good things to write reviews on

How to Generate Good Customer Reviews: 7 Customer Feedback Examples and What They Can Teach Us

Using examples of seven good customer reviews, we equip you with the know-how to set the tone of future customer feedback.

Have you ever searched for step-by-step instructions on how to delete a Google review?

If you read a negative review of your business and feel your stomach churn, you are not alone.

On the flip side, when a customer gushes over your company publicly, are you liable to do your happy dance?

The highs and lows of customer feedback are all too real. The problem is that most businesses focus on the former. 

We are here to tell you that you can do more than prevent bad reviews: You can generate positive ones too.

In this article, we provide you with examples of good reviews and what they can teach us.  We also equip you with the know-how to set the tone of future reviews.

Good Customer Reviews Impact Your Bottom-Line

We wrote recently about how Google reviews help your Google rankings , and how to automate the ask. All you really need to know is that a staggering 9 out of 10 customers read reviews before deciding to purchase from you. 

There is a ton of research that goes a step further and attempts to quantify reviews actual dollar value. One such study by the Harvard Business Review found , “a one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9% increase in revenue.” On the other hand, only 2.5 percent of consumers trust businesses with overall ratings of 2.0 stars or less. If 97% of potential customers skip over your business, it’ll be hard to keep the lights on.

Customer Feedback Examples 

If you want to generate more positive reviews, it helps to know what an excellent review really looks like. You might be thinking, “Duh, I know this already, people say nice things about my business.”

There is more to it than a five-star rating. While the exact characteristics of good reviews vary by industry, there are certain fundamental elements that great reviews have in common. It’s worth taking note of them. You need to know what the end goal looks like if you want to achieve it.

1. Detailed, Specific, and Honest

A useful review includes enough detail to give others a feel for what happened. Potential customers want to know more than that someone else was happy. They want to know what exactly they liked so that they can gauge whether it aligns with their own preferences. Just compare this review of a Dominos…

To this review…

Which review is likely to influence someone with an intense pizza craving? A five-star rating and “good pizza” is not bad, but it doesn’t have the same impact. A review doesn’t have to be the length of War and Peace, but an honest, detailed, and specific recollection goes a long way to building credibility.

2 . Calls-Out Stellar Customer Service

70% of U.S. consumers say they’ve spent more money to do business with a company that delivers excellent service. It’s not surprising then that a good review will shed a positive light on your customer experience.

An added bonus is if a review makes particular note of your staff or even calls out an employee by name:

3. Provides Constructive Criticism

One less-heralded benefit of reviews is the feedback they provide you with. Ideally, a review also outlines areas of possible improvement. This constructive criticism is not only helpful to you. It also gives customers a sense of their “worst-case” scenario.

They want to know what can go wrong to understand just how much it will matter to them. Take this review:

If a customer doesn’t care about the restaurant’s food presentation, then it won’t bother them. If they do, and they decide to come anyway, then at least it won’t come as a surprise. Not only will they be less likely to complain, but they will also be more likely to focus on the positives they expected.

4. Features Images

Marketers use a fancy word for images in reviews: User-generated content. If you are not a fan of marketing jargon, it basically means that your customers include pictures of your product in action or your business’s premise. These “real-life” images provide an in-depth and authentic feel to any review. 

How to Generate Good Customer Reviews & Feedback

Now that you have a solid understanding of both the importance of good reviews and actual examples of real reviews, it’s time to focus on generating more of them.

There are a lot of different ways that you can help control the narrative in your reviews, but here are three critical areas you can’t ignore.

1. Provide Exceptional Customer Service

If you’ve paid attention thus far, you know that we already called out the importance of customer service. It might go without saying, but the number one way you can generate overwhelmingly positive customer reviews is by focusing on customer service. 

Empower your staff to go above traditional standards—and beyond canned responses—to deliver personal customer support. A genuinely warm and human experience prompts loyalty like nothing else. 

2. Harness Your Social Channels

It’s incredibly rare that anyone would pick up the phone and call you up with feedback. Instead, your customers take to social media to talk about you. That’s why it’s essential to harness your most public-facing customer service touchpoint and join in on the conversation. 

With the right approach, you can turn it into a goldmine of positivity. Encourage customer feedback and positive interactions with fun hashtags and quick responses, and most importantly, have fun.

This does not apply solely to customers post-purchase, but at every single point on the customer journey. Your tone and voice in this interaction will help guide your customers, so expect it to be reflected back in their reviews.

