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Within the last year, Amazon launched two new features – Consult-a-Friend and Inspire – aimed at making shopping more social and collaborative for customers.

As the fastest growing Amazon Management Agency in North America, we wanted to highlight these changes because they pinpoint the way that social commerce is acting as a lever on the rapidly expanding eCommerce universe. 

In the last 6 months, began testing a new “Consult-a-Friend” feature that allowed shoppers to seek feedback from friends and family while shopping on Amazon.

On January 30, 2024, Amazon opened the formerly beta release of Consult-a-Friend to even more sellers, and added increased functionality of “Inspire,” an in-app, social commerce and sharing feature. 

Consult-a-Friend allows Amazon shoppers to easily request feedback on products from their friends and see the responses directly within the Amazon app. This not only provides social validation for purchasing decisions, as a seller, having your products shared via Consult-a-Friend could drive more conversions. 

Amazon said that, “Our early testing has shown that customers are particularly interested in getting feedback on apparel, shoes, electronics, and furniture”

In many ways Consult-a-Friend can function as an online, real-time digital registry that streamlines group gift buying by keeping everyone’s responses in one convenient location for the purchaser.

As of January 30, 2024, Consult-a-Friend is available to all customers in the U.S., Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, UAE, and the UK.

How to use Amazon Consult-a-Friend

1. Select a product you’d like to Consult-a-Friend on and tap the “Share” button. First-time users will need to toggle the “Ask for your friends’ votes” button from the default off position to on. Then, select your preferred messaging app and designated recipients.

2. Amazon says that your friends will receive a message directing them to tap the Consult-a-Friend link to enter the Amazon Shopping app. At that point they can view product details then select a quick emoji reaction (😍, ☹️, or 🤔). They also have the option to add commentary.

3. Once they reply, you’ll be able to view your friends’ collective opinions and scroll to see all the text commentary in the Amazon Shopping app. 

Amazon Inspire Content – Your Way

Late last year, Amazon launched a feature called Inspire. The in-app functionality allows Amazon shoppers to discover and explore shoppable content from influencers, brands, and other customers. 

Now, you can share YOUR OWN favorite products with other shoppers by taking advantage of Amazon’s new “Create” feature. 

The “Create” capability within Inspire allows any user to generate their own shoppable content showcasing favorite products. They can snap an in-app photo or video, or upload existing visual content from their camera roll. After tagging the featured products, creators can write captions conveying their personal perspectives on the items.

It’s another big win for Amazon sellers. 

Having real customers organically highlight your items via Inspire content creation can be a powerful driver of visibility. The storytelling format stands out from typical product listings and enables brands to be woven into the customer experience.

How to Create Content for Inspire

1. Open Inspire: Open the Inspire tab, located on the bottom of the Amazon app, to the right of the Home tab.

2. Create content: Tap “Create” in the upper-right-hand corner, indicated by a plus sign surrounded by a square. Take a video or photo in-app or upload content from your phone.

3. Tag featured products: Tag products quickly using either your recent purchase history or by finding the item via search.

4. Add a caption: Share details in the caption to help other shoppers learn more about the product.

5. Submit the post: After content is reviewed and approved, you can see all the content you’ve posted and the number of hearts each post has received on your public profile page in the Posts tab.

Canopy Management Can Help Level Up Your Social Commerce Game

Both Consult-a-Friend and Inspire are going to continue to make shopping on Amazon a more interactive, community-driven experience. As an Amazon Management Agency helping sellers optimize their online presence, we see this as Amazon’s continued dedication to social commerce, and a good thing for sellers. 

Once more, Amazon shows that it’s not resting on its laurels. And, it’s another reason why as eCommerce sellers, you probably want to make sure that you’re not standing still. 

If you’d like to know more about how social commerce will affect your own Amazon brand in 2024, the Canopy Management team is here to help.