How To Get And Keep Amazon Book Reviews Without Getting Banned

Amazon reviews are the currency of credibility—and one misstep can cost you both visibility and account standing. In this episode, we break down exactly how to earn more reviews, keep the ones you get, and build a system that works long term—without crossing Amazon’s invisible lines.

We start with what actually moves the needle. Why the first five reviews matter more than most authors realize. Why trust increases dramatically at twenty. And why books with fifty-plus reviews consistently convert at higher rates. But here’s the nuance: momentum matters more than a one-day spike. A steady cadence of authentic feedback outperforms a suspicious surge—both in reader perception and algorithmic trust.

Then we get specific.

You’ll learn:

• How to structure a compliant review ask that invites honesty without incentives
• When to activate early readers—and how to stagger timing to avoid red flags
• How to build a launch team that produces sustainable results
• The exact back-of-book language that turns satisfied readers into reviewers
• Why repeated phrasing, shared IP activity, and review swaps quietly trigger removals

We also address the shortcuts. Paid review schemes, manipulation tactics, and “review clubs” may look tempting—but they rarely survive scrutiny and can jeopardize your account.

Instead, we outline a reader-first system built on newsletter growth, ARC strategy, consistent outreach, and ethical momentum. The goal isn’t a quick spike. It’s compounding social proof that strengthens every future release.

If you want reviews that stick—and a strategy that protects your publishing career—this episode gives you the playbook.

If you found this helpful, follow the show, share it with an author friend, and leave an honest rating wherever you listen. What review strategy has worked for you? We want to hear it.

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Transcript

Why Reviews Still Matter

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the book marketing tips and author success podcast. Hey Santa and Baby Cornell. And we are so I want to let Amy do the intro this one, but we're doing a show. We're doing another show on reviews just because it's always a hot topic. And it's always so important. Authors always thought that it was important. Yeah. First, I want to give a shout out to Miss Amy, just review. Post a review of the podcast, and the review was amazing. Okay, folks, maybe thank you so much. She also quoted Amy, which I told her when we were in the green room. Now we have to start putting this up t-shirt. Just eat your broccoli. You're not entitled to anything. So Amy, props to you. You're being quoted everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Oh gosh, that's my children would be mortified, which means I love it.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

That is so awesome. So tell us where, so tell our listeners, how did you stumble on the idea for the show? Other than the fact that authors love reviews.

The Moving Target Of Amazon’s Policies

SPEAKER_02 1:07

I know. So anybody that's just been listening for a while knows that we often troll Reddit threads just in general, because it's a great way, not only in terms of finding content for the podcast, but it's also just a great way for us to keep up with what authors are concerned with. What are they focused on? I mean, we have discussions about how that potentially affects our programs, what we should be offering, you know, because what y'all want help with is what we want to be addressing, you know. And so in reviews, it's always one of those sticking points. And as Penny said, you know, we just did an episode on reviews about getting reviews. But the other side, the kind of darker side of reviews is that you really have to be careful with Amazon's terms of service because one, it's unpredictable, like many things with Amazon, right, Penny? Like we just you don't know when Amazon is going to decide to target your page. And potentially one day you can have 50 reviews and the next day you could be down to 30 or even fewer. It's really wild. And I will say, Penny, this tends to be, which is why it complements our last show so well, because a lot of what we talked about on our last show was kind of higher level reviews, not necessarily uh everyday reader reviews, not that we didn't focus on that a little, but this is a everyday reader reviews is very much something that you need to focus on. And I think those are the ones that tend to trigger Amazon's terms of service more so than industry reviews and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah, that's really true. And as you, as you very smartly pointed out, the Amazon terms of service are a little bit of a moving target. And we all know that a few years ago, we were having endless conversations about Amazon just randomly pulling reviews. And um it was it was indiscriminately in in many cases, right? That was the worst part.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

That was the worst part. It drove me insane. Sorry to cut you off, but it was just there's nothing worse because you know, everybody listening, we're typically working with, you know, a handful of authors all at the same time, you know, different genres, different topics, different some are veterans, some are debut authors, so a lot of different authors in a lot of different positions. And what was being allowed for one author wasn't being allowed for another. And there's nothing more infuriating than when the rules aren't the same for everybody, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

