73 CommentsThis article was written by Jungle Scout ecommerce experts with some assistance from artificial intelligence.
In the highly competitive realm of selling on Amazon, it is crucial for sellers to explore every avenue to stand out from the crowd.
One effective strategy to significantly boost brand awareness and customer satisfaction is incorporating product inserts into your product packaging.
While product inserts can be a fantastic way to thank a customer for their purchase and a way to solicit honest feedback and reviews, there are rules set forth by Amazon that every seller needs to follow when it comes to product inserts.
In this article, we will dive into what Amazon product inserts are, Amazon’s product insert policy, the dos and don’ts, and tips for creating effective product inserts.
- What are Amazon product inserts?
- Amazon product insert policy
- How best to use Amazon product inserts
- How to create inserts for your Amazon product packaging
What are Amazon product inserts?
Amazon product inserts are small pieces of printed marketing material that sellers include in product packaging.
Packaging inserts can be used to provide information about the product, assembly instructions, promote your other Amazon products, collect honest product reviews, or simply thank the customer for their purchase.
Product inserts can be a great way to connect with your customers on a personal level and to build brand awareness and loyalty.
How to add product inserts into your packaging
Adding inserts to your product packaging is also very simple. Once you have the design made (we’ll go over how to create one later), download and send the file to your supplier, and they can print and put it inside your packaging. Make sure to tell your supplier to add an insert into each product package.
If you fulfill orders yourself, use a print service to print and ship you your product inserts to you. Before shipping out your orders, add an insert card into the package.
Below we go over some free graphic design tools, with a few of them that offer a print service as well. If you have a design file, you can find many services to print your cards such as Vistaprint, Zazzle, or even from a local print shop.
Amazon product insert policy
Before we go further and explain the best ways to use product inserts, let’s go over Amazon’s product insert policy to be sure you never violate any rules and risk your account.
Amazon’s biggest concern with product inserts is sellers offering incentives to buyers in exchange for positive reviews or asking for specific feedback.
If you offer a customer a discount, refund, free gift, or any sort of compensation in exchange for a review, that is against Amazon’s TOS, and your account will be at risk for suspension.
Amazon is very strict regarding reviews, as they want to be sure every review on Amazon is honest. Please review Amazon’s customer product reviews in Seller Central policy to learn more.
Failure to comply with Amazon’s rules can result in penalties, suspension, or even termination of your seller account. Familiarize yourself with the guidelines to avoid such issues.
Amazon also has a video within their Seller University that goes over product insert compliance.
READ MORE | How to Get Reviews on Amazon
How best to use Amazon product inserts
Now that you know Amazon’s policy regarding inserts, let’s review some dos and don’ts for your product inserts.
Amazon product inserts dos
- DO say thank you. This seems like a no-brainer, but simply saying “thank you” to a customer goes a long way.
- DO include instructions. If you sell a product that requires a bit more effort to use, include simple, easy-to-read instructions for them to follow.
- DO list warranty/guarantee information. If your product has a warranty, include the information on how the customers can make claims.
- DO request a review (neutrally). It’s okay to ask for a review with a product insert as long as you follow the rules. So, ensure your review request is neutral, and your customer knows that every experience — good or bad — warrants a review on Amazon.
- DO encourage buyers to stay connected. Product inserts offer a great opportunity for customers to follow your brand on social media or subscribe to your newsletter. You can include a QR code to make things easier for buyers.
Amazon product insert don’ts
- DON’T use manipulative language to get reviews. Telling your customers that you’re “a small, family-run business” or that they should “support products made in America” and then asking for a product review is seen as manipulative according to Amazon’s terms of service.
- DON’T cherry pick your customers for reviews. Asking customers “If you had a positive experience with this product, tell us about it with a product review,” on your insert is a BIG no-no. Even saying, “if you are unhappy with your purchase, please contact us before leaving a review,” is against the rules. Amazon considers these types of insert-copy to be a form of cherry-picking, which violates the product review terms of service.