3. Reply to Positive Customer Reviews

Certain people believe that the higher-purpose of customer service is to turn an angry customer into a happy one. In this light, there lies an opportunity in every negative review.

While there is value in this, it can risk a mindset that ignores the power of good reviews too, and the need to respond to them. Positive reinforcement is the core concept here.

Happy customers need to be heard just as much as unsatisfied ones. This shows anyone thinking of leaving a review that they will be heard and that their feedback matters to you. 

Good Cutomer Feedback is Essential for Your Business

Whether you want to get reviews on Amazon or Facebook, repeat after me, “customer reviews are under my control.” Reviews are just another element of your company.

When you focus on excellent customer service , you create the reviews you want. You can also determine the tone and voice of the customer by reflecting it in your engagement with them, primarily in-person and through your social channels.

There is, unfortunately, no exact science. But when you see consistently excellent reviews roll in, you know you have the right formula.

Drew Wilkinson

Drew Wilkinson is the Head of Marketing at SimpleTexting. Drew has more than a decade of experience managing successful integrated marketing programs to build brands, raise awareness, and generate demand.

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17 Positive Review Examples and Response Templates

In an increasingly connected world where everyone’s opinions are shared with a click, reviews are more powerful than ever. Statistics show that 95% of consumers now read online reviews, and as many as 88% trust them as much as personal recommendations.

Yet, acquiring these gold nuggets of advocacy can often feel as daunting as striking gold. So how do you motivate your customers to share their fantastic experiences and pen them into persuasive, positive reviews?

In this article, we’ll show you real-life examples of positive customer reviews. These review examples not only laud excellent customer experiences but are powerful tools that boost your online reputation and catalyze business success.

Let’s dive in and start crafting some five-star reputations.

Why Positive Reviews Matter?

Helping your customers craft the perfect positive review, 17 positive review examples by industry, 10 best practices for encouraging customers to leave positive reviews, how to respond to positive reviews and engage with customers, positive review response templates and examples, how demandhub can be your business growth partner.

The power of positive reviews is undeniable. A staggering 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions. Businesses with excellent reviews have up to a 31% greater conversion rate than those with no or negative reviews.

Moreover, 72% of customers won’t act until they read reviews. Hence, the importance of positive customer feedback cannot be overstated.

Positive reviews are a clear endorsement of your product or service. They are a trust-building tool that increases the likelihood of driving prospective customers toward a purchase.

Let’s delve deeper into why positive reviews are the lifeblood of your business’s online presence and success.

Boosting Your Online Reputation

Your business reputation can make or break your business. Positive reviews can help build a robust online reputation and increase your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).

For 73% of consumers, the content of a review holds more weight than the star rating alone. This fact highlights positive reviews’ significant impact on shaping your business’s online image and cultivating trust among potential customers.

Additionally, Google uses reviews as a pivotal ranking factor, underlining their influence on search engine optimization (SEO). Fresh user-generated content, like reviews, accounts for 9.8% of total ranking factors, making them an indispensable element of SEO strategy.

Your online visibility grows with each positive review you get. You will rank higher on search engines if your business has more positive reviews. This leads to increased brand visibility and ultimately brings in more business.

Positive reviews can also help counteract negative reviews. Responding to it positively and professionally can show potential customers that you care about their experience and are willing to make things right. This can help mitigate the impact of negative reviews and maintain a positive online reputation.

Attracting New Customers

Positive reviews can be a powerful marketing tool. When potential customers see positive reviews from others who have used your product or service, they are more likely to choose your business.

5-star customer reviews give your business a competitive edge, swaying potential customers in your favor over your rivals.

Furthermore, 57% of consumers only use businesses with 4 stars or more, signifying the influence of positive reviews. So, positive reviews aren’t just feedback - they’re strategic assets for attracting new customers.

Encouraging Repeat Business

Positive reviews can also encourage repeat business. People with good experience with your business will return and recommend your product or service to others. This results in increased customer loyalty and a stronger customer base.

Also, positive customer reviews serve as a compass for improvement. By engaging with reviews, you gain insights into what customers appreciate and areas needing refinement. These insights help you improve customer experience and spark a cycle of ever-growing positive reviews.

In conclusion, positive reviews are essential for the success of any business. They can help boost your online reputation and SEO, attract new customers , and encourage repeat business.

