What is Amazon’s Perfect Order Percentage?

It is always said that “if you are not on the first page of Google, you are nobody, you do not exist”. Well, it's precisely the same on Amazon. If you are not in the top 10 results on your keywords, your product sales will suffer the consequences. It’s a sad fact – but it’s also preventable. Amazon has a few KPIs that determine how well a seller is doing, and one of them is the Amazon Perfect Order Percentage metric (POP).

Keep reading to learn about Amazon POP and how to keep this metric healthy.

What is Amazon’s Perfect Order Percentage?

Amazon Perfect Order Percentage is a quantitative metric that measures your selling abilities. To understand this metric, we must first know the criteria that affect it. These seven criteria are used to calculate your POP:

A-to-Z Guarantee Claims
Cancellations
Refunds
Late shipments
Chargebacks
Negative feedback
Buyer-initiated messages

It is considered a Perfect Order if you complete an order without a problem with any of the above criteria. If there is a problem with the shipment, you receive negative feedback on demand or any of the other criteria are not delivered; then it’s no longer a Perfect Order. Having a 100% score is highly unlikely, but Amazon encourages sellers to use 95% as their baseline.

What is a Good Perfect Order Percentage?

As mentioned in the previous section, you should opt for at least 95% for your Amazon Perfect Order Percentage metric if your POP score falls below 95%. Because of Order Defect Rates (if <1%), Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rates (if <2.5%), and Late Shipment Rates (if <4%), Amazon may take action because you don’t meet the stated performance goals.

How to Obtain Your Amazon Perfect Order Status?

Obtaining a Perfect Order status is pretty straightforward: you just have to accept, process, and fulfill a buyer’s order without any incidents in the seven criteria mentioned earlier. To calculate your POP score, you must take the number of Perfect Orders in the last 90 days and divide that number by the total number of orders received during this period. You can also find and download your POP report from the Account Health page on seller central.

Amazon knows that some categories may be subject to lower POP scores due to the nature of the products. For example, clothing and shoes may experience more returns because buyers return what doesn’t fit, which will likely increase the return and refund rate when calculating the POP score.

What Will Cause a Non-Perfect POP?

You may experience different Perfect Order problems depending on the products you offer. As mentioned, some categories, like clothing and shoes, may experience more refunds and returns because they are not universally sized and might not fit the buyers. Other common problems regarding the Amazon Perfect Order Percentage metric include the following:

Cancellations: If an order gets canceled (whether because it’s out of stock or a pricing error happened), buyers are likely to turn that negative experience into a complaint, which results in a blow to the POP.
Incorrect/unclear product listing: If you put accurate information in the product details, it may result in buyer complaints which can affect the POP positively.
Poor tracking information: Buyers are likely to register a complaint (and subsequently ruin your POP score) if they need to track their package accurately. This happens when the correct tracking information is missing or there is no tracking.
Late shipment: If a buyer does not receive an item within the estimated time, they may contact the seller to check on their order. The delay will also negatively impact their overall buying experience, leading to a complaint and a non-perfect POP score.

What You Need to Do to Have a Perfect Order Percentage

You must improve your performance if your Amazon Perfect Order Percentage metric falls below 95%. First, look at the POP report to see where you could improve. Try to focus on those problems, but if you’re not sure about the exact problem, follow the tips below:

Go over your product descriptions and make them as clear and accurate as possible.
Only list the items you have in stock.
Research how long it takes for an item to ship, then buffer that time slightly to ensure all buyers get their products on time.
Keep an eye on customer feedback, and address concerns and comments immediately so buyers know you care about them.
Go over your seller central page every three days or so, and if you find any adverse events that can affect your POP score, address them immediately.

Final Thoughts

As you already know, Amazon has a set of metrics that shape your overall “account health”. One of these metrics is the POP – or Perfect Order Percentage – which measures how well you fulfill orders based on several criteria, such as cancellations, late shipments, etc. Try to keep these criteria at a healthy level so that your POP score stays above 95%. By doing this, Amazon (and your customers) will recognize you as a professional seller who cares about the buyer experience.