Writing a review? While you can sit down, scream “It sucks,” run your proofreading software and be done with it, good reviews actually take a little more work than that. Most professionals agree that reviews should serve a number of functions in order to be of any real value to those reading them.
Reviews inform. Many readers first learn about a product from reviews. If they already knew about them, then the reviews give them information they won’t otherwise get from news sources and press releases.
Reviews show personality. While a review should focus on the product being discussed, your voice should never be lost along the way. Personality gives your writing soul, a much needed element in the often-lifeless work of reviewing, making readers identify with your opinion, apart from truly engaging their interest.
Reviews help readers decide. People often read reviews to answer one question: Is it worth my hard-earned money? If you review doesn’t answer this, you’ve failed, plain and simple.
Reviews entertain. Your reviews should do more than discuss the product at hand. Equally important is the fact that they should entertain the readers, even momentarily. No matter how detailed your treatment of a subject is, no one’s likely to get past a couple of paragraphs if your writing is boring.
Reviews provide ideas for improvement. Nobody enjoys excessively harsh reviews. That’s because they reek of bile, rather than helpful criticism. Reviews are avenues for identifying something that’s wrong, so use them constructively.
Tags: reviews, writing reviews
