Based on a survey of online customers, it’s understood that 83% of buyers are influenced by product reviews, and about 70% actually look for product reviews before making their purchase decision. So how do you write the kind of product review that’ll influence thousands of buyers to hit the ‘Buy’ button? Begin your journey with our 15 tips.

1. Define The Ideal Buyer

Mention clearly who the product is for; allow the reader be able to assess if the product is right for him, her or a person that he or she knows. The idea behind this is to make sure that the right people buy the product.

2. Understand What The Product Does

Download or purchase the product and use it till you know it really well. Writing a product review based on other people’s impressions will not make you an authority as far as the product goes. Make sure you demonstrate your in-depth knowledge to your readers; this will both impress them and influence their decisions.

3. Provide A Detailed Product Description

Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer and read your product description. Would you be willing to buy the product based on what you’ve written? Add everything you would want as a buyer – complete features, tech specs, warranty and so on.

4. Get More Usage Details

Scour discussion forums, Yahoo! Answers and other sites for more information. The more you read of people’s opinions of the product, the better your own understanding will be. Plus, you’ll be able to provide an honest-to-goodness look at the product, knowing well that your readers will look up the same info sources.

5. Demonstrate That You Have Used The Product

Prove that you’ve either directly used the product or have personally reviewed what it does based on your research. So many product reviews are paid for by product companies that customers are getting wary. Take a picture of you holding the product, if possible, or provide extensive details that are not found elsewhere.

6. Give An Unprejudiced View Of The Facts

Even if you are writing the review for money, don’t be influenced by anything other than the need to serve your audience to the best of your ability. Only by being completely objective and unprejudiced you can win your reader’s trust.

7. Be Clear About The Purchase Outcome

Let the reader know clearly what to expect from the product. There’s no need to wax eloquent, promising the skies and the seas. Is the post-sales service good, average or just plain horrible? Let the reader know – product is great but service is not.

8. Point Out What Doesn’t Work Well

While specifying the positives, it’s good practice to let users know in what areas the product doesn’t really do that well. Don’t hold it back. It’s not up to you to influence buyer’s decision – it’s your job to inform the buyer, that’s all.

9. Write With Both New User And Expert Perspectives

Some of your readers may not know the product at all and some might be expert users, wanting to know what you think of it. Introduce each functionality from a new user’s point of view, but include enough technicalities and detail to interest the expert user as well.

10. Don’t Regurgitate PR Text

Any PR text you have from the manufacturer is strictly for reference only. Other than tech specs, nothing else should find its way into your review. That’s a sure fire way to lose reader trust.

11. Add Your Personal Opinion

Don’t forget to personalize the review. Add a few lines about your personal experience with it, what impressed you, what didn’t and the things you would do to improve or update the product. This sort of detail helps your reader to relate to the overall review and feel as though they’ve already purchased it.

12. Talk To The Manufacturer

Get some direct feedback from the manufacturer. Let them know you’re doing an unbiased review and you’d like their take on their offering, future updates, what to look out for, any special offers, issues and workarounds and so on.

13. Don’t Forget To Visually Represent The Product

An image or a video of the product and how it works will add a great deal of visual interest to the reader. No matter how cleverly you describe what the product does or how it looks, your words cannot replace the impact a picture can offer.

14. Write A Concise Product Summary

Summarize the entire review, minus the tech specs into a concise summary. Remember not everyone wants to read the entire review, unless they plan to purchase immediately.

15. Provide a Call-to-Action

Whether you want your reader to directly order, or download the product, or read more reviews – put it in your end of review call to action. Review the page to which your call to action takes your reader and explain what to do there.

Aruna Ram writes for Invesp – a conversion rate optimization company helping online business in improving conversion rate of their campaigns.

