When Amazon updated its bullet-point requirements in 2024, most sellers focused on the technical details: capital letters, headers with colons, sentence fragments, no end punctuation, no special characters, and strict limits on what can or cannot be said.
But beneath the formatting rules lies a much bigger shift, one that affects every brand selling on Amazon, from challenger CPG startups to category leaders.
Amazon has effectively redefined what bullet points are.
And in doing so, Amazon has changed where brand voice lives on the PDP.
This article explores why that shift is happening, why bullet points now feel more flat and utilitarian, and how brands can protect (and even strengthen) their voice within the new constraints.
The New Bullet-Point Landscape
Amazon’s updated requirements are clear and inflexible:
- Begin with a capital letter
- Include a header + colon
- Write a sentence fragment
- Use no end punctuation
- Spell out numbers one through nine (unless a measurement)
- Avoid special characters, emojis, and subjective claims
- Avoid brand story, mission, marketing statements, and comparisons
- Provide unique, factual content in each bullet
These rules transform bullet points from short marketing statements into a kind of structured product data field.
Gone are the days when copywriters had a lot of leeway in writing bullets that sound fun, premium, witty, friendly, or personality-forward. Going forward, Amazon expects bullets to read like more clean specification notes.
Why Bullet Points Now Feel Flatter
It is not your imagination. The new bullet format, enforced at the system level, makes expressive writing almost impossible.
Why?
The structure limits expressive language. Sentence fragments + no punctuation + factual headers = no room for rhythm, nuance, or creative flow.
Subjective language is restricted. Words like “luxurious,” “delicious,” “powerful,” “eco-friendly,” or “premium” are now discouraged (or outright prohibited).
Amazon wants uniformity. Amazon’s priorities are clarity, consistency, easy scanning, and a low risk of misleading claims. Personality is not part of that equation!
Claims must be factual and verifiable If it isn’t printed on the packaging, it shouldn’t appear in a bullet. This eliminates many brand voice moments, especially in wellness, food, and household categories.
Amazon is using AI to rewrite bullets. Noncompliant bullets may be edited or overwritten automatically. Amazon warns brands that if their bullets are rewritten by the system, they may “lose brand voice.” But the irony is that the bullet format itself now strips out brand voice by design.
Counterpoint: Why This Isn’t So Bad
As we mentioned above, subjective language is restricted. Instead of a subjective word like “luxurious,” you can still say what makes it luxurious (“600 thread count Egyptian cotton”). Instead of “delicious” you can cover the flavor profile (“BBQ flavor with mild heat”), and so on. You’re still writing for humans and making your product appealing.
Allow us to editorialize for a moment.
While subjective language has its place in copywriting, you shouldn’t be relying heavily on it anyway.
Improvisational theater and advertising copywriting share one common bit of terminology:
“Yes, and?”
Another way of putting it in the world of advertising copywriting is “well, I should expect so!”
If you’re selling a high-end sheet set, of course it’s luxurious. Of course your BBQ chips are delicious!
Amazon wants less fluff, more substance. So, for example:
| Don’t write it like this: | Wrap Yourself in Luxury: Our high-end 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets will make you feel like you’re at an expensive resort hotel |
| Instead, write it like this: | Material and quality: 600 thread count sheets made from long-staple Egyptian cotton for a smooth, durable feel |
| Or, maybe like this: | 600 thread count Egyptian cotton: Long-staple cotton with a smooth, durable finish |
So, this restriction can actually help less-experienced sellers become better, more effective copywriters.
Okay, enough editorializing. Back to the details:
Why Amazon Is Doing This
The shift is part of Amazon’s broader strategy. Bullet points are becoming structured product data. Amazon is increasingly relying on AI-driven classification, structured attributes, consistency across listings, and harmonized product information. Bullets that behave like mini spec sheets are easier for Amazon’s systems to parse.
They’re also doing this to reduce legal and regulatory risk. Categories like supplements, topical products, and food face heightened scrutiny. Amazon wants bullet points to be factual, safe, and free from overpromising.
The more rigid the format, the easier it is for Amazon to standardize data, eliminate exaggeration, and display consistent product data across the site.
So Where Does Brand Voice Go Now?
If bullets can’t carry voice, the PDP still needs a place for tone, personality, and emotional connection.
Fortunately, Amazon has real estate where brands can speak in their own voice (and which you should already be doing anyway):
A+ Content
This is now the strongest place for brand personality, visual identity, storytelling, benefits explained with emotion and style, value propositions, and lifestyle scenarios. In other words, A+ is where the brand comes alive.
Your Brand Story
This “From the Brand” has become the new home for your brand’s origin story, mission, values, philosophy, team, craft, or cultural background.
Image carousel text
Text baked into images is not categorized as structured data. This gives you more freedom to use more expressive copy and layer tone, warmth, and style. But, as always, copy in infographics should be kept to a minimum for ease of readability and absorption.
Video
Voiceover, subtitles, and on-screen text can all carry personality beyond what flat bullets can do.
Your Brand Store
Your Amazon Storefront is still your most flexible brand canvas. It’s the place for immersive visuals, storytelling, category education, lifestyle photography, and expressing your brand’s personality.
The New PDP Strategy for 2025 and Beyond
The modern Amazon content model now looks like this:
| Bullets | Factual, clean, simple, data driven, and brand-neutral. |
| Carousel Images and A+ | Emotional, visual, expressive, and brand-forward. |
| Brand Story | Narrative, human, and mission-driven. |
| Amazon Store | The full brand experience. |
The PDP hasn’t lost brand voice… it’s just redistributed it.
How Brands Should Adapt
To maintain brand voice under the new rules, accept that bullets are no longer a voice channel. Rely on your A+, carousel infographics, Brand Story, and Store. These elements now carry all of the emotional and stylistic weight.
Build a two-part copy system: compliance-driven bullets, and brand-driven narrative elsewhere.
Use visual design to reinforce tone. Color, typography, layout, and imagery can communicate just as strongly as words.
And, standardize a bullet style for your internal teams and partners. At Parker-Lambert, we build client-specific bullet frameworks that balance compliance with clarity.
Final Thoughts
Amazon’s new bullet rules may feel restrictive. That’s because they are. But this shift is part of a larger realignment of how Amazon organizes and displays product information. The important takeaway is this:
Brand voice is not disappearing. It is migrating.
Bullets now serve clarity. Your brand story serves emotion. Your imagery serves inspiration. Your A+ serves persuasion.
The brands that succeed in this next era will treat bullets as structural data, and use every other PDP component to express who they are.
If you need help rewriting bullets, restructuring PDP layouts, or rethinking where your brand voice should live, let’s talk.
