When writing a review, it's worth taking a moment to consider who your intended audience is.
I listed some tips in the previous article about the basic mechanics of reviews, but there are many other considerations when writing reviews besides just putting your ideas down. And that's your target audience.
Some target audiences are a group you can target specifically, while others may have access to your review whether you want them to or not. Taking a moment to figure out who, exactly, you're writing the review for will go a long way to ensure your review accomplishes its goals.
Of significant note are the first, second, third, sixth, seventh, and eighth bullets, all of which tie to the industry rather than the product itself. DriveThruRPG explains:
Once you know which audience you're speaking to, this will go a long way in making your review relevant to that audience. If you just want to say something sucks, unless you explain why it sucks it's unlikely to have much of an impact. Well-though explanations of why a product is terrible can be surprisingly impactful; and conversely, raving about a product and explaining why can bolster that product's sales (which is precisely why platforms forbid publishers from writing their own reviews).
One other audience has become increasingly common: comedians. There's a lot of reviews that aren't serious and meant to amuse the author and/or entertain others. There are a lot of variants on this; years ago, one of the top Amazon 100 reviewers wrote all their reviews as limericks. Their reviews got a lot of upvotes, but you probably don't want to base your decision to buy a product from it.
But in the RPG space, which is small enough to be insular, reviews can make a real impact. And by impact I mean sometimes it can be a punch in the face. I've written a few reviews where I was critical of a product ... and the author took personal offense and let me know it.
If you're planning to review a product, it's worth asking yourself if you're trying to send a personal message to the creator. If so, you might be better served sending the feedback directly first and, if you're ignored, write your review later. Larger brands will likely ignore you (or worse, send you a form letter) but in the RPG space this can go a long way in avoiding hurt feelings.
Your Turn: What audience do you write your reviews for?
I listed some tips in the previous article about the basic mechanics of reviews, but there are many other considerations when writing reviews besides just putting your ideas down. And that's your target audience.
Some target audiences are a group you can target specifically, while others may have access to your review whether you want them to or not. Taking a moment to figure out who, exactly, you're writing the review for will go a long way to ensure your review accomplishes its goals.
The Platform
Different reviewing platforms have different rules. Amazon's reviewing system lists quite a few caveats about what's not allowed, and most of them broadly apply to other platforms as well:- A review by someone who has a direct or indirect financial interest in the product.
- A review by someone perceived to have a close personal relationship with the product's owner, author, or artist.
- A review by the product manufacturer, posing as an unbiased shopper.
- Multiple negative reviews for the same product from one customer.
- A review in exchange for monetary reward.
- A review of a game in exchange for bonus in-game credits.
- A negative review from a seller on a competitor's product.
- A positive review from an artist on a peer's album in exchange for receiving a positive review from them.
This is good advice. Unfortunately, many Amazon reviewers use the platform to slam shipping or other problems unrelated to the product itself. Amazon has a separate community guidelines section that also governs reviews.
Of significant note are the first, second, third, sixth, seventh, and eighth bullets, all of which tie to the industry rather than the product itself. DriveThruRPG explains:
So be sure to know the platforms rules before you post. Failure to follow these rules can get you banned from a platform.
Other Consumers
In a perfect world, reviewers own the product they're using and have thoroughly used it, explain their biases, and post it out of the goodness of their hearts. In reality, everyone has an agenda when posting reviews, be it to drive traffic to make money to affiliate links, to increase their brand, or to just warn people away from something they hate or rave about something they love.Once you know which audience you're speaking to, this will go a long way in making your review relevant to that audience. If you just want to say something sucks, unless you explain why it sucks it's unlikely to have much of an impact. Well-though explanations of why a product is terrible can be surprisingly impactful; and conversely, raving about a product and explaining why can bolster that product's sales (which is precisely why platforms forbid publishers from writing their own reviews).
One other audience has become increasingly common: comedians. There's a lot of reviews that aren't serious and meant to amuse the author and/or entertain others. There are a lot of variants on this; years ago, one of the top Amazon 100 reviewers wrote all their reviews as limericks. Their reviews got a lot of upvotes, but you probably don't want to base your decision to buy a product from it.
The Creator
More often than not, reviewers who like or hate a product aren't even talking to future readers. They're much more interested in shouting directly at the creators in an attempt to get some attention. Sometimes this works (like yelling at an airline on Twitter about a bad experience) and most times it doesn't.But in the RPG space, which is small enough to be insular, reviews can make a real impact. And by impact I mean sometimes it can be a punch in the face. I've written a few reviews where I was critical of a product ... and the author took personal offense and let me know it.
If you're planning to review a product, it's worth asking yourself if you're trying to send a personal message to the creator. If so, you might be better served sending the feedback directly first and, if you're ignored, write your review later. Larger brands will likely ignore you (or worse, send you a form letter) but in the RPG space this can go a long way in avoiding hurt feelings.
You
There's one final audience of course, and that's you. You may not care what people think, and write a review for your own amusement. You may do it as part of a paid gig, or because your Patrons on Patreon want you to, or for some other reason. There's nothing wrong with this, but it's important to share your reasoning up front. In the U.S., there are laws guiding how reviews are written. Reviewers are protected by the Consumer Review Fairness Act, which ensures that people who write reviews are not penalized by companies for writing reviews.Conversely, the Federal Trade Commission prohibits undeclared endorsements. Or to put it another way, it's against the law to pretend you're an unbiased reviewer when you've been incentivized in some way to write the review, even if you've been given a free product:
Who are you writing your review for? The reality is that if your review is public, all the above audiences may have a say. Consider them carefully before you write your next review.
Your Turn: What audience do you write your reviews for?
