How to Write Affiliate Product Reviews & Profit: Ultimate Guide 2021
In this post, we’ll give you a step-by-step guide and the best tips for how to write affiliate product reviews (even if you’re a beginner).
Writing affiliate product reviews is not only one of the best ways to monetize your blog, but also the most effective way to make money with affiliate marketing.
Affiliate product reviews are not only one of the best ways to monetize your blog, but also the most effective way to make money with affiliate marketing. Learn how here. Click To TweetAnd the benefits are not just financial, as we’ll see. No affiliate marketer or blogger who understands the benefits of writing affiliate product reviews wants to miss out on this opportunity to boost his traffic, his authority, and his income.
But how do you write an effective product review for your affiliate website? Anyone can write a product review, but not everyone knows how to write a good one. How do you write a quality product review that builds trust and converts to sales?
That’s what you’ll learn when you read this ultimate guide to writing affiliate product reviews. (This also works for service reviews.)
A. What Affiliate Product Reviews Do: And Why Should You Use Them On Your Blog?
A product review gives someone’s personal perspective and/or experience with a product, telling them what it can do, and whether it’s a good buying choice for them.
There are many reasons why people search online for reviews of products.
Perhaps they heard about it but aren’t sure it’s what they’re looking for,
- or they’re looking to see what it can do,
- whether it’s a good or bad product,
- whether they can get bonuses or discounts,
- what other people’s experience with it is,
- how it compares to alternatives, etc.
What Types of Affiliate Product Reviews Are There?
Affiliate product reviews can be found in several formats. Here are some common formats.
1. Detailed Examination Product Review.
One of the most common types of a product review is the in-depth review which looks at all or most features or aspects of the product and reaches a conclusion about it.
2. Product Comparison Review.
Another type of product review is called the product comparison review but really is a comparison and contrast review.
In this you
- present the main features, benefits,
- pros, and cons of each product,
- show how they match up against one another in each aspect.
- Then make a recommendation on which product is probably better as a whole (or which is better for what.)
Product comparison reviews are great for making money through affiliate marketing because they allow you to share multiple affiliate links. So even they decide not to buy your primary recommendation, they may still decide to buy another of them through your affiliate link, so you still get a sale commission.
3. Product Tutorials
These are the least salesy types of affiliate product reviews. They aren’t about whether to buy the product, but rather how to use it.
If this is done in the context of solving a problem, your readers may be convinced this product is the solution they need.
They may also want to see a tutorial to see how it works before investing in it, or if it has the capability they are looking for.
However, people looking for product tutorials usually have a lower purchase-intent rate, so it doesn’t convert as high.
4. Product List Posts
This can be something like “The 5 Best Autoresponders for Affiliate Marketing“.
Product list posts can overlap with product comparison reviews and perform both roles at once, but a list post often doesn’t go into as much detail, because the main purpose isn’t evaluating products, but rather presenting the options and telling a little about each.
Benefits of Creating Affiliate Product Reviews
1. Financial Benefits of Affiliate Product Reviews
It’s important to know that online product reviews are hugely influential when it comes to product choice.
Research shows that 91 percent of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews, and 84 percent trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. And they make that decision quickly: 68 percent form an opinion after reading between one and six online reviews.
Source: Inc.com
If you are promoting a product through affiliate marketing, why would you miss out on one of the most effective means of persuading them to buy that product?
As an affiliate marketer, creating product reviews is an indispensable tool–perhaps the most important–in your marketing toolkit. In fact, some affiliate marketers are successful from product reviews alone!
2. Product Reviews Target Potential Buyers
Product reviews are perfect for promoting affiliate products because they target people who are already in the buying mindset. If people are searching for a product review, it’s likely because they’re considering buying it and want to make sure they’re getting their money’s worth for it.
3. How Product Reviews Help Your Website
The benefits aren’t just financial. Product reviews also help you grow your audience through targeting search keywords, bringing new people to your blog.
