How To Get Authentic Amazon Reviews Without Breaking The Rules — Adam Melenkivitz | Why Reviews Build Consumer Trust, Why Mixed Ratings Benefit Brands, Why Unconventional Marketing Drives Organic Reviews, What The New FTC Rule Means For Sellers (#405)

In this episode, we talk about how to get real Amazon reviews without breaking the rules. 

Our guest is Adam Melenkivitz, founder of Test Squared, a platform that helps Amazon sellers grow with FTC-compliant reviews. 

He shares how sellers can earn trust, avoid fake reviews, and stay on the right side of the law—while also getting real feedback that helps improve their products. 

Topics discussed in this episode:  

• Why authentic Amazon reviews are more critical than ever for building consumer trust. 
• What the new FTC rule means for Amazon sellers. 
• How TestSquared's matching system works without breaking Amazon's rules. 
• Why most reviews aren't five-star ratings and that's actually beneficial. 
• What product categories work best for authentic review programs. 
• How the 35-day review timeline varies by product type. 
• Why 20 authentic reviews is the magic number for Amazon's algorithm. 
• How proper vetting prevents fake testers from gaming the system. 
• What the affiliate program offers for referral partners. 
• Why being unconventional in marketing helps generate organic reviews. 

Links & Resources 

Website: https://www.testsquared.com/
Affiliate link: https://www.testsquared.com/affiliate
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammelenkivitz/ 

Get access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at
https://tinyurl.com/4h9sdwtn 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] I think just building your audience is just to be unconventional, like in terms of your [00:00:05] marketing and building that, because not everybody's gonna leave a review. I feel a lot of people leave reviews when they have a bad [00:00:10] experience. Mm-hmm. And it's going out of your way to be a brand, [00:00:15] making a splash, you know, to, to meet and exceed their [00:00:20] expectations.

And I think everybody does this really well, but to think about yourself as a consumer. Is is [00:00:25] absolutely critical. And then why someone will or will not leave a [00:00:30] review.[00:00:35] 

Hello and welcome to another episode of the e-Commerce Coffee Break podcast. This episode we wanna discuss how [00:00:40] to get authentic Amazon reviews without breaking the rules. Joining me on the show today is Adam [00:00:45] Melenkivitz . He's the founder of Test Squared, the platform helping Amazon sellers grow with real [00:00:50] FTC compliant reviews.

Before that, he built Alpine and Dam. Into a 15 store brand and [00:00:55] crushed it on Amazon. He also worked with Giants like Tesla, Intel during his time at [00:01:00] NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange. So Adam brings a rare combination of Wall Street experience and [00:01:05] e-commerce to this episode, and I would like to welcome up to the show.

Hi Adam, how are you today? I. Great Claus. Thank you so [00:01:10] much for having me today. I really appreciate it. Adam. Amazon reviews is not the easiest [00:01:15] topic. Uh, there's a lot of rules and regulations from that side, and you can [00:01:20] completely break your product if you do it wrong or even get banned. So let's start simple.

Why are authentic [00:01:25] reviews more important than ever when it comes to Amazon? Yeah, it's, it's critical to [00:01:30] consumer trust. So one where I think we're all consumers, we go there. We [00:01:35] look at the reviews and if we don't believe them, we might not make that purchase. [00:01:40] And it, it drives me completely bonkers. And then the other side, as an [00:01:45] Amazon seller, you're building a brand.

You wanna build trust and you'll go to a [00:01:50] spot, like fake spot, and you'll put a competitor in there. And they'll have like this academic grade [00:01:55] where they'll have the fake reviews, they'll have the d. And you're playing by the rules and it's [00:02:00] driving you completely insane. Like, what am I doing wrong? What am I doing right?[00:02:05] 

How do I get these reviews? And, and you wanna play by the rules. 'cause you're right, if you make a [00:02:10] mistake or you engage in fraudulent or sort of black hat tactics, [00:02:15] you'll blow up your company. You'll be awful Amazon for, you know, it. And still many [00:02:20] sellers choose sign of shortcuts to, um, to go that route.

[00:02:25] What's your experience? What are the most common sort of shortcuts that shady [00:02:30] Amazon sellers use, and what do you think, what do they want to achieve with this? [00:02:35] Yeah, it is sort of this inflection point of AI in humans where they're [00:02:40] going out to review farms and they're purchasing reviews. They're not verified purchases, [00:02:45] and Amazon's being flooded with those, and Amazon is taking some really great steps to stop [00:02:50] those and knock out the reviews.