Though five-star ratings are a beacon of success, they alone cannot narrate the full story of your stellar services. A rating, irrespective of how high, needs the support of a well-crafted, positive review to set your business apart.

Generic, plain reviews often fail to provide the comprehensive picture potential customers seek. Enhancing the quality of your reviews is crucial to attracting a larger customer base.

Before diving into positive review examples, let’s define what is a “good positive review?” While many might think a ‘good positive review’ is solely determined by a five-star rating, the reality is much more nuanced.

A truly valuable review has elements that go beyond just the star rating. Here are some phrases that commonly appear in positive reviews:

• “I highly recommend this business.”
• “Their customer service is second to none.”
• “The product quality is consistently outstanding, exceeding my expectations every time.”
• “I was completely impressed with their professionalism and customer service.”
• “The ambiance here is always inviting and comfortable.”
• “This is my go-to place for ‘X…’ - the best in town.”
• “Their staff is not only friendly but also highly skilled.”
• “Pricing is fair and transparent - definitely value for money.”
• “Efficiency and punctuality are hallmarks of their service.”

Here are some tips for your customers on how to craft the perfect positive review:

Be Genuine and Specific

The goal is to go beyond the star rating. Instead of getting generic ‘great service’ praise, encourage your customers to share precise details about their positive experiences. This offers potential customers a more vivid picture of what they can expect from your business.

See how the following review is authentic, delves into specifics, and goes beyond the star rating:

Receiving such detailed positive feedback highlights your business’s attention to detail and the authenticity of the customer’s experience. It goes a long way in fostering trust with potential customers.

When a customer invests time to craft a comprehensive review, it brings credibility to their five-star rating. Prospective customers might see a perfect rating with skepticism. However, a detailed, personalized review can instill trust and validate the high rating given to your business.

Highlight Key Features and Benefits

Aim to get positive reviews that not only compliment but also highlight the unique features and benefits of your business. These specifics help potential customers understand what sets your business apart from others.

For instance, consider this review for an auto shop: “The comprehensive services offered by this auto shop were impressive. I appreciate their extended working hours, which are highly convenient for busy individuals. They also provide a free vehicle health checkup with every service, emphasizing their commitment to the customer’s safety.”

Here’s a real-life example of a positive review highlighting key benefits:

Receiving reviews that spotlight your business’s unique selling propositions (USPs) will attract prospects and help you know where your business is performing well.

Address Potential Concerns

Encourage positive reviews that not only highlight your business’s strengths but also address any potential customer concerns. This demonstrates that your business values discerning consumers who provide honest assessments.

For example, consider this review for a dentist’s office: “Although the wait time at this dentist’s office was longer than anticipated, the exceptional quality of care more than compensated for it. The staff exhibited friendliness, expertise, and ensured my comfort throughout the entire visit.”

Here’s another example of a positive review addressing potential concerns:

Your customers showcase fairness and honesty as a reviewer by addressing potential concerns in their reviews. This constructive feedback helps your businesses improve and deliver even better service in the future.

Contain User-Generated Content: Photos and Videos

Photos and videos add credibility and authenticity to the review, providing tangible evidence of the customer’s interaction with the product or service.

Visual content shows various aspects, such as a clinic’s ambiance, product quality, or the before-and-after results of a service. It adds authenticity, builds trust, and creates a more immersive storytelling experience.

Businesses can benefit greatly by encouraging customers to share photos and videos. These visual aids provide valuable user-generated content that can attract more attention, engagement, and potential customers.

Additionally, visual content can be shared on social media platforms, expanding the reach and visibility of the positive review beyond the review site.

Mentions Long-Term Customer Relationships

A positive review gains significant value when a customer mentions their long-standing relationship with your business, indicating a sustained and positive customer experience.

Consider the following example where the value of the review is greatly amplified by this added detail:

By showcasing the enduring customer relationship, this review becomes a compelling testament to the consistent excellence of the business. It offers potential customers valuable insights into the long-term satisfaction and trust that can be fostered over an extended period.

Features a Team Member’s Name

Review sites often challenge businesses to showcase their personality and humanize their brand. However, when a review goes the extra mile and mentions a team member by name, it creates a genuine connection with potential customers. This personal touch greatly improves the likelihood of customers choosing your business over competitors.

This aspect holds even greater significance in agent-based organizations like salons or real estate companies, where personalized recommendations reassure customers that they will receive individualized care.

See the positive review example below that mentions team members. You can witness this approach’s remarkable impact on building customer trust and fostering satisfaction.

