Let’s Talk The Amazon Vine Program.
Amazon Vine is an incentivized review program created by Amazon to provide customers with honest and unbiased reviews of products. The program invites the ‘most trusted’ Amazon reviewers to receive free (& new) product in exchange for an option to write a review that shoppers can trust.
Now not just any Amazon shopper is able to join the Vine program. You are invited by Amazon to become a ‘Vine Voice’ based on your reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of reviews you’ve submitted– as judged by Amazon shoppers.
Enrolling Your Brand In Amazon Vine
The Vine program has been around for third-party sellers since 2019. And prior to October 2021, there was no fee for 3P sellers to enroll their products in the program. But, as of October 12, 2021, Amazon charges a $200 enrollment fee for each parent ASIN enrolled. On top of the enrollment fee, the following program requirements must be met:
- Amazon Brand Registered Seller
- FBA product in ‘New’ condition
- Your product must be live (at the time you enroll) and in stock.
How To Enroll Your Product In Vine:
- You can access Vine in Seller Central (under Advertising, click Amazon Vine) to enroll eligible products.
- Enter an ASIN in the text box and click Begin enrollment.
- On enrollment details page, verify your product information.
- If you are enrolling a standalone ASIN: Enter the number of units you wish to enroll (minimum: 1 maximum: 30).
- If enrolling a product set: Click Add variations and select the variations that you wish to enroll in the program and click Add variations to confirm. We recommend that you chose All product variations in stock.
- Click Enroll.
- Review the enrollment fee and review the Terms and Conditions of the program.
- Click Enroll to complete the enrollment.
It’s a pretty simple and straightforward process. For additional context, check out Amazon’s Enroll A Product In Vine tutorial.
What Happens Next…
Once enrolled, Amazon will start displaying your products to Vine Voices. In the first 28-days of enrollment, your product will be targeted to Vine Voices, who typically show interest in your product category. If there are any remaining claims after the initial 28-days, your product will be opened to to all Vine Voices to claim.
It’s important to note that Amazon Vine reviewers do not have any obligation to leave a review on your product and are are expected to leave a positive review. We typically see an estimated 4-8 weeks between the time the Vine Voice reviews has claimed and received the product to when a review is left on Amazon.
And at best, 30 is the maximum number of reviews your product may receive (for each ASIN enrollment). If the product you enrolled in had a starting review count of 5, you would only be able to receive 25 Vine Voice reviews.
Should Your Brand Invest In The Vine Program?
Amazon Vine is one of the fastest, legal ways to generate real, early reviews for your products. Whether you’re a new brand on Amazon looking to boost visibility and quick-start reviews or an already existing brand that’s launching a new product– Amazon Vine may be worth the upfront investment.
Customer reviews are a key factor in growing your sales and Amazon business. And the strategy of handing out free products in exchange for a review is a thing of the past. Aside from generating reviews for a product quickly, other benefits come from the program. The reviews that come through Amazon Vine tend to carry a bit more weight in the eyes of shoppers since the customers who are reviewing the products are oftentimes seen as ‘expert reviewers.’
See below a few examples of Vine Reviews some of our clients have received through the program.
And like everything else, downsides to the program do exist. The first obvious is the $200 fee per ASIN which can quickly become costly if enrolling multiple. Another potential downside is that the reviews are not guaranteed to be positive. Brands still testing and modernizing their product may not be the best candidates for the program.. just yet! Because as we know, Amazon reviews are permanent.
Interested in learning more about our work, check out our Case Studies. Or if you need help growing your eCommerce business, Contact Us Now to speak with one of Aisle3’s advertising experts.