And unfortunately, that sometimes hurts Honest sellers, they [00:02:55] may lose an older, more historic review. Um, but the big point, especially in [00:03:00] the United States is that the FTC had a rule of change in October, 2024. [00:03:05] There's a $54,000 fine for infraction. [00:03:10] It's pretty significant. So, and infraction is each review, so people are being compelled to be [00:03:15] honest.

But the review farms and leveraging AI is definitely sort of the shortcut, [00:03:20] but hopefully there's some walls being put in place to protect the, uh, the Amazon sellers. Okay. [00:03:25] I didn't know about that. Fine. And I think it's in the best interest of, of the customer. That's, um, people who ask play [00:03:30] shady are getting fined for that.

Now, obviously, as, as a, um, a buyer, [00:03:35] myself included, the first thing I do, I go and look for reviews before I buy anything on [00:03:40] Amazon, and we want to talk about it on how to do this the right way. What's your approach there? [00:03:45] Yeah. At Test Word. Um, our goal is to help Amazon sellers and [00:03:50] other e-commerce sellers.

And integrity and honesty is rule number [00:03:55] one. So we work with e-commerce brands. We match them with a a Amazon [00:04:00] tester who's gonna make a verified purchase on Amazon and they have an option [00:04:05] to leave a review. This is absolutely critical. That cannot be compelled in any way, shape, or [00:04:10] form. And this does a few things.

It helps, especially new sellers or sellers [00:04:15] launching new SKUs on Amazon. It gives them the verified purchase, so it helps with the [00:04:20] algorithm. If the product tester elects to leave a review and with us, that's actually, [00:04:25] well greater than 80% of the time, they'll have a review, they're gonna have real [00:04:30] feedback.

Now, the trick is if there's a problem with the product that is going to [00:04:35] be written in the review, so they really wanna go to market, make sure they're good place, but. [00:04:40] Those are just two components of Amazon. Obviously they need a plus content. They [00:04:45] need the images, they need the keywords, they need the descriptions.

But we're a matching [00:04:50] engine with a product tester. Um, and right now we're geared specifically for the Amazon [00:04:55] US marketplace. I. Talk me through, through the process on finding the right [00:05:00] tester for your product. How, how does it work? That's been interesting 'cause everybody [00:05:05] wants to be a tester. Like who doesn't wanna get something from Amazon?

Uh, [00:05:10] essentially for free or for free. It's a reimbursement. We have to vet everybody in there. So right now there's [00:05:15] actually a gate on the website. We need to make sure that they, one, actually have an [00:05:20] Amazon account, uh, two are leaving reviews and they're [00:05:25] doing so an authentic voice that they're not sort of trying to gr something off of Amazon [00:05:30] or from an e-commerce seller.

And then what I found very interesting is that we have [00:05:35] people who are sort of up and coming in the influence space where they're creating a voice and they're creating a [00:05:40] brand for themselves. So they wanna do a good job, they wanna leave an authentic [00:05:45] review. If the shirt says it's a medium and it fits like an extra [00:05:50] large, that's gonna be written in the review.

And, and that's who we want. And I think that [00:05:55] the seller wants that too. They want the real person, they want the real voice, and they [00:06:00] want a face to the the person leaving the review. I. I think it's, it's very important [00:06:05] that you don't only have five star reviews. I think you need to have a bit of a match.

What, what's, what's your approach there? [00:06:10] Is that something that you inform the buyer that they should be prepared to get real [00:06:15] reviews with Everything? The positive, the negative, I. That's a [00:06:20] remarkably insightful question and and absolutely correct. And we let people know immediately [00:06:25] that there will be a variety of reviews and most of the reviews are not five star, [00:06:30] because sometimes there's just a product expectation of the way it's written.

I. I, I do have one story [00:06:35] and we really don't review books once in a while. We'll take them, um, just 'cause it's so hard, it's [00:06:40] so subjective. Like, what you like, what I like. So if someone comes to us and like, Hey, can you, we [00:06:45] want to submit this product? Um, 'cause even that's edit, they'll submit the product.

