We have a special guest today. Jeff Cohen from Seller Labs is on the podcast to tell us about the recent change Amazon has made to their review system. For those who don’t know, Amazon is starting to crack down on sellers who use review padding. Seller Labs is a former book seller that moved into the SaaS realm as a developer of e-commerce software. They are the developers of Feedback Genius and Snag Shout.

Jeff tells us his opinion on the Amazon algorithm and how the recent changes have affected Seller Labs’ approach to getting their customers the organic reviews they want. Jeff explains how the changes to the system will fight against fake or paid reviews. He also takes the time to answer some questions we have about the new system.

Here are the points of today’s conversation:

Jeff’s background in ecommerce
The beginnings of Feedback Genius
Why sellers should focus on optimization
How competition is a hangup
The growth of Snag Shout
Recency vs. Relevance
Unverified reviews vs. Verified reviews
What’s really important to Amazon
The want/need continuum
What are Amazon’s definitions of “excessive” and “manipulative”

Resources Mentioned Today:

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Episode 31: Jeff Cohen of Seller Labs on Changes to the Amazon Review System