Now that you have a solid understanding of the value of generating positive reviews and their key components. However, reviews can vary in format and content based on the industry and platform.

Let’s explore 17 industry-specific positive review examples to provide a clearer picture and see how businesses can leverage them.

Reviews play a vital role in the healthcare industry, where trust and patient satisfaction are paramount. Potential patients heavily rely on reviews to make informed decisions about their healthcare providers.

In fact, 77% of patients read online reviews as their 1st step in finding a new doctor. And 84% wouldn’t consider a referred doctor if they have a rating of four stars or less. So, the more detailed the positive reviews, the better. Encourage patients to highlight specific aspects of your practice’s customer service and other notable features.

Patient reviews are a valuable marketing asset for your practice. They showcase the excellence of your services. You can prominently display them on your practice’s website and share them across social media channels to attract more patients to your door.

To help healthcare practices encourage their customers to share their experiences, here’s a template for a positive review:

You can even create these templates by copy and pasting them in your review request text messages .

In the fiercely competitive automotive industry, and social media channels.

By doing so, you can leverage the influence of positive reviews to gain a competitive edge. To help your customers in writing positive reviews for your business, here are some templates they can use as a starting point:

If you run a hair salon, you understand the importance of showcasing your professionalism, serviceability, and skill level to attract more clients. As an industry that thrives on customer satisfaction, it’s vital to stay informed about current trends and best practices.

Explore these positive review examples, which provide valuable insights into what customers appreciate and seek in hair salon experiences. Get positive reviews across top online review sites to boost your salon’s visibility.

Share these positive review templates with your customers to help them craft appreciation for your service:

Trust and reliability are essential in the mover’s industry. Positive reviews are crucial in this process, serving as testimonials highlighting your professionalism, efficiency, and excellent customer service.

Encourage happy customers to share their experiences on popular review platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook. Doing so can amplify your reputation and make you stand out in your industry.

Share these positive review templates with your customers to help them write testimonials for your business:

Retail Stores

When it comes to retail stores, several key factors contribute to their success in outshining the competition. These factors include the prime location, exceptional customer service, high-quality products, and customer service.

While a higher star rating certainly helps, it is equally important for positive reviews to provide specific details, as demonstrated in the examples below. By highlighting these aspects, retail stores can effectively capture the attention of prospects and differentiate themselves in a crowded market.

Your customers can use the following positive review templates to write a good review for your retail business:

Dental Clinics

Online reviews play a significant role in the dental industry. They give potential patients a good indication of what to expect from your dental practice . They also provide dentists with valuable feedback to help them improve and become the best practice.

You need a constant stream of new patients to grow your dental practice . And to get new patients, you need positive reviews. Dental reviews not only provide social proof of your business, but they also help increase patient trust.

In addition, dental clinic reviews can help dentists identify areas needing improvement. By reading honest patient feedback, dentists can find what works well and needs to be changed to offer the best possible care.

Most dentists have a tough time getting patients to leave reviews . Great news! You can share the following positive review templates with your patients to make leaving reviews a breeze:

Chiropractors and Physiotherapy Clinics

Many physicians hesitate to ask patients for online feedback as patient satisfaction is difficult to measure and can be inconsistent. But 7 out of 10 patients will provide an online review if asked .

Moreover, Google will rank your clinic higher on search results if you have more positive reviews. In fact, positive reviews can attract out-of-network patients to healthcare review websites .

A positive online review history could persuade patients to visit your clinic , even if you’re not in their insurance network. About 43% of potential patients are willing to go out of their insurance provider network for a provider with positive reviews.

Some chiropractor or physiotherapy clinic positive review templates for your customers’ reference are:

Positive reviews are an invaluable asset for any business. You can establish a strong online reputation and attract new customers by providing excellent service and encouraging feedback. Use these examples and tips to craft a positive review and watch your business thrive.

Encouraging customers to leave positive reviews is a powerful way to enhance your online reputation and attract new customers. Here are some best practices to consider:

Offer Exceptional Service or Product

This is the most important point. Quality products or services will naturally encourage positive reviews. Ensure your customer service is top-notch and your product or service meets or exceeds expectations.

Ask for a Review

People are often willing to give reviews if asked. You can do this in person, over SMS, on receipts, or through social media. Ensure your request is polite, not pushy, and express your appreciation for their feedback.

