Amazon to soon let sellers connect with customers directly

The e-commerce giant is currently testing this new feature called "Manage Your Customer Engagement" that will help sellers contact Amazon users who have specifically chosen to follow a particular company, reports CNBC.

The new email campaign option is a free service for sellers, but it's only available to brands registered through Amazon's Brand Registry programme.

Launched in 2015, Brand Registry helps businesses curb the sale of counterfeits and more than 350,000 brands have registered to be part of the programme.

"Shoppers' contact information will continue to remain private. Amazon will give companies aggregate data when they use the tool that shows them how many emails will go out when they decide to share marketing campaigns with their followers," the report mentioned on Friday.

Amazon will tell brands how many customers have opted to receive the emails, along with performance metrics for the campaign.

"Amazon is committed to serving our shoppers by helping them engage with their favourite brands. With Manage Your Customer Engagement, brands will be able to initiate email campaigns about new product announcements and offers that Amazon will send to shoppers who choose to follow the brand," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

It's a key change from Amazon's current policy, which is to limit the amount of interaction between customers and companies that sell on Amazon.

Currently, the interaction between the Amazon sellers and customers is about resolving issues related to returns or orders.