How to Write Amazon Bullet Points to Optimize Your Product Listings and Convert Customers

There’s a lot that goes into the “perfect Amazon product listing”.

Once you’ve attracted your potential customer with a beautiful image and an enticing title, their next step will be to scan the bullet points. This is your opportunity to get into the details of what makes your product unique. Try to anticipate what your customer is looking for and provide the answers in your bullets.

But how do you structure all this information? We’ll take you through the steps to writing the best Amazon bullet points for your products. Here is an outline of what we’re covering. 

What are Amazon Bullet Points? 

Bullet points appear beneath the product title with a bullet symbol like this: •

Use them to highlight the important features and benefits of your product.

If your product title is the headline, your bullet points are the hook. As a seller, you have up to 5 bullet points to let your customer know they’re in the right place and convince them that what you’re selling is the perfect fit.

Why Are They Important? 

Once your potential customer has decided to click on your product, you must now convince them to make the purchase (this is actually called conversion optimization and is part of a much larger process we talk about in this article about the Amazon sales flywheel). Bullet points help you share what makes your product awesome and whether it’s suitable for your customer. 

Keeping your bullet points readable and scannable are some of the most important factors when it comes to optimizing your listing. One study found that most browsers spend an average of 15 seconds deciding which product to buy online. This means you have to optimize your bullet points so that they will be easy to scan with keywords and phrases that jump out at your audience.

Making sure your bullets are relevant, easy to read and well-structured creates a user-friendly experience for the customer.  

What does Amazon expect when it comes to bullets? Let’s see!

What are the Amazon Bullet Points Guidelines? 

As with all product listing guidelines, Amazon has requirements for bullets as well. Some of the most important are: 

• Include the 5 most important features of your products in the bullet points 
• Start each bullet with a capital letter 
• Write it in a sentence format  
• Separate ideas with hyphens 
• Do not use ending punctuation 
• Sellers can use 5 bullet points to describe and sell their product 
• Vendors can have up to 10 bullet points for each product page (this option is available in the edit product page in Vendor Central) 
• As a seller, you have up to 500 characters per bullet point 
• As a vendor, you have an average of 250 available characters per bullet point (depending on the category) 

You can review all the guidelines for a product in this Quick Start Style Guide. 

How to add bullet points to your amazon product description?

Amazon bullet points are added to your product listing under the header menu “Description”.

The bullet points option will either appear as “Key Product Features” or “Bullet Point” depending on the category.

When you’re first adding a product it may not be clear that you can include 5. You’ll have to click the small text below to “Add More” bullet points.

How Many Bullet Points Can You Have on Amazon?

Technically sellers are only allowed 5 bullet points per product listing but we’ve seen some instances where you can continue click “add more” until you have a total of 10.

It all depends on the category (and maybe how Amazon is feeling that day).

Below is an example of a vendor listing for a faucet that has 10 bullet points:

Focus on the Customer

Yes, the customer is the VIP when it comes to your product listing because they are the ones who will eventually buy your product. If you focus on what your customer needs and speak to them in a way that shows you understand their needs, they will be more likely to buy your product. 

Try to think about answering these questions in your bullet points: 

• What are they looking for? 
• Are you using future pacing? 
• Can someone easily scan your bullet points? 
• Are you appealing to their emotions? 
• Have you included key information?

What Are They Looking For?

When a potential customer reads through your bullet points, you need to include words or phrases that will make them mentally “check off” what they’re looking for. They need to see that your product solves their problem. 

Future Pacing

Future pacing is a copywriting technique that gets your audience to imagine life after they’ve purchased your product. Think about what problem your product solves and give them a scenario where they can truly feel relieved of that problem. 

Make Your Bullets Scannable

By including a proper structure, limiting your character count and including important keywords, your bullet points will be easier to read. Most customers don’t spend too much time reading, so you want to make sure that they can spot vital information quickly and easily. 

Use Emotions to Stir Action

Customers relate more to emotions than facts. This should get you thinking about how you word your bullet points. Yes, it’s nice to include information, but if you connect the benefits of your product to an emotion, you’ll have a better chance of locking in your sale. 

Reduce Customer Returns with Key Information

When your customer knows exactly what they’re getting, they’re less likely to return the item. Including functionalities, and specific key features like size, weight, use etc, will help the customer make a more informed decision, ultimately reducing returns and negative reviews.

