How to Write an Online Review (This is How to Write a Good Review for a Business)
July 25, 2018
Want to get your voice heard, help businesses improve their services, and advise fellow consumers? You can do it by writing online reviews that are balanced and specific.
At Marketing 360®, we usually create content intended for business owners. In this post, we’d like to address their customers.
Consumers today wield a new level of power. The internet offers personal publishing tools that give everyone a way to share their experiences and opinions.
Among the most influential of these is the online review. Today Google, Facebook, Amazon, Top Rated Local, Yelp, and other industry specific review sites host content that has a strong influence on purchase decisions. It’s powerful marketing material, but none of it is created by the businesses themselves.
It’s created by you and me: consumers. We buy a product or hire a service, then we experience it first hand. That experience is what others want to know about. They trust our viewpoint to be unbiased and genuine.
It’s well-founded trust. Most of us have no vested interest one way or the other in either bashing or praising a business or product. Our reviews are honest and heartfelt.
But this doesn’t always translate into a useful critique. It can actually turn out to be just the opposite.
Everybody’s a Critic
In the past, critics were trained journalists with a refined, well-honed writing voice. Review articles were put through a strict editorial process.
Today, anybody can review a business. But there is no training or editorial process. It’s literally word of mouth published online. So, it’s not uncommon to see reviews for the same business, right next to each other, like these restaurant reviews:
Some people loved it, some people hated it. The sides are bland…but the corn fritters are amazing.
Taken together, these reviews aren’t really telling me anything.
We are in danger of turning consumer created online reviews into a wash. The experiences being relayed are too subjective. We get a lot about how people feel, but not enough of what they really think.
We, the consumers, need to do better.
The Balanced Approach
One thing professional critics and communicators know is that there is never just one side to an argument. The worst thing you can do is box yourself into a one-sided opinion that fails to acknowledge other legitimate viewpoints.
But you’ve experienced a service where things really didn’t go well…
…and you’re feeling wronged. The service sucked. You were worse than disrespected – you were ignored.
You’d like your money back. This rude, weak, lousy experience will not stand.
An online review “ripping them a new one” is in order.
Now comes one of the most useless online reviews: the rant.
The thing is this review is not just useless for other consumers or for the business itself, it’s useless for the writer. Think about it. The more spite you pour into the review, the worse you feel. You’re just reliving what made you unhappy, and – in the back of your mind – you know the person who reads is going to feel lousy as well.
When a review is filled with spite, everyone who reads it knows a one-sided, subjective viewpoint being presented.
Is this going to create the change you’d like to see happen?
Here is a different tact. Instead of going into a rant, start out in the most positive tone you can. Let the business know you trust them, you like the look of their offering, you initially really enjoyed the experience. Build bridges instead of burning them.
Then, in a calm, professional voice, explain the issue. Be clear and specific, using the voice of constructive criticism. Here is a pretty well-balanced (but basically negative) review of a bike shop:
Instead of going into a rant about how wronged he felt, this reviewer stated a specific problem and offered an idea on how the service could be improved.
When was the last time you really listened to somebody with a negative, narrow viewpoint? Do you respect the opinions of whiners? If you want your review to be useful for other consumers (if not, why are you writing it?), then make a balanced argument.
What Was So Great?
Another common type of review has the empty enjoyment of cotton candy. They often go something like this:
It’s helpful to see the star rating, and nice to know someone likes the place, but this review is so short on details and ambivalent that it’s useless.
If you are going to take the time to review a business, be specific about it. Help other consumers make an informed choice. Give the business detailed feedback that helps them improve.
This reviewer was clear about what she liked, including pictures (of the food, not the waiters)
This is a review that shows the customer had a good time, liked the staff, and enjoyed the food. It’s not structured like critic’s magazine article, but it’s worth my time to read.
Review Power
The consumer public has a lot of power with online reviews. We affect how well businesses do. More than a few businesses have gone under because of poor review profiles.
It’s our responsibility to be honest, detailed, and balanced. To explain grievances in a clear, useful way.
Let’s give the readers (businesses and other consumers) the benefit of the doubt – if you had a bad experience and your feelings were hurt, we get it. You can leave that part out. Fuming over how a waiter ignored you or claiming a contractor ruined your life makes you seem petty and hypersensitive:
If you loved a place, tell us why. If you had a less than satisfactory experience, start with “I have a suggestion…” instead of “Horrible experience…”.
Online reviews can continue to help us make the right buying decisions, or they can become more empty content flooding the internet.