[00:06:50] We'll even let them know if there's a fit. And we just have to say no. A lot of the times. 'cause our testing pool doesn't [00:06:55] work in specific categories, but we reviewed a book a few months ago [00:07:00] and I was like, oh, we'll give it a shot. Notified the author, Mike. All right. I can only give you [00:07:05] some kinda funny, probably five reviews of our entire testing pool and just no [00:07:10] games.

Complete transparency. Really nice open dialogue. I don't think he had any five [00:07:15] star reviews from us. 'cause again, the, especially a book, it's so [00:07:20] subjective. True. Um, and then we have things where there's just, sometimes it helps the, [00:07:25] the, the e-commerce seller just even adjust the way they're describing a product.

So [00:07:30] with supplements for, for instance, like we've had like appetite suppressants to help people [00:07:35] lose weight, the way those supplements are designed aren't to like burn a pound a week [00:07:40] or a month or whatever that expectation is. It's just to sort of help you get through [00:07:45] there. And there was one review we had.

It's like I didn't lose any weight on this. I [00:07:50] eat great, you know, two stars and, and that helped [00:07:55] the, the manufacturer, the brand recraft their message. There was a little bit [00:08:00] more clarity and, and I felt it was, it was a really clear description, but they're like, wait a second. [00:08:05] Not everybody feels that way.

So it also helps them just, just adjust it like, Hey, [00:08:10] this is to help you achieve your goals. And again, they were not [00:08:15] misleading anyone at all, but I think the feedback helped them. It is interesting. [00:08:20] As I said, subjective products might not work well. Are there specific industries or products [00:08:25] ranges where this works very well for the broad stroke to health and beauty?

A [00:08:30] a lot of like beauty skincare, especially for women in particular, [00:08:35] really, really strong area for us. Um, I think people wanna know [00:08:40] like how it feels, the texture, the color, especially. The [00:08:45] people who give reviews, who will leave pictures 'cause we all look different. [00:08:50] It's really, that's very interesting to me.

'cause that's not a market where I buy products [00:08:55] personally. And then the next one is kind of funny, is it is actually the supplements in [00:09:00] particular. I think it's a lot of people building brands and building trusts. Like, I'm taking [00:09:05] magnesium, gly say to help me sleep, or I'm interested to help me sleep. And [00:09:10] they wanna read a review that like, oh, it did help me sleep.

Uh, we, or there's like a really [00:09:15] crazy review where this one wasn't one of ours. It was one I was reading where [00:09:20] like they had like a, one of those blood tests done that their magnesium levels were too high, that [00:09:25] they took magnesium. It was a really elaborate story and nothing to do with Aran, but I. Even [00:09:30] you see richer and richer, richer feedback.

I'm like, well, that's definitely not a fake review. That's [00:09:35] someone who's used their product. But I think supplements are really critical. There's just [00:09:40] such a drive for health and wellness that people are really exploring those as well. I. [00:09:45] You mentioned before that the, um, the payment or the, the, the product, um, [00:09:50] review is optional for the tester.

How does the process work? How does a brand [00:09:55] pick a tester and what's the timeline? What are the steps involved? Okay. That's, that's [00:10:00] interesting. It's also they can pick a tester. Um, this is important. So they'll submit the [00:10:05] product and then we'll put their product in the category where. Matches [00:10:10] a specific testing group, so people who actually use beauty [00:10:15] care like you know, so you wouldn't be matched with specific products.

I wouldn't be matched with [00:10:20] specific products. It just wouldn't be a fit. Doesn't make any sense. Then the tester can [00:10:25] elect to pick a product on their own, so there's no coercion whatsoever. [00:10:30] And there's no undue influence. It's like, oh, okay, great. There's, you know, five different [00:10:35] types of vitamins available like vitamin D and magnesium and, you know, [00:10:40] whatever the, they can choose one.

So that's sort of in their bank or most sweet [00:10:45] spot of products that they're interested in or have worked with in the past. Mm-hmm. [00:10:50] In regards to the timeline, after a product launch, how [00:10:55] many reviews can you collect? Is that a once off, or should you do this, uh, [00:11:00] ongoing? How does that work? We don't work on a reoccurring model, um, that doesn't work for our [00:11:05] customer, so they'll subscribe to either, you know, five, 10, or 15 reviews.[00:11:10] 

What's important too, is that those reviews are staggered. You can't just dump a whole bunch of reviews [00:11:15] into Amazon. But again, those are optional. And we'll see. You'll get your, all [00:11:20] your reviews if you're gonna get them in about 35 days. But a lot of it is [00:11:25] dependent on the product. So again, if it's that skincare item, they could leave the [00:11:30] review the next day.

