Amazon is already the place where many consumers start their shopping journeys, and now the company wants to make shopping on its platform “more social and collaborative” with a growing slate of new experiential features. Late last year, Amazon introduced its social media-style Inspire shopping feed, and now anyone can create their own shopping content to post in Inspire. Additionally, the company is testing a new “Consult-a-Friend” feature that will allow shoppers to elicit feedback from friends and family while shopping on Amazon.
Consult-a-Friend on Amazon Purchases
Recommendations from friends and family are among the most trusted sources of feedback for shoppers anywhere, and that’s no different on Amazon. The company reports that so far this year, customers on its app have used the “share” button billions of times to send product listings to friends and family via messaging services, social media and email. Now with Consult-a-Friend, they can get feedback on items they are considering directly in the app.
Here’s how it works: Shoppers select a product they’d like feedback on and click the “share” button. First-time users will need to toggle the “Ask for your friends’ votes” button from the default “off” position to “on,” as well as select their preferred messaging app and designated recipients. Once this initial setup is complete “Ask for your friends’ votes” will always appear as a “share” option.
The selected friends will then receive a message directing them to tap a link and enter the Amazon Shopping app, where they can view the product and select a quick emoji reaction — 😍, ☹️ or 🤔. They also have the option to add commentary. Once friends reply, the user can view the results to see what the collective sentiment was and read any commentary in the Amazon app.
Advertisement
“Our early testing [of Consult-a-Friend] has shown that customers are particularly interested in getting feedback on apparel, shoes, electronics and furniture,” said Oliver Messenger, Director of Amazon Shopping in a blog post. “With the holidays approaching, Consult-a-Friend can streamline buying group gifts by keeping everyone’s responses in one convenient location for the purchaser.”
Consult-a-Friend is currently being tested with select Amazon customers in the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, UAE and the UK.
Create Shoppable Content for Amazon Inspire
Now that users have gotten comfortable with the Inspire shopping feed in the Amazon app, it’s time to let them join the action — any customer can now share their favorite products with other shoppers on Inspire.
Users can take a photo or video of products they love in the app or upload content from their phone, then tag the product and share their experience with a caption or video. After content has been reviewed and approved, users also will be able see all the content they’ve posted and the number of “hearts” each post has received on their public profile page in the Posts tab. Inspire is available to all U.S. customers on the Amazon shopping app on iOS and Android.
“Every day, customers turn to their communities to gather shopping inspiration and advice, so we are making it easy to connect with and learn from each other — whether it be from friends and family, or a broader community of influencers and customers that share the same interests,” said Messenger. “We’ll continue to test and learn as we introduce new ways for customers to turn product ideas and inspiration into packages on their doorsteps.”
