Introduction

For years, Amazon has let their buyers (shoppers) opt out of extra, third-party seller communications, also called “marketing emails”. This may a precaution to protect shoppers from too many emails; overzealous sellers requesting product reviews or seller feedback.

This decision “blocked off” a percentage of a seller’s sales from communications. Well-meaning sellers looking to provide world class experiences to all their buyers had no valid way to connect with those opted-out buyers who had a poor experience and published it as a product review. Tools that managed automatic outbound communications, like Feedback Genius, had to adjust in order not to allow their own customers to violate Amazon’s guidelines, by allowing them to send unsolicited email to opted-out buyers, putting their seller accounts in risk of suspension.

Now, and at the request of sellers, Amazon provides a valid way to connect with opted-out buyers.

The new feature: reach out to opted-out buyers

Before using this feature, familiarize yourself with the details and related Amazon policies and guidelines.

Amazon describes this new feature at the top of the Customer Reviews page inside Seller Central. 

“Reach out to Opted-Out Buyers! - We have listened to your feedback and launched the ability to contact buyers who had opted out of receiving marketing emails. Now, you can reach out to these buyers and offer Courtesy refund.”

After investigating, we found that “reach out” means a templated email message offering the refund.

Unlike before, the opted-out buyer can now be notified of this offer!

Here’s what the email template looks like, there’s no opportunity for the seller to edit any of the email’s content:

“Please remember that asking customers to change their reviews is against Amazon’s Customer Reviews policy and may result in an immediate and permanent withdrawal of the seller’s selling privileges on Amazon. Please take a moment to review our Customer Reviews policy. Learn more” - Amazon Seller Central

Exercise caution – Extreme care must be used whenever communicating with Amazon buyers. Now that Amazon is allowing limited communication with opted-out buyers, please continue to consult Amazon’s latest guidelines and policies for more information.

We recommend reviewing and bookmarking these helpful Amazon pages related to this feature: 

• “Customer product reviews policies” from Amazon Seller Central
• “Contact Customer” from Amazon Seller Central

Steps to offer a courtesy refund to opted-out buyers

This feature is available to third-party Amazon sellers that have enrolled in Brand Registry. Follow the steps below to offer a refund to those Amazon buyers who have opted out of seller communications:

1. Log into your Amazon Seller Central account
2. Navigate to Brands > Customer Reviews
3. Search for eligible buyers denoted by the “Offer Courtesy Refund” link, click it
4. Preview the templated message, then click “Send”
5. When the buyer replies, complete the refund

When a buyer replies with “Full refund”, execute the refund in Amazon.

A buyer may not reply as instructed by the templated email, it may be something else. In any case, assist the customer 

Note: Currently, the contact reason “Customer support” is not available for opted-out buyers, and sellers may only use the “Courtesy refund” option at this time.

Why is this feature so big?

The “refund” part of this feature is not the “big” part, Amazon sellers could virtually always issue refunds for any order at any time, rather, it’s the way in which the refund is packaged, as an email offer before the refund is given.

In other words, Amazon is taking extra measures to deliver what amounts to “good news” and a resolution on behalf of the seller to a subsection of buyers that previously were unreachable.

These opted-out buyers were mostly cut off from any unsolicited communications, so when those buyers had poor experiences, sellers were not allowed to do anything except issue a refund; they just had to “take it”!

Imagine, someone bought your product, you can and want to help, but your hands are tied! Previously, the only action available was to execute a standard refund (not a refund offer). Merely refunding an order without any explanation is not the best way to treat a customer when there’s a problem.

Now that Amazon sellers can send a courtesy refund offer before issuing the actual refund, opted out buyers will have the opportunity to witness and understand the proactive generosity of the seller when they offer a refund, hopefully leading to a better outcome for both.

Potential drawbacks and trade-offs

Sellers operating on platforms/marketplaces like Amazon and eBay are more limited by the marketplace’s rules when interacting with the marketplace’s customers. 

An Amazon buyer has more protections, guarantees, and leverage compared to a customer that comes to you on your own property (physical or website). 

Now, imagine it a step further; “opted-out” Amazon shoppers have even more leverage since they’ve signaled they do not want to receive extraneous communications.

When I imagine this group of opted-out marketplace shoppers, I’d expect they’d be more likely to get angry when their boundaries are crossed, perhaps more likely to react negatively to any offer, even if it’s Amazon-sanctioned. 

Although a buyer who is eligible for a courtesy refund has already published a critical review, perhaps they may take it steps further, and write a seller feedback or alert Amazon support to complain about your email, or asking to file an A-to-Z claim.

Since this feature is new, we don’t have data about how these Amazon buyers respond to this new courtesy refund offer. 

Expansion of a previous exception

Previously, Amazon clarified when and how third-party sellers may contact opted-out Amazon buyers: 

“If the buyer you are trying to contact has opted out of receiving messages, you can contact them based on the qualifications for sending a critical message. For more information, see Send a critical message to a buyer.” source “Send a critical message to a buyer.”

While reason was limited to details around order completion, with the addition of this new refund offer feature, a seller may now contact an opt-ed out buyer even when there was no issue fulfilling the order.

Summary

With Amazon allowing sellers to offer courtesy refunds to opted-out buyers that had a poor experience, this may be an opportunity for customer service teams to increase their brand experience even more!

Though sellers have another tool at their disposal to try to fix a bad situation, just like hammers and drills, they also have the ability to cause great damage when misused. This feature may unintentionally encourage miscommunication with sensitive Amazon buyers, leading to negative reactions or more critical feedback.

Regardless, if one of your opted-out buyers has a poor experience and deserved a refund, now we can not only give it to them, but we can let them know about it beforehand and allow them to opt-in to a resolution. 

It’s still too early to say whether sending these messages will be effective at getting buyers to remove or update critical reviews and feedback, but we’ll have more on that topic as we implement this feature. SellerSmile currently manages sending direct messages to critical Amazon reviewers on behalf of our clients. Read more about our services.

Always respect the customer and play by the rules on whichever platform the customer made the purchase.

If you have any insights from using this early refund offer feature, we’d love to hear about it, leave a comment below.

Discuss your e-commerce customer service with experts from SellerSmile? Schedule a call with SellerSmile today.

Helpful resources from “Seller Central Help”

• Article: “Customer product reviews policies”
• Article: “Communication Guidelines”
• “Send a critical message to a buyer”