Thread: How to write a good review - by BeBerlin

Welcome to the SRP reviews area. In order to help you share your experiences with a straight razor shaving related product, we have compiled the below guidelines in the hope that you will find them useful.

Use the rating system
First things first: A review without ratings is worthless. Give ratings. If unsure about a feature, or if the feature is not available, use "n/a". Remember that you have to tick the box underneath the rating area.

Tell 'Em What You're Gonna Tell 'Em…
Tell your readers clearly what you are reviewing right at the outset. Use the opportunity of the opening sentence to grab your readers’s attention. Then tell your story. Finally, wrap up your review by telling your readers what you just told them. While this may sound tedious, and even boring, in theory, it is a sure path to making a lasting impression with your readers.

To give you an example:

This is a review for the Foobar Razor, produced by ACME Inc. in 1932. I will give you an overview of its characteristic features, share my experience of three months’s use of the razor, and compare it to SRP’s benchmark razor in this class, the Barfoo Razor made by Joe Random.

Structuring your review
Our review system offers you a few rating categories. In order to enable your readers to efficiently compare different products, you may want to use these categories to form the outline of your review. We have made review templates available which you can copy and paste into your review. An example for a razor review might look like this:

• Craftsmanship: How do you like the quality of the razor? Give some details about the blade, and the scales. Characteristic features should be highlighted, like "flawlessly hammered back", or "uneven scales that catch the blade". If you know of similar razors, compare them, highlighting the differences.
• Balance: Is the razor well balanced? If not, say why not.
• Collectibility: This part of the review is mainly aimed at vintage razors in their original state. Prices fetched can be a good indication, but also the fact that your razor appears to be the only one around.
• Price: Price should be rated by "value for money". A vintage razor may cost a three digit sum, but be well worth its price based on the criteria mentioned above. If you believe a razor to be expensive only because it is currently being hyped on the internet, say so, indicating why you believe the price to be too high.
• Overall: Give a succinct indication for your overall rating. An otherwise superb razor with severe drawbacks in one category might well get a low overall rating.

What is your target audience?
If the product you are reviewing is likely to appeal to a certain audience amongst SRP’s members, say so. There is little use in writing a mouth watering review of a 19/8 razor without warning your readers that its uses outside a camping site are slightly limited.

To give you an example:

The ACME Natural Hone has an approximate grit size of 150k. While this may make for an interesting polishing experience, its use is probably restricted to the honing academia, rather than beginners trying to set a bevel on a blunt razor.

Why this product, and how did you conduct your tests?
Ask yourself: Why am I reviewing this product? What makes it special to me, and to my potential readers? The members of SRP are most interested in personal experiences with a product. So while you should obviously try to be as objective as possible in your review, it is ultimately your personal opinion of the product that will make a review a good or excellent one.

Resist the temptation of quoting from marketing materials. It is perfectly acceptable to link to the manufacturer’s website to provide technical details, such as ingredients of a shaving cream. But your readers will quickly spot your copying information from a company brochure.

To give you an example:

I first came across the Foobar Razor at an SRP gathering in Hillbilly, KY, in 1964. I have been using that razor ever since, and am now inheriting it to my son. Through these years of experience with the Foobar razor, I have found it to be a superior shaver, even compared to the Barfoo Razor, because it excels in the areas of craftsmanship, manoeuvrability and price. You can find all the technical details of this razor in the SRP Straight Razor Data Base.

Where to get it?
There are many places at which you can obtain a shaving product. Tell you readers where you got the one you are reviewing. Did you get it from a shop? If so, how was the service? If it is not in production any more, did you win it in an auction or at a yard sale? Was the price justified, or could you have done a lot better elsewhere?

Either way, share your buying experience, for example like this:

I bought my first Foobar online at SomeCompany Ltd., and paid USD 250 for it. The service was excellent, and the razor came honed, and was promptly delivered to my door at no extra cost. I won a second Foobar at Auction Site PLC, and the experience was disheartening. Although I paid almost exactly the same price, the razor was nowhere near shave ready, had cracks in its scales, and no box, when it finally arrived after three weeks of waiting.

Do not speculate, profile!
Sharing a negative experience with a product is perfectly acceptable. SRP members should know what is bad. However, there is a distinct difference between criticism and a rant. An aftershave may come in a tacky box, and a cheap bottle, but still deliver outstanding results. If so, your readers will clearly like to learn about all these features.

Likewise, detail is important, but too much detail will distract your readers’s attention from your review. If possible, point out non-obvious details, e.g. ones that are not listed on the manufacturer’s website. If you know the size or measurements of the product you are reviewing, include them in your review, even if they are not exact.

To give you an example:

The Snafu aftershave, made by ACME Inc., combines great moisturising features with an almost complete lack of burn or sting. It would be worthy of a more valuable package than it currently has. Not least because the 150ml spray flacon will last more than two years, even when used daily.

Mind your manners
SRP aims at being a place where gentlefolk meet and share experiences with shaving related products and services. Bear that in mind when writing your reviews. Articulate yourself clearly, using short and precise sentences.

Avoid slang, and use jargon only where appropriate, ideally referencing the list of acronyms and abbreviations in the Wiki. Never take knowledge for granted – we rejoice in a constant stream of new users, and while a TPT may be the most natural thing in the world for you, it will be utterly meaningless to the uninitiated.

We do not tolerate racial, sexual, religious or ethnic epithets and profanity. Therefore, we retain the right to moderate inappropriate passages in a review.

Likewise, we will not tolerate unsubstantiated negative criticism of a product. We enjoy excellent relationships with many manufacturers, and we intend to keep it that way. If a product is faulty, try settling the problem with your vendor, but do not write a negative review based on your experience with this one product only.

Reviews are forever
Last, before submitting your review, make sure you will like it the way it is even in five years’s time. Proof read your review; rigorously check your grammar; remove unnecessary words, or passages; try enhancing your review’s readability by using formatting where appropriate.

Rate on!

- BeBerlin