This blog post covers the Amazon product detail page rules violation policy compliance for merchandising Amazon listings. On Amazon.com, where millions of products compete for customer attention and consideration, bullet points play a key role in providing bite-sized and concise product information to customers. They highlight key features and benefits and often can make a difference between when a customer clicks “add to cart” or scrolls away. On July 13, 2024, Amazon announced updated bullet point requirements aimed at helping Sellers more quickly communicate value and fit to customers. These new requirements went into effect on August 15, 2024. This article will discuss key changes in the updated policy and best practices to take full advantage of the bullet point attribute.
Bullet Point Practices to Avoid Under Amazon’s New Policy
Under Amazon’s new requirements, Amazon can directly edit or remove bullet points without your approval if they are deemed outside of current requirements. This increases the risk of having non-compliant bullet points submitted to your listing as Amazon can directly edit a non-compliant bullet leading to incorrect grammar and poor copy quality or the bullet point display may be removed from the listing altogether, negatively impacting customer experience and conversion rate. If you are in violation, you will receive an account health product policy compliance notification stating: “Product Detail Page Rules Violation (Inaccurate information on product detail page)”.
Amazon prohibits the use of special characters such as “™, ®, €, …, †, ‡, o, ¢, £, ¥, ©, ±, ~, â” and any emojis. Also, sellers are not allowed to include ASIN number information or other non-commital verbiage like "not applicable" or "NA" or "n/a" or "N/A", "not eligible", "yet to decide", "to be decided", "TBD", "COPY PENDING" in bullet point content. Amazon also still prohibits “guarantee” related claims such as "Full refund" or "If not satisfied, send it back" or "Unconditional guarantee with no limit". Sellers are also prohibited from including company information, website links or external hyperlinks in bullet point content.
One area of expansion in the new bullet point requirements is the addition of a list of terms that are prohibited from being used in bullet point content. These terms are mostly related to environmental claims or regulated product categories that are difficult for Amazon to moderate or verify. These terms include eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, ecologically friendly, anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, Made from Bamboo, contains Bamboo, Made from Soy or contains Soy and others. For a full list of terms that should be avoided please reference Amazon’s General Listing Restrictions.
Another area of focus in the updated requirements is reducing redundancy in bullet point information. According to the new policy, each bullet point on the listing needs to communicate a unique aspect of product value or information. Bullet points found to be repetitive will be directly edited or removed by Amazon. This increased moderation and direct unauthorized action for bullet point supervision means that sellers need to take a more critical and thoughtful approach to bullet point communication.
Amazon Recommendations for Writing High-Quality Bullet Points
With the new requirements, Amazon has highlighted the best practices listed below for bullet point copy:
Begin with a capital letter
Formatted them as a sentence fragment; don't use end punctuation
Use semicolons to separate phrases; within a single bullet point
Use more than 10 characters but less than 255 characters
Write numbers one to nine in full, excluding names, model numbers, and measurements
Add header to bullet point and use ":" as a separator between the header and the body of the bullet point
Include a space between a digit and a measurement (for example, 60 ml)
Use clear, natural language in the bullet points, avoid stuffing in unnecessary keywords or phrases
Highlight product features and benefits, not the brand’s marketing story
Highlight how the product meets the customer's needs, rather than just listing facts
Maintain data consistency across product variants
Do not divert or refer to other products outside of the product detail page or ASIN
Remove or minimize duplication across attributes such as title, product description or product overview. Highlight additional or supporting information to help the customer make a more informed decision
Avoid any subjective, performance, or comparative claims, unless they are verifiable on the product packaging. Do not compare your product to competitor brands
Avoid claims relating to accolades and awards, unless the product detail page contains supporting details, such as date and awarding body
Avoid claims about the results of consumer surveys, even if the survey collected subjective opinions, unless substantiated by a source and date
Some recommendations stand out more than others. Using “:” vs “-” in separating the bullet point header from the body provides a clear recommendation on how broad header value communication should be separated from detailed bullet point body communication. Also, the recommendation of spelling out numbers one through nine (aside from exceptional circumstances) provides some decisive best practices where previously there has been some debate. Amazon emphasizes that the bullet point content is meant to communicate product information and detail, not to elaborate on the brand’s marketing story.