What are Keywords and Why are They Important in Your Bullet Points?

What are keywords and keyword phrases? They are the terms a customer would use to look for a specific product in the search bar. For example:

• “organic antiperspirant for women”
• “gluten free granola bar”
• “water saving faucet”

These are all keyword search terms.

Keywords are important because Amazon’s algorithm uses them to identify whether your product fits a user’s search. While Amazon gives more weight to keywords that appear in the title, it’s still important to include them in your bullet points. For more about optimizing for Amazon’s search engine, check out our full Amazon SEO walkthrough.

When a customer is scanning through your product listing, they will unconsciously be looking for keywords and phrases that match their “perfect product”. By including them in easy-to-read snippets, you’ll be pulling them closer to clicking that buy button. 

Keyword research is also important because it helps you understand what your competitors are doing and which phrases are most popular. When you do a thorough search and consider everything your customer is looking for, your listing will be more successful. 

Additionally, research can help you decide which keywords and phrases competitors are spending money on and if they’re worth using in your own ads.  

How to Structure Your Bullet Points

Consistency is important in building a brand’s credibility and makes it easier for your customer to skim through the important information they’re looking for.  

We make sure to use a consistent structure for all our bullet points so that even if we have multiple writers working on product listing optimizations our results are always uniform.  

Here are a few ways you can think about structuring your bullet points so they’re easier to read: 

• Give each bullet subject matter an ALL-CAPS TITLE 
• Include a colon (:) or hyphen (–) after the title to introduce your points 
• Use around 150 characters for each bullet 

Include an ALL-CAPS Title for Each Bullet Point (Subject Matter)

Having 5 bullets to showcase the benefits of your product is great, but you should also consider the readability for your customer. An all-caps title helps divide each bullet point and makes it easy for your customer to find what they’re looking for. Think of it as having a name for each chapter of a book.

In Scribbles (Helium 10’s tool for listing optimization writing, they call this title “Subject Matter”). If you can include a keyword or phrase your customer is scanning for this is a plus. Just remember not to force them because this jeopardizes readability!

Use Around 150 Characters for Each Bullet

Although the Amazon bullet points character limit is up to 500 for sellers, you need to keep your customer in mind. 500 characters is just too much information and your customer might lose interest. You want to make each bullet as easy as possible for them to read. 

By using an average of 150 characters, you’ll find that you can cover an important benefit in each bullet point without going overboard. Customers can easily digest each point without being overwhelmed by information.  

Another important point to think about is where your customers are shopping – desktop or mobile? As more and more people are shopping from their mobile phones, it’s generally a good idea to keep blocks of texts smaller and easier to read, and optimize your listings for mobile.

On desktop, bullet points always appear next to product images and under the product title. This is prime real estate to share the details of your product and make it stand out. On mobile, the structure is quite different because of the smaller screen size. The bullets appear after scrolling past images and A+ content if there is any. The image on the right shows how the bullets appear for the same product on the Amazon mobile application.

 

Imagine the headache while trying to read a 500-character bullet point on a phone screen! 

Keeping your bullets short enough to convey benefits is important in keeping your customers happy and convince them to buy your product. 

When you follow a logical structure to your bullet points, you create a smooth buying journey for your customer. With each bullet point, you anticipate the next question your customer will ask. Having the answers ready will convince your customers that your product is the right one for them. 

What Content Should You Include in Your Bullet Points?

The way you structure your bullet titles helps guide your customer on their buying journey. The information you include after the titles should inspire emotion and offer a solution to your customer’s problem. 

Focus on hitting these points when writing content for your bullets: 

• Use natural-sounding language in sentence form  
• Lead with the most important features/benefits of your product 
• Add an emoji before the title (if appropriate for your brand) 

Natural-Sounding Language

Including keywords in your bullets helps your customers spot what they’re looking for but remember not to overdo it (this is called keyword stuffing). Try to make your sentences and points sound natural as if you were speaking to a friend about a new product you’ve discovered. 

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Lead with the Most Important Features and Benefits of your Product in the Bullet Titles

Always start with the most important information first, then work your way down through order of importance and relevance. 

This is how we generally structure each of our bullet points: 

Bullet 1

In the first bullet, we want to confirm with the customer that they’ve come to the right place and speak to their emotions and desires if possible. 