Like, Hey, this is supposed to match my tonality. It [00:11:35] didn't, you know, they're gonna write that review. Now, if they're taking a vitamin where they have an [00:11:40] expectation that's gonna affect some sort of change in themselves, [00:11:45] that might take a little bit longer. So maybe if, if it's hydration, sure. They went for a run.

[00:11:50] Hey, I didn't cramp up. I think this is really working for me. Great. But again, if it's something like the [00:11:55] magnesium where they're working to it sleep, it might take days to weeks for it to get into their [00:12:00] system, so that reviewer may elect to leave a review two to three weeks [00:12:05] later. It's a very easy conversation to have with the seller.

They understand their product better than anyone. [00:12:10] Okay. Some sellers might not know about the massive impact of reviews [00:12:15] on their product detail page. Can you talk about that and what you see? [00:12:20] How many reviews basically can impact and rank a product better? I. [00:12:25] Yeah, there's great products like Jungle Scout and Helium 10 out there, and [00:12:30] amazing consultants that can help them as well.

But from what we understand, 20 [00:12:35] reviews that are authentic is sort of the key to the algorithm. So if you're a new brand or [00:12:40] a new sku, you have a honeymoon period on Amazon, that's two to four weeks. Mm-hmm. [00:12:45] And you wanna get those initial reviews as quickly as possible and then [00:12:50] essentially have an ongoing stream.

But we're hoping that, you know, you'll get out of the gate really strong. [00:12:55] And you're gonna build that momentum, um, through your selling experience. But that if [00:13:00] you're a new brand or a new skew, 20 reviews, that's gonna be impactful for the [00:13:05] algorithm. But most importantly, I mean, the, the content, the keyword tasks, [00:13:10] they have to be good.

You need the 150 characters in the title, and we help [00:13:15] people like, I use Helium 10 all the time. I think it's great. I'll, I'll take a screenshot. Send it [00:13:20] over to 'em. Hey, check out Helium 10. You should do this. Make an adjustment. Especially the, the [00:13:25] book I was alluding to, I mean, that's a, that's a space. If you look at books on Amazon, [00:13:30] they don't follow any of the rules.

'cause the, the name of the listing is the book. They, [00:13:35] they don't really use keywords for whatever reason. So I think, again, we don't really work a lot with books, but [00:13:40] if you are selling a book, get a trial of Jungle Scout or Helium 10 and [00:13:45] optimize your listing, I mean, that's the most important place to start.

Then like worry [00:13:50] about the reviews. Everything has to go really quickly. And then, and also I think to [00:13:55] emulate a brand, even if it's not in your space that you love and admire, like if it could be a different [00:14:00] product. Like if they have a great listing and you love the to 90, the people [00:14:05] leaving the reviews, use them as amuse m Like think about how they're doing [00:14:10] their images and think about the style, like something that appeals to you.

And those powerful [00:14:15] listings are gonna also help get. More reviews and, and build a [00:14:20] little momentum, I think. Mm-hmm. I wanna talk a little bit on the onboarding process on your [00:14:25] platform. Now, obviously you have two sides to it, so you have the brand, you have the merchant, and then you have the [00:14:30] reviewer. How does it look for each of them?

If you are an e-commerce brand, when you come onto the [00:14:35] site? Um, one, we have to authenticate your account and make sure you are a real person. [00:14:40] So you, you essentially submit your information to us. We verify your email [00:14:45] address, we verify your Amazon account, make sure that you're a real person. [00:14:50] Um, then what they do is they submit their product to the platform.

It's really easy. [00:14:55] It's a link to the Amazon listing. It's an image of the product. They select the [00:15:00] number of reviews that they want and weave, edit. And again, if [00:15:05] it's uh, a blender and we don't have that year, that'd probably be very [00:15:10] easy. But if we couldn't support blenders, for instance, um, then we would [00:15:15] let the reviewer know, or the e-commerce brand know that we can't support that.