4. Product Reviews Help You Build Your Email List
Additionally, an increase in traffic also you gives you the opportunity to build your email list, another of the most effective ways to promote your affiliate links.
5. Grow Trust and Authority
Writing product reviews are an excellant place to start out in affiliate marketing with a blog since you don’t need any special expertise.
It helps you establish yourself as an authority (on a particular type of product) and build trust with your audience as you provide them with value and grow your own experience.
6. You Provide Value to Your Audience
Even if you’re hoping readers will buy the product after reading your review, you aren’t writing a commercial. An affiliate product review is a content marketing method that should provide value to your audience by giving them the insight into the product (or service) they are looking for.
7. You Can Get Free Stuff!
Since product reviews can help a company grow their sales as much as 18%, merchants are often wiling to give out free copies or trials of a product in exchange for a review.
This more often with digital products than with physical products, since they don’t want to lose money without promise of return, while digital products can usually be given without any cost on their part.
Of course, they aren’t always willing to do this, especially if you are new and unknown, but you have nothing to lose by asking.
B. How to Become an Affiliate Product Reviewer With a Blog
1. Choose a Niche.
While it’s possible to have a blog where you just review random, unrelated products, if you want to build and engaged audience that stays interested in what you have to say, you should choose a particular niche or theme topic for your blog, and write reviews for related products.
In addition, you should keep in mind your target audience–their demographics and interests–so you can give them what they’re looking for and keep them coming back.
2. Build a Website For Your Blog.
If you want full control over your blog, and not have to worry about the rules of the platform you’re on, you should build your own website on your own domain.
That also gives you the advantage of being able to embed or install popup subscription forms to gather an email subscriber base.
How to Build A Blog:
It’s quite simple to build a blog.
- Buy a domain name. Choose a domain name that represents your blog niche. Domain names are available from places like Namecheap, Bluehost, and HostGator.
- Get a web hosting service plan. This is where your website data willl be hosted so others can access your website when they visit your domain. Affordable webhosting plans are available from places like Namecheap, Bluehost, and HostGator, and you can even get a free domain name if you buy a webhosting plan and register your domain name at the same company.
- Install a CMS (Content Management System)/website and content builder and manager like WordPress, Hubspot, Wix, etc.
- If you’re using WordPress, choose a theme for your blog. You can get an attractive and professional theme from EnvatoElements.
- Write blog posts. In addition to this guide on how to write product reviews, we have another guide on how to write a blog post in general.
3. Choose a Product to Review
How should you choose a product to review? There are a few things to consider.
- Your familiarity with the product. It’s easier to review a product you already know and use. You’ll have more insight into it than reviewing products you’re less familiar with.
- Relevance to your niche. Your audience reads your blog because it gives them useful information regarding the niche your blog is about. If your niche is cooking and food recipes, and then you start promoting VPN affiliate programs, how well do you think that will turn out?
- Whether it has an affiliate program you are eligible for. Of course, you can write a review for any product, but you won’t be able to see financial returns on it unless you’re a product owner or affiliate.
- How the commission is. If you’ll only get a low commision rate, you might want to reconsider whether it’s worth your time.
- Your audience’s interest in that product. You are writing, not for yourself, but for your target audience. You should primarily be concerned with what they are interested in.
- Your own interests. If you are uninterested in the product or topic you are writing about, it will likely come through in your post, even if unintentionally. And that’s very unproductive.
4. Join the Product’s Affiliate Program.
The process should be pretty straightforward. Just submit an application form and wait to be approved. (But since approvals are not guaranteed, you may want to apply for the program before you write your review).
If you are a member of Amazon Associates, the eBay Partner Network, ClickBank, or Fiverr Affiliates you will be pre-approved for their products and services so you don’t need to get approval for each product.
