The thing I hate most about product reviews is that doing them is BORING.
I feel boring writing about them. I feel bored reading about them. But I’ve noticed a few bloggers are able to hold my attention when writing reviews. And I’ve noticed they all have something in common.
I’ll admit, even though I’m aware of these tips I’m about to share with you, I’m not always the best at using them. That’s because I feel I have to be in the right frame of mind. I have to be in the zone.
I’m sure you know what I mean.
Some days writing seems hard work. You’re struggling to get the flow and it all feels a bit stale. But then sometimes magic happens.
You feel on top form. It’s easy. You’re cracking all the jokes and the post just seems to write itself.
I try and follow the following during reviews and I wanted to share it to see if there’s some food for thought for you lot.
The title.
I mentioned this in my post 5 reasons I don’t read your blog post last week, but titles are important. So I’m going to mention it again.
It’s tempting to just write something like ‘Benefit They’re Real Review’ in the title.
But that’s boring. You know why? Because there are already about a million reviews about that mascara and I’m pretty confident that yours is not going to be any different than the rest.
Also, I hate that mascara. Don’t use it.
I know it sounds cheesy, but go for the click bait type titles. Yes. I went there. I’m not even sorry.
I once titled a face cream review ‘You won’t believe what happened when I put this on my face!’. I thought it was hilarious. I hope my readers did, too.
You need to title it something that’s going to intrigue. Headlines should always either intrigue or offer a solution to a problem.
- Is this really the best mascara on the market?
- Why I hated They’re Real and I’ll never buy it again.
- This mascara changed my life!
You get my point.
Add a personal touch.
Adding your personal touch to a post is the best way to get people coming back to you. It makes you relatable and we all love being able to relate. It gets your readers to know you and form a relationship with you.
It makes you more likable.
A way I like to do this is to tell a story or an experience relating to a product.
It could be a funny story that happened when you bought it, it could be an experience you’ve had in the past that you can relate to it somehow.
It could be how when you were younger and you didn’t understand how to use that product so did something stupid or embarrassing.
Don’t go into too much detail.
When I read a product review, here are the things I like to know:
- Is it cruelty-free?
- How much is it?
- What does it promise to do?
- Does it work?
It can be tempting to go into a long winded story about how the brand started with the CEO working all hours, being underpaid and then finally making this eco-friendly-vegan-green-all-natural-chemical-free-fair-trade-biodegradable product that saves the lives of 10 kittens every time you buy it.
Because most stories like that are the same.
I sound harsh. I know, but some of you agree with me. I can see it in your eyes.
A sentence or two will do. Anything more and you’re bored.
Although it sometimes is useful to go into detail about the products ingredients, don’t go overboard and keep it simple. Scientific words and plans I’ve never heard of before confuse me and have me scrolling down.
Use the right images.
If it’s a makeup product. PLEASE show me a photo with the product on your face. It’s easy to say a lipstick is lovely but when I can’t see it, I can’t believe it.
I know this isn’t easy for everyone to do as you might feel self-conscious. Don’t worry if you’re worried about dry skin or pores. We’re well aware that we are just bloggers. Regular people. Not air-brushed models you see on makeup adverts. Let us see how it really looks. Come on!
I also find taking the photo with a phone rather than a DSLR makes all those small details and lines, that you don’t want others to see invisible, which is okay for products that don’t focus on improving the skin!
So that’s it for my tips on how to make your reviews stand out. Hope this helps!
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I have to agree with you, most product reviews are so boring and i have a tendency to try and avoid them. I do think that the title is everything on a post. Also, i can not stress the importance of showing me the bloody product on your face! I wanna see how it actually works! why don’t enough people understand this?
This was a great post, Corinne 🙂
Great tips here! I think sometimes the key to this is in choosing what to review in the first place, and knowing what to say no to. If a product has been reviewed a million billion times before and you don’t have anything unique to add then why bother? The story has already been told. And the story is really key, since all blogging is ultimately story telling. There needs to be a story to the product, the ingredients, the packaging, how it fits into your life etc. The fact that a product is new is not enough of a story, since new products are released in their millions every day.
Great tips. I’ve very recently begun trying to spice my reviews up a bit, as I’ve found them both boring to write and boring to read back. I used to focus so much on details about the company, the product etc. Now I focus more on little jokes, funny anecdotes, my own opinions, and only a few lines (the important info, then) about the product/company. I definitely need to work on better titles though. Will be keeping these tips in mind for my next review post! x
I think adding a personal touch is very important as well as using the right images. I never understand it when bloggers use pretty much the same exact photo a few times. At least vary it up and open up the product and change up your angles. Blurry photos and bad props also make me mad.
I love to read the story behind the brand, so tell me about the “eco-friendly-vegan-green-all-natural-chemical-free-fair-trade-biodegradable product that saves the lives of 10 kittens every time you buy it.” I agree with everything else, I want to know details about the product if I’m reading a review and sometimes it’s not very clear if it works or not. I hope I don’t do these mistakes in my reviews.
Yeh, totally makes sense. I find them really boring and avoid!
Fab tips! Apart from They’re Real Mascara, I love it 🙂 x
Thank you so much for this – I also find product reviews SO boring! ! Lauren
I think I’m okay with writing the content but the one that I really struggle with is title. I have no idea how others are so good with catchy or cheeky titles because I struggle ever single damn time. LOL!
Great post – I do have a tendency to give up immediately when I see someone has wrote a review on something (unless I’ve been specifically looking for a review on it!) for the fact that they do tend to be quite boring. The personal touch (and seeing the product ON the person) really does make all the difference!
It is difficult in such a busy space to make a website interesting and different. Great tips and advice Lucy x
I remember your face cream post, and yes it was hilarious lol. These are pretty good tips, and I find you manage to do most of them really well. If your posts were boring I wouldn’t come back, but yours is one of my favorite blogs to read 🙂
Great advice!
great tips! I hate when someone just writes a paragraph on a product, TELL ME MORE. I want to hear what *you* think about it, that’s why I’m reading your blog post. There’s definitely a trend with big bloggers especially doing this and that’s why I don’t read them anymore.
Really helpful thanks Corinne. I love the tips on the title! I’ve bookmarked to help out with my next review.
Your last point is one that bugs me the most! So many reviews with just swatches on hands or not even at all… Like, if it’s a lipstick I want to see what it looks like on your lips! That sounds weird, but you know… Can’t judge it from an arm haha!
The same tips apply when reviewing TV shows – I try to be creative on http://www.oddball.com