How Many Reviews You Actually Need

SPEAKER_00 3:27

It really is. It's it's very infuriating. And and Amazon, anyway, we're gonna get into this more. And I have I have many grievances with the way that this review process works, but that's not the focus of this of this particular show. The focus to help you to get more reviews and keep more reviews. And I think that we all know, I mean, so we all know the importance of reviews. I mean, obviously it's an ego thing, like let's just put that straight out. Like we love to have lots of reviews. We look at pages that have, you know, a thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand reviews with, you know, green with envy. I mean, let's face it, right? Yeah. But part of the other reason is that, you know, I mean, 93% of consumers, and this is not something that I just drummed up like out of my head, but 93% of consumers say online reviews absolutely purchase their um buying decisions, and 49% trust reviews as much as they do personal recommendations. Here's the interesting thing, and we're gonna talk a little bit about review numbers because I think that this is also a question that we get a lot. Like, how many reviews will do I really have to have? Which I which I definitely want to break down. Reviews, books, sorry, books with 50 plus reviews, so 50 and over, convert significantly better than books with fewer than 10 uh reviews. And this is again based on industry analysis across, you know, uh author retail pages, right? So, you know, readers, even though they don't really realize it, they're making calculated, you know, they're trusting this calculation basically in milliseconds, right? Um the other piece of it though, too, and I I won't uh burden this podcast with too many statistics as much as you know I I love these numbers, but you know, products slash books with reviews see a 270% increase in purchase likelihood compared to those without reviews, which is one of the reasons why when we did we just did the um Amazon ads show, Amy, and we talked about, you know, don't advertise a naked book, right? Don't advertise, don't spend money on Amazon ads. I mean, there's a reason to do Amazon ads for uh algorithm sake, and that's a different conversation. But if you're running Amazon ads to make sales, specific sales, and your book has no reviews, that's a problem, right? Right. So um and and uh let's break down really quickly and then we'll go into some other, you know. I I found a number which is kind of really interesting on how many fake reviews um that Amazon has, which is sort of staggering. So conversion um so determination on whether to make a purchase dramatically increases between zero and five reviews. Right. So now I know I threw out the number, like 50 reviews, and for some of you listening, that may seem unattainable at this uh you know juncture of your career. Um but after 20 reviews, 20 review apparently 20 plus reviews builds trust. Right. Which is which is kind of, you know, because 20 reviews for the majority of authors is pretty attainable, right? I mean, not right out of the gate, but you know what I mean? It's pretty it, you know, 10 to 20 legitimate reviews can definitely materially improve your conversion rate. So that's something to also, you know, that's something also to consider. I mean, Amy, when you're looking at when you're looking at books on Amazon, how does what kind of makes it makes it or breaks it for you in terms of Yeah?

SPEAKER_02 7:29

And I think, you know, we've talked about this before, but it's worth mentioning, you know, reviews also to some degree should align with how old the book is, right? For sure. Yeah. Like so if the book is brand new, not the end of the world if it doesn't, you know, a lot of authors are so concerned that they have to have all these reviews land the first week the book is out. I mean, in an ideal world, how amazing would that be? But the logistics of that are just very hard to do. So don't beat yourself up over that, you know, very narrow timing for when your book releases. You know, instead focus on long-term, you know, review generation, honestly, because, you know, 10 reviews out of the gate, awesome. But if those are the only 10 reviews you ever get, that's going to peter out quickly. You know, but when authors come to us and the book's been out a little while, even only, you know, six months and there's still no reviews, that leads us to wonder, what is the what has the author been doing? Have you been trying to get reviews and you're not getting any? Have you not tried it all, which is actually maybe better? You know, better than asking and not receiving it all. But it really does matter. And I think it definitely matters for all books, but it definitely matters. I mean, there's so many different we could go down a rabbit hole with this because I also look at has the author published before? You know, do they have a bunch of reviews? Or I mean, do they have a number of titles that never got any reviews? So what's going on there? Like, believe it or not, and yes, we we hyper focus on these things because of what we do. But I can tell you, you know, consumers, readers, they absolutely do as well. You know, those reviews are very simple social proof of whether or not people like that book. And we talk about it all the time. You know, people like what other people like, they want buying decisions to be easy. So having solid, thoughtful reviews, I mean, it's it's makes it can make or break, you know, how successful your book is gonna be.