5. Write product reviews.
I’ll show you how exactly to do that below, but before we get to that…
C. Before You Write That Review: 4 Things To Do
1. Create a Score System For Rating Products in Your Reviews
A product scoring system provides not only provides you standards for evaluating products but also makes it convenient for readers looking for a quick and simple verdict on a product. (And they do want that.)
A product scoring system is composed of two elements: metrics, and a rubric.
- Product Metrics. Metrics are the characteristics of a product you will be using for the overall evaluation of a product. If you are reviewing multiple products, you should keep the metrics consistent.
- Review Rubric. A rubric is a measuring scale that uses various symbols, numbers or words to represent particular value levels. The five-star system is one of the most popular rubrics. So is the 1-10 scale.
Doubtless, you are often influenced in your own purchasing decisions by the five-star review rubric on, e.g., Amazon products.
2. Do Keyword Research
Are people even looking for reviews of the product you want to review? If not, it’s not worth spending the time writing a review for it–at least, a review of its own.
You may still choose to give a short review of it in a larger context, such as by presenting it as a solution to a problem in an article targeting other keywords, or in a product comparison review.
3. Gain Insight Into the Product
Without this, you can’t write a review. But how can you learn about the product?
a. Use the Product.
Nothing beats a review based on one’s personal experience with a product. It gives you authority, makes your review more authentic, and provides you with knowledge of the product you may not otherwise obtain.
You don’t always have to buy the product. It doesn’t hurt to ask the product owner if he is willing to provide a free copy, sample, or trial of a product in exchange for a review.
What if you can’t get a copy of the product or for some reason can’t buy or don’t want to buy it?
Well, although this is not ideal, you may still choose to write a review, but it must still be well-researched.
You may also want to be transparent about the fact that you have not personally used the product, but have researched the product as best you could, and are sharing what you have learned from your sources in order to help your readers make an informed decision about buying the product.
b. Research the Product
- Check out the product’s website, to learn what features they advertise.
- Contact the product owner to learn more about the product if necessary.
- Read other reviews of the product. (Amazon user reviews are especially helpful because they are usually honest opinions (though not always the fairest). Read both positive and negative reviews.
- View videos by other users.
- Try the product out for yourself.
- Add details about the product that other reviews don’t have to gain an advantage over your competitors.
4. Gain Insight Into Your Audience
Since you are writing to satisfy your audience, it’s imperative that you have some knowledge of them.
Before anything, you’ll need to identify who your target audience is. What are their interests, needs, wants?
While writing your review, keep in mind your ideal buyer. Creating a customer avatar will cause you to be more thorough in your assessment of them, and ensure you don’t forget your target customers.
What kinds of questions are they asking? What do they like or not like about the product? What characteristics do they value most or are looking for in a product?
Reading other users’ reviews, search query research, and browsing user forums can help you gain insight into your audience.
One helpful free keyword research tool to help you see what questions people are asking about a topic is AnswerThePublic.com.
If you are to write an effective review, identify what their pain points are. Most likely they are willing to pay to get rid of those problems.
Some common issues that will motivate people to buy are
- making money,
- saving time,
- building relationships,
- and fulfilling their dreams or wishes.
In addition, learning the reasons why they won’t or wouldn’t buy a product helps you be more effective because you can then counter those objections ahead of time.
Your goal is to understand the customer well so you can make the product highly appealing to him and have him realize there’s no good reason not to buy it. (Assuming it is a good product.)
D. The Key Elements of an Affiliate Product Review
- Scoring system
- Pros and cons
- Features and benefits
- Price
- Visuals (images, videos)
- Objections (reasons they won’t buy)
- FAQ, related questions
- Social proof
- CTA
- Alternatives/comparison
- format
E. How to Write Affiliate Product Reviews: Format and Structure
While there is no exact format for structuring your product review, you should always use some format in order to write well and convert readers.
Every good blog post should
- contain a good headline,
- catch readers’ attention in the introduction,
- lead with value and interesting content in the main body,
- and end with a conclusion that wraps things up and gives a call to action.
