How long are your Amazon product reviews?

by kelik
36 replies
I'm starting my first Amazon review site very soon. I want to put 1000 words product reviews in my website.
What do you think about it?
Is "1000 words" too much for a single product?
Can my visitors be distracted easily until they finish reading the whole review?
Thanks for your answers...
#amazon #long #product #reviews
  • Profile picture of the author Softlayone
    Depends on product type, but i've read somewhere that optimal lenght for attract readers is between 500 - 700 words. Try to get straight to the point and shorten reviews as you can.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sojourn
    Originally Posted by kelik View Post

    Is "1000 words" too much for a single product?
    Can my visitors be distracted easily until they finish reading the whole review?
    Thanks for your answers...
    kelik - Amazon review sites is a substantial portion of my monthly income. It's my favorite business model and has truly changed my life. I do write very lengthy reviews - some are over 6000 words long - but I think the length does have a lot to do with the product.

    A review on a simple table lamp isn't going to require a lot of detail. A review of a high-end elliptical machine might require several thousand words. The more complex the product, the more detail may be necessary to give your read the information they need in order to make a buying decision.

    You won't lose your readers in a long review IF you format the review in such a way as to help them quickly find the pieces that are most important to them. I break my reviews up into important sections and use a clickable table of contents to help them jump right to key sections of material. A review only seems overwhelming if you don't help your reader wade through it.
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    • Profile picture of the author jendoe
      Originally Posted by Sojourn View Post

      ... You won't lose your readers in a long review IF you format the review in such a way as to help them quickly find the pieces that are most important to them. I break my reviews up into important sections and use a clickable table of contents to help them jump right to key sections of material. A review only seems overwhelming if you don't help your reader wade through it.
      Hi Sojourn,

      Do you mind a quick followup question? I'm curious whether you usually keep the entire review on one actual page (with links within the page), or break it up over several pages?

      I'm working on a new site with longer reviews than normal (first review looks like it's going to be around 2000 words), all good info and broken up into "sections" with links at the top to skip ahead...

      But I'm wondering if the page will still seem overwhelmingly long. And/or if there's an advantage to breaking it up (i.e. google sees people looking at more pages on your site, and considers that a sign of good content)?

      Thanks!

      And, to the op - I'm obviously in the camp of longer reviews, though I think it's part of my personality. I tend to be detailed oriented with research, and want to cover everything that anyone could think to ask about a product. Hopefully you hit all their questions so they don't need to look anywhere else, and then it's off to Amazon to buy!

      Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sojourn
        Originally Posted by jendoe View Post

        Hi Sojourn,

        Do you mind a quick followup question? I'm curious whether you usually keep the entire review on one actual page (with links within the page), or break it up over several pages?
        I keep the entire review on one page. I used the instructions from this post to build a table of contents that I use for each review: Optimizing for Rich "Jump To" Snippets • Yoast (not my site - no connection).

        I put the TOC towards the top of each post. Under the header of each section, you can include a hyperlink back to the top of the review, too, so that readers can jump to the section they want to read and then jump back to the top.

        Originally Posted by jendoe View Post

        I'm working on a new site with longer reviews than normal (first review looks like it's going to be around 2000 words), all good info and broken up into "sections" with links at the top to skip ahead...

        But I'm wondering if the page will still seem overwhelmingly long. And/or if there's an advantage to breaking it up (i.e. google sees people looking at more pages on your site, and considers that a sign of good content)?
        I've found that my longer reviews are really powerful in Google and rank very well. They also draw in good amounts of traffic because I'm naturally including more long-tailed keywords in this amount of detail.

        When a product does particularly well, I do write additional posts about that product - not reviews, but updates on consumer ratings, expanded discussion of a particular feature, or comparison of that one product with a similar product. Then I link to the original review. This helps with SEO and with visitors finding more than one page of value on the site.

        Originally Posted by jendoe View Post

        And, to the op - I'm obviously in the camp of longer reviews, though I think it's part of my personality. I tend to be detailed oriented with research, and want to cover everything that anyone could think to ask about a product. Hopefully you hit all their questions so they don't need to look anywhere else, and then it's off to Amazon to buy!

        Thanks.
        You've described my approach, too. Just a natural fit with my personality and so it doesn't seem like work at all to research a product to the nth degree. Pays off nicely, too, so keep at it! Visitors LOVE that you've made their lives easier.
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        • Profile picture of the author jendoe
          Ooh thanks Erica! I can't wait to check out the link. (I would have done it earlier today, but I was completely brain dead after my first experience with jury duty!)