• Speak to the biggest desire (the reason they’re here) 
• Reaffirm their belief 

Bullet 2

In the second bullet, we provide more information about the product than in the first bullet point. In a way, we’re answering questions a customer might have about the first bullet.  

For example, if in the first bullet you confirm that the product is a “healthy granola bar”, then in the second bullet you would describe the flavour or ingredients. 

Bullet 3

Bullet three is where we have some freedom, but usually includes more useful information about the product and any other unique feature. It all depends on the product and the value you can provide your customer! 

Bullet 4

The fourth bullet is where we might slip in an additional benefit that would make the customer think: “Oh, that’s nice!”. They may not be actively looking for it, but it’s an added bonus. Perhaps it’s tied to a specific niche or it fits into a Keto diet or it’s great for celiacs. As long as it’s not a primary benefit, the fourth and fifth bullets are great to brag about your product.

Bullet 5

In the fifth bullet, you have the chance to add some information. Another “Oh, that’s nice!” point. It can be something they appreciate or maybe it speaks to their values. 

Examples could include: 

• Locally produced 
• Sustainable 
• Brand values or commitments 

Here is an example we wrote for a Memphis BBQ rub:

• The first bullet point title is “MEAT’S BEST FRIEND”. Great! This gives the customer an idea of what the product is for and how it can help solve their problem. The description goes on to describe and give examples of the type of meat we can use this product with.
• The second bullet point tells us about the flavour: “SWEET AND SPICY”.
• The third bullet “USE IT ALL YEAR ROUND” gives the customer a use case example. They’ll be able to use the product any time! The description offers some great future pacing to transport the customer to a warm and cozy winter wonderland where the product creates a comforting feeling.
• The fourth bullet “REAL SOUTHERN TASTE” is a bonus “Oh, that’s nice!” point that lets the customer know they’re trying something authentic.
• The fifth and final bullet “NO PRESERVATIVES” tells the customer that the product is free of any nasty additives and bonus: it’s vegetarian friendly. That’s nice!

😃 Emojis in Amazon Bullet Points – Yay or Nay?

Emojis can be a divisive topic depending on who you talk to. On one hand, some people believe that they can add personality to your listing and set you apart from the other millions of products that customers are scrolling through. On the other hand, there are those who think of them as unprofessional and completely unnecessary. 

Our answer to this question is: think about your target market and go from there. Is your product designed for kids? Maybe it would benefit from a bit of extra fun. In some of our listings, we like to use a simple green check ✅ before the bullet title. This helps visually break up the bullet points making them easier to see and skim through. 

Additionally, think about whether or not your target audience would use emojis themselves. In listings we’ve done for Amazon Germany, we refrain from using emojis as they are a more serious country and would find the use of them unprofessional. 

Here is a good example of how Brave uses emojis before their bullet points: 

As you can see, the use of emojis here fits well with the brand and its packaging. It shows the company is fun and creative. Plus, every emoji fits well with each title creating a smooth experience. 

Key Takeaways

When optimizing your Amazon product listing, you want to craft the perfect bullet points to complement your images and product title. Focus on getting these right and you’ll have customers hitting “add to basket” in no time. 

• Your bullet points are where you get into the details of your product 
• Guide your customer through the buying journey by anticipating their questions and answering them in the bullet points 
• Make your bullets short, sweet and scannable 

Should you hire a professional?

Amazon product listing optimization is much more than quickly jotting down some copy and uploading a few product images. There is a lot of effort and expertise that goes into it creating a listing that convinces customers to finally click the buy button.  

Hiring a professional who understands the particularities of Amazon can help get your products in front of more people. An expert will help you optimize your listing every step of the way. 

This includes: 

• Thorough keyword research 
• Conductive a competitive analysis  
• Creating beautiful images that appeal to your customer’s emotions 
• Writing an optimized listing  
• Setting up ads to increase visibility 

Creating the perfect listing takes time and skills that you may not have yet. There are also tools designed specifically for optimizing listings on Amazon. We ourselves use Helium 10, but there are a variety of others available. If you’re interested in trying out Helium 10, take advantage of our special discount codes:

Hiring an expert who has access to and knowledge of these tools helps you focus on your business while they optimize your products for sales. 

If you’re interested in hiring experts to optimize your products, feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We also offer a free listing audit!