Auditing your sales account on Amazon is something that should be done on a regular basis. Ongoing monitoring of key parameters will allow you to assess whether you are realising your potential as a seller. Continuous evaluation, although often overlooked, is just as important as pre-sales analyses. Find out which Amazon Seller Central metrics you should monitor and why it is worth your valuable time.
Sales account analysis – which metrics to track
Each Seller Central account has ratings assigned to it. Amazon’s algorithms evaluate the accounts based on specific guidelines. The factors that are taken into account include violations of the platform’s rules and regulations regarding customer service, shipments and compliance with product policies. The status of your account’s health can be defined as Healthy, At risk, or Unhealthy.
List of Account Health Metrics:
- Order Defect Rate – shows the ratio of the number of defective orders (negative feedback, A to Z guarantee claim, credit card chargebacks) to the number of all orders processed in the last 60 days. The percentage of defective orders should not exceed 1% of all orders fulfilled in a given market. An Order Defect Rate higher than 1% may result in your market being deactivated.
- Cancelation Rate – refers to all seller-cancelled orders, e.g., due to stock shortages (the allowed threshold for this indicator is 2.5% and applies to a period of up to 7 days back).
- Late Shipment Rate – ratio of the number of late orders to the total number of orders. The maximum allowed LSR value is 4%.
- Valid Tracking Rate – rate indicating packages sent with full tracking information (minimum value is 95%).
- On-Time Delivery Rate – orders delivered within the time indicated in the offer (minimum acceptable value is 97% of all orders).
Customer service and sales account health
Amazon is known for its customer-focused approach. When it comes to sales account auditing, it is important to apply good practices, such as monitoring and analysing indicators that reflect your level of professionalism in customer service. Consider the following three metrics.
Indicators related to customer service level:
- Feedback Rating – average score for all feedback ratings given by buyers (scale of 0 to 5),
- Customer Response Time – time taken to respond to customer enquiries (should not exceed 24 hours),
- Feedback Count – number of customers who provided feedback. The higher the number of buyers who chose to leave feedback, the better for the seller (assuming that the feedback is positive).
💡 Tip
Be aware of Amazon’s restrictions on obtaining customer reviews. For example, it is forbidden to request seller ratings or product reviews, gather friends or create Facebook groups in order to carry out the so-called ‘controlled purchases’, or use third-party services and review farms. You should avoid such behaviours if you don’t want Amazon to ‘distinguish’ your account by permanently removing your products from the catalogue.
Compliance with product policies
Another element that is strongly emphasised by Amazon is the compliance of the seller’s actions with product policies. The section describing these offences includes reports or situations concerning, for instance, suspected infringement of intellectual property rights, restricted product policies, product reviews, as well as the receipt of a complaint regarding intellectual property rights or product safety, authenticity or condition.
In situations involving violation of product policies, Amazon recommends taking immediate action to address the issue. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the imposition of restrictions mentioned above.
Where can I find these metrics?
If you want to audit your sales account and access the Amazon metrics mentioned above, log in to Seller Central. Then, go to the Performance panel tab and select Account Health. It is a good idea to visit this section on a regular basis. If you’re looking for someone to audit and manage your sales account, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Why is it important to keep Account Health Metrics in good condition?
The main advantage of high Account Health Metrics is the ability to continue selling products on Amazon. Sounds trivial – but can a seller afford periods of downtime due to lack of commitment?
This is what neglecting to monitor the statistics of your sales account can lead to. If this happens to you, contact us and we will prepare and implement an effective recovery plan.
Amazon issues warnings and, as we have inferred from multiple enquiries about accounts being deactivated, actually penalises sellers. The penalties include warnings, as well as deactivating a specific market or even an entire account.
Furthermore, violations of product review policies may result in the permanent removal of products from the Amazon catalogue. For the manufacturer, this is even more painful than a temporary market or account deactivation.
Taking care of your statistics does not only help you avoid unpleasant consequences – keeping Account Health Metrics in check can also have a positive impact on your sales performance. That is because your chances of winning the Buy Box are highly dependent on your Amazon seller metrics. Get professional support from the Nethansa Team, improve your Account Health Metrics, and win Buy Boxes.
Your account’s health and e-commerce success
Avoiding all kinds of restrictions imposed on sellers is not the only advantage of keeping track of your Account Health Metrics. We often mention the importance of winning the Buy Box for sales success on Amazon.
Keeping your Amazon seller metrics at the right level is one of the factors taken into account in the Amazon Buy Box race. For more information about the Buy Box, see this article.
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