- DON’T incentivize reviews. Offering a gift card, warranty, discount, or any other benefit in exchange for a positive review — or any review, for that matter — is (again) against Amazon’s terms of service. Be very careful with what you add to your product inserts, as Amazon can change its rules anytime. We suggest keeping it simple, thanking customers for their purchase, and asking them to leave a product review based on their experience.
How to create inserts for your Amazon product packaging
Creating your own custom product insert design is simple, with a free tool you can find online! While you can hire a graphic designer to create a design for you, if you are on a budget or have a good eye for design, make your own in just a few minutes.
Create a product insert using Canva
Canva is an awesome user-friendly graphic design platform that allows anyone to create unique design assets, even if you don’t have any graphic design experience. It features thousands of templates, fonts, and graphics, making creating an insert for your product packaging simple.
While Canva does have a paid professional account type, the free version is perfectly capable and perfect for your design needs.
Create a free account and start browsing the premade designs and add your own branding to it.
You can also search in Canva for what you want to design. In this example, I searched for “product thank you card.”
Canva brings up thousands of templates to choose from. Take some time to scroll through the options to see what would work best for your brand and products.
Once you find something you like, click on it, then click “Customize this template.”
In the designer, you can customize it any way you want, with different colors, fonts, and other design elements. The cool thing about the Canva tool is that you can have them print your cards for you to add to your product packaging in case you fulfill orders yourself with FBM.
READ MORE | Amazon FBA vs FBM Comparison Guide
There are plenty of other free online graphic design tools so search around and find something that works best for you. Here are some other tools you can use to create a product insert:
Do you have inserts in your Amazon product packaging?
Amazon product inserts can be a great way to connect with your customers, build brand loyalty, and increase sales. By following Amazon’s rules and creating informative and engaging inserts, you can use this marketing tool to its full potential.
Do you have more questions about Amazon product inserts? Let us know in the comments.
Explore new product opportunities with Jungle Scout and start making money on Amazon!
73 comments on “Amazon Product Inserts: 2024 Guide for FBA Sellers”
Thanks for this article, very helpful! I’m curious if it’s possible to have package inserts (that follow Amazon’s policy) added to the shipment box at the FBA facility. We intend to start adding the insert at the factory as the original product is being packaged. In order to get the package insert process started more quickly, we’d prefer to have Amazon do it for us. I can’t find any resources online that show how this is done, which makes me think this is probably not a service Amazon provides. Any guidance here is appreciated!
Hi Jason,
Unfortunately, that is not something Amazon will do for you.
Your article is full of great information. Thanks for Sharing!
Such awesome content. Your article is so informative. Thanks for sharing it and keep sharing.
You must have a lot of pride in writing quality content. I’m impressed with the amount of solid information you have written in your article. I hope to read more.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the article. Much thanks again. Cool!.
Very good blog article. Really looking forward to read more. Really Great!.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the post. Very informative as usual.
However, I would like to double check with you if it’s ok to direct customers to social medias and blogs?
Thanks,
Dominic
I realised this was a repeated question and read the full post on terms and services on another of your post.
Thanks and please ignore
wont let me see the comments lol how do you fix this?
Hi Paul,
What comments can’t you see?
Updated version of Amazon TOS says “You can ask buyers to write a review in a neutral manner, but you cannot ask for positive reviews, ask for reviews only from buyers who had a positive experience, or ask a reviewer to change or remove their review.”
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=200386250
So the insert shows in this article seems out dated and against TOS now? What is the take on Jungle scout side?
Hey Yiyi!
We go more in-depth on Amazon TOS here, and you can expect us to update once again this year to stay on top of any new changes.
Hope that helps!
Melissa
Is it against TOS to include a link to my website to register the product for warranty, or a link to download the installation manual?
Jeff,
As far as I’ve seen, it’s not. And a lot of sellers use that as a “loophole” to collect customer information.
Hello,
I need to know is sending gifts along with the product without asking customer to review the product in exchange of the gift violating amazon TOS?
As long as you don’t explicitly state that’s why you’re sending the gift, it should be fine.
