What is the New Amazon Customer Insights?

Posted by Tara Johnson on January 2, 2018 in Amazon Marketplace

If you haven’t heard of Amazon Customer Insights, you’re not alone. Though the program was launched this summer, it seems it has flown largely under the radar for most sellers.

And considering its pricing and limitations? It’s really no surprise, either.

Amazon Customer Insights: The Details

Amazon Customer Insights is a program designed for sellers, allowing them to solicit feedback – in the form of a single, solitary question – to discover why Amazon customers buy, what they like and what their purchasing habits are.

“Seller can use this feature to provide useful information for product iteration/product development,” Leo Carrillo, Lead Marketplace Channel Analyst at CPC Strategy said.

“Keep in mind, there is a fee associated ONLY when customers respond to the question.”

Currently, the cost to use Amazon Customer Insights is $5 per response. The minimum survey size is 100, meaning the least you’ll pay for a one-question Insight survey is $500 a pop.

Though you can survey up to 2,500 customers, you’ll only get data on 100 of those responses, so going above and beyond may not be worth the cost in most situations.

There is also no discount for bulk Insight surveys, so unless the bigger sample size is absolutely necessary for what you’re trying to achieve, consider starting with just the initial 100 and moving up from there.

Insights has multiple pre-built questions you can use, divided into three categories: purchase behavior, product awareness and product opinion. You can also create a custom question based on the exact insights you’re looking to gather.

Built-in questions include:

• What is the most important factor in your selection of our product?
• How did you first hear about our product?
• How likely are you to recommend our product to others?

After you’ve settled on a question, you can choose up to four targeting groups:

1. Amazon customers who have purchased your products
2. Amazon customers who have viewed your products
3. Amazon customers who viewed your products but didn’t buy them
4. Amazon customers who bought a similar product in the same Amazon category

Once you’ve chosen targeting options, your proposal will go to the Amazon team, and they’ll weigh in on its feasibility, approve it and send you the final pricing.

There is a chance your final tally could be higher than just $5 a pop once Amazon factors in other details, but don’t expect it to be any less.

At the end of your Insights campaign, you’ll get a response report back from Amazon, which will break down the results of your survey as well as the number and percentage of customers who chose each answer.

Should You Use Amazon Customer Insights?

Now, it’s time for the question of the hour: when, if ever, should you use Amazon Customer Insights?

Well, the price point is certainly a hurdle – especially considering the one-question limitation, but if you craft your question (and potential answers) properly and have a very specific data point in mind, it could work in your favor.

Here are a few cases when Amazon Customer Insights surveys could be helpful:

• You’re looking to bundle products and want to determine which products to include or exclude.
• You’re selling in an unfamiliar category and want to determine which customers in this segment are looking for.
• You want to determine what marketing strategies are – or aren’t – bringing customers to your store.
• You want to know what’s turning customers away from your product – or toward a competitor’s on the site.
• You need to gauge the efficacy of your pricing strategy, product descriptions or product offering.
• You need help deciding what products to stock up on for next season or before a big sale.
• You want to gauge customer satisfaction (this is especially important if your Amazon feedback isn’t so great.)
• You’re launching a new product and want to hone in on the right marketing or pricing strategy.

To start your Insights survey, go to SellerCentral.Amazon.com/Insights. Click “Projects,” and choose the pre-built question you want to use or add in your own custom one.

Select your targeting options, then, just fill in your ASIN and contact information, and you’re done. You can send the proposal to the Amazon team for approval right away.

There’s a chance Amazon isn’t quite done perfecting its Insights program, and that the price – and flexibility – of the offering could improve in the near future.

If recent months are any indication, Amazon is certainly dedicated to giving its sellers plenty of tools to improve their performance and their bottom line (hello, Early Reviewer program!).

We’ll be watching to see if anything changes on the Insights front, so check back here for developments as they happen.