Additional Best Practices for Bullet Point Creation
Creating concise bullet points for your products can be challenging especially if your product has complicated use instructions or has a lot of technical details. To get in the right mindset for copywriting, it is always good practice to put yourself in the shoes of the customer. This is where understanding how customers are searching for your product and what alternative products they are considering becomes important. By understanding what terms customers are commonly including in their searches when looking for a product you can start to create a picture of the different customer needs that you can directly address in your bullet point communication. By pointing out aspects of value that correlate with a customer's search, you increase the likelihood of purchase conversion. Studying alternative and competing products is also a great method to improve your understanding of how customers are comparing and contrasting your products against alternatives. If you have a clear understanding of what aspects of your product are different or superior to others, you can double down on that communication to help your product stand out more in the minds of the customers.
A lot of the recommendations discussed in this article are broad and apply to all retail categories on Amazon. However, the reality is that bullet point best practices can vary for different products and categories. To continually improve and compete in the marketplace, sellers need to take an ongoing approach to bullet point learning and practice. Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments (MYE) tools are impactful and easy to use. They allow you to run A/B testing to test customer preferences on a variety of attributes including bullet points. Make sure to always challenge your assumptions and test new approaches using the tool.
FAQ on Amazon Product Detail Page Rules Violation Policy Compliance
Can I use emojis or special characters in Amazon bullet point content?
No Amazon’s bullet point requirements prohibit the use of emojis and special characters including legal symbols like ™, ®
What is Amazon’s recommended character length for bullet point content?
Amazon recommends sellers submit at least 3 bullet points to product listings and that each bullet point be between 10 and 255 characters in length.
When referencing numbers in bullet points on the product detail page, should I use numeric notation or should the number be spelled out?
Amazon recommends that sellers spell out numbers ranging from 1 - 9 referenced in the listing. If the number is part of a SKU number, Model Number or other product identifier the numeric form should be used.
What character should be used to separate the header section of my bullet point from the body of the bullet point?
It’s recommended that sellers use a colon “:” to separate the header and body portion of the bullet point.
Should bullet points on Amazon.com product detail pages be punctuated?
According to Amazon bullet point requirements sellers should not use punctuation at the end of bullet points. Grammatically the bullet point should be considered a sentence fragment.
Should a space be used in between a digit and a measurement for copywriting on Amazon.com?
Yes. A space should always be used between a digit and measurements like inches, ml, gallons etc. This helps ensure that customers and Amazon can read both the digit and the applicable metrics.
Amazon has removed the display or edited my published bullet point without my permission. What can I do?
Under Amazon’s new bullet point requirement, Amazon.com can directly edit or remove the display of bullet points that they find to be non-compliant with the bullet point requirements. To restore bullet point display, sellers will need to resubmit a new bullet point that is within Amazon’s policy. This can be done through the manual edit menu, inventory file or general seller support casework.
My product has received awards or accreditation that I want to share with Amazon customers. Can I include this information my product detail page bullet points?
Yes, but only if the award of accreditation is validated with proof that can be submitted to the ASIN record and validated by Amazon internally. If this proof is not available, reference award or accreditation can result in bullet point removal by Amazon.
How many bullet points points can I display on the product detail page on Amazon.com?
Sellers are able to submit up to 5 bullet points for display on the product detail page. Some categories allow for the display of more than 5 bullet points.
About the Author - Eric Sutton
Eric is the Operations Manager of Goat Consulting and is thankful for the opportunity to work with and learn from retail brands of varying sizes and categories. Eric recognizes that the Amazon marketplace can be a complex environment where merchandising and distribution can be impacted by a variety of factors and parties. He enjoys helping our clients gain a better understanding of their brand's current position in the marketplace and finding creative ways to implement the client's ideal brand image. If you have a question about updating the content displayed on your product detail page, Eric can help identify what factors may be impacting the publication of the content and provide instruction on how to improve the rate of correct display. If you have any questions or need assistance with improving your brand's image on Amazon, please reach out using the Contact Us form.
Conclusion
Bullet point content is an impactful way to get a product’s unique value across to customers in an increasingly competitive Amazon marketplace. Amazon’s new requirements put an increased emphasis on clear and concise communication. This increased focus on quality over quantity means that Sellers will need to take a more thoughtful approach to bullet point communication and prioritize which aspects of value in the product differentiate the product and are most significant to communicate. Amazon will now take a more direct to remove or edit bullet points they deem non-compliant. This increased involvement means that if brands want to ensure bullet point visibility and that the customer product exploration is as intended by the brand, closer attention will need to be given to Amazon listing restrictions and bullet point requirements. Goat Consulting helps our clients to gain a better understanding of what customers on Amazon are considering and we create impactful listing content loyal to Amazon's best practices and policy. Use the Contact Us button below to start a conversation about how we can improve your brand's merchandising on Amazon.com.