A product review is no different.
The following is a suggested format and step-by-step process for writing affiliate product reviews.
1. Create a Headline For Your Affiliate Product Review
Create a headline that immediately lets them know the subject–a review of a such-and-such product.
It’s also important to include your product keyword in your title for SEO purposes. For example, it should contain something like “Aweber Product Review” or just “Aweber Review.” Following that, you can add a secondary keyword or something unique to catch their attention.
2. Write an Interesting Introduction for Your Affiliate Product.
- Your introduction is for drawing your readers in and introducing the product.
- You can also gain their attention by making a strong or bold claim about the product and what it can do for them. (Just don’t mislead.)
- You may choose to discuss other claims made about the product, and then proceed in your review to evaluate whether those claims are true or not.
- It may also be good to mention what kind of users the product targets, so people know whether they are that target category, and hopefully gain their interest if they are.
- Don’t forget to bring up any aspects of the products that are important or interesting for your readers to know.
3. Give a Short Summary/Overview With Your Verdict And Ratings.
Not everyone will read your full blog post or review. Some just want quick information. So it’s best to include your affiliate link as early as possible in your review (and throughout your review). Preferably in the form of a button, to make it more click-enticing.
In addition, you should consider immediately following your introduction with a short summary of the key product features (in a chart, table, or bullet points list) or a product comparison table if you are revwing multiple products at once.
4. The Main Body of Your Affiliate Product Review
Now we’ll get into the real substance of your affiliate product review.
In your middle section, you’ll go into detail discussing the product, including your own experience with and opinion of it.
What can you include in the main body of your affiliate product review?
1. What The Product Is About and Why It Matters
What kind of product is it, and who is it for? Why should one use it? What makes it unique, and stand out among its competitors?
Who is the product for, and who will best benefit from it?
2. The Product (& Company’s) History
Who is the product creator, and why did he create the product? What has it done for people? How has it changed things for the better?
3. Your History With the Product
Relate your own experience with the product whenever it’s helpful.
How did you come accross the product? Were you searching for a solution to a certain problem? What were your initial impressions of the product? Why did you choose to get the product?
What was your experience with it? Did it live up to claims made about it? How did your first impressions change, if they did? Would you get or use it again or recommend it to others? How has it helped you?
Here you can include your own screenshots, pictures, or videos of the product, and before/after photos.
(You don’t have to answer all these questions.)
4. The Product Features and Benefits.
Detail all the main features and explain how the product works, and how it will help them.
F. Common Mistakes Made By Affiliate Product Reviewers
1. Giving Every Product a Rating of “5 Stars” (or Other Bragging)
I know it’s tempting to rate all or most of the products you promote as 5-stars (or an equivalent). You want people to think this is the greatest thing ever so they’ll buy the product through your affiliate link and make you money.
But did you realize that this tactic will make you way less money in the end? It’s a bad idea for at least two reasons.
First, it harms your credibility. Since every product has drawbacks, portraying products as perfect displays your bias, so folks will be less inclined to trust your reviews.
Secondly, mentioning some negative aspects of a product often boost conversions. This is not because people like it, but because it makes you seem less biased and more credible in your evaluation.
2. Sounding Like (or Being!) Salesmen
This is yet another one of the most common mistakes made by affiliate marketers writing product reviews.
As an affiliate marketer, there are indeed times where it is appropriate for you to make the “hard sells”. Nevertheless, you’re quite mistaken if you think a product review is one of them.
A sales page is one thing. A product review is another. If you’re pushing a hard sell, you’re writing an advertisement, not a product review!
Instead of trying to push a sale, inform the readers about the product, so they can feel that buying the product is the right and best decision for them.
Moreover, you may have noticed–as I have–that many of the “product reviews” out there sound exactly like the merchant’s sales page. In fact, in plenty of cases, that’s exactly what they are.