Bob Knorpp
Bio: Host of The BeanCast / Host of Ad Age Outlook (d. 2011) / Host of a few germs / Guest in your feed
@TheBeanCast

Jay Baer
Hype-free social media strategist & keynote speaker. Tequila guy. Co-author of The NOW Revolution. I write the http://convinceandconvert.com blog.
@jaybaer

Jason Falls
Jason Falls thinks a lot. And shares. Sometimes it’s useful even.
@JasonFalls

Jonathan Salem Baskin
I’m interested in history, people, marketing, art, and learning new things about even the oldest truths.
@jonathansalems

Scott Stratten
Author, Speaker and kind of a big deal on a fairly irrelevant soc media site which inflates my self-importance.
@unmarketing

Natalie Zmuda
Reporter at Advertising Age. Talk to me about retail, fashion, beverages and advertising.
@nzmuda

Spike Jones
Twitter curmudgeon. Word of Mouth believer. Crazy about my wife. Co-author of Brains on Fire. SVP WOM/Digital at Fleishman-Hillard. These words are mine.
@spikejones

Lois Karen Geller
Ad Agency owner,author of 5 marketing books, keynote speaker, web fanatic and lover of all social media
@loisgeller

Valeria Maltoni
Strategist. I work with brands to identify the right marketing executions; enroll/build influence; go from buyers to customers. http://bit.ly/bestrategic
@ConversationAge

Lee Odden
CEO @TopRank sharing online marketing insights on Social SEO, Content Marketing & PR topics. Proud dad, world traveler & foodie.
@leeodden

Christopher Penn
Director of Inbound Marketing, ninja, PodCamp cofounder, Marketing Over Coffee cohost, speaker, author, USF marketing professor.
@cspenn

Mitch Joel
President of Twist Image. Blogger and Podcaster of Six Pixels of Separation. Marketer. Speaker. Author. Journalist. Marketing Reformer. Media Hacker.
@mitchjoel

Jeff Cutler
Content specialist, social media journalist, conference & event speaker, iRoadTrip pro, technology journalist, traveler, foodie, co-host of NomX3.
@JeffCutler

Steve Garfield
Author: Get Seen, Online Video Secrets / Founder: Boston Media Makers / Investor / Host: SteveGarfield.tv
@stevegarfield

Sally Hogshead
I make you more fascinating. I’m the author of FASCINATE, keynote speaker and creator of www.HowToFascinate.com. All tweets served w/ tangy slap of inspiration.
@SallyHogshead

Len Kendall
Expert at NOTHING. Director, Digital @GolinHarris. CoFounded @the3six5 project. CoFounded @HeyGisto. The internet is my box of LEGO blocks.
@LenKendall

Steve Hall
I’m all about advertising. I publish @adrants, founded the social network AdGabber, contribute to the ad:tech blog and Playboy’s The Smoking Jacket.
@stevehall

Peter Shankman
Me: Consulting, angel investing, speaking, @Vocus Small Biz Evangelist. HARO Founder. Ironman. Skydiver. Told I’m knowledgeable about social media.
@petershankman

Joseph Jaffe
Jaffe Juice. Jaffe Juice TV. Flip the Funnel. Join the Conversation. Life after the 30-second spot.
@jaffejuice

Jonah Bloom
Words, pictures, maps, books, Mets, Jets, Spurs, dogs, stats, trees, bees, etc.
@jonahbloom

John Wall
I’m a business guy, photographer, husband, dog owner, and co-host of Marketing Over Coffee.
@johnjwall

C.C. Chapman
Professional Creative working on inspiring the world. Author, Content Rules. Founder, Digital Dads. Consultant, Speaker and lover of life.
@cc_chapman

Duane Forrester
Manages Bing Webmaster Tools. Author of How To Make Money With Your Blog & Turn Clicks Into Customers, conference speaker and dog guy.
@DuaneForrester

Greg Verdino
micromarketing author. speaker. strategist. thinking hard about the future. long islander. father. the lesser half of gremanda. not necessarily in that order.
@gregverdino

Chris Brogan
President, Human Business Works. More? http://bit.ly/cbbio . contact: http://chrisbrogan.com/contact
@chrisbrogan

Brian Morrissey
Editor in Chief at Digiday, marathon runner, cheeseburger connoisseur
@bmorrissey

Ben Kunz
Director of Strategic Planning, sometimes wishful thinking, at ad planning shop Mediassociates.com. Moonlights as tech columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek.
@benkunz

Aaron Strout
Head of location based marketing WCG | dedicated dad/husband | co-author, Location Based Marketing for Dummies: http://amzn.to/lbm4d | #Movember champion
@AaronStrout

Bill Green
I have these thoughts… in my head. I also speak them here: advervecast.com
@mtlb

You can also follow the Twitter list created by The Beancast at: http://twitter.com/TheBeanCast/beancastguests/members

Steve Jobs introduces the Think Different advertising campaign and explains Apple’s philosophy on marketing.

