Today, Amazon has advanced to be one of the most popular online marketplaces. It’s almost impossible to skip this platform if you plan to start an online business. Yet, it surprises me how many online sellers have no idea how to craft a solid Amazon product listing. As such, I will be showing you some useful tips on how to optimize the various aspects of an Amazon listing in this post.
First of all, we must understand what an Amazon listing consists of. In general, when you click on a product link on Amazon, you will see the following:
1. The product title
2. The product images
3. The key features bullets
4. The product description
5. Customer questions & answers
6. Customer reviews and product rating
All these are very important in letting customers understand your product. Let’s start with the very first thing that your customers will see, which is:
The Product Title
The product title is the most important part of your product listing.
You want to make sure that it is clear, descriptive, and fits what your customers are looking for.
Saying that, don’t be in a hurry to throw everything about your product into its title! Amazon only allows 200 characters for your product title.
As such, you need to be selective of what you put in the title.
In general, you can follow this format to write your product title
For example, if you are selling a peanut butter spread, some good titles can be:
Skippy Peanut Butter, Reduced Fat, Creamy, 150 Gram (Pack of 2)
Kraft Heinz Peanut Butter, Original, 40 Ounce (Single)
Smucker’s Peanut Butter, Natural Chunky, 454 Gram
All these titles are very straightforward. Take note of how only the important keywords are included here. This is because if you put excessive descriptors into the product title, it may appear like spam. When this happens, your listing will not be picked up by the Amazon search engine. It may not appear on customers’ search results at all, needless to say, get any sales!
Other than that, Amazon also has some very specific formatting rules. This includes:
Capitalizing The First Letter Of Every Word but NOT EVERY SINGLE ALPHABET (LIKE THIS)
Do not put characters for decoration, such as ~ ! $ ? _ ~ { } # < > | ; ^ ¬ ¦
Avoid promotional information, like “20% discounts”, “free shipping”, “100% quality guaranteed”
Keep in mind that you are writing the product titles for the human eye too, so make your title logical. Messy titles will turn off customers and reduce your click-through rates.
The Product Images
Another very important aspect of your Amazon listing will be its images. Since you are selling your products over the web, your customers cannot touch or feel them in person. You are only going to sell your products by photographs. As such, your product images must be of top-notch quality. Invest in professional photography, and ensure that your images are in high resolution. Let your potential customers see what they’re getting exactly!
In general, Amazon allows sellers to upload up to 9 images for each product. Do make use of ALL image quotas to present the best of your product to customers. Here are some tips for preparing your product’s images.
Ensure your images are at least 1000px in width or in height
Other than the full picture of your product, do not include anything else in this image. Make sure that your product is in focus, with realistic color and smooth edges. Or else, Amazon may deem it as an untrue representation of the real product. Your listing may be seen as a fraud and be banned!
Main image be on a WHITE (RGB 255,255,255) background
Other than the full picture of your product, do not include anything else in this image. Make sure that your product is in focus, with realistic color and smooth edges. Or else, Amazon may deem it as an untrue representation of the real product. Your listing may be seen as a fraud and be banned!
Show your product from different perspectives
Use the rest of the images to show your product from various angles. For example, what does it look like when zoomed in? Are there any differences to this product when it is under bright light or normal daylight?
Show the dimension and/or weight of your product
Do include an image to show the specific measurements of your product. You can compare it against common items, for example, an iPhone. This will be useful for customers to gauge what the product is like in real life.
Show instructions for using your product
It will be great to show customers how to use or set up your product can in one image. Customers can always refer to this image if they run into issues after they get the product.
Include infographics
Sum up your product’s features and benefits in one infographic if possible. This helps customers determine if your product is what they are looking for at one glance!
The Key Features Bullets
Sellers have 5 bullets to introduce their product’s features for all Amazon listings. These bullets will need to be clear, concise, and straight to the point. I will advise you to limit to 200 characters per bullet. This is a good length – not too long till it gets messy, yet useful enough to convey important bits of information.
Meanwhile, here are some tips to write effective key features bullets.
Assign bullets for different purposes
You can assign these bullets to display the different aspects of your product. For example, you can have a ‘usage’ bullet that points out how customers can use your product. You can also have a ‘benefits’ bullet to describe the main benefits of your product. Doing this will help to highlight your product’s unique selling points.
Address customers’ concerns
Fundamentally, key features bullets are for sellers to address quick questions from customers. For example, you can point out why your product is better than other products. Is it an improved model? Does it offer added features? Summarise the answers to these questions here!
