Amazon product reviews have a significant influence on a product’s traffic, ranking, and conversion when customers shop online. However, this can become an issue if you launch a new item. A product will struggle to make any sales without reviews and it requires sales to get reviews. The Amazon Vine Program helps break this cycle of viciousness. 

In this article, we will discuss what Amazon Vine is, how it works, how to enroll, and what it costs to enroll.

Quick View

• What is Amazon Vine?
• How does Amazon Vine work?
• Eligibility criteria to join Amazon Vine
• Vine enrollment fee for sellers
• How to get started
• FAQs
• Final words

What Is Amazon Vine?

Amazon Vine is an invitation-only program that selects the most insightful reviewers in the Amazon store to serve as Vine Voices. Vine Voices are privileged to order items free of charge and share their product experiences with Amazon customers to help them make informed purchasing decisions.

Vine reviews are a kind of social proof that enables shoppers to evaluate if a product is a good fit for them by understanding how it works. Additionally, it helps businesses in improving product discoverability and conversion.

How Does Amazon Vine Work?

After enrolling in Vine, Voices may request free doorstep delivery of products from thousands of brands available in the Amazon store. They then use the products and provide insightful reviews that reflect their honest and unbiased opinions – positive, neutral, or negative. Product reviews that are arranged using Vine are shown in the same section as other reviews. Amazon Vine reviews are distinguished with this special badge, “Vine Customer Review of Free Product,” for full transparency. Voices always have something new to try because thousands of items from all kinds of categories are introduced every day.

Build rapport with customers and encourage purchases through the Vine Program

The Amazon Vine program invites trusted reviewers to serve as Vine Voices. Voices request products they want to review and share their honest, unbiased opinions in return for a free unit.

Gain traction for new or slow-moving products

Vine reviews can be a valuable source of social proof and show credibility to shoppers. In-depth reviews can even cover how a product works and delve into the details of key features.

Help customers make informed purchase decisions

Reduce returns and minimize negative feedback while gaining insights for improving your offerings and growing your business.

Enroll up to 200 ASINs at a time

If you reach the active enrollment limit, you can wait until enrollment concludes for active ASINs, then enroll another ASIN. Provide up to 30 free units of a product for Vine Voices to review by enrolling the product in Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and listing the product in the Amazon store.

Make products available to Vine Voices

Vine Voices receive a link to the product detail page and will be able to view the product in the same way as other Amazon customers. Claimed Vine units appear on your order reports with a price of $0 and no customer name visible (this preserves the anonymity of Vine Voices).

Use the Vine Dashboard to track reviews

When a Vine Voice orders a product, it ships to the reviewer via FBA. The Vine reviewer can then try out the product and post a review on the product page.

Vine is available to brand owners in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan stores.

Eligibility Criteria To Join Amazon Vine

Only brand owners who are registered members of the Amazon Brand Registry are eligible for the Amazon Vine Program. Let us see the requirements for enrolling in the program.

• You must be a member of Amazon Brand Registry.
• You must offer each product for free.
• You must have less than 30 reviews on your listing.
• Your item must be a “New” FBA offer.
• Your product can not be an “adult” item.
• Inventory must be available at the time of enrolment.
• Your listing must contain an image and a description.

Vine Enrollment Fee For Sellers

Vine enrollment fee will be charged once per parent ASIN depending on the number of units enrolled. The fees will be charged seven days after the first Vine review is published.

Source: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/G4GZ9J4UZ35VEH6G

How To Get Started

• Step 1: Check your eligibility, then sign up by choosing a Professional selling plan and enrolling in Brand Registry if you have not already.
• Step 2: In Seller Central, choose what products you would like to enroll in ($200 enrollment fee per parent ASIN), and enter the number of units you would like to make available to Vine Voices.
• Step 3: You will not be charged until after the first review is published. Also, if you enroll an item in Vine but do not receive a Vine review, you will not be charged.

FAQs

Why are only FBA offers eligible to be enrolled in Vine?

Amazon is dedicated to protecting the anonymity of Vine Voices. In order to avoid disclosing information on the Vine Voices, such as customer names, they fulfill the Vine units via FBA.

When will the enrollment fee be charged?

Vine enrollment fee will be charged once per parent ASIN, seven days after the publication date of the first Vine review for that product.

Can I add more units to an already submitted enrollment?

No, once an ASIN is enrolled, you will not be able to edit the enrolled units or add additional child-ASINs to the submitted enrollment.

What will happen if the product does not get any reviews?

Amazon will not charge the Vine enrollment fee if no reviews are received or if the first Vine review is published more than 90 days from the enrollment submission date.

Can I cancel my Amazon Vine enrollment?

You can cancel an enrollment for a product if Vine Voices do not claim any of the units. If a Vine Voice claims a unit, you can still stop an enrollment. In this case, Vine Voices cannot claim additional units. However, this does not guarantee reviews will not be published.

To cancel a Vine enrollment, access your Vine application in Seller Central, then click Stop. You cannot re-enroll an ASIN after canceling enrollment.

Final Words

Amazon Vine program can help you receive insightful reviews to build customer trust and encourage purchases. You can get as many as 30 high-quality customer reviews per product page with this. A common challenge many sellers face is getting new reviews. Though Amazon Vine is helpful to get the initial reviews you need, yet there are other strategies you can try.