• “To me marketing is about values”.
• It’s a very complicated and noisy world and we don’t have a chance to get people to remember much about us.
• We have to be really clear about what we want people to know about us.
• “Even a great brand needs investment and caring if it’s going to retain its relevance and vitality”.
• The dairy industry has tried to convince us that milk was good for us for 20 years and sales have fell. Then they did the “Got Milk” campaign and sales increased.
• Nike never talks about their product in their ads, they honor great athletes and great athletics, that is who they are and what they are about.
• Our customers want to know who we are and what we stand for.
• We aren’t about making boxes to help people get their jobs done.
• “Our core value is we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better”.
• Markets may change, but values shouldn’t change.

Here is a better quality version of the Think Different ad.

Here is a great version of the ad by Apple that honors Steve Jobs.

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” -Steve Jobs

“Getting someone, who has a need, to know, like and trust you.” -John Jantsch

“Make big promises; overdeliver.” -Seth Godin

“The profitable getting and keeping of good customers.” -Jeffery J. Fox How to Become a Marketing Superstar

“Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in goods or services.” -Wikipedia

“Marketing is the process of anticipating, managing, and satisfying the demand for products, services, and ideas.” -Wharton Business School

“The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.” -Peter Drucker

“The purpose of marketing is to create and keep customers while making selling superfluous.” -Tom Asacker

Ads are not cool

One of the early disagreements between Mark and Eduardo involved a differing of opinions over monetization of the site. Mark was strongly against putting ads on the site while Eduardo thought it was needed to bring in money. Mark said that one of the reasons that the site was a success was because it was cool, and worried that if people starting seeing ads it would make it uncool.

Marketing Lesson: Many people dislike ads and perceive them as annoying or uncool. If you are marketing to an audience that has a strong dislike of ads, then it may be more effective to reach them through other marketing channels.

Use key influencers to spread your idea

After Mark made the Facebook site live, he convinced Eduardo to give him the email list of the Phoenix S K Club, an exclusive club on campus. The site went viral and quickly gained a large number of users at Harvard.

Marketing Lesson: Reach out to well-connected people who are likely to talk about you.

Build word of mouth into the product

Facebook provided students at Harvard with a way to view pictures and profiles of the opposite sex, which was very valuable in improving their dating status. Since Facebook served a very important need for college students, users were likely to share this with their friends.

Marketing Lesson: Products that can improve your social status will encourage natural word of mouth

Make your product exclusive

When the Winklevoss twins first told Mark about their idea for a Harvard social site, Mark asked how it was different from MySpace or Friendster. They said it differed from other social networks because users needed a Harvard email address. Mark instantly saw the value in exclusivity as he was obsessed with gaining entry into the exclusive Final Clubs at Harvard which he believed would lead to a better life.

Marketing Lesson: Exclusivity can increase the perceived value of a product as we tend to value things that are difficult to attain.

Cool Marketing Stuff is partnering with UPrinting.com to giveaway 250 business cards with free shipping (in the US) to the two individuals who leave the best comment in response to the following question:

What is the best marketing career advice you have ever received?

I’ll choose the best two comments by September 25th, 2010 and contact you.

You can learn more about UPrinting.com’s creative business cards here.

Giveaway Details:
250 Die-Cut Business Cards for Two (2) Winners
2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card)
Die cutting options available: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded One-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle
Paper Type: 14pt Cardstock Gloss, Matte, or High Gloss; 13pt Cardstock Uncoated
Color: 4Color Front, Blank Back; 4Color Front, Black Back; 4Color Both Sides
Limited to US residents only 18 years old and above

CMOs

Barry Judge
BestBuyCMO
Bio: Avid traveler, reader, sports enthusiast and like to eat out.
CMO of Bestbuy

Jeffrey Hayzlet
JeffreyHayzlett
Bio: Author, Change Agent, South Dakotan, and sometimes Cowboy.
Former CMO of Kodak

Rod Brooks
NW_Mktg_Guy
Bio: CMO for PEMCO Insurance. President-elect for WOMMA. Board member of WA. DECA. Dedicated WSU Cougar. Blended family man and grandfather. Student of Social Media.

