I’ve written 100’s if not 1,000’s of product reviews over a 15 year period and when I examine which ones gave me the best results, it was the ones which followed a specific template that I’ll show you today. I’ll give you the step by step set up and show you how to apply it to any product you wish to review as well.
Now I review products with affiliate marketing intent, meaning I either:
- Do affiliate product reviews.
- Or I review products I don’t promote and in that review pitch the one I am seeking to promote.
Now you might be reading this now as a fellow affiliate marketer, or perhaps you’re a freelance writer hired by a company to do a product review. Whatever the case, the product review template I’ll give you today applies to all circumstances.
Here is how I write a product review (the template):
- Create an awesome title for the review.
- Create a simple rating/overview of the product.
- Introduce people to the product (basic facts on it).
- Create a pros and cons.
- Personalize (do you have experience with it?).
- Create a “who it’s for” and “who it’s not for” section.
- Give the “final rating” for the product.
- Conclude the review (get it or don’t get it).
- Optionally, you can put in the same rating/over of the product at the end like you did in the beginning.
Throughout these 9 points, include imagery that is relevant to the product. For example:
With the pros and cons section, if you use an image that says “pros and cons”, like a notepad image, it’ll be easy for people to understand what the section is about.
In short, this is how the product review template should look:
8 reasons this particular template for a product review works:
1) It gives people with short attention spans a good overview quickly.
2) It keeps the information about the product simple.
3) It gives good, quick to understand bullet points (pros, cons, who it’s for, who it’s not for).
4) It gives people visual stimulation as they read the review so they don’t get bored.
5) It’s an example of what good copywriting looks like.
6) It’s a flexible, easy to replicate template for anyone to use, including beginners.
7) You do NOT need some special program or predesigned template to apply this method. You can literally take a BLANK blog post and use this method to make it profitable. In fact, you have more flexibility with this option vs using some “pre done” templates out there.
8) I’ve used this template on numerous occasions to make six figures. Here are some examples:
- My 1 page product reviews that made me $500,000.
- An $800,000 case study on how I write affiliate product reviews.
- This template is also used to review products I do not own and it works.
- This template also works for YouTube product reviews and you can see my post on how I do affiliate marketing on YouTube without a website for specific proof on this.
Before we move into the details of the product review template, know this:
Be flexible with the template when you get good at it.
You don’t always want to conform to the same exact rules across all of your product reviews, because people who read them and get used to it, will find it boring. You want to mix it up, but keep the overall template in tact in how you structure things.
For instance, if you read certain product and program reviews I’ve written on this website, you will find that the template is generally speaking straight forward and “the same” in one way or another, but different in specifics.
For example:
- My Wealthy Affiliate review.
- My Savage Affiliates review.
- My Elite Affiliate Pro review.
- My Affiliate Lab review.
- My Sam Cart review.
You’ll find the overall product review template shows up in those reviews, but in each review more or less is different and this is because I like to mix it up and not sound like a repeat robot all the time and if you’re just getting started with writing product reviews, use the template I’m giving you today as a starting point, get good at writing product reviews using it, then slowly begin mixing things up based on YOUR tastes.
Now moving forward, what I will do is take a random product I own and review it through the template above, so you can see how it’s applied.
Right now, I’m going to use this template to review a product I own: Hayabusa headgear.
I do martial arts and in this realm, I buy and test different products:
- Boxing gloves.
- Shin guards.
- Headgear.
- Footwear.
- Clothing.
- Ect…
I’m going to take one of the products I own, which is headgear I wear when I spar, the Hayabusa headgear and apply the product review template to actually review it so you see how it’s supposed to look. So let’s begin:
1) Create an awesome title (this is the hook):
Hayabusa Headgear Review. How it Saved me From Being Knocked Out.
This type of title tells a story, which for most readers is: I got into a fight wearing this and something happened, but this product saved me. So anyone thinking about buying this already wants to know what happened and how well it worked.
2) Make a simple rating/over of the product:
Something like this is usually more than enough to suffice:
Name: Hayabusa Headgear.
Price: $99
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
Rating of reviewers: 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommended? Yes! It saved me from a potential knockout and I’ll tell you what happened, what went down and why I’m going to continue using this headgear anytime I expect to hard spar again.
Either way, this is awesome headgear I am happily going to keep using!
This is a simple, yet effective “30,000 foot overview” of the product review and it keeps that attention for a least a few more seconds to get readers through to the next part of the template.
3) Create a short introduction to the product (state the facts):
If you have a personal story to include here, this is where you’ll tease it. I cannot stress how important personalization is for product reviews and it’s really what takes a lot of people over that edge to feeling “meh” about your reviews to “loving them”.
The emotional effect makes a huge difference. So here’s a simple example:
A quick review of the Hayabusa Headgear:
Concussions and head injuries are unfortunately an occupational hazard when sparring or fighting, so above all else, protecting your noggin is a must and the right headgear does just that.