If we [00:15:20] can't support that, it goes into the testing pool. Then again, it's matched with that bank of [00:15:25] testers specifically, and then they make those verified purchases. Um, the. [00:15:30] The, um, testers reimbursed for that of course. [00:15:35] Um, that's completely in line with the guidelines in and the policy on Amazon and the FTC, [00:15:40] and again, they have that option to leave the review.

Mm-hmm. Let's talk about the pricing. You said [00:15:45] the tester get reimbursed. How does it work? How's the, the, the payment and where do you earn? [00:15:50] So for us specifically, um, we have a fee for each of the [00:15:55] packages that we offer. So that's how Test Square [00:16:00] generates its revenue. And then on there, when they're filling out the form, they'll say that, [00:16:05] oh, you know, the blender costs $99.

You know, it does or does not [00:16:10] include shipping. And then that dollar amount, um, [00:16:15] is then sent to the tester. And so we'll act as an e intermediary. So again, they don't [00:16:20] know the e-commerce brand doesn't know the tester. Um, again, it's, it is [00:16:25] really having that wall up there so that there's no undue influence.

[00:16:30] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, that makes perfect sense. And I like the concept. Um, it's still anonymous, [00:16:35] but um, you have testers who know what they should do and not just write random stuff [00:16:40] or copy and paste stuff, and you end up with really quality reviews on, on [00:16:45] your store. Is there anything that you wanna share with our listeners when listeners, when it comes [00:16:50] to reviews that we haven't covered yet?

I think just building your audience is just to be [00:16:55] unconventional, like in terms of your marketing and building that, because not everybody's gonna leave a [00:17:00] review. I feel a lot of people leave reviews when they have a bad experience. Mm-hmm. And it's going out of [00:17:05] your way to be a brand, making a splash, you know, to, [00:17:10] to meet and exceed their expectations.

And I think everybody does this really well, but to think about [00:17:15] yourself as a consumer. Is, is absolutely critical. And then why [00:17:20] someone will or will not leave a review. Um, it's just, it's, it's [00:17:25] massive. They're really hard to get, to get an authentic review. It's, it's difficult, but once [00:17:30] a few reviews are there, they really start to build upon themselves.

Yeah, I think [00:17:35] authenticity and trust is, are the keywords there because in, in times of AI, things become a little [00:17:40] bit blurry and you wanna make sure that as a brand you basically [00:17:45] represent real people. And I think that's the approach that you are following. Is there one final thought [00:17:50] before we come to the end of the coffee break today that you wanna leave our listeners with?

Yeah. I think the most [00:17:55] important thing again is, is really to be your authentic self as a brand. Is [00:18:00] absolutely critical and surround yourself with people who are as well, and I think that [00:18:05] brings everyone success. Absolutely. Where can people go and find out more about you guys? [00:18:10] It's uh, uh, www.testsquare.com.[00:18:15] 

Um, and then you can, if you're an e-commerce brand, please absolutely check us out. If you're a [00:18:20] tester, um, we are kind of gated probably till July or August of [00:18:25] 2025, so you can come back and check us out then and we can at you as well. And we did launch [00:18:30] something that's really interesting as well. We have an affiliate platform as well.

And so if [00:18:35] someone has a relationship with a brand and they refer. Them to test squared, [00:18:40] they receive a hundred dollars US for every single referral. So if someone [00:18:45] lists a bottle of vitamins, a hundred dollars, they list three bottles of vitamins, [00:18:50] $300. So I found that affiliate, um, marketers [00:18:55] specifically who have relationships with brands, um, and Instagram markers in particular, and the [00:19:00] Amazon folks.

I mean, amazing. 'cause they've sort of built an ecosystem [00:19:05] of trust where they're promoting a brand on their platforms and then they have another vehicle to [00:19:10] promote it. So, and I found that just been, it's been really great for the business and [00:19:15] is really great for the, um, the affiliates as well. I. I will put a link in the show notes and I think [00:19:20] there might be some people listening that might be interested in the affiliate program as well.

[00:19:25] So if they, if you're interested, if you're listening and interested and you wanna find out more, [00:19:30] then find the link in the show notes and get in contact with Adam directly. Adam, thanks [00:19:35] so much for your time today. I think that's a really good system that you have there. And as said, in times of ai, [00:19:40] everyone should be happy to have real reviews and having a real connection.

Thanks so much. [00:19:45] Thank you.