IMPORTANT UPDATE! Why Buyer Names Disappeared From Our Amazon Customer Email Template

What Happened To Buyer Names?

If you have been using the Helium 10 Amazon email automation tool, Follow-Up, you may have noticed that the buyer name information is no longer populating within our Amazon customer email template.

The reason for this change is because Amazon published a new Data Protection Policy earlier this year. This policy announced that Amazon will no longer provide Amazon seller software companies (such as Helium 10) with identifiable buyer information (Personally Identifiable Information or PII).

What is PII Anyway?

Amazon defines PII as “any information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate an individual (customer), or to identify an individual in context. This includes, but is not limited to, a customer name, address, e-mail address, phone number, gift message content, and purchases. As such, Helium 10 no longer has access to the buyer name information and can no longer populate this information for you within your Follow-Up email sequence.

Why Did Amazon Take Away Access To Buyer Names?

One of Amazon’s goals is to preserve the buyer experience and to shield their customers’ privacy and security. In order to do so, we believe they are taking these measures to prevent sellers from violating customers’ privacy and security, thereby maintaining Amazon’s reputation as well as your reputation as an Amazon seller. Amazon takes maintaining their customers’ privacy very seriously so it is important that you abide by the Amazon Terms of Service (TOS). Violations of TOS could potentially result in losing your Amazon selling privileges and seeing your account suspended.

How Helium 10 Addressed This Change

As of now, Amazon has removed buyers’ first names and last names from our reports. This change only affects our Amazon email automation tool, Follow-Up, at this time. To address this change, we have updated the personalization tags to show ‘Customer’ instead of the buyer name. However, if we had a shipping address, that information will still be available.

But Here’s More Good News!

You can still create a stellar customer experience without having the buyers’ names. Think of it this way…Every business begins with a customer. But every successful business begins with a happy customer. So use our Amazon email automation tool, Follow-Up, to create an exceptional customer experience to help you STAND OUT from the rest of your FBA competition. You can still create a personal, excellent buyer experience even if you don’t have the buyer name.

How To Create Excellent Customer Service

Like many busy Amazon sellers, you may not have the time or process to effectively communicate with your customers at pivotal moments and after specific triggering events. Knowing this, we designed Follow-Up to help you easily streamline your email follow-up strategy, enhance your customer relationships AND maintain a healthy seller reputation with Amazon with the power of automated communications. Follow-Up is a customizable, streamlined, and effective mechanism to communicate with your customers at pivotal moments and after specific trigger points. And as a busy Amazon seller, this is one less task you have to remember so that you can focus more time on growing your business and skyrocketing your sales.

Use Follow-Up To Provide Excellent Customer Service

Follow-Up gives you the ability to effectively communicate with your customer, obtain invaluable and honest client feedback, and better manage customer issues and expectations to really enhance your customer relationships.

One of the keys to building and maintaining a positive seller reputation and brand is to promptly address customer concerns or issues and to thoroughly answer client questions quickly. Think about the last time you had an issue with a product and the manufacturer promptly resolved the issue for you. Would you consider buying more products from this manufacturer? If you’re like most people, you remember a good experience and sometimes customer service is just as important as the quality of the product itself. Now think about the reverse situation where you received poor customer service or a delayed response to your issue. If you’re like most people, you also remember a bad experience. And you’ll probably share this bad experience with most of your friends and family. Yikes. This is every seller’s nightmare.

So don’t be that seller…. Use Follow-Up’s fully automated capabilities to efficiently deliver proactive service to set yourself apart from the rest of the sellers on Amazon – maintain a healthy Amazon seller reputation!

Keep on crushing it sellers!

Want to find out how our Follow-Up tool can help you deliver awesome customer service? Find out here.

Want to hear insights to become a successful Amazon FBA Seller? Check out the Serious Sellers Podcast! And don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Google Play Music!

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• Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that help successful Amazon sellers dominate on Amazon!
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• Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud!
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• Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling on Amazon for a while, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

Legal Disclaimer:

(To make our lawyers happy):

Given the ever-changing nature of selling on Amazon, sellers should use common sense and consider the relevancy and timing (among other factors) of any information, strategies, or advice that they receive and make the most appropriate choices for their own business. Helium 10, its parent organization, subsidiaries, partners, affiliates, or any other entities doing business with Helium 10 are not responsible for any legal, financial, operational, or any other professional losses or damage that may result from execution of said information, strategies, or advice.