          And, I hadn't thought of writing articles that relate back to a specific product. (I do have general articles about the product group, and about the problems that it solves... but not specific updates.) I will have to give that a try.

          Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author frankl
    I think it depend on the review.

    If it's 1000 words but only has a few sentences of useful content then try to make it short. Make sure you spread your affiliate links all over the review.
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    • Profile picture of the author Snow_Predator
      In my experience, the more detailed and informative the review, the better the conversion rate. I tend to go for 1,000 to 2,000 words.
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  • Profile picture of the author rltenney
    I have a couple of Amazon review sites and have had success with 'talking' through the review and ending up with somewhere between 500 and 700 words. I mean 'talking' by meaning that I imagine that I've got this product and am trying to tell a friend about it and convincing him that it's the one he should buy. Then I just write what I would say.
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    • Profile picture of the author wolfmanjack
      Originally Posted by rltenney View Post

      I have a couple of Amazon review sites and have had success with 'talking' through the review and ending up with somewhere between 500 and 700 words. I mean 'talking' by meaning that I imagine that I've got this product and am trying to tell a friend about it and convincing him that it's the one he should buy. Then I just write what I would say.
      I started doing this when i was training my voice recognition software. You can't imagine how many words you end up with when you don't have to type them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Avdo
    In my experience, 800-1000 useful words review is optimal, but then again, it all depends on a product..
    High priced products needs more comprehensive and detailed review, then low priced products..
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  • Profile picture of the author anpharmd09
    It does depend on the product like others have said. Also, consider adding a video review from youtube into your review on your website to help break up the text and amount of reading the visitor has to do all at once.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jon Patrick
      Most of the writing clients who have ordered reviews from me ask for a length of 350-400 words. Some of them are what I would call "heavy hitters." So, I think that's plenty long for the purpose of funneling traffic through your affiliate link.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    around 1000 words but in the end its as long or as short as it needs to be :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author feliciayapsl
    My reviews tend to be 800 - 1000 words. The more details you give, the better it is for the consumer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    Famous saying....

    "The more you tell the more you sell"
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  • Profile picture of the author Russell Portwood
    Length of the review is obviously going to be a factor but I believe other factors are just as important (or maybe even more important). Things I look at are:

    1. Quality and readability of review.
    Does it give the reader really useable information and is it broken up in such a way that it can be easily skimmed. some people want facts, some user opinions, some ideas, etc. Make the review informative and organized in such a way that it's easy for the reader to find what he/she is looking for.

    2. Call to action!
    Copywriting basics apply to reviews too! Make sure you get the reader to click!
    "For more user reviews click here." "For information on why this may not work for you, see this information" "The only problem with this product is revealed here"
    You get the idea.

    As always, test, test, test.

    I have been able to get consistent Amazon conversions of over 10% by just using these two basic ideas. Try it, you'll like it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tricerra
    Most of the reviews that get ordered thru me are of the 500 word variety. But I also believe that they require more in depth information than what can be done in 500 words. However, if you are actually using the product you should be able to knock out 1000+ words without ever breaking a sweat.

    The more you tell = the more you sell only if you are telling the right story to the right market and thru the right medium.
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    • Profile picture of the author nellterry
      I write Amazon reviews for clients all the time. Lately, very few have wanted 500 or less words, so maybe that tells you something. Most of my reviews are 1000 words or more. I write in first person, kind of "me to you" as others here have said - like I'm talking to a friend. People trust this more.

      Also, as I think another post pointed out, I break my reviews up into sections with headers and keywords but I make them fun to read, not keyword-stuffed. I also use bullet points and white space for those who like to skim.
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  • Profile picture of the author LegitIncomes
    Originally Posted by kelik View Post

    I'm starting my first Amazon review site very soon. I want to put 1000 words product reviews in my website.
    What do you think about it?
    Is "1000 words" too much for a single product?
    Can my visitors be distracted easily until they finish reading the whole review?
    Thanks for your answers...

    Don't worry too much about the number of words in each review.