Timing And Cadence That Convert

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Well, and to your point, you know, a surge of 40 reviews in one day followed by absolute silence looks artificial. And Amazon's gonna Amazon's gonna look at that, right? Right as well. In 2022 alone. So what's really interesting is that in 2022 alone, Amazon removed 200 million suspected fake reviews. Whoa. Now that was right 2022. Imagine where we are, you know, where we are now. And what you know, what really annoys me is I bet a lot of these were authors, which really makes me mad. Because I'll tell you something, I will look at an Amazon product and I'll see five reviews that are actually non non-books, right? I'll see five reviews that are exactly the same. Oh, yeah, for sure. Right. Um so all right, so let's talk a little bit about um what Amazon really wants to see. Uh I so I know there's a whole debate about verified purchases and all this other stuff, and we're gonna get we're you know, we're gonna get into that in first. So two things, and Amy, Amy, maybe we can just kind of take this list and in, you know, we can just take turns on this list. Uh you can give away free copies if you're book for honest feedback. People do it all the time. It's totally legit, it's fine. You cannot require a review in exchange for a free copy, technically, right? I know, and those are very nuanced, aren't they? Well, they're very nuanced. So, so here's the thing though. So we do, we've done shows on super fans, and I've written about super fans and everything. And one of the things that I tell authors is that, okay, so if you have an art art group, also known as your super superfan group, and you have 20 people on that list, let's say, and only half of them review the book, uh, part of the membership into this exclusive program is that they have to post a review. So, you know, are you requiring a review in exchange for a free copy? Yes. Um, and I would argue with Amazon, although I'm sure that I would I would probably lose. I'm just saying, but you know, this is how the influencer world also works, right? So influencers get free product, they get free whatever, right? Right. They get a free cruise or they get a free, you know, something, Apple Watch or something, and they it in exchange for a review. So what I think that Amazon is getting at here is they want to kind of avoid people saying, here's a book, you must absolutely review it. You know what I mean? Which again is sort of counter to what I was just explaining. It's a very, you know, I'll tell you something. Amazon's terms of service, and Amazon, if you're listening, we need to have a conversation. Amazon's terms of service is many times, especially in this particular bucket, super sketchy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

I don't really know how else to put it, right? Um I honestly I hate it. Not that I I I I don't hate the idea of going after genuine, honest opinions and feedback by any means. But I just find this kind of this is a slight overreach in terms of it kind of cuts everybody off at the knees. It basically takes everything off the table, which I don't like at all, you know, because there are legitimate ways to incentivize people to leave reviews that I don't think alter the honesty of the review itself, you know? Right. And I think that should be the primary point, like honest opinions, you know, not five-star reviews, not, you know, if you're asking for honest, thoughtful feedback, I think that is what reviews are for, you know, because I mean the other notes we have on here never offer rewards, compensation, or perks tied to reviews. I mean, that literally covers everything, does it not? I mean, perks. So, not even like, you know, no high fives, even like we can't give you anything positive.

