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Amazon listing translation: are your translated product listings optimised?

In 2023, for any seller expanding internationally, Amazon is the first port of call. However, in an era where customers expect instant results, sellers want the same. As such, a seller tends to first translate Amazon listings for free, via use of Google Translate or similar machine translation services. Categorically, this is a mistake which will have damaging and lasting consequences on sales. Keep reading to learn why!

Why you need natively translated Amazon product listings

Pause for a moment and consider these two statistics:

1. Amazon currently has over 350 million product listings.
2. In a global consumer survey, 40% will never buy from websites in other languages.

Mix these ingredients and what’s the recipe? It’s buy native! Competition for products and listings on Amazon is fierce, compounded by increasing customer mistrust of content that is not in their mother tongue. If you make your listing native, you boost your competitiveness. Why?

• Natives understand nuances such as irony, humour, and cultural references/taboos.
• Natives know the latest linguistic trends, which is especially important for spoken language (think ‘Alexa’ and optimising voice searches – an important future trend for ecommerce!).
• Natives use the best, idiomatic keyword translations, understand semantically linked words, and can quickly remove irrelevant keywords.

By deploying a native Amazon listing translation strategy, a seller embraces the process known to uptimaz as localisation.

Amazon listing translation: practise localisation to level up performance

Translating Amazon listings is no mean feat. To succeed in a global marketplace, sellers need localisation know-how for their services to reflect fast-changing customer habits. The latter are influenced by contextual nuances, which are driven by cognitive and emotional behaviour. While in-context factors are key to localisation because they are culture-specific, this phenomenon is like double Dutch to machine translation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

Localisation is a human solution to drive competitiveness and will help the seller to stay ahead of the pack. But don’t forget, Amazon is essentially an ecommerce platform, and the standards of the ecommerce industry are rapidly shifting. That’s where optimisation comes into play!

Amazon listing translation: leverage optimisation to maximise performance

Optimisation makes or breaks your ecommerce strategy. This process refers to best-in-class SEO copywriting and to translate Amazon listings, the name of the game is keyword, keyword, keyword! We said it once and we’ll say it again: yes, you need native translations to remain competitive, but you also need SEO expertise to stay relevant.

Simply put, localisation fosters competitiveness while optimisation is a search engine solution to guarantee relevance. Concretely, Amazon listing optimisation is achieved through strategically crafted short tail, long tail and backend keywords which mirror customers’ research practices as well as the search patterns of the Amazon A9 Algorithm. Still with us? Time for some examples!

How to localise and optimise Amazon listing translations

Localising Amazon product listings involves multiple (inter-)cultural concepts. An important example is the five-bullet point section of the Amazon product description. Any product sold to European customers should use at least three bullet points to outline technical benefits with a tone of voice that is objective.

German consumers require four bullet points of technical specifications (including quantified metrics, so metres for Germans vs. feet for English speakers!). The same applied to British audiences, but “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. Post-Brexit, Amazon UK product listings align more with Amazon US. Instead, three to four bullet points state a brand’s goals and values, in a subjective style that will don a turbocharged positive message, e.g., “We’re proud to be the best (…) order today!”. A similar parallel can be drawn with Mexican Spanish which also prefers more direct marketing language (“Compra hoy/¡Cómpralo ya!”) versus the neutral tone used for Castilian Spanish, avoiding such renderings altogether.

To localise Amazon listings, another salient feature is the subtlety between variants of the same language. In English, translating Amazon content can be a headache since an American needs time and help understanding a “sustainable dummy” just as your Brit would struggle with the idea of an “eco-friendly pacifier”. The same principle goes for Spanish, where your Amazon listing may prioritise “cargador eléctrico del coche” for Spaniards, but “cargador eléctrico del carro” for buyers in Ecuador.

In essence, optimising Amazon product listings centres on two techniques. First, nailing those culture-specific long tail keywords. For Brits, this means a search for “organic cotton unisex baby rompers” compared to Americans’ “organic cotton gender neutral baby onesies”. Second is that small task of copywriting… all the more important given how much English copy is functional and poorly written! One example is the standard English phrase “No assembly required” which in French could be optimised to “Pas de montage fastidieux”.

Admittedly, these two processes will help to boost traffic. But we’ll let you in on a little secret: you can take your Amazon listing translation to the next level if you uptimaz! 😉

Scaling up Amazon product listings through uptimaz

To translate Amazon listings, uptimaz provides a seller with two competitive advantages. Number one is our Reverse ASIN search method. This lets us unearth every single one of your competitors’ top-ranking keywords, an approach bolstered by the specific native expertise of our uptimaz-ers. For instance, if your content requires Argentinian Spanish, we’ll tailor our service to words exclusive to Argentina while ironing out any other variants of Spanish.

Number two is our proven track record to deliver an impactful marketing translation of your Amazon A+ content. Our uptimaz-ers receive extensive training on mastering the finer details of Amazon A+. Thanks to our team’s hawk-eye vision, we grasp the more visual aspects of Amazon listing translation, with a keen ability to offer consulting on the localisation of product label specifications, product videos and images: placement, resolution, background, colour and so much more!