Hello,
I am going to run a test campaign to check how can I increase my product reviews and in that I’m going to send incentives to the customers prior and post review, i was wondering is sending the incentives to customers with the product is violating the TOS?
Hadi,
Yes it is, unfortunately.
Hi, I know this question has been beat to death, but just looking for your thoughts on a more specific example.
I purchased a competitor product because I saw that some of the negative reviews were, “they buy reviews..”. Upon opening the product I saw they had an insert that said, “Like our Products? Get a Free Bottle.” They then directed you to a unique landing page that was there brand, where you had to provide info such as email, shipping, and amazon order number. They would then send you a free product of lesser value via their own website.
The last page of that process says “Before you get your Free Bottle, Please Share your Experience.” They had a text field for you to enter the review and then a link to take you back to Amazon and post the review.
Is this totally against TOS? Or just the last page where they tell you that you can’t get a free bottle until you leave a review? could it be worded differently to not be against TOS? Could you simply separate the page asking for a review from the free product page?
Thanks you any insight on this!
Yep. That’s totally 100% against TOS. 🙂
This article is a treasure trove for information related to product packaging and product inserts. An awesome resource, Greg. Thanks for sharing this. Appreciate your efforts!
It was a really useful article. Just a quick question, is it possible to put an insert in the packaging and suggest the customers to follow us on our social media pages like facebook or instagram? is it against TOS?
That should be fine as far as I know. The big guys do it, too! 🙂
Nice Article JS,
I’m considering using messenger code to help my customers with any issues they have upon opening their package from me. This would essentially take the conversation “off Amazon” in your opinion would this fall inside or outside of the terms of service?
Kai,
I believe if they make the first move, it’s okay. You can also follow up with the customer’s through Amazon’s messenger system using an automated platform like Jump Send.
valuable article on packaging. thanks for sharing
Is this product insert example still within tos?
Hey Sean,
TOS is kinda vague on what you can and can’t put in packaging. Here’s a link to a blog post we wrote about it earlier this year: https://www.junglescout.com/blog/amazon-terms-of-service/
Technically, the insert doesn’t circumvent Amazon traffic so we can check that off. And it doesn’t ask for a “positive” review, just a review. Furthermore, apparently Amazon has no issue with offering coupons to their site for product reviews.
The second insert is asking for positive reviews only. I believe that is against TOS.
“You may ask buyers to write a review in a neutral manner, but you may not ask for positive reviews, ask for reviews only from buyers who had a positive experience, or ask a reviewer to change or remove their review.”
Hello,
still confused is it allowed to ask for a review on the insert or not?
How it should sound to be allowed by amazon?
For example:
“Thank you again for ordering from us!
We would love to hear your feedback and tell us what you think in order to improve our services and help future customers make an informed decision.
Simply log into your account to leave a feedback.
Our team appreciate for your time.”
Is ti against Amazon TOS?
Thank you for the answer
Asking for a review is okay, from what I understand, but asking for a positive review or incentivizing for one is not.
This is a really interesting article.
Does anyone have information on research backing the review rate improving once an insert has been added to the packaging of a product? The products that I sell have decent packaging but I want to know if there’s been research that shows the improvements on a listing once a review is requested.
Thanks!
Anyone have insight on social media handles being printed on packaging and/or inserts? Technically I can see how it can be seen as driving traffic away from Amazon, but is it really if we aren’t selling the product through our social media? We were considering having printed on our packaging and inserts @BRANDNAME with our logo and possibly the IG, FB icons as well.
What if we are asking for customer feedback or to stay in touch on instagram or facebook? We were also thinking asking them to visit or follow us on social media for regular giveaways that we offer, as well as recipes, tips, etc?
Hi AC,
The way I understand Amazon’s terms of services is that you can’t drive people away from Amazon in the Amazon listing itself. However, there’s no restriction on the product packaging. Otherwise, this would obviously make things difficult for much larger companies.
Here’s the page if you’d like to see for yourself: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=200386250&language=en-US&ref=mpbc_200414320_cont_200386250
Good post!