They just copy and paste the sales page, maybe change a few things, and glorify it with the name of a “review.” (They even leave the pronouns the same, as if they were the product owners!)
And that brings us to the next problem.
3. Writing Plaigerized & Fake Product “Reviews”
Whether you’re plagiarizing the sales page, copying someone else’s review and claiming it as your own, or writing a fake review, it’s a bad strategy that will hurt your business in the long term.
You may fool some people, but many people will see through it, especially if they’ve seen the same material used by others doing the same thing.
It undermines your credibility.
Though plagiarizing may be the easier route, it causes you to miss out on a great opportunity to develop your own voice and a fan base that wants to hear your unique take.
Of course, it’s not possible (or even desirable) to be completely original. Since you’ll need to talk about the same things others are, there will be a necessary degree of repetition. But it’s still important to put things in your own words as best you can.
Plagiarism also causes problems with SEO. Google doesn’t like duplicate content. And regularly posting duplicate content could cause Google to take action against your site, lowering your rankings, or, in the worst case, removing you from indexing altogether.
4. Using the Word “Scam” in Their Review Calling Products a Scam
Recently, having questions about a certain product, I looked for a review of that product. One of the search results had a headline containing the words “SCAM EXPOSED!”.
Upon visiting that clickbaity headline, I discovered that the review had nothing to do with exposing a scammy product, but rather was trying to sell it.
It shouldn’t surprise that I did not trust that review and quickly looked for another one.
If the product is a scam, then promoting it makes you a scammer too!
If the product is a scam, then promoting it makes you a scammer too!How to Write Affiliate Product Reviews & Profit: Ultimate Guide 2021 Click To TweetOn the other hand, if the product is not a scam, then calling it such is dishonest and can hurt the reputation of an innocent person or business.
Either way, it’s wrong. A person of integrity does not stoop to such tactics, even to make a few bucks.
(This, of course, does not rule out you making a review that exposes a genuine scam.)
5. Needlessly asking if a product is a scam
Unless you have reason to believe that a part of your audience thinks or is likely wondering if a product is a scam, then it’s pointless to ask such a question.
If the product comes from a well-known or established company with a good reputation, or if that’s true of the product/service itself, then most people aren’t asking if it’s a scam or not. They’re more interested in other questions–such as whether it’s the best product for them.
In fact, presenting the product as a potential scam may unintentionally trigger a negative emotional reaction, making it even harder to sell to them!
Against the rules!
Add to the above the fact using “negative words” in your review like “scam” is often forbidden by the terms of the affiliate agreement.
In general, then, it’s best to avoid negative words like “scam” in your reviews (and review titles). Unless you are actually trying to discourage them from buying the product.
6. Overusing Headlines (and Other Over-Repetition)
I’ve come across someone’s product review channel on Youtube and saw that every video contains the headline and banner “…is scam or legit?”
Apart from incessantly displaying his ignorance of proper English grammar, it’s not wise to continually use exactly the same headline in your reviews.
Not only does it get old and look unprofessional, but also makes you look unoriginal. It gives the appearance that you don’t put much thought into your reviews. You’re just following a template. It’s harder to appear credible that way.
6. Not Giving Enough Information About The Product
If you leave your readers unsatisfied with your review because it doesn’t give them the information they’re looking for, they likely will go visit another review site that does.
And that means if they make the purchase, it will be by clicking on someone else’s link, and you lose out on the commission that was just within your grasp.
G. How to Write an Effective Product Review that Sells: What to Include
1. Product Features and Benefits
Detail all the main features and benefits, explain how the product works, and how it will help them.
You can use the format of writing a subheading for each main aspect of the product, followed by a paragraph or a few about it.
Showing how each feature will benefit your readers will prevent your list from becoming a dry boring list of specifications and will be more effective.
Keeping in mind your target buyers, relate the features and benefits to their pain points, by relating how the product will help them with those issues, or help them do what they want.