Make it Easy

Your customers are busy. The less time and effort it takes, the more likely they will do it. Make the process of leaving a review as easy and intuitive as possible. If you’re asking for reviews via email, text , or website, provide a direct link to the review form.

Timing is Key

Timing can significantly influence the likelihood of receiving a review. Asking for a review immediately after purchase might not be the best strategy, as the customer hasn’t yet had time to experience your product or service.

Similarly, waiting too long could make the experience not fresh in their mind. Find a middle ground, such as a few days or weeks after the purchase or service completion.

On the other hand, for service-based businesses, it is important to ask for a review immediately after the treatment or services are provided while the experience is still fresh.

Respond to Reviews

Responding to positive and negative reviews shows that you value customer feedback. It also builds trust and rapport with your customers, which can encourage more reviews.

Incentivize Reviews

Offering small incentives can motivate customers to leave a review. This could be a discount on their next purchase, a small gift, or entry into a contest. Make sure any incentives adhere to the review policies of the platform you’re using.

Share Positive Reviews

Displaying positive reviews on your website, in-store, or on social media channels can serve as social proof. It also encourages others to leave positive reviews and attract new customers.

Address Negative Reviews

Don’t ignore or delete negative reviews . Instead, respond professionally and offer solutions to the issues raised. This shows that you care about customer feedback and are committed to improving. It may even turn a negative review into a positive one.

Train Your Staff

Ensure all your employees understand the importance of reviews and are trained to encourage customers to leave feedback. They should also know how to handle negative reviews or complaints in person.

Thank Customers for Their Reviews

Show appreciation to customers who take the time to leave a review. Simple thank yous can go a long way and encourage them to leave reviews in the future.

Remember, staying ethical and fair in your pursuit of reviews is important. Don’t fall into the trap of buying reviews or creating fake ones, as this can harm your reputation in the long run.

When responding to positive reviews, express your gratitude and acknowledge the specifics of their praise. Personalize your response to show that you value the time and effort they took to write the review.

For example, “Thank you, [Customer’s Name], for your kind words. We’re thrilled to hear that you enjoyed [specific product/service/aspect they praised] and look forward to serving you again.”

Engaging with customers goes beyond just responding to reviews. Regularly interact with them on social media platforms, emails, or review sites. Use these interactions to acknowledge their positive experiences and learn more about their needs and expectations.

Always maintain a professional, courteous, and friendly tone. Encourage conversations, ask for their opinions, or offer valuable content. Remember, every interaction is an opportunity to build a strong relationship and foster customer loyalty.

At times, the most daunting part of review management is finding the right words to use in your responses. Here are a few positive review response templates you could use as a starting point when responding to reviews.

• Happy Customer: “We’re over the moon to hear that you enjoyed our service. Your kind words truly mean a lot to us. We’re looking forward to serving you again soon! Thank you.”
• Compliment on Product Quality: “Dear [Customer’s Name], we’re thrilled that you’re enjoying our [product]. We take pride in the quality of our products and your feedback validates our efforts. We appreciate your support and can’t wait to continue providing you with the best in the future. Thank you!”
• Praise for Customer Service: “Hello [Customer’s Name], we’re so pleased to hear that our customer service team met your expectations. We strive to provide excellent service to each and every customer. Your feedback helps us continue our efforts. Looking forward to serving you again, thank you!”
• Compliment on Quick Delivery: “Hi [Customer’s Name], we’re glad to hear that your order reached you promptly! We understand the importance of quick and efficient delivery, and we’re happy we could meet your expectations. Your kind words are much appreciated. Thank you for choosing us.”
• Appreciation of Business Ethics/Values: “Dear [Customer’s Name], your appreciation for our business values means the world to us. It is customers like you who encourage us to stay true to our principles. Thank you for your kind words, we look forward to serving you in the future.”

Remember, while these are templates, it’s always better to personalize your responses based on the specifics of each review to show customers that you truly value their feedback.

Managing customer reviews effectively is an essential part of successful business operations. Positive reviews do more than boost your online reputation. These prove the high quality of your products or services, solidifying trust with your existing customers and attracting potential ones.

The templates provided in the article offer you a launching pad to construct meaningful and engaging positive reviews and responses, fostering a deeper bond with your clientele.

Remember, each positive review represents a golden opportunity for engagement, growth, and learning. DemandHub can make this process smoother by offering features like a unified inbox, enabling you to manage all customer conversations in one place.