Fake Reviews And Crackdowns

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Right. You get nothing positive out of this at all. Whatsoever. Yeah. Whatsoever. End of story. And at the same time, we know that, and I know, you know, I I am sorry, I have to, I got us totally off track. I know that we have to stay on track for the show to make it so that it's not just a bitching session. But honestly, I mean, if I'm pitching influences, and we pitch influencers all the time for our authors when we're, you know, when we're doing their marketing, um, they are getting a book in exchange for an honest review. So I mean, we don't demand it, like I'm not gonna show up at their house and be like lightning sheep review or other. But at the same time, some clients would like us to do that. Right. Who shall remain nameless if you're listening? But at the same time, it's kind of understood. And the majority of reviewers and influencers are not gonna request a book they don't intend to post a review. And we've gotten those messages, you know, like, oh, you know what, my TV red pile is too long or whatever. So, okay, Amazon, so challenge me. Like, I think they need a whole, you know, revamp. But at the same time, where Amazon is getting this language, and I'll tell you where they're getting this language. So it feels super airy, fairy, and squirrely. It absolutely is. When Amazon is seeing you posting on your Facebook page, on your your social channels, whatever those are, uh, I will give you a copy of my book in exchange for a review that flags Amazon. And believe it or not, Amazon has their tentacles in everything. Yeah. So that's where this becomes problematic. If you're posting, like, you get a free topic or you get a free this, you get a free that, in exchange for a review, along with a free copy of the book, yeah. And you're posting that out for the entire world to see, Amazon's like, nope, that's problematic. The same thing is true, and I don't want to step on your points, but the same thing is true is when so for a long time, friends and family and friends and family I I have such a hard time with this because I understand that sometimes those are your only go-to's. Like, I get that, but don't ask your mom to review your book. Because it it that's just it it's a problem, right? And the majority of the time, and I think we did a show on this actually last year, we talked about how authors are always disappointed. They're like, Well, my all my friends and family said they'd buy my book and nobody's bought my book and nobody's reviewed my book, and that's kind of the norm. Like, it's not because they don't like you or they don't want your success, but people get busy, or maybe it's not a genre they read or whatever, right? Um, but when you do, for for you know, in whatever bizarre big brother way, Amazon a lot of times spots that and they'll they'll delete those reviews, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Um, but then we also see flat out. I I've seen reviews where it's like, this is my nephew and he's just the best. It's like, really? That made it through. And this is why we get so pissed about this stuff because it's like it's not consistent across the board. And so it, but I mean, I guess their lack of consistency leaves it open for arguing to get your reviews back if they ever do get pulled, you know, because Amazon 100% cannot say that they're consistent with their review policies at all. And you could almost always find an example of somebody else. Not that you want to throw a fellow author under the bus, but you know, you could highlight a dozen other examples of how something that you get called out for is not being enforced across the board, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And the other thing, and I I don't I I'm not trying to steal your thunder, but I have such strong feelings about this. Stop asking, not that any of our listeners do this. I'm just putting this out as a blanket statement. Stop asking to swap reviews, like to stop. I was at an event, I don't know, this was maybe six years ago or something, anyway, and this author came up to me and was like, and I was actually selling books, and they were like, How about I give you my book in exchange for yours? Right. First off, that's a hard pass. I mean, I appreciate sort of the sentiment, but it wasn't even a genre that I read. Secondly, there are entire Facebook groups set up. I am not a member of these groups, but I do know that they exist. I think they still exist, where everybody on there is basically just swapping reviews. Really? Yeah. Hard pass, don't do it. It seems tempting. Like I get it, but everybody's desperate for reviews, right? But swapping reviews, I mean, there are so many problems with that that we don't have to get into right now, but just don't do it. I mean, have have you seen Facebook groups like this?

SPEAKER_02 18:42

I have not. But I am not a big Facebook user, and the idea of being in a group with a bunch of people talking constantly just is kind of my personal version of hell. So yeah. Well, to get into my psychology.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Uh but uh but no, but I'm telling you, there are entire Facebook, you know, not a member, don't want to be a member, don't invite me to be a member of your review swapping Facebook group. And you know, I don't mean to sound like a biatch, but don't ask to swap reviews. And the other thing is, it's really bad form for a whole variety of reasons. Because swapping reviews, and I know we're gonna I'll have letting me kick off the next portion of this, but swapping reviews completely obliterates any effort that you make to build an actual fan base launch team, arc team, whatever we want to call it. Because basically it's a one and done situation. And when you're done, your review will likely get pulled anyway. Yeah, 100%. You know? So um so it is there a compliant way to do this? I mean, there's a compliant way. Do you want to talk about that before we get into the the review engine piece of this?

