Beyond your Amazon reviews, your copy makes an enormous difference to your sales. What you say in your bullets determines who is going to buy. The fit of your buyer with your products determines your reviews. Your reviews determine who else will buy.
It's a scary cycle which can be destroyed with poor copy.
The primary danger is trying to sell to everyone. Everybody is not a good fit. It will mean more returns and unhappy people.
Quick Example:
We wrote an Amazon piece for a pair of ballet flat slippers. The most similar products had mediocre reviews because people kept complaining that one side of the elastic band which holds it to the ballerina's foot wasn't stitched.
"Defect. Wasn't finished. Waste of time."
"Their quality control stinks. Had to sew my daughter's slipper myself."
Ballet shoes need to be perfectly fitted. Every person's arches are different. Which means that for the best fit, hand stitching the elastic band is important. Many ballet flats come that way. Virtually all the high end ones do.
Yet this detail was barely mentioned, buried in the body of the product description. Which, let's be honest, most people don't read. They read the bullet points.
So how do you overcome these horrible reviews because today's consumer skims the bullet points then clicks buy? Amazing copy.
The First Step to Amazon Copy
The research will be the part you spend the most time on. Good copy is impossible without good research. I don't care that Pixar tells you nothing is impossible. Without research you are throwing darts blindfolded wearing ski gloves. Maybe you'll hit what people want. But the odds are slim. You might as well put your marketing budget on craps tables in Vegas.
Step 1: Keywords
Keywords are just as important on Amazon as they are on Google. You do keyword optimization on your website. (I hope.) It's easier on Amazon. You need to weave the terms that people search for into your copy.
This is where the product description is your friend. Is it's an excellent place to stick all your keywords you cannot blend into the bullet points. Keep everything natural. When you have mistakes in English, your credibility suffers to American buyers.
You need a keyword tool. Personally, I like to use Scientific Seller. It does everything in the US for free. Other countries you have to pay for.
The first thing I do is set that running. It get it's own minimized window while I start the other research. I let it run for a few hours. Beyond 3 or 4 I find it doesn't pull up anything useful. Just let it run in the background while you do start on your research.
Step 2: Read reviews of your competing products on Amazon
Take note of the pros and cons you see over and over again. For the complaints is it a problem with the product or the copy? Make sure to mark the most prevalent ones. Especially if you can fix the problem with better copy.
Take note of the words people use repeatedly. For our ballet shoe example most of the comments were talking about their daughter or granddaughter. So when you write the copy, don't talk about how comfortable the shoe will feel to your customer. Talk about how her daughter will want to wear her ballet shoes everywhere. Even practice more which could result in getting one of the lead roles in the next production. (Who doesn't want to see their daughter as Clara instead of the chorus line the next time the studio puts on The Nutcracker?)
Step 3: Research. Then do more research
Read the medical journals, the trade magazines, the Twitter logs of professionals. Find blogs reviewing different competing products.
Look at what the professionals use and relate that to your product. It allows you to borrow credibility.
After you see all these other products, you should get sense of what people and professionals prefer. How do those preferences relate to your product. Are you competitors taking advantage of these? If they aren't, take swift advantage after briefly considering if it's a mistake or intentional.
Product research is one of your competitive advantages in writing Amazon copy. As a long time Amazon shopper, I've seen hundreds of products that just spew whatever nonsense is on the packaging. Which works well for trusted names with good branding. It stinks for re-sellers who buy in bulk from Alibaba then resell on Amazon with a 10x+ markup.
If you put in the extra hour or two to figure this out, you can hit all the buying points your competitors miss out of sheer laziness.
Step 4: Getting the title right
You have two options for titles. Traditional copy with the main benefit to your customer or an unreadable list of specs.
I recommend the first one. You customer will know what they're getting from your product. The latter used help with searches, but Amazon has started discouraging blocks of texts. For example if you look up a laptop charger, there is a good chance you will find a block-o-text title listing every type of computer it's compatible with.
If you decide on a readable title, look at your list of what customers say they really like about a product. Is it comfortable? Does it have a long battery life? What do people actually care about in your product? Focus the title around that.
Use the keyword search data to decide what needs to be in the title. Add those words to your focus point.
Now make a list of 25 title options using the words and points above. Set that aside to review after you've slept on it.
Step 5: The bullet points and the body
This is a similar process to the title. Take the top 5 most prevalent complaints, loves, and searches. Compile into a list what is important. If it's a technical thing, make sure to have the tech specs as a point.
Look at your list of complaints? Spin that into a good thing or a sentence that says, "My product does NOT do this really annoying thing." Don't actually come out and say this, but have the concept occur to the prospect. Competitor bashing doesn't win customers. (Unless it's hilarious and on Twitter.)
You should have a good feel for your customers by now. Pick the 5 most important things they need to know about your product and use those as the bullet points.
Everything else can go into the product description.
Make sure to list your warranty in your product description. People LOVE knowing that the company will take care of them even after they purchase. They will also comment on your customer service in the reviews.
Step 5b (Optional): Get all your marketing materials in the descriptions.
I'm starting to see the same sort of materials I would see on a box or the company website in the Product Description section. It's fantastic.
Rather than a 3 paragraph product description, companies are adding pictures and helpful info.
As a personal example, I was looking for a beginner's hydroponics kit. I ended up buying this one because the product information was helpful with questions I didn't realize I had*. Plus the product comparison helped decide which of the offered products to start with. As a complete newbie to the hobby, this section helped me understand what I was getting into. (Other reasons also factored in like price of nutrient and pod refills.)
So if you already have a website with beautiful copy. Don't be afraid to use it here!
Step 6: Stick around and answer questions
I bought a water bottle today with 25 questions on their Amazon page. 25 questions about a large metal container that holds water (and supposedly keeps it ice cold for over a day.)
I liked that many of the questions were answered by the seller. Because people don't know what they're talking about when they get an email from Amazon asking them to answer a question about something they just bought. They're not experts. They've just used the thing anywhere from a few days to a few years.
The seller can give solid, reassuring answers to prospects. Further cementing in their minds that you will indeed take care of them after they purchase.
Step 7: Put a nice note in the box
Something I bought a year or so ago came with a nice note in the box. The gist was, "Thank you so much for buying our product. We're a family run business. Please send us an email at this address for absolutely any reason. It would mean a lot to us if you would leave a review on Amazon. Here are instructions on how to do that."
I could just see a nice middle-aged lady who made cookies for the new neighbors that morning writing that. That's probably not the case, but it's the impression I got from the letter. Brilliant. Who doesn't like supporting family run businesses? Who doesn't like getting that extra little assurance that the manufacturer wants to take care of them? It was wonderful.
Sure, you could send stickers instead. They'll go straight in the trash can. But you'll get more bonus points if you can convince people you care.
Final Thoughts on Writing Copy for Amazon
Take your time. Our process is spread over 3 days. Day 1 is research and notes. Day 2 is drafting. Day 3 is editing and finalization. Giving yourself time to sleep on it helps prevent crazy ideas from slipping in. Copywriting is about what works. Trying new things is great for innovation in the field, but making money for your client/yourself is more important.
TL;DR Do tons research before stringing a bunch of words together. You'll learn more about the product than the features and benefits. In turn this will enable you to provide more compelling sales points than your competition. You can compete on quality and not price, get good reviews, and make more money in the end.
*Miracle Grow did not pay me for this nor do I have an affiliate account with Amazon. I just thought they did a particularly good job with their copy and their product.