Marketing Authors:

Andy Sernovitz
sernovitz
Bio: The Word of Mouth Marketing Guy
Author of Word of Mouth Marketing

Bob Gilbreath
mktgwithmeaning
Bio: My mission is to help you create marketing that people choose to engage with, and advertising that itself improves people’s lives

Brian Halligan
bhalligan
Bio: CEO of @HubSpot; Author of Inbound Marketing book

Chris Brogan
chrisbrogan
Bio: President, New Marketing Labs.
Co-Author of Trust Agents

Dave Evans
evansdave
Bio: Social Media enthusiast and author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day.

David Meerman Scott
dmscott
Bio: Marketing strategist, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, now published in 25 languages.

Jackie Huba
jackiehuba
Bio: Co-author, Creating Customer Evangelists, Citizen Marketers, Church of the Customer blog. Principal, Ant’s Eye View. Pittsburgh Steelers fanatic.

Greg Verdino
gregverdino
Bio: strategy vp at powered. micromarketing author. social media whatever. long islander. father. the lesser half of gremanda. not necessarily in that order.

Joseph Jaffe
jaffejuice
Bio: Powered. Jaffe Juice. Jaffe Juice TV. Flip the Funnel. Join the Conversation. Life after the 30-second spot.

John Moore
BrandAutopsy
Bio: As a marketingologist, I give companies “Second Opinions” about the business and marketing activities they are currently doing or considering doing.
Author of Tribal Knowledge

Josh Bernoff
jbernoff
Bio: Coauthor of Groundswell, Forrester analyst

Laura Ries
lauraries
Bio: marketing and branding strategist, bestselling author, blogger, speaker and media personality

Maria Ross
redslice
Bio: Brand & marketing consultant, writer, speaker, actress. Engage, inform and delight! Author, Branding Basics for Small Business.

Mitch Joel
mitchjoel
Bio: President of Twist Image. Blogger and Podcaster of Six Pixels of Separation. Speaker, Author, Journalist.

Tom Asacker
tomasacker
Bio: Don’t follow me. Follow your bliss.
Author of A Clear Eye

Podcasters

Matt T. Grant
matttgrant
Host of the Marketing Profs podcast Marketing Smarts and Managing Editor at Marketing Profs.

Brian Martin
BrianFMartin
Host of the Brand Fast Trackers podcast which features great interviews with marketers.

Christopher S. Penn
cspenn
Bio: Blue Sky Factory VP, ninja, PodCamp cofounder, MarketingOverCoffee.com cohost, speaker, USF marketing prof, Warcrafter.

John Wall
johnjwall
Bio: I’m a business guy, photographer, husband, dog owner.

Jay Ehret
themarketingguy
Bio: Creator of small business marketing awesomeness. Social media antagonist. Practitioner, not a theorist.

Mike Volpe
mvolpe
Bio: VP Inbound Marketing @HubSpot + Marketing Speaker – B2B, lead generation, blog, social media, SEO, analytics, golfer, Patriots, Red Sox

Karen Rubin
karenrubin
Bio: Product Owner, HubSpot TV Co-Host, runner, foodie, talker, laugh-o-holic

Bob Knorpp
thebeancast
Bio: Host of The BeanCast Marketing Podcast. Features a panel of smart ad-biz types discussing news and issues.

Agency Marketers

Ben Kunz
benkunz
Bio: Director of Strategic Planning, sometimes wishful thinking, at ad planning shop Mediassociates.com. Moonlights as tech columnist at BusinessWeek.

Frank Adman
FrankAdman
Bio: Ad man. San Francisco, 1963. Purveyor of Fresh, Stimulating Propaganda. Join me for a Twittertini. 2010 Shorty Winner: Best in Advertising.