What Amazon Wants To See

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Yeah, I mean, I think and I think everybody listening by now has probably figured out you basically just to have to do like a soft sell, you know. So if you enjoyed this book, I'd be grateful if you shared your honest thoughts on Amazon or Goodreads. Your feedback helps other readers discover new stories. Like this is straightforward, it's honest, it stays compliant, it's not a hard sell on the review. Right. You know what I mean? Like you're you're literally just reminding, and that's really how people should be handling it. I think that's one of the things that one of the sticking points with why this kind of this whole topic makes me so mad sometimes too, is that Amazon gets it's almost like they get so specific that at that point you're like, well, now I kind of want to do it this way, you know. Like I feel like Amazon's giving me more ideas for things that I could be doing that they claim I shouldn't be doing. Does that make sense? It's like, I feel like if they didn't mention this, a lot of people would just go about their business asking for reviews the way they should be. But because Amazon makes such a big deal about it, it's like, oh wait, yeah, maybe I should be offering incentives, you know? Like, come on.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah. I know. It it's it it it's it's really ridiculous. Um so let's talk about the right way. And I know we've we've we don't spend a ton of time on this, but I think we've talked about um the right way to build. Mm-hmm. You know, where yours you want to take the first one?

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Yeah, I mean, I think this one, and I'd like your take, Penny. I think, you know, an ARC team or a launch team is kind of a tricky thing for a lot of authors. It's one thing if you've been doing this a while and you've got a decent list and you have return buyers and you've got a network and you've been around for a little bit, but I think putting a lot of pressure on developing an ARC team is is really challenging for newer authors that haven't been doing this a while, especially for your debut book. You know, and I think, and I see this with our clients sometimes too, is that they want to build early reviews, but then what do you do with them? Because if you do it too soon, the chances of people remembering to post on Amazon dwindle quite a bit, right? Yeah. If you don't have a website to put them on yet, that's also problematic. And it's very reasonable that not all authors have their final website up and running months in advance, you know. So I think like the art team is tough. If you have a mailing list and you've been at this for a while, then I think building an art team is great. And, you know, you if you use a platform like BookFunnel or something like that, that makes it very official where you can track downloads and who's reading and you have a great way to contact people, send those reminders, you know, reminding them when the book releases, because obviously you do want those to convert to Amazon or Goodreads reviews eventually. But, you know, you but the tough part with this too, and and you kind of have to just accept it that when you start an art team early, especially if you're new at this, you have to be open to the fact that they're not all going to post a review once the book is finally out. I hate to say it.

Free Copies, Compliance, And Gray Areas

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Well, and I think that we've we've done shows on this, so I would suggest go back and listen to some of those shows because there are particular ways that you could work with your launch team. In other words, yeah, you don't want people to forget about you, but the idea of having behind having an actual active launch team is that they know the ropes, right? They know that the you're you're giving them 30 days or whatever to finish the book, and the book doesn't launch until April, whatever, 10th, whatever. And you know, the review can hit sometime in the next five days. Don't don't have them review on the same day that the book launches because Amazon sometimes finds that suspect. I mean, you can have a reviewer, but you don't want like 40 reviews, like I mentioned earlier, to hit on the same day. So part of it, part of this is also on you, the author, to educate your launch team. Because I think a launch team is a great, great idea. In fact, I think the best thing that you can do for yourself is go back and listen to our newsletter podcast, uh, our newsletter episode, grow your newsletter and then go into the, you know, building your fan base. I mean, that's the thing that is gonna get you out of this, you know, tricky Amazon review terms of service spiral is to have your own launch team that's gonna read the book. But you do have to give them, you know, kind of a hard deadline. Um so, and then they get, you know, when we talked about in the episode, we don't have to get into that so much, you know, we we um we, you know, um they're gonna get, you know, appreciation, they get to be part of your special tribe and things like that. Um one of the best ways, by the way, to grow your launch team is um adding a letter in the back of your book. And I'm gonna tell you right now, I did this for an author that we worked with a whole bunch of years ago. And now it's a big thing. Now everybody talks about it. Just I'm just gonna say, put it out like we were the first. Maybe we weren't the first, but we we put a letter in the back of the book and we said, I actually wrote the letter for the for her books because I said I want to try this out. And I said, you know, um thank you so much for reading. Um and it was just thank you for your time for spending the time with these characters, etc., would love a review and then a link to the retail page and link link back to the retail page in the book because in this particular genre, the majority were reading on ebook. So it was easy just to click over and you know and leave a review. That backmatter note and and I I'm gonna cite this again, right? So at that time, so this author, so we put the backmatter note in there, we put the letter to the readers in there. Um she got a um she got a book of feature deal, which are we all know is very hard to get, and it was huge, right? So got the feature deal, discounted the book. The reviews on Amazon went from 20 to over 200. From that promotion, yes, but also because readers need they don't really know what to do at the end of the end of the book. Like they typically at the end of the book is like the author bio, et cetera, et cetera. Put your book to work for you. And we've done shows on this, we don't have to spend a ton of time on it, but um put put people and encourage people to email you and put them on your newsletter list. Those two things you will become an expert in reviews and you will be able to do the next show with us. I'm telling you right now, it'll save you a ton of time. Um Amy, what am I missing from from this?