2. Product Pros and Cons
That you will want to include all the great things about the product is a given. But many fall to the temptation of omitting the cons, or telling people there is none. While they think to increase conversions, they are actually hurting them.
Including the negatives about a product greatly increase conversions, according to studies.
This is because you need to build their trust in your recommendations. And since everyone knows there are drawbacks to every product, your opinion seems spurious, or at least biased, when you say there are none. So they’ll not put much weight in your recommendations.
You don’t need to mention every single con about a product, just the main ones they are likely to encounter, and keep it brief.
Note also that the cons need not be an inherant flaw in the product or service, but can be a subjective objection, such as that it is too simple or too advanced for their purposes. It’s possible that what is a con for one person, may not be a problem for another, and could even be a plus. So there’s no need to be afraid to mention cons.
The cons can be balanced out by telling them how the cons can be overcome or minimized, or how the positives outweigh the negatives.
Moreover, to soften the cons, you can refer to them not as bad things, but as opportunities for improvement, where you would like to see more from the product.
If there are too many cons, or they are severe enough to turn off buyers, then perhaps recommend other similar product they can check out, and, if possible, include your affiliate links and/or links to your reviews of those products.
In fact, that could even be the whole purpose of your review! To show that a particular product is undesirable, and which is better. That can be an effective tactic.
Have trouble finding cons? Then remember that a con might not be in what a product does, but in what it can’t do. You can also check out other reviews to see what they don’t like.) The cons can even be about the company itself (as can the pros). The product can be ok, but the company has terrible customer support, for example.
3. Mention Alternative Products And Make Comparisons
Why mention alternatives?
Not everyone is going to be convinced to buy the product you’re featuring in your review. But why let them leave your site to search for a similar product and lose out on a potential customer? You can fix that by mentioning alternatives and linking to them with your affiliate links and to other reviews if you havethem.
Unfortunately, however, it’s not always possible to make a commission from the alternatives, but even if you lose a customer (that time), your loss may not be entire. If he finds your review good, he may decide to return for your opinions on other products.
Additionally, including alternative problems could actually help you sell the main product you’re reviewing, by comparing it to others and highlighting its advantages over others.
4. Social Proof: Case Studies and Testimonials
Your review will be reinforced if you include not only your own opinions and experience but others as well. Especially if they are case studies. People love case studies. And if the featured people were in a similar position as them, they’ll be more likely to believe it will help them too.
5. Product Pricing And Bonuses
It’s best to include a pricing section in your review since people want to know how much something costs before making their decision about buying it.
While a high price could discourage them, you may have convinced them that it’s worth the money.
A low price will incentivize them to buy the product. Even more, if you have bonuses and/or discounts to offer.
You could use a product chart or table for displaying the price.
But do be aware that you can’t always include the price, especially if it frequently changes. Amazon in particular strictly bans you from mentioning the price of any product in your affiliate promotionals.
Also, don’t forget to tell them where to buy it (using your links)!
6. Add an FAQ Section
Adding a Frequently Asked Questions section is great for SEO and may get your answers featured in Google Answers even if your page doesn’t rank at the top of the search results.
7. Craft Your Conclusion
Having written the main body of your affiliate product review, all that is left is to wrap it up with a conclusion summarizing the main points and giving your concluding thoughts.
You’ll give your verdict on the product(s). And if you find it worth buying, you’ll advise them to buy it, telling them where to buy it. Or if not, recommend an alternative.
Just don’t forget to make it easy for them to buy with your affiliate links. Create a clickable button (image or CSS).
H. Key Elements to Include in an Affiliate Product Review: Summary
We’ve already touched on most of the key elements, so let’s look at a brief list of them, and then touch on a few that haven’t been mentioned yet.