    Just concentrate on writing a thorough, well thought out review...and whatever that word count ends up being...leave it at that.
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  • Originally Posted by kelik View Post

    I'm starting my first Amazon review site very soon. I want to put 1000 words product reviews in my website.
    What do you think about it?
    Is "1000 words" too much for a single product?
    Can my visitors be distracted easily until they finish reading the whole review?
    Thanks for your answers...
    I try to make mine at least 750 words, so 1,000 sounds pretty good if you can manage it.

    I definitely think this is better for SEO purposes, rather than a short 200 word article etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author YasirYar
    I think 500-700 words is a good length, but if there are obvious reasons why the review of a certain product should be longer, you should not bound yourself to the upper word limit. More important than quantity is definitely quality, so make sure your reviews are accurate as well as readable. Nobody wants to read 2000 words about a particular product, so while you should cover all aspects of it, you should try to make it as short as possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author danlew
    For me, I think the longer review you have published, the better you may get conversions from potential buyers. I think 800 to 1,000 or more words for a product review is good enough, but don't stuff it with too much keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author edesignermani
    I think it depends on the review. If it's 1000 words but only has a few sentences of useful content then try to make it short. It does depend on the product like others have said. Also, consider add the video review from youtube into your review on your website to help break up the text and amount of reading the visitor has to do all at once. but i think 700-800 words for product review is good.so while you should cover all aspects of it, you should try to make it as short as possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author loo1
    The important thing is that you get spread your coverage regarding your website in different PR site .. Do not really that there are some very important on how many words you use.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stevie C
    Two of the most useful WSO's I purchased last year were Erica Stone's Extreme Review and Marcus D's Advanced Content Creation. Both advised 1,000+ word reviews.
    If your giving plenty of relevant information you will please the customer and Google and you will pick up those longtails as well.
    I make sure all my product reviews are SEO optimized to 100% using the clickbump SEO plug in and I either add a video of the product from Amazon or You Tube or if not available get one made.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jean Morgan
    When I used to teach my students were always asking how long or how many words they should put in their written work. Not once did I ever give a wod count or page amount. My answer was always "it will be as long as it needs to be to cover everything you need to include in sufficient detail".

    I think that applies to any kind of writing and I use it as my guideline.

    Jean
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  • Profile picture of the author ralchevd
    1,000 words is okay if you include some key features (quoted) in your review. Also, make sure to split it with the right headlines.
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  • Profile picture of the author kayshaw
    I always focus on quality over quantity. If you say everything you need to say in 700 then go with that, but I wouldn't go over 1000 words unless the product is really complicated.
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  • Profile picture of the author agc
    Part of the value I add in my reviews is the ability to cut through the irrelevant and distill down just the what's important and to deliver it as concisely as possible, almost in bullet points.

    I'm not writing to hear my own voice. I'm writing to convey the most information with the least effort to the reader.

    They may not be the longest reviews, but my goal is to tell the reader as quickly as possibly the pluses and minuses of the product and to guide them to an easy decision to buy it or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author davidtong
    Like what most mentioned, it depends on the product.

    My camera-related reviews hover between 2-3K words, sometimes spanning 3-4 pages... but other stuff like camera bags, less technical products don't need that much content.

    In fact, I have some reviews that span for 2-3 paragraphs only, but since they're short, I turn them into comparison articles instead.
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  • Profile picture of the author wuken
    1000 word sounds a good length for amazon review. It is also ideal for SEO purpose - search engines love to crawl big chunk of content.
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  • Originally Posted by kelik View Post

    Is "1000 words" too much for a single product?
    Can my visitors be distracted easily until they finish reading the whole review?
    Thanks for your answers...
    I'd say 1,000 words is about right as long as you keep it interesting. I aim for 1,000 with my reviews, but they are usually around 750 words.
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  • Profile picture of the author THK
    Take off your marketing hat for a moment and think from a consumer point of view. We all buy things and do our research online. Do you think you would care about the word count if a review gives you useful and clear information.

    Personally I like to read as much useful information as possible before buying a product. And different perspectives as well. As someone already mentioned, if someone is using the product, they will not run out of ideas to write about it. So a longer review seems more useful. But for some products that may not be the case.

    Bottom line, forget about the word count and try to be helpful. See how many words you end up with.

    All the best with your project.

    Tanvir
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hy,

    Does my ctr and conversionrate increase, when I put an amazon product video in my review?

    best wishes
    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hy,

    but it's hard to find amazon product videos,in youtoube yiu find many like a dia show but not a video.

    best wishes
    marco005
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