SPEAKER_02 26:49

No, I think these have been great. And I think because we've covered some of these, but I think we should cover the because I think a lot of authors are still they know what the rules are, but are still, I think, sometimes caught off guard, even how their reviews can get pulled, even if they're not breaking the rules per se. So we cover some of those reasons why, like what triggers Amazon to take notice of your page. Yeah. Because we've had that happen with clients before, where they're doing everything right and they still get targeted because of some sort of pattern that Amazon recognizes, despite them not doing anything against the terms of service. So I think we should cover those just so if something does happen to you, you kind of have an idea of what Amazon's looking for. And when you start that support ticket to get those back, you know what to address. Okay. Yeah. So, like Penny said, too many reviews at once. You know, a big batch of reviews landing on the exact same day definitely looks suspicious. Especially if they, you know, and this will come up through a few of these, especially if they're unverified and they're short, like one sentence at most reviews. Like they just look like something that was cheaply bought and paid for, and probably from bots too. You know what I mean?

unknown 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

I think that's a big, I think that's a big problem. And I will say that's one thing that I also look for sometimes on when I see a book and the reviews look a little suspect. I will go through and I'll actually click through to the um profiles of some of their more recent reviews or some of the suspicious looking reviews and go figure. More often than not, that person doesn't have a picture. They've reviewed like three or four things and they're super random, maybe a couple books and then some random kitchen appliance. You know what I mean? So clearly it looks like this person is signed up for some program where they, you know, basically post reviews for whatever that they get offered, you know? Yeah. So they don't have a lot of reviews. They definitely don't review a lot of books, especially if they don't review a lot of books in similar genres. I mean, you know, I'm not gonna knock people that like to read different genres, but true, honest reviews, legitimate ones, you'll tend to see patterns in what they review. Yeah, and so that's also something that Amazon looks for. So if you're getting reviews by a bunch of accounts that review really random stuff and it's very uh scattered, that is going to trigger them as well.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Yeah, exactly. And you know what else is really so this is this is super shady, but I I we just have to put it out there. Amazon looks at your household IP address. Or the so let's say you're at work and there are 25 people who are like, Oh, I want to review your book, and they're all posting reviews from their office. Yeah. They will all get pulled because they're coming from the same IP address, which I know, again, sounds like super big brother, but Amazon looks at all of those things, right? As well as, you know, what Amy mentioned, but also the language of the review. So here's another really weird thing. Sometimes authors will actually give reviewers, because sometimes reviewers, like especially, you know, and and maybe you have an arc list and maybe they haven't reviewed a lot, and everybody has to start somewhere. Like, I get it, but do not give them language to review. Because what'll end up happening is that the language will sound similar across these reviews, and Amazon, it'll spark Amazon's like it'll pique their curiosity enough that they'll get in there and take a look at it. Isn't that wild? It it really is wild. And again, it's a little scary, but look, you know, the horse has left the barn. So there's nothing that we can do about Amazon. We just have like, we're just living in the Amazon world. But it is really interesting, and also reviews that, and you know, look, a lot of us can't really do anything about reviews that don't have like, you know, if somebody that's reviewing the book isn't familiar with reviewing or didn't post a really, you know, a long, thoughtful review, like I get it. But posting reviews that just say, love the book, thanks, like, you know, that's also something, again, a lot of that's out of our control. But this is where, you know, go back to the episode that we did on the the super fans and street teams. Um, and we probably, I think we actually talked about the majority of it in the new in that newsletter episode. So go find that one. Uh, we did talk about the vetting of, you know, if you have an art group and why it's important to vet them for that very reason so that you don't get a bunch of reviews like, hey, this was awesome. Thanks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