Make no bones about it: the topic of this article is vast. It’s also critical to ensuring the long-term future of Amazon SEO. Here at uptimaz, we’re convinced by our dual prowess of human native translator-copywriters and techy search engine trailblazers – all rolled into one! If you enjoyed reading this article, we’d be pleased to talk all things Amazon listing translation.

Image by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

Amazon listing translation agency: how to find the right translator for Amazon product listings

Whether a small business owner or large corporation, your world is online. It’s almost certainly globalised, too! And by globalised, we mean multilingual, which equals translation. Sure, you’re proud of your monolingual Amazon product listings, but that won’t make the grade in today’s market. Why? First, for some key figures.

👉 Fun fact 1: English is not the all-important content solution since only 26% of Internet users are English speakers.

👉 Fun fact 2: The influence of English is rapidly declining as other languages like German and Spanish increase their online visibility.

👉 Fun fact 3: In its survey with 2,430 web consumers in eight countries, CSA Research reported that 56.2% of consumers find native language content more important than pricing.

Essentially, global Amazon sales need quality marketing copy for any listing, produced by professional translators to work with your target market and language. But it’s not that simple as a standard translation just won’t cut the mustard. Drum roll, please, for your Amazon translation specialist! More details incoming!

What are the first steps to translating Amazon product listings?

Your services are exporting, with your Amazon Marketplace expanding, but sellers know customers are pushed for time! In response, sellers use machine translation, thinking hey presto! The long and short of it is NO! Indeed, deep learning has advanced. However, it’s no match for expert Amazon translators. Words translated through Artificial Intelligence (AI) will only make for poor quality, tarnishing Amazon products and undermining the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service.

The uptimaz team recommends a different strategy, with two priorities. Number one: focus on localising rather translating. When you localise, you penetrate languages’ sub-markets, e.g., Spanish > Argentinian, Mexican Spanish, and German > Austrian, Swiss German. By localising, you recognise the meaning of different image associations based on culture.

Number two: because customers are hurried and have search processes influenced by their cultures (consider the French, with their structured Cartesian Method for life), translating Amazon keywords must be top of mind for sellers. uptimaz deploys best-in-class tools not to miss a trick and enjoy a full seed list of keywords. But remember: Helium 10 plays no role in selecting the right translator. That’s uptimaz’s cue! Before deep diving into our service, let’s explore how the best translator will not only localise, but also optimise.

Why native SEO translators are important to Amazon listing optimisation

Sellers often overlook localising, or the ability to mediate between cultures for their specific customer. They figure their half-German or Spanish friend could translate for free, in no time and still deliver on sales! Clever though, this sounds, take it from us: it’s a no-no! An Amazon translation specialist is always a native. Why? Because, once content is translated, they grasp trends in spoken languages (the basis for many an online search nowadays) and the numerous nuances specific to their culture – including what to avoid at all costs (shame Vauxhall didn’t use a native translator when launching their ‘Nova’ car in Spain all those years ago)!

Granted, a classic professional translator will complete the localisation stage, but multilingual Amazon specialists stand out since they also master the language of SEO optimisation. That’s because they work in the fast-growing SEO industry and to find the right Amazon translator to kick start your ecommerce strategy, you need someone who can don the role of on-page SEO expert. 

Ultimately, Amazon product listings are about precision and engagement. SEO translators fulfil both criteria. Precision, since they know long-tail and backend keywords, as previously discussed. And engagement, through an ability to craft impactful translated marketing text in Amazon product descriptions, thereby connecting with the intentions of sellers’ identified customer personae. This is precisely how to optimise your Amazon listing services. Without further ado, it’s time we talked about our platform!

Amazon listing translation agency: learn to uptimaz your ecommerce strategy

Convinced that when it comes to ecommerce, translation alone is not enough, uptimaz combines the described localisation and optimisation services in its quest to champion market product listings for every single keyword. How do we make it happen? Our to-do list features two things: automation and people.

Deploying automation for success

Sellers have their content handy but struggle for time as they search for SEO geeks plus a go-to Amazon translator. uptimaz expedites their offer using its automated platform. Sellers upload their products, and we generate the listings while providing live translation follow-up and chat help as we monitor sales performance. Which brings us to our other Unique Selling Point (USP): our pride and joy – our uptimaz-ers!

Putting people first

We think of our uptimaz-ers as Amazon language specialists for two reasons. First, they were never content as standard translators, always going the extra mile as professional copywriters! Second, they passed uptimaz’s exacting recruitment test, obtaining our personalised Helium 10 certification to become consummate SEO talents. Working in their native pairs on keyword translations for each listing optimisation, our team is inspired by uptimaz’s core value of recognition. Quite simply, if you put in, we put out! This hybrid of automated (SEO, Helium 10) and human (dedicated translators) aspects is what forms the cornerstone of our service success!

How to find the right translation specialist or agency?

