How to Write a Great Review

There’s no one right or wrong way to write a review. But understanding the principles of creating outstanding write-ups will help you stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Here are some proven writing tips and tactics to help you.

Getting the Structure Right

It’s tempting to skip the planning, dive right in and start writing your review. Sure, you’re excited about the product you’ve tested and want to get your opinion in print right away. That’s great...but slow down, please!

Taking a few moments to plan your review will help you in the long run. If you have a clear structure to follow, you will find that the writing part is much easier. So a few minutes spent organizing your review can save you both time and energy.

Here’s a simple framework that will work for most reviews:

Introduction: start with an engaging opening designed to ‘hook’ readers into the review

First impressions: offer insights into your initial reaction when trying this out

What you liked: tell readers what’s great about the product

What you didn’t like: let people know all the downsides

Comparison with similar products: is it better or worse than the competition?

Conclusion: summarize your review and give your recommendation

Keep It Interesting

We’ve already discussed the need to keep your reviews interesting. But how do you actually do that? Don’t worry...it’s not hard. Here are some strategies you can use.

One great way to engage people is to work on your review title. You can use a headline analyzer like this one to test out ideas. Just enter your title and then click ‘Analyze.’

On the next page, you will see how your headline stacks up:

Scroll down the page a little and you will see suggestions for how you can improve.

Make adjustments to your title based on the recommendations and try again. Do this a few times and you will soon have an awesome title that will draw in the maximum number of readers.

Another good tip is to ensure that your review is ‘skimmable.’ We would love all our readers to read every word we write, but the truth is that they often don’t. Many people prefer to skim quickly.

With this in mind, you should write your review so that people can skim and still get value. Keep your paragraphs short and include sub-headings to break up the text.

A Question of Style

More than anything else, your review should be easy to read and digest. So don’t try to write a literary-style review, with lots of complicated phrases and obscure words. You won’t impress anybody.

On the contrary, it’s much better to keep things simple. Here are some pointers to remember:

Be direct in your writing: good writing is clear and concise. Filler words simply take up space and weigh a sentence down. Say exactly what you mean in the most direct way.

Choose your words wisely: there are many ways to write a sentence, and there are different words you can choose to convey the same idea. Always choose the simpler of two words.

Use short sentences: they are more powerful and easier to comprehend. Avoid trying to pack too much into a line.

Stick to one idea per sentence: don’t cram in multiple thoughts, or you will just confuse people.

Use the active voice: it’s the most direct path to making your point.

Use a natural, conversational tone: shape ideas with your original thoughts and voice, and avoid worn out clichés.

Understanding Keywords

Enhancing Your Reviews