Thanks for the article. I have packets of instant chicory: 24 separate packets I am sending to FBA in a single box. Each packet is intended to be sold separately. Can I just put 24 inserts into the box and Amazon will know what to do (to include one insert with one packet)? Or do I need to send some kind of instruction to Amazon FBA to make sure they do not just throw away the inserts? I would like not to have to attach/staple inserts to the packets.
Apologies if this is a dumb question – I am just starting to learn FBA process. Thanks! Dmitri
Hey Dmitri,
You need to send in your products exactly packaged how you would like them to be sent to your customer. So in your case each packet of instant chicory needs to include any product add ons or inserts. So you would need to repackage them prior to sending to Amazon’s warehouse.
Hope this helps!
Kym
Thanks for the great tips! I do have a question however that I think you could probably answer.
I was wondering, When doing freelance web design,
do I pay for and manage the domain name and web hosting for
my clients? Or is that something the client does? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Really, it could work either way. If you end up paying for the domain/web hosting, just be sure to pass along the charges and have a clear contract stating who owns the domain/webspace.
In my opinion, it’s better to do that kind of thing for the client. Clients can be kinda–how you say–not tech savvy! Haha, so you don’t want to slow down the process by sending them off to purchase a domain or sign up for hosting. The more holistic you can be in anything you do, whether it’s offering services or selling products on Amazon, the better off you’ll be.
Hi!
Great article! I’m currently looking at options for building my list using an insert with my product to send customers to a landing page. The product is replenishable, so I’m seeing quite a few repeat buyers. As it’s a consumable, I can’t really do a lifetime warranty or anything like that, so thinking of ways to encourage people to sign up.
One of the options is to offer the customer a discount off their next Amazon order in return for their email address. Is this is against TOS? Technically, I’m not diverting the customer away from Amazon. I’m offering a code for their next Amazon purchase. It’s a grey area and I haven’t really got a satisfactory answer from seller support.
Any thoughts welcome 🙂
Many thanks in advance!
Hey Kev,
You are right it is a bit of a grey area. Here’s my two cents on this:
When sending emails to your customers, and if you are using something like Jump Send to automated customer emails, you shouldn’t put in any URLs that will divert people away from Amazon. It is ok to ask for honest, non-incentivized reviews in these emails though, and link to the Amazon feedback/review page.
When creating inserts for your actual product, I have always found it to be OK to include a URL on the insert. From what I can tell with Amazon’s TOS it is indeed a grey area. But we have done this with some of our case study products and had no issues, and many other sellers do too. For example, we ran a giveaway for a product to collect emails and put the giveaway URL on the insert. So I think you would be fine to do what you are suggesting.
If you imagine, there are lots of big brand products on Amazon that absolutely have URLs on their inserts and packaging 😉
Hope this helps!
Kym
Hi there,
I have heard from some sources that it is allowed to include a registration card inside the FBA product package; the card will offer a free ebook or something if the customer goes to my website and signs up. Is it allowed to give my website in a registration card like this? Thanks !!
Hey Ryan,
That’s right you can include a registration card, or “product insert” as we often call it, in with your product. It’s a bit of a grey area as to whether you can put a link to your website on these inserts. I believe Amazon’s TOS states that you shouldn’t put any links in the insert, but then when you consider the fact that pretty much every large electronics product comes with a registration card with a URL I doubt this is ever enforced.
We include inserts for our case study products, and put a link to the website on these inserts and haven’t had any issues.
One more thing to note, whilst you should never put a link in a follow-up email to a customer, you could also send ebooks as an attachment using a service like Jump Send.
Hope this helps!
Kym
Hey Kim, I believe I found my answer to my follow up question re: where “Made in China” should go on the packaging. I think as long as a customer can see it somewhere, it is OK to go anywhere.
“Every article of foreign origin (or its container) imported into the United States shall be marked in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or container) will permit, in such manner as to indicate to an ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article, at the time of importation into the Customs territory of the United States.”
Hi,
Great article! I have my inserts ready to go, however, I did not put “made in China” on the insert. Can I put this on the label with the UPC code? Also, I want to confirm, I put my web address on the insert. Is this OK?