Appeal to customers’ lifestyle
Another trick that works is getting personal. Consider using the language your target audience likes when crafting these bullets. Let’s say if you are selling a reusable straw, you can include words like ‘Green and Sustainable’. This will show them that your product fits their lifestyle.
The Product Description
The product description is where sellers should include explicit elaboration about their product. The character limit for this part remains the same – 2.000 characters, including spaces. This is around 5-6 short paragraphs if you type it out on a word processor. Here are some best practices for crafting a solid product description.
Keep it informational
The product description is the space for you to explain your product’s features in detail. Do include the target keywords and their synonyms in this part. This is because not every customer searches in the same way. If you only use those few keywords, you may lose sales from customers who search with other related words!
Meanwhile, like how you craft your product title, avoid promotional language. Remember, the product description is meant to be informational. You should tell your customers more about the product itself here, not how you intend to sell it!
Make sure your content is logical and sincere
Use full sentences, with proper punctuation and correct grammar. Separate your content into different paragraphs if required. Illogical-sounding content will turn off customers and reflects badly on you. One tip is to keep sentences short – between 15-25 words. When your sentences are shorter, the readability of your content will increase!
At the same time, don’t exaggerate your product’s benefits. Customers are getting smarter by the day. Many understand that one product can’t solve all their problems. Hence, if your product sounds too good to be true, you are likely to turn them away. The best thing will be to write in a clear and sincere manner. Present your product as it is, and avoid absolute terms like “most”, “best”, “greatest” etc.
Meanwhile, like how you craft your product title, avoid promotional language. Remember, the product description is meant to be informational. You should tell your customers more about the product itself here, not how you intend to sell it!
Cater your content to various customer groups
It is often tempting to copy the key features bullets’ content and repeat them here again. But this is an utter waste of sales space! The bullets and description should complement each other to showcase your product’s functions.
A better way is to add content catered to various target customer groups here. After all, customers shop on Amazon for different reasons. Some are casual shoppers, while others are looking for products with specific needs. For example, imagine you are selling a moisturizer that can also cure eczema. You can start off by mentioning your moisturizer caters to the general public. Then, include another part to explain how your product also helps to relieve eczema. Doing so will prevent losing sales from either group of customers!
The Customer Questions & Answers
If you noticed, all that I mentioned above about a product listing is preparable before it goes live. It will be a reverse story when we come to the ‘Customer Questions & Answers section. This section will only appear on your product listing AFTER it gets published. Saying that it doesn’t mean it is less important. Sellers’ reactions to the contents here will have a far-reaching impact on their business.
Essentially, this section allows potential customers to ask questions about your product. Both you and the previous buyers of your product can answer the questions here. Here are some pointers for responding to the customer questions.
Answer the questions as fast as possible
It will be best to answer the customers’ questions once you receive them. This will show that you are a responsive seller. Meanwhile, it will help your customers make up their minds about buying your products.
Be detailed in your answers
Always provide detailed answers if possible. Don’t be lazy and stop at a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’! Customers like to know that they are buying from a responsible seller who knows the product well. With the assurance that they can get useful answers, they will be more willing to buy your product.
Always answer in a polite and professional manner
As a seller, you should always exhibit professionalism when handling customers’ questions. If a customer is unhappy about your product and questions you about it, answer them in a polite manner. Show that you are willing to cooperate and offer them reasonable solutions if it is a fault on your side. In this way, you will earn respect from your customers, and recognition for your business
Last but not least, we come to the final section of a product listing, which is:
The Customer Reviews and Product Rating
It’s common knowledge that customer reviews will affect your product’s listing. In general, the more reviews you get, the more reliable and higher your product rating will be. And with a high product rating, sales will come in fast. As such, many sellers hope their product can get a high rating, with lots of positive customer reviews.
But I will like to tell all sellers: never try to manipulate your product rating and the reviews you get for it! Amazon takes serious offense against sellers who use unfair means to get positive reviews and high product ratings. Your whole Amazon account may even get banned for doing so!
The correct way to treat customer reviews should be to receive all feedback in your stride. Observe what are the things you ought to improve for your products, and work on them. There is no shortcut here. Only when you fix the problem, will customers return to buy your products. As time passes, you will accumulate more positive reviews, and hence achieve a higher product rating.
With this, I will end my post on how you can optimize your Amazon listing. Do stay tuned if you want to receive more information about selling on Amazon! See you at my next post.