- A scoring system
- Keywords for SEO
- An attention-grabbing headline and introduction
- The target users the product is for
- Product features and benefits
- The pros and cons
- A highly visual format
- Effective writing style
- Details, and descriptive examples
- User tips
- The pricing & other relevant purchase details
- Your verdict and honest opinion
- Comparison with other products
- Product alternatives
- Social proof/testimonials
- FAQ
- Conclusion
- Comment section
1. A Highly Visual Format
It’s no secret that people are highly attracted to visual formats. Entire social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are visually-based.
Even in your blog posts, it’s essential that you include visuals like images and videos.
Your product reviews can contain your screenshots, pictures, or videos of the product to show what it looks like, and let your readers see it in action for themselves.
Not only does it keep their attention more, but makes your review more believable and convincing.
Oh, and though this should really go without saying, always include an attention-grabbing featured image or banner in your posts. You can easily create one using a tool like Canva, which I often use for the same purpose.
2. Format the Text
In addition to breaking up the text with visuals, format the text to make it more appealling so you won’t overwhelm them with plain text.
Employ frequent subheadings, short paragraphs, bullet points, lists and more. Consider adding review/summary/features boxes to your review as well.
3. A Comments Section
Allowing comments on your blog or website enable a sense of community. It’s also great for SEO, because Google takes lots of comments to mean users are getting a great experience from your blog.
On the other hand, you’ll need to be able to deal with spam comments, which can hurt your SEO.
I. How to Write a Compelling Affiliate Product Review: Tips & Style
1. Just Be Honest
One thing I’ve continually emphasized in this guide on writing affiliate product reviews is the need to be honest. To make it in the long term (or even the short), it is essential to build trust and authority with your audience. Without honesty, that cannot be accomplished.
That’s why many product reviews add “honest review” to their headline (but it isn’t necessary to do that).
Don’t pretend the product is perfect. Be willing and admit both pros and cons. Avoid overt bias, which will hurt your reviews.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
As explained earlier, the more you understand your target audience and their interests, the better you can craft appealing and relevant content for them.
3. Be Personal in Your Affiliate Product Review
A product review shouldn’t be a mere list of specifications. That’s not what people are looking for. Well, not that alone. They want to hear an authentic perspective on a product from someone familiar with the product.
Use a personal, a natural, conversational, yet authoritative tone in your affiliate product review. Make sure to speak directly to your readers, and use terms like “you” and “your”.
Moreover, use your knowledge of your target audience to speak their language, using their vocabulary and appealing to their interests. It helps to browse user forums and comment sections.
Consider including (relevant) stories in your review. They’re very effective for engaging their interest and connecting with your audience.
4. Use The AIDA Technique to Boost Your Sales
For many years, marketers and salesmen have used and taught the AIDA method for persuading customers. AIDA is an acronym standing for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
a. Attention
The headline and introduction to your product review needs to capture their attention and keep it. Tell them why they should pay attention to what you have to say.
b. Interest
Having caught their attention, you must also capture their interest by being empathetic and engaging their emotions.
c. Desire
It’s not enough to get them interested. To get them to buy the product, you must make them want it.
Appeal to their emotions. Show how it will help them fulfil their wishes or solve their pain points.
d. Action
This, your call-to-action (CTA) can be to get them to buy the product using your affiliate links, subscribe to your blog, or check out your other reviews.
5. Build Your Authority
Your ethos or authority takes time to build. When you become a trusted source for helpful and honest reviews, you will see not only your traffic but your conversion rate increase.
In addition to the quality of your content, it also helps to employ a professional webdesign, include a profile picture (which can increase conversion rate), and include testimonials for social proof.
6. Social Proof
Concurring material from other sources makes your review stronger and more persuasive.
This can include short testimonials, quotes from other users, case studies, before and after pictures, embedded Youtube Videos, and other sources.
It’s even more effective if the people whose experiences are featured were in the same place as those reading because it leads readers to consider whether the same results can be acheived by them as well.
7. Include the Downsides of the Product
Both Pros and Cons are needed for a balanced, and hence more convincing, review.
