Amazon operational excellence relies on sellers sticking to strict policies and commitments. Falling behind on addressing negative feedback, resolving violations, or responding to customer requests can significantly damage your ability to reach customers and buyers.
Today, we cover everything you need to know about your Amazon Account Health and how you can optimize your ratings and selling ability.
What Is Amazon Account Health?
If you’re not entirely new to selling on Amazon, you’ll know they have extensive performance targets and policy adherence requirements for you to be able to sell on the platform. This is so Amazon can monitor and maintain a certain level of quality and satisfaction when it comes to their customers.
Your Amazon Account Health page offers an overview of just how well you are sticking to these rules.
If your performance falls too low or you’re not resolving violations at a regular pace, you might get your account deactivated. (Yikes!)
How to Check Your Account Health
When you’re advertising products on a platform like Amazon, it’s essential to use every bit of data you can leverage to give you more exposure and drive your sales higher.
If you’re only just learning about Amazon Account Health, you can take a detailed look at your Amazon Account Health metrics by:
– Going to your “Seller Central Homepage”
– Selecting “Performance”
– Clicking on “Account Health”
You can view your outstanding violations by clicking on “View details” next to the Product Policy Compliance section of your Account Health page. This is also where you can track how many of your listings or images may have been removed and how to start selling that product again.
Some violations may also be related to your shipping performance if you’re continually delivering or shipping late.
Amazon Account Health Rating
Your Amazon Account Health Rating (AHR) allows you to monitor your account’s performance and compliance with Amazon’s selling policies.
If your AHR is “Good,” you don’t have anything to worry about and should keep responding to and resolving possible policy violations promptly.
However, if your AHR is “At-Risk” or “Critical,” your account may be deactivated if you don’t stay up to date with resolving violations. Once you’ve resolved your account violations, you should see your rating improve within 24-48 hours.
Amazon Account Health Metrics
Your Amazon Account Health metrics refer to a rating given to each aspect of your selling account’s performance and adherence to Amazon policies.
Your overall Account Health Rating (AHR) can give you a broad overview of your performance. However, if you’re looking to improve your rating, there are some specific metrics to keep an eye on, including (but not limited to);
1. Order Defect Rate
The order defect rate (ODR) represents the total percentage of your orders in the last 60 days which have had one or more defects.
The defects included in your ODR include:
– Negative feedback
– An A-to-Z Guarantee claim that is not denied
– Credit card chargeback
To keep selling, your ODR needs to stay below 1%. Anywhere above that means your account may suddenly be deactivated.
2. Cancellation Rate
This refers to the percentage of orders you, as a seller, have canceled in the past seven days. A cancellation rate above 2.5% could get your account deactivated.
3. Late Dispatch Rate
The late dispatch or shipment rate represents the percentage of orders with a ship confirmation completed after the expected ship rate in the past 10 or 30 days.
To stay active, your account needs to maintain a late dispatch rate below 4%.
4. On-Time Delivery Rate
The on-time delivery rate (OTDR) represents the percentage of all your historic shipments that have arrived by their estimated delivery rate.
Amazon recommends maintaining an OTDR higher than 97%, although nothing will happen to your account if you fall below that.
5. Valid Tracking Rate
This refers to the percentage of shipments within 30 days that have shipped with a valid tracking number, which Amazon customers use to track their orders and find out when they’re likely to be delivered.
Amazon’s policies typically require a rate higher than 95%, or some product categories may be restricted on your account.
6. Return Dissatisfaction Rate
Your return dissatisfaction rate (RDR) represents the percentage of return requests negatively experienced out of all your historic return requests.
Negative return requests are usually caused by:
– Negative customer feedback after a return has been processed
– If you don’t respond to a return request within 48 hours
– If an invalid or incorrect excuse is given for not accepting a returned product
Amazon suggests an RDR of below 10%.
7. Invoice Defect Rate
This metric refers to the invoicing experience third-party sellers offer Amazon Business customers. The invoice defect rate represents the percentage of Amazon business customer orders for which you haven’t supplied a downloadable tax receipt or invoice within one business day after shipment confirmation.
What Happens If You Fail the Amazon Account Health Metrics?
If your account metrics are outside the optimal range, your account could be deactivated.
When this happens, you have to enter an appeal process to regain the ability to sell from your account.
So while it may seem cumbersome to spend time on all the aforementioned operational excellence metrics, appealing to the ability to sell on the platform may be even more of a headache.
The Importance of Amazon Logistics Management
Amazon has changed the world of logistics management as we know it. They keep sellers to a very high standard of service as part of their highly efficient supply chain.
Receiving goods within 48 hours, or at times in the same day, was an impossible feat less than a decade ago. To offer services like Amazon Prime Now, Amazon has to keep its stringent policies in place to keep up with their groundbreaking offers.
As a seller, this means aligning your sales process with the supply chain and shipment rates of Amazon is essential to keep your products flowing out to customers.
Final Thoughts & Staying Healthy on Amazon
Keeping your Amazon Account Health Rating as high as possible is vital to a successful selling experience on the platform. Negative feedback and poor performance can affect your ability to reach potential customers, which is where National Positions comes in.
As an award-winning digital marketing agency, National Positions offers its clients customized digital strategies to maximize sales, service exposure, and your business’s ability to reach the right customer demographic.
If you are interested in taking your business’s online presence to the next level, drop us a line on our contact page, or call (818) 918-5188 to talk to one of our team members and unlock your business and products’ full potential on Amazon.
