How to request a product for review
I mentioned requesting items for review in my list of 21 ways to get free stuff, and some readers asked how to do it. Here's an outline of the procedure I use.
HOW TO REQUEST A PRODUCT FOR REVIEW
- Be yourself. You don’t need to sound like a business manager. Blogging is generally a very informal platform, and it makes sense to approach manufacturers with a tone that is not too formal. This doesn’t mean that your letter should be disrespectful or full of misspellings and slang. It simply means that your letter should, to a certain extent, reflect the tone of your site. Consider it an audition for the part of Blogging Reviewer.
- Keep it brief. You want to provide enough info to convince them that your review would be beneficial, but not so much that they simply skim to the bottom and hit the delete button.
- Introduce yourself. Keep it relevant. They don't need to know where you grew up or your maiden name, but if you are requesting a cookbook you might want to mention the fact that you love to cook and have a cooking blog.
- Be enthusiastic. If you are initiating this contact, chances are you already know a bit about their product and are enthusiastic about it. Be sure to communicate this and explain why.
- Explain how you can benefit them. You stand to gain a free product. What's in it for them? Make sure they understand what you can do for them. Do you have enough traffic to generate sales? Is your blog relevant to products likes theirs? Is your audience likely to be interested in the item? Are they likely to trust your recommendation? Sell yourself and your site!
- Include a link to your site. This may seem obvious, but if you're using a contact form it's easy to forget to include the web address for your site. Many companies seem to receive their email in plain text, so even if you include linked text the hyperlink may be stripped out of the email when they receive it. Make sure the raw address is included somewhere in your message like this: http://inashoe.com instead of only this: Life in a Shoe.
- Give your traffic stats. If your traffic is very low, you might want to wait for them to ask. Be aware that if you don’t have much traffic, manufacturers have less to gain from you. They might say no – but they might not! It never hurts to ask, and even a review on a low-traffic site can provide desirable search engine results for a manufacturer.
- Offer the right to decline. This might be a bit controversial, but I like to offer to let manufacturers preview my reviews before publication. If I can't give a highly positive review, I let them decide whether they prefer my honest opinion or none at all. I don't think it's fair to expect manufacturers to pay for negative reviews by providing free product for me to complain about publicly. This also gives them a chance to correct mistakes on my part, which may affect my final opinion.
- Include your shipping address. Why make them ask for it? Do whatever you can to streamline the process for them so they are more inclined to say yes.
Here's a sample request for you, but remember to make it your own. Don't just fill in the blanks!
Hi,
My name is ___________, and I blog at ______________. [add some relevant details about yourself and/or your blog here.]
I have heard about your ____________ and am very interested in trying it because ______________________. [Show enthusiasm here. How bad do you want it? Why?]
My readers are __________________ [include some info about the type of people who read your blog] and I think they would love it too because _________________. If you can provide a __________, I would be delighted to review it for you on my blog!
I get _____ pageviews/day and have ______ feed subscribers, so I think my review would be very beneficial to your company. If you want, I can let you preview the review before it is published.
Thank you for your time. I hope we can work together!
My Name
My Blog Title: http//myblog.com
street address
city, state zip
MORE TIPS:
- Consider posting several reviews of items you already own and love if you have never done a review. This will provide practice for you and examples for manufacturers to look at when you contact them. Don't do them all back to back. Be sure they are sprinkled in amongst your regular posts, and be sure you choose items of interest to your readers.
- Create a category for product reviews to make it easy for manufacturers to find examples of your reviews.
- Follow up is crucial. Remember, the deal isn't done as soon as they say yes. It's easy to forget or procrastinate, but that is dishonest and counterproductive. Make sure you follow up on reviews you have agreed to, and do put a fair amount of effort into them. When you make a request the manufacturer is likely to check your site for past reviews. If they see good examples of past reviews, they are more likely to agree. If they see nothing, they may wonder if you're actually going to post the review.
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2 Responses to “How to request a product for review”
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:38 am
Thank you for this great list! I’ve gotten products to review from companies that stumble on my site but have always wondered how some blogs are reviewing freebies weekly.
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Thanks for sharing these tips. Knowing this, I’m going to request a product to review from apple.
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