8. Go Into Depth
Your affiliate product review should be the last they’ll ever need to read about that product(s).
Not only because you’re trying to be helpful, but because if they find you’re review inadequate, they may visit other reviews and purchase the products through someone else’s affiliate links instead of yours. So by being skimpy you’d lose a commission that could have been yours if you had put more work into it.
To convince your potential customer to make the purchase,your affiliate product review should contain all the elements necessary to help and persuade them to make that decision.
That includes:
- informing them so they know if the product is for them (and if it’s not, you can recommend an alternative affiliate product)
- showing them why need they need the product: how it will help them overcome their problems or acheive their goals
- giving them all the features and benefits of the product that make it great for them
- telling or showing them how the product works, tips for best use, and how he can use in integration with other tools (if applicable)
- case studies; yours or other’s experience with the product
- letting them the pros & cons of the product
- comparing and contrasting the product to its alternatives and why it’s unique
- FAQ: answering the questions people want answered
- explaining why it’s worth the money
9. Give Them An Education
You may be desperate for a sale, but just telling them to buy a product doesn’t work. At least not unless they’re already convinced. But in that case hard-selling wouldn’t be necessary. They wouldn’t need a hard shove or command, but a gentle nudge.
While appealing to their emotions is one of the elements of persuasion (does Ethos, Logos, Pathos sound familiar?), you should also give them logical and factual reasons to buy it.
Seek to persuade with education.
People can spot a salesman when they see one. And if you just sound like a salesman who’s all about telling them to buy the product, your review will lose credibility and trust. People don’t read reviews to hear sales pitches. If they want that they can go straight to the merchant’s website.
That isn’t to say you can’t ever emphasize that you think they should get the product, but it mustn’t be based on your desire to make a sale. But rather by convincing of the genuine value the product provides to them.
10. Bribe Your Readers to Buy the Product
Ethically, that is.
Offer them a coupon or discount (if you can arrange that) or bonuses. Bonuses are one of my primary motivators for buying a product. Sometimes I will get a product mainly because I want all the great bonuses being offered, even if I may not want to get the product by itself.
11. Copy the Pro Marketers
No, I’m not talking about copying and pasting their reviews. I’m talking about imitating their formats and styles. See what they’re doing, and what works for them, and implement it in your own reviews. Additionally, reading their reviews may bring to your attention aspects of the products that you missed.
But of course, it’s still important to develop your unique style to make yourself sound more authentic, develop authority, and attract an following.
You can also improve on what others have done, and observe to avoid mistakes they may have made.
Make them your models.
12. Follow a Format
While no product review format is absolute or set in stone. Some general forms have emerged that are highly effective. You may want to take a look at some product review templates, and adapt them for your use.
J. Bonus Tip
Try converting your affiliate product review into different formats, such as a YouTube video (find out how to crush it with YouTube here).
Most of the tips and principles here on how to write an affiliate product review also apply to video affiliate product reviews on Youtube or other social channels.
K. Conclusion
Whew! That was a long post, and it took me a long time to write this post on how to write an affiliate product review.
Let’s wrap up the key points.
Writing affiliate product reviews is one of the most effective ways to make money online with affiliate marketing on your blog, with many side-benefits.
But in order to be effective and successful in the long-term, you’ll need to provide genuinely helpful, honest, insightful, and thorough content that appeals to their desires and addresses their pain points.
Gain insight into your target audience and product, and follow the tips and steps in this how-guide, and you’ll be well on your way to writing effective and profitable affiliate product reviews.
Note to You:
Hey, I’d like to ask one small favor of you.
Given how much time and work I put into creating this complete guide as a helpful and informative guide for you to write successful affiliate product reviews, I’d appreciate it if you’d share this post on social media, (and link to it on your blog if you have one). I want as many people to benefit from it as possible.
Thanks for reading. If you found this review guide helpful, please share your feedback in the comments below. (Likewise if you have any tips of your own you’d like to share.)
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