To recap, we presented the current trends for sellers across the marketplace:

• The future is multilingual;
• Amazon products require a professional translation;
• First, don’t just translate any list; instead, localise by navigating intercultural differences;
• Then, optimise, by leveraging SEO.

The key to remember is this: zero keyword research plus machine translation, plus bland copy, equals a recipe for Amazon disaster! It’s why you need to don the outfit of a trusted and extensive network of native SEO translators. The current market offers ample agencies with technical SEO knowledge, but do they really have localisation know-how?

If this question strikes a chord, we’d be pleased to share our team advice and help you select the right translator who meets your expectations.

Recent years have seen a dramatic shift in consumer shopping patterns as more people choose to buy online rather than in-store. This has made e-commerce platforms, and in particular Amazon, critical for many small business owners who now increasingly rely on digital sales. However, in order to succeed on Amazon and stand out from the crowd of third-party retailers on the site, it is critical that you have plenty of five-star reviews, as product and seller reviews play a key role in influencing customer decisions. In fact, it is estimated

that 95% of customers read reviews before making a purchase, and as many as 72% of customers won’t take any buying actions until they have read reviews. Additionally, customers deciding between two products with the same rating will often choose the product that has more reviews. This means that if you have products with few, or no, reviews, you are likely missing out on sales and should make obtaining reviews a priority in the coming year. To help get you started as you try to earn more high-quality reviews on your Amazon listings, here is a look at 5 tips to help you get more Amazon reviews.

Make Sure to Provide Excellent Customer Service

One of the easiest ways to help ensure customers leave good reviews is to provide excellent customer service. Any time that you interact with customers is an opportunity to show what sets you apart from other retailers, and whether a customer asks a question about a product, they want a shipping update, or they are looking to return a product, your goal should be to go above and beyond their expectations by providing fast, friendly, and helpful responses. One of the biggest frustrations for customers is Amazon sellers who are slow to respond to questions or do not respond at all. By being attentive you can set yourself apart from the competition, creating happy loyal customers who are more likely to leave positive reviews. Remember, even if a customer returns a product, they can still leave a review based on your customer service, so it is important that you try to be quick and friendly when dealing with all customer queries.

Invest in Product Inserts

For the most part, shoppers are most likely to leave a review soon after purchasing a product, as they are likely to forget as time passes. A great way to remind customers that you would appreciate it if they left a review on Amazon would be to include an insert in their package asking if they would leave a review. This is one of the most popular ways to encourage shoppers to leave product reviews on Amazon, as an eye-catching insert instructing buyers how to leave a review can be an extremely effective tactic to increase the number of reviews you receive. However, in order to ensure that you remain in compliance with Amazon’s guidelines, it is critical that you do not try to solicit positive reviews or offer incentives for customers to leave you a review. Amazon strictly prohibits inserts that ask customers specifically for positive reviews and/or that try to discourage negative reviews by telling customers to contact them instead. You must remain neutral and simply encourage customers to leave reviews of any kind.

Send Personalized Review Request Emails

Another easy way to increase the number of reviews you receive is to simply ask customers to leave you a review. In fact, as many as 77% of
shoppers surveyed said that they are happy to leave a product review if a business asks them to. Of course, by default, Amazon sends a generic, automated email asking customers to leave a review after they have received a product. However, these emails lack personality, and shoppers often ignore them. Instead of relying on these automatic emails or Amazon’s “request a review” button, you are much more likely to solicit reviews if you send out your own personalized follow-up emails to customers. Sending a unique email that includes the customer’s name in the subject line and email copy is more likely to be successful than Amazon’s generic email template, as shoppers are more likely to be influenced to leave a review if an email feels personal. You may find it helpful to let the customer know in the email that you appreciate their business and why it would be helpful if they left a review.

Enroll in Amazon Vine

As you are likely aware, Amazon now prohibits exchanging free products for reviews. However, there is one exception to this rule, and that is their Amazon Vine programme. This programme is only available to sellers who have fewer than 30 reviews, and it is meant to help newly registered sellers receive reviews faster. With Amazon Vine, a seller submits 30 units of inventory for review, which are then shipped to specially selected Vine reviewers for free. Vine reviewers do not have to pay for the product or shipping and will leave a review shortly after receiving a product. Vine reviewers, known officially as “Vine Voices” are chosen by Amazon based on the helpfulness of their previous reviews. The benefit of Amazon Vine is clear, as you are almost guaranteed to receive 30 detailed, high-quality reviews through this program.

Request Reviews on Social Media

Another great resource for reviews is your current social media following. For the most part, it is likely that your social media followers include a lot of your loyal customers who are well-informed about your brand and love your products. You may then find it beneficial to periodically remind your followers to leave reviews for recent items purchased through Amazon. Remind your followers that you are trying to build a brand, and it would help you if they left honest feedback on your products.

In addition to having reviews, it is also critical that your Amazon listings are optimized for SEO, as this will enhance your chances of acquiring new customers. Feel free to contact us to learn about our product listing optimization and translation services.