Kevin Urie
KevinUrie
Bio: Advertising/Marketing Geek @DestMark, Dad, Husband and @SMCseattle Founder

Patrick Byers
patrickbyers
Bio: CEO of Outsource Marketing + Responsible Marketing Evangelist. Speak, write, blog, strategize, name stuff, social media, social good

Simon Mainwaring
simonmainwaring
Bio: Ex-Nike/Wieden creative, former Worldwide Creative Director Motorola/Ogilvy, branding/advertising writer, author/speaker/blogger, Australian, idea geek.

Marketers:

Beth Harte
BethHarte
Bio: Client Srvcs Director, Serengeti Communications. Digs Integrated Marcom. Fan of books, beer, cowgirl boots and brilliance

Bill Green
mtlb
Bio: I have these thoughts… in my head. I also speak them here: advervecast.com

Brian Morrissey
bmorrissey
Bio: Digital Editor at Adweek, marathon runner, cheeseburger connoisseur

Dave Knox
daveknox
Bio: Brand Manager – Digital Innovation at Procter & Gamble Productions, Author HardKnoxLife.com, Connector of people and ideas

Jonah Bloom
jonahbloom
Bio: CEO/Ed-in-chief at Breaking Media, which publishes AboveTheLaw.com, Dealbreaker.com, GoingConcern.com and Fashionista.com. Also a geographer.

Olivier Blanchard
thebrandbuilder
Bio: Business strategist, Brand Management, Marketing & Social Media integration, and harbinger of growth for smart companies.

Stephen Denny
Note_to_CMO
Bio: Marketing + brand strategy consultant, author, blogger, influence strategist living in paradise. Dry suit scuba, tennis, ex-Tokyo expat, husband + dad.

Steve Hall
stevehall
Bio: I’m all about advertising and publish Adrants and AdGabber.

Search Engine Optimization

Lee Odden
leeodden
Bio: CEO @TopRank sharing online marketing insights on Social SEO, Content Marketing & PR topics. Proud dad, world traveler & foodie.

Rand Fishkin
randfish
Bio: CEO & Co-Founder of SEOmoz. I tweet 15-20X each week, mostly insights and articles about startups, search and social.

Vanessa Fox
vanessafox
Bio: I’m fascinated by our evolving online searching culture. Maybe you’d like to buy my book, Marketing in the Age of Google.

Ross Hudgens
rosshudgens
Bio: SEO Manager @ Full Beaker Inc. | Blogger | Scalable Link Building Strategist | Productivity Enthusiast
-Ross provides great SEO commentary and ideas at his blog www.rosshudgens.com

Social Media

Jay Baer
jaybaer
Bio: Hype-free social media strategist and tequila lover. Co-author of http://nowrevolutionbook.com. I write a blog marketers seem to like. Can I help you?

Did I miss any marketers that you think should be on the list? Please leave a comment below.

Anyways, if you are interested in receiving a free copy of this book email me at csipe84(at)gmail.com.

Do We Process Skipped Commercials? Nueromarketing

In this post Roger Dooley discusses research that shows our brains do process fast forwarded commercials. Dooley points out that the group that viewed fast forwarded ads had a recall rate at twice the expected rate. Some advertisers are optimizing commercials for fast forwarding. Fast forwarding can also increase alertness because you are attentive to when your program returns says the author.

I think that our brains can recognize well known brands when they zip by, but the problem is that there is no brand messaging going on. This is about as effective as banner ads. However, when something interesting catches your eye it can get you to watch the commercial because you are actively viewing.

Brand Progression in a Recession Barry Silverstein

Silverstein argues that well established brands that represent both quality and value can actually benefit from a recession. A recession can weed out weaker brands. Trusted store brands can appeal to budget conscious consumers. A recession will force brands to communicate or find their brand soul. “It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.” said Harvard Business School professor John Quelch.

I think spending on marketing during a recession can put you in a dominant position over your competition when the recession ends. Many enduring companies have been born during a market downturn.

Discounting Your Prices Discounts Your Brand Marketing Profs Daily Fix

Paul Williams writes that discounting can erode your long-term margins and your long-term sales. Discounting re-calibrates the perceived value of your product or service. Sales can encourage customers to wait and only buy when there is a sale. Instead of discounting, consider add-on services or products.

This is good advice for avoiding devaluing your brand even when facing difficult time. Companies with regular sales often train customers to only buy during sales.

Image Courtesy of timparkinson