You know what I mean? Exactly. The cadence absolutely matters, and for a number of reasons. It might sound easy to go and, you know, go through one of those companies that's like, we'll get you 50 reviews in a week or whatever. Oh my gosh. That's only going to hurt your account. It's not going to help it. You know, that is an unnatural cadence for reviews. You're better off, you know, keeping your review outreach, which is what we talked about on a very recent episode. You're better off going after reviews consistently versus trying to check it off your list for the next six months all in one shot. You know, you really are. And it's great for the algorithm. It's great for shoppers. Like, you're better off getting a handful, like five or fewer reviews every month than you are getting 50 reviews in a week. Like it's really like five genuine reviews and continuing that momentum and keeping that going long term is so much better for your brand than, you know, just a flash of not thoughtful, super short, truncated reviews like Penny was mentioning.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And I think, you know, um the too many reviews, that's always there's a lot of review services out there. They all make me very, very nervous. In fact, we get a lot of the write us because I am an, you know, as an author, like they don't necessarily do their due diligence and they're like, oh, this is a marketing company. They probably can do this on their own. But I'll get, I'll get those emails like, oh, do you want to get more reviews for a book? And the email is barely coherent English. Right. And I'm like, they're like, oh, we can get you 50 reviews overnight. I'm like, yeah, I'm sure that's gonna be. And then not only will the reviews get pulled, but my ability to um publish on Amazon because Amazon's gonna be like, well, you're just a joke show. We're not allowed to publish anymore.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

You know what I mean? Exactly. Yeah, it's definitely not worth your account for sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

By the way, the other thing I just want to mention, I I I have never heard this before, but we actually had an author who wrote to Amazon because they were concerned that some of the reviews on their Amazon retail page were fake. Oh God. And Amazon, in response to this author honesty, Amazon pulled all the reviews. Do you remember that? Do you remember that? Yeah. So don't write to Amazon like ever. And and also the other piece of it though, too, is that once these reviews are pulled, there's literally no way to get them back. I mean, you can you can try, but Amazon basically they're all just laughing in the lunch room. You know what I mean? Um okay, what did we miss? I think we covered pretty much everything, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:06

I know. We we definitely, I mean, uh anybody listening to this now knows the rules. They know how we feel about the rules, right? Very strong feelings about the rules. Very strong feelings about the rules. And now you also know what to look for look out for. So in case this does happen to you or you notice reviewing reviews going missing, you know, now you know kind of the patterns that Amazon looks for. But either way, absolutely fight it. I know it's it's hard. If these go missing, like Penny said, it's really hard to get them back. But if anything, you want to fight for your account. You know what I mean? In the integrity of your account.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like I said, I mean, we get we have people emailing us all the time, you know, wondering if something is legit. And you're always welcome to ask us. And you know, sometimes it is, and a lot of times it's not, because unfortunately there's a there's a lot of non-legit stuff out there. And I think that I didn't go down this Reddit string. I know you you I know you did, but I think that a lot of the a lot of problems start with shortcuts, and shortcuts are always very tempting. I I completely appreciate that because writing the book was as hard as that is really was the easy part, you know, I mean that's kind of just the beginning. Um, but take it from us. Uh, you know, build your newsletter, build your triad, build your arc team, and those two things alone will save you so much in in the long run. Absolutely. And it'll get you out of this. How do I get more reviews viral? So um, yeah, I think that covers it.

unknown 35:43

Right?

Build A Launch Team The Right Way

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Yay, yay. All right, listen, we love speaking of reviews, we love reviews wherever you listen to podcasts for sure. And um, we also love it when you join our um uh when you join our text experience. We get tech, we get and we love more questions, by the way. So send us questions, text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. Uh show ideas, questions. Um if you if you loved a particular quote, it's probably coming from Amy. You're welcome to text at the Us as well as well. Um, but thank you so much for tuning in, and we will see you next week. Bye bye.