Thanks.
Risa
Hey Risa,
The made in China label needs to go on the packaging itself I believe. In some circumstances you may need to put it on the label on the product (for example I think textiles have different rules).
You shouldn’t need to put made in china on the insert, but on the product packaging itself.
It’s totally cool to put your web address on the insert too – big brands absolutely do this and third party sellers can too 🙂
Hope that helps!
Kym
Hey Kym,
Great to hear from you! I am learning so much from you and your million dollar learning experience!
You listed two parts of packaging: 1) the label on the product and 2) the insert.
Do I need both? I was only planning on doing an insert – no label. If just an insert is OK, does “Made in China” need to be visible on the outside of the packaging?
Thanks.
Risa
Hey Risa,
Some products won’t have a label on the product itself, for example our Jungle Stix product. So we would put the “Made in China” note on the outer packaging. Inserts are usually for specific marketing messages (i.e. to seek reviews, repeat purchases or send your customer to a giveaway or website). You don’t need to put where the product is made on an insert so long as you comply with the rules on having it on your packaging for your particular product.
Just make sure you do your research before deciding to ensure you are not required to also add a label to the product itself. It can vary by product type and which marketplace you sell in.
Many thanks,
Kym
Hi Kym,
Thanks. I found this page, https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200243250#prep, and I did a bunch of other searches. I don’t believe my product needs any special packaging.
However, I’m having trouble finding information on what exactly should go on the label/insert.
My product is packaged in a clear box, so I figured just an insert with the product name would be fine.
I’m guessing that “Made in China” needs to be seen on the outside of the packaging. Is that correct? Does it matter whether it’s on the front or back of the package?
And just to clarify, it should NOT go on the label with the UPC sticker, right? (I should have printed this on the insert but it is too late). Is adding another small label that says, “Made in China” the way to go?
Thank you SO much!
Risa
Hi Kym,
Gen says “Encouraging the customer to go to your website, and leave a review on amazon, is against the Terms of Service” but you say “It’s totally cool to put your web address on the insert too – big brands absolutely do this and third party sellers can too”. Which is it?
Hey Joe,
You are right it is a little confusing. As always with Amazon TOS rules, some of them we would never advise going against, whilst others, we know that most FBA sellers bend them a little, and big brands likely don’t adhere to them at all.
In the case of product inserts, if you are the brand owner of your product, then there is usually a little leeway that you can leverage. The main thing is that Amazon do not want to see evidence of you diverting customers away from the Amazon shopping platform. We use a website for our Jungle Snugs case study product insert without any issues. The website is not ecommerce and only has information about the product.
I believe contact information for customer support is also OK to put in your inserts and packaging.
If you imagine buying some Sony headphones, their packaging and product inserts will absolutely have information such as a website, warranty information and so on.
In terms of reviews, it’s fine to ask for an honest review from your customers on the Amazon platform, so long as you never incentivize that review by giving a discount or special offer.
Hope this helps!
Kym
Hi,
I’m really enjoying this blog discussion! I’m creating a product that will be packaged into a bubble wrap bag for protection. To highlight my brand, I’m creating a 4×6 inch Thank You Card insert that will have our logo.
On the insert, I’m encouraging customers to leave a review. I’m also directing them to my brand’s website if they’re are interested in more products (or to contact us if they have any questions or problems with their order).
In terms of Amazon’s policies, is it ok to direct them to our brand’s website?
Thanks!
Justin
Hi Justin,
Encouraging the customer to go to your website, and leave a review on amazon, is against the Terms of Service. We did a post covering this earlier this year: https://www.junglescout.com/blog/amazon-product-packaging-inserts/
Hope this helps clarify things!
Gen
Nice Post. Thanks for sharing it………….:) 🙂
I designed a sticker to go on the removable safety seal for the product, that 1.) Thanks them for leaving a review, so othere can fin us. 2.) Tells them we have information and contests on our Facebook page (no page url given). Would this violate Amazon TOS?
Hello to you
Thanks for the great content.
