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What key points do you review before purchasing an IM product?

by Robert M Gouge
7 replies
What key elements are you generally looking to have answered when reviewing an IM product you are thinking about purchasing? Obviously this answer will be different depending on the product. You will look for different things when reviewing a host provider vs a WSO guide on some strategy.

But, overall, what general areas do you specifically seek out to make your decision on purchasing an IM related product?

Customer Support?

Is the product complete? (Upsells)

What's actually inside? (Features)

What is offered vs what is actually given? (Hype factor)

How easy is it to use/implement? (User friendly)

What areas are important to you to make an informed decision to ensure you are purchasing something you need?
#key #points #product #purchasing #review
  • Profile picture of the author mookinman
    Well really you don't have the answers to these until you buy the product. But the hype factor is a big one for me - if the contents don't match the sales pitch then my review would reflect that first and foremost.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eric Speidel
    The only way to convince me is a trial. So I want to either try a software out for a few days or get the first chapter or so of an ebook. Maybe it's just because I've read so many sales copies...
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  • Profile picture of the author ColleenHale
    I won't try anything that doesn't have a trial - not sure if such a thing even exists. I've tried 5 or 6 products out in the last 4 weeks and still haven't found one that I'm in love with. I had really bad customer service with one and asked for a refund quite quickly. Most of the programs that I've tried have bits and pieces of useful information that end up leading me down a different path. I have not found one solid program that I'm going to stick with yet.

    There are so many IM products out there - I'd like someone to give real testimonial about one of them really working. All of the sales pages start to sound the same when you stare at a computer screen all day.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
    I agree that there are a lot of IM products out there and finding what you need can be difficult because all the hype looks the same after a while.

    I'm thinking about starting a new project to address this issue.

    The one thing I've noticed about sites already doing this is that, while they have affiliate links for almost all products they review (which I agree with), instead of giving a review customers can really benefit from, they turn into soft-sell pages.

    Sure, you can show me a few pieces of what the product actually contains, but when every review is biased toward purchasing the product it doesn't make it that much different than just viewing the pitch pages of each product.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ralf Skirr
      What piques my interest is very different from product to product.

      But I can tell you what I never review before buying:

      I never take the testimonials of IM products seriously, I scroll just over them.

      Testimonials are a testimony to many things, but rarely to the actual quality of the product. Heck, I've seen testimonials from people who never even looked at the product they endorsed.
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      • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
        Originally Posted by Ralf Skirr View Post

        What piques my interest is very different from product to product.

        But I can tell you what I never review before buying:

        I never take the testimonials of IM products seriously, I scroll just over them.

        Testimonials are a testimony to many things, but rarely to the actual quality of the product. Heck, I've seen testimonials from people who never even looked at the product they endorsed.
        I agree. It's pretty common that many testimonials and initial reviews are usually compensated in some way as well. Tactics to produce testimonies or favorable reviews are posted in this very forum all the time.
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        • Profile picture of the author Sarah S
          I think that the actual features are one of the most important things to me in a product, because they determine whether that product is relevant to me and what I'm looking to gain through purchasing it. Therefore, I have a strong dislike for products that have a lot of hype, but tell me very little about what's actually inside. The more I know about what to expect from a product, the more comfortable I feel about actually investing in it. The whole "you'll just have to buy it to find out what the real secret is" turns me off immediately, but a list of bullet points that tell me what's inside (without giving away too much, of course) can really pique my interest and confirm that it's the right thing for me.

          Aside from that, I'd say that great customer service is always a plus, too- a la Tiffany Dow, or Sam Stephens from DL Guard, for example. Both exemplify stellar customer service in my experience. And I don't remember if you mentioned this, but I think the price also has to be within an affordable range, at least for me. I'm willing to splurge on something that's truly special or worth it, but the truth is that I just can't afford to buy every great product that I come by. Therefore, the ones that are affordably priced with great features are the ones I tend to buy.
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