This brings me to the Hayabusa Headgear, something I invested in to protect myself from head injuries and let me tell you.
The reason I got it wasn’t just because of the protection, but the popularity and reputation this company has. This headgear is used by serious athletes so if they’re using it, I know it’s going to work for me and I have a personal story to share regarding that shortly.
4) Pros and cons (should be used in 99% of all product reviews you write):
Pros:
- Hayabusa is one of the most trusted brands in this field.
- It literally saved me from a knockout.
- Reduces impact damage by a lot (add a % if it’s factual).
- Improves longevity because you get injured less.
- Reduces likelihood of concussions.
- Reduces likelihood of brain injuries.
Cons:
- Very tight feel when worn (that’s why it protects).
- Takes time to get used to.
- Tough to control breathing when wearing.
These are VERY simple bullet points of pros and cons and they’re honest. I am using them because they reflect my research and experience, so there’s a combination of facts and personal evidence to support those pros and cons. This is what makes your product review stand out well.
5) Personalize if possible (show proof the product is good):
Personal evidence of how good a product is important in the template. It’s optional but if you have that experience, absolutely use it. If you have a picture of yourself with the product, definitely use it!
In this case, I’d say something like:
How the Hayabusa Headgear saved me from getting knocked out:
This is where I’d tell the story of how long I’ve done martial arts, and then a story about some sparring I did and the hard hits I took to the head, something that would have most certainly put me on the floor, had the headgear not been there.
Let people know through your story that this product WORKED for you. Details here are also important as is EMOTION, so if you can channel what went down in this section of the product review template in words, do it.
Be very detailed but keep the paragraphs short so people don’t get tired of reading.
6) Make a “who it’s for” and “who it’s not for” list:
This is very similar to pros and cons, but this is where you basically isolate certain niche audiences who would like the product. Notice the image of the finger pointing. This is basically a message that says “This is for you”. So use this type of imagery too.
In my case, I’m reviewing headgear that different kinds of people are thinking of wearing and if I classify that it’s GREAT for fighters, but neglect to mention other audiences who would like to try them, it might make them feel left out, so include them. Things like:
Who it’s for:
- Martial artists of all levels.
- Fighters of all levels.
- Anyone worried about head injuries.
- Anyone who spars hard.
- Anyone who has ever had a concussion.
Who is not for:
- People who don’t practice full contact martial arts.
- People who know how to go super light in sparring.
- People who don’t like the “squeezing” sensation this headgear elicits.
This list is totally fine and enough for this section.
7) Give that final score or rating:
4 stars out of 5.
I love the product and thanks to it, I’m actually writing this review without mumbling my words, but I wish it didn’t squeeze my head so much. But I do know that is a necessary con to protect my head and that is something I can get used to.
8) Conclude the review (get it or don’t get it).
If the product is a good one, this is where you probably would want to provide a link to get it, especially if you like the product. One thing I’d say in my particular review is:
Overall, if you are already in a situation where you’re sparring hard, expecting to or just want to keep this product handy in case that day ever comes, I highly recommend you get the Hayabusa Headgear for that purpose.
It will absolutely keep you SAFER from head shots than if you didn’t wear it and considering how good of a brand and product this is, you know it already works for the tons of other people who use it, and you can be certain it’ll work for you.
9) You can finalize the product review template by putting the same overall rating again:
All you really do here is literally repeat the same thing you put in the front summary underneath the title. You basically reiterate why you gave the product that rating.
And that’s it, that’s your product review template. Here’s what happens next:
You might be a in a few situations if you’re reading this now:
1) Perhaps you’re an affiliate marketer with a blog seeking to write reviews, rank them, get traffic to them and make sales. In this case, you have a good starting template to use and reuse for other product reviews you write.
2) You may be a freelance writer who someone hired. In this case, such a template will be fine for most employers to be happy with what you wrote and again, it’s based on good copywriting skills so you’ll likely be rehired for future gigs.
3) You may be just starting out in all of this and wanting to make money from the reviews you write, and so what I recommend you do is get training from Wealthy Affiliate to do this, because you will get the necessary things to make this work.
4) I can also personally coach you within Wealthy Affiliate to get results writing product reviews and building a real online business and that link I included will explain how that works!
Anyway, thank you for reading this product review and Happy New Year to everyone who noticed I wrote this on January 1st, 2021!
Great information. I see you are part of Wealthy Affiliate. I was once part of it but run out of money to continue. It would be good to show how to create seed money to pay for all of this. Then there will be enough money being made to continue.
Hi Alexander. Wealthy Affiliate has a Starter Membership for $0 people can try, but aside from that, there is a $49/month upgrade available which I think is very affordable given the value that is offered in return. The Starter Membership is not really enough to make money online since the training is basically that: For Starters. I would never recommend anyone sign up with a program they cannot afford to stay in, but if you are able to and change your mind about Wealthy Affiliate, we’d be happy to have you back 🙂