I have a question about the product packaging:
1. Do i order the packaging from the supplier who makes the product for me and he is responsible for its arrival Or I’m supposed to order the package and make sure it reaches the supplier
Hi Erez,
You can order your packaging from a third party supplier, however your product supplier likely deals with a variety of packaging for your product, so that may be easiest. So get the template from the supplier and send it off to a package designer. Hope this helps!
Gen
On the insert card example it seems clear that you are intending to direct all positive reviews to the product page. Also send all potential negative reviews to contact you.
My understanding is that this would now violate amazon terms. I don’t think you are supposed to do this in email follow ups so I would think that would include any product inserts.
I’m just looking for clarification on this as it’s a great strategy if still within amazon’s rules.
Hey Logan,
Only incentivized reviews are banned, that means offering free product or a discount and requiring a review in return. You are still able to ask paying customers to leave a review if they liked the product, but you should never incentivize this.
You can read more this here & here!
Hope that helps!
Kym
Hola! What’s the suggested size for product inserts (0.0 x 0.0)? ~thanks
Coop,
It depends on the size of your product, but most folks go with a 4” by 6” card.
My current product presentation leaves much to be desired. It is just the product, a poly bag and the UPC label slapped on it. I want the experience of receiving and opening my package to be different than what it currently is. I want to differentiate my self and build a brand, not only sell a product. So what I want to understand is, once I designed my package through someone like Erick and Virtuous Graphics, how do I get the package itself done? Who do I contact? And how do I get it to my product manufacturer so he packages my products using this new package design? I would like to understand the logistics behind it all so I can know how to best approach this.
Hey Rodolfo,
Great news that you are thinking of adding value to your product with improved packaging. Are you going to add any inserts? 🙂
The most straight forward route is to ask your manufacturer to package your product using these new designs. If this is how you want to proceed, it may be worth checking their capabilities before you commission any design work.
Another option is to have the products packaged in the country of sale once you have imported them. Many sourcing companies offer this service, or you can use a packing and prepping service. The main benefits to this option are that your supply chain is harder to follow (can help prevent getting hijacked), and you can probably get higher quality packaging. But obviously this adds a step into your logistics and will also come at a cost.
Hope that helps, thanks for reading!
Kym
Thank you so much, Kym. That’s wonderful to know. No inserts yet for my next batch, although I changed the package a bit and got my brand logo on the package this time, but I might include some inserts for my next order. I’m getting there 😉
Thank you for letting me know and for providing the details and different options, I have been going nuts over this for the past few days(especially after reading this article lol).
Rodolfo,
It’s Erick from VirtuousGraphics. Most Chinese manufacturers are surprisingly well connected and often have a “go-to” paper supplier; that can do your packaging.
Shoot us a message at [email protected] and we can better assist you should you have any difficulty finding a packaging supplier
Hi Everyone. I am just getting started with my FBA business. I have chosen a product and now need to find packaging and a manufacturer. Do the manufacturers do the packaging there? If I need to find someone separate to do the packaging, does anyone have any suggestions as to who to contact?
Also, I have a company name, but do I need to create unique packaging for each product that is related to the product itself and possibly put the company name in smaller print somewhere on the label?
I appreciate any help anyone can give me.
Sincerely,
Heather Appell
Hi there, I was looking all over if it is allowed to do this if you’re using Fulfilment By Amazon. Are you allowed to use the inserts and alter the packaging still or is it not allowed to advertise your own website since Amazon is doing the logistics process?
Hi Joanne,
Sure – you’re allowed to do this. You can present your product packaging and inserts any way you like.
For example, imagine if you bought a Sony TV on Amazon, it would still come with a warranty card and the Sony website on the packaging or inserts.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for reading,
Kym
If anyone has any questions related to product photography, product packaging; or would just like a free 20min consultation for me to look over on one of their listings. I’d be happy to provide my 2 cents on how to increase their conversion rates through their photos.
– Erick Rodriguez
Just shoot us a message at [email protected]
The URL (Virtuous Graphics) above is not working correctly
Thanks for spotting Jonathan – it’s all fixed now!