What are “Customer Questions & Answers” on Amazon?

Customer Questions & Answers is a feature on Amazon product pages where shoppers, previous customers, and sellers can discuss the product “in public.” Like the original Greek forum, it’s a gathering place where a lot of mixing and marketplace action happens between several related groups. 

In Amazon’s own words, “Customer Questions & Answers allows you to connect with other customers to ask or answer questions about products. You can ask questions about a product or use your own expertise to answer other customers’ questions.”

This feature is distinct vs. Buyer-Seller Messaging where it’s more of a one-on-one interaction, or compared to product reviews, where sellers no longer have the opportunity to share their opinion in public replies.

Where are the “Customer Questions & Answers”?

Customer Questions & Answers are linked very high, next to the ratings on the product page:

Each Customer Questions & Answers page features Questions than can be sorted by most helpful (number of upvotes) or most recent.

How to Answer Amazon Customer Questions

Before using this feature we recommend reviewing and bookmarking these helpful Amazon articles:

• Seller Answer Guidelines for Amazon sellers and customer service teams
• Help article, “Customer Questions & Answers” for Amazon Customers
• Article: “Communication Guidelines” from Seller Central Help

Method 1: From the Amazon Answers email notification

1. After receiving the email notification from Amazon Answers <seller-answers@amazon.com>
2. Click the link, “Answer this question” to be taken to that question on Amazon
3. Enter a text or video reply, then click “Answer”

Method 2: From the Amazon product detail page

1. Navigate to the product page on Amazon
2. Search for and click the link, “See all XX answered questions”
3. Click on a question 
4. Enter a text or video reply, then click “Answer”

Notifications for Customer Questions

After someone posts a question, Amazon may also share this question with others, asking them for their help. Amazon decides who to ask (on the asker’s behalf) and they share the question in the form of an email from “Amazon Answers” with a link to the question.

From: Amazon Answers <seller-answers@amazon.com>

How to Receive Email Notifications for Customer Questions

Notifications for Customer Questions are available to all Amazon marketplace sellers. Follow the steps below to receive an email notification each time Amazon sends the Customer Question to the seller:

1. Log into your Amazon Seller Central account
2. Navigate to Settings > Notification Preferences > Messaging section > Buyer Messages
3. Verify the correct email address is in the Buyer Messages section. To change or add an email, click “Edit” to update the email address in the Buyer Messages field.
4. Click save!

The Buyer Messages field is specially directed to receive notifications from the Customer Questions & Answers feature. When appropriate, Amazon will send the customer question to the email address configured in this section and field of the Notifications Preferences page. This field is also used for Buyer-Seller customer service email notifications.

Not every product question submitted is shared with the seller. Amazon decides to route questions either to previous buyers or to the seller, perhaps, based on whomever they deem the question’s content is more appropriate for.

What questions do customers ask?

Amazon instructs customers to ask questions specific to the product and the experience with the product. This is an invaluable opportunity to collect and use feedback from real customers who’ve either already experienced your product or who are still gathering information to make their purchase.

All posts will either be a question or an answer to a question. Amazon indicates they may remove questions/answers that include information about:

• Shipping or delivery
• Product availability
• Order specific information
• Customer service
• Material that does not comply with Amazon’s Community Guidelines

How do customers ask a question?

On a product page, there’s a section entitled, “Looking for specific info?” with a search field that queries multiple sources of data.

After typing in some text, Amazon dynamically displays relevant information as well as a new field or button to submit the search query as a new question, “Don’t see the answer you’re looking for? Post your question.”

Who can submit a question/answer?

Anyone with an active Amazon account that has spent at least $50 on Amazon.com, using a valid credit or debit card, in the past 12 months.

Why is this feature significant?

• It’s open – While Amazon is typically more conservative with communications and access to their community, this is more open, including multiple groups and highly customizable modes of communication (no templates!). 
• Video!? – Wow, Amazon is inviting everyone, but especially sellers, to post targeted video responses about their products. This is an excellent opportunity to educate shoppers about your awesome products!
• Listing Optimization & SEO – The text from this feature is searchable on Amazon and elsewhere. Having more questions and answers will increase your surface area for discoverability. 

Potential drawbacks or trade-offs

No edit/delete button!? 

We’ve found that text answers may not be edited or deleted at this time. Be careful and triple check your reply before posting it as an answer. If you accidentally post a typo or something incomplete, you can always follow up with a better post in hopes that gets up-voted into greater visibility.

Special tips for Customer Questions & Answers

We DO recommend:

• Reviewing the Seller Answer Guidelines for a list of what is not allowed
• Providing high-quality and personalized answers for all seller-relevant product questions
• Recording video replies for each question!

A seller’s answers receive special recognition with a highly visible “seller” badge in the public Q&A forum.

We DO NOT recommend:

• Marking your own answers as “helpful” / up-voting
• Seeding your posts with questions

Posting your own questions and up-voting them may be seen as manipulation and come with serious consequences. According to AMZ’s Community Guidelines, the document governing this feature, “It’s not allowed to create, edit, or post content about your own products or services. The same goes for services offered by: Friends, Relatives, Employers, Business associates, Competitors.” Instead, allow the high-quality nature of your answers to be what lifts them, through organic upvotes from the community!

URLs for product Q&A pages

Unlike Buyer-Seller Messaging, Amazon forces communications around Q&A to occur directly on the product page, in the browser. It’s not yet possible to reply to Customer Questions directly through your CRM, like Help Scout or Gmail. Instead, one must navigate to the question page to submit the answer.

Amazon uses the URL format below for the Customer Question & Answers pages: 

https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/BXXXXXXXXX

Simply replace BXXXXXXXXX with any 10-character ASIN on Amazon to navigate directly to the Customer Q& A page for that product.

For example, here’s the link to the Customer Q& A page for a Deering Goodtime 5-String Banjo with the ASIN “B001Q9F34W”, https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/B001Q9F34W/.

Summary

Customer Questions & Answers are a public forum on each Amazon product page where shoppers, previous customers, and sellers all come together to interact and exchange information about the experience with the product. 

By offering authoritative and comprehensive answers, sellers can maintain control of the conversation around their products and brand. It’s an impactful and free opportunity for brands to connect and grow their audience.

Since a seller’s posts (answers) are highlighted by Amazon and searchable, we highly recommend responding to most AMZ Customer Questions seven days per week. Text answers are great, but text + video may be better.

Due to their public and discoverable nature, each answer may receive exponentially more engagement than a single email reply. They may be a greater influence on buyers’ behavior while browsing your product details pages. 

Remember, there’s no edit or delete button! Re-review your answer content for grammar, errors, omissions, and correctness before finally sharing it to the greater Amazon community. 

Respect the customer and play by the rules on Amazon’s platform.

What’s your experience using this Customer Questions & Answers feature? We want to hear about it. Leave a comment below!

Schedule a call with SellerSmile today to discuss your e-commerce customer service today.

Helpful resources

• Customer Questions & Answers, for Amazon Customers
• Community Guidelines. “Guidelines for keeping the Amazon Community helpful, relevant, meaningful, and appropriate.”
• Communication Guidelines, from Seller Central Help
• Seller Answer Guidelines – a helpful page linked in each email notification