas of improvement and refine their offerings. By guaranteeing that reviews are authentic, sellers gain genuine trust, which is a foundation for sustained sales growth. In essence, user reviews serve a dual purpose: they instill confidence in potential buyers and provide sellers with actionable insights to unlock vast business opportunities.

Solicitations API implementation

The Solicitations API is a bridge, connecting sellers to their customers. It offers a structured avenue for sellers to solicit product reviews and buyer feedback, ensuring they remain within the platform's guidelines. Using this API, sellers can prompt both product and seller feedback. For developers, integrating this API is like accessing a reservoir of opportunities, ensuring a consistent and genuine influx of reviews that can spotlight a product in the marketplace. Notably, buyers can give the feedback but cannot respond to the Solicitations API request, and these solicitations do not appear in the Messaging section of Seller Central or in the recipient's Message Center. Prior to API integration, it's imperative for developers to possess the Buyer Solicitation role or the Product Listing role to prevent the authorization pitfalls.

Architectural best practices

The key to successfully implementing the Solicitations API lies in integrating it with care to avoid unnecessary traffic. Some of the common issues while using this API are seeking a review for an order that hasn't been delivered, or prompting for feedback outside the allowed timeframe. These missteps can trigger unanticipated errors, eventually leading to poor user experiences. With this best practice, developers have the capability to craft an event-driven architecture. This allows for systematic checks on order delivery dates, ensuring timely and appropriate review solicitations, as illustrated in the below flow chart.

1. Create a subscription with an ORDER_CHANGE notification type: Begin by calling the createSubscription operation, and pinpoint the notification type as ORDER_CHANGE. A neat feature of ORDER_CHANGE is its support for a processing directive. This means developers have the flexibility to input an optional parameter, giving the space to manage how notifications are processed. Within this scope, developers can refine their directive by designating orderChangeTypes to OrderStatusChange, neatly tucked inside the eventFilter parameter.

2. Receive the notification: The ORDER_CHANGE operation uses the Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) workflow which receives the payload of that notification type. (For more information on how to poll the SQS queue, refer to the Notifications API SQS Tutorial.) Particularly, it ensures validation of the OrderStatus parameter. We recommend that you wait until the OrderStatus value changes to Shipped before soliciting. Given the potential for multiple instances of the Shipped status, it's important to eliminate redundancies to make sure whether a solicitation has already been dispatched for a specific order. For additional information about SQS, refer to our blog post Event-driven architecture in Selling Partner API.

3. Check the response: Upon receiving a response from the notification operation, you'll find four pivotal parameters. The two parameters to focus on are EarliestDeliveryDate and LatestDeliveryDate because solicitation for customer reviews is confined to a window of 5 to 30 days post-delivery. To be precise, it is from 5 days after EarliestDeliveryDate to 30 days after LatestDeliveryDate. Calling the Solicitations API outside this timeframe will lead to unexpected API errors.

4. Store key identifiers: It's helpful to archive or cache the amazonOrderId and MarketplaceId. These identifiers are crucial for the subsequent steps in the workflow.

5. Safety check with the getSolicitationActionsForOrder operation: Before diving in, call the getSolicitationActionsForOrder operation within the calculated timeframe. This acts as a safety net, verifying if the given order ID is primed for a review request.

6. The final call: Only proceed with this step if the previous getSolicitationActionsForOrder check confirms that a review can be requested. Call the createProductReviewAndSellerFeedbackSolicitation operation followed by the createProductReviewAndSellerFeedbackSolicitation operation to officially send the review.

This workflow will help you solicit user reviews, while optimizing your server resource consumption by designing an event-based system.

Follow the rules

When soliciting reviews, there are clear guidelines to be followed. While sellers have the liberty to request reviews, there are boundaries. Because the createProductReviewAndSellerFeedbackSolicitation operation can only send a default message to the buyer, it can prevent the seller from offering rewards or incentives for reviews which is strictly prohibited. Similarly, selectively seeking positive reviews or requesting alterations to existing ones is not allowed. These guidelines maintain the integrity of the review process, preventing practices that could mislead buyers. Adherence to these rules is paramount; it's about preserving the trust that customers place in the platform. Ethical navigation of these guidelines ensures sellers benefit from genuine feedback, propelling their business forward. Details about customer reviews can be found below:

• Customer Reviews
• Anti-Manipulation Policy for Customer Reviews

Turning negative feedback into opportunities

As mentioned previously, not all feedback will glow with praise. There may be instances when a buyer leaves negative feedback. However, there's a silver lining. Addressing the buyer's concerns and resolving the issue can change the narrative. Once the seller has resolved the buyer's problem, there’s a nifty operation at their disposal: createNegativeFeedbackRemoval from the Messaging API. By invoking this, sellers can kindly ask the buyer to reconsider and possibly remove the unfavorable feedback. This not only offers sellers a second chance but also underscores their commitment to customer satisfaction. The SP-API is designed with flexibility in mind, helping sellers maintain a good reputation and truly appreciate honest feedback.

Conclusion

Amazon's Solicitations API offers a bridge for sellers to connect with their customers and solicit genuine feedback. Developers benefit from the event-driven architecture, ensuring timely and precise review requests. Meanwhile, sellers are equipped with tools that allow them to address and potentially transform negative feedback into business opportunities.

Related resources

• ORDER_CHANGE notification
• Solicitations API v1 reference
• Solicitations API v1 Use Case Guide
• Messaging API v1 Use Case Guide

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