DemandHub’s web chat helps convert website visitors into potential customers through real-time interactions. Text messaging allows you to request payments and reviews, book appointments , and promptly communicate important information to your customers.

By automating review requests and efficiently managing feedback, DemandHub facilitates getting more positive reviews and responding to them effectively.

Implementing Demandhub in your review management strategy can help you stay on top of your business’s online reputation and engage more effectively with your customers.

Grow your business to new heights and gain a competitive edge with DemandHub. Get your Free Demo today .

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Want to Write a Review? Here’s Advice From New York Times Critics.

In four short videos, A.O. Scott, Maya Phillips, Jon Pareles and Jennifer Szalai share with students their tips for writing reviews.

By Callie Holtermann and C. Ross Flatt

Note: Our Student Review Contest is open from Nov. 10 to Dec. 15.

You probably have a slew of opinions on the books, movies, video games and music you love and loathe. With some patience and attention, you can turn these opinions into a piece of written criticism: a review.

Advice from experts might help. To support students who are interested in writing their own reviews, whether for our annual review contest or just for fun, we asked Times critics who work in four different genres to share their advice.

In the four short videos below, you’ll learn more about how to explain your opinion, persuade a reader, consider a work’s context and examine the artist’s intent. For each video, we provide reflection questions to help students apply the advice to their own writing.

Explain your opinion.

A.O. Scott , a chief film critic at The Times, told us that a review should share the writer’s opinion and explain why he or she feels that way. An opinion alone is not enough, he said: “The only way you get anyone else interested in it is if you can explain it.”

Some questions to consider after watching the video:

Think of a work of film, music, art or writing that you reacted to strongly. What is your opinion of that work?

Why do you have that opinion? What evidence could you use to support your opinion?

What other information about the work might be useful to someone else who wants to learn more about it? How could you help an interested reader?

Persuade the reader.

Maya Phillips , a critic at large who reviews theater, poetry and other works of art and culture, stresses that a review is simply a piece of persuasive writing. She urges students who are new to review writing to use their visceral responses to drive their arguments.

Have you ever written a piece of persuasive writing, like an argumentative essay or newspaper column? How did you go about convincing the reader of your opinion?

What does your unique voice sound like? What review topics could be a good match for your preferred language and tone?

Consider a work’s context.

Jon Pareles , the chief pop music critic at The New York Times, told us that when it comes to today’s pop stars, “their stardom isn’t only in their music.” He encourages students to consider not only the work they are reviewing, but how that work fits into the broader cultural landscape.

Think about one work that you would be interested in reviewing (in any of the categories that The Times reviews). What would it mean to do a “close read” of this piece? What small details jump out at you?

Who created the work you chose? What do you know about them? How does their public presentation factor into your opinion of their work?

Try to understand the artist’s intent.

Jennifer Szalai , a nonfiction book critic at The Times, told us that reviewers have a responsibility to be fair to the creators of the work they review. “Fair doesn’t mean boring,” she said, “fair just means that you are trying, as much as possible, to understand what the writer of the book was trying to do.”

What do you think was the goal of the artist who created the work you chose in the last section? How well do you think they accomplished that goal?

Read a New York Times review in any section that interests you. ( Arts , Books , Style and Food are good places to start.) Do you think the review you read was fair to the artist? Why or why not?

If you want to learn more about review writing, we encourage you to explore our review writing unit and enter our Student Review Contest .

Callie Holtermann joined The Learning Network as a senior news assistant in 2020. More about Callie Holtermann

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Blog – Posted on Friday, Mar 29

17 book review examples to help you write the perfect review.

It’s an exciting time to be a book reviewer. Once confined to print newspapers and journals, reviews now dot many corridors of the Internet — forever helping others discover their next great read. That said, every book reviewer will face a familiar panic: how can you do justice to a great book in just a thousand words?

As you know, the best way to learn how to do something is by immersing yourself in it. Luckily, the Internet (i.e. Goodreads and other review sites , in particular) has made book reviews more accessible than ever — which means that there are a lot of book reviews examples out there for you to view!

In this post, we compiled 17 prototypical book review examples in multiple genres to help you figure out how to write the perfect review . If you want to jump straight to the examples, you can skip the next section. Otherwise, let’s first check out what makes up a good review.

Are you interested in becoming a book reviewer? We recommend you check out Reedsy Discovery , where you can earn money for writing reviews — and are guaranteed people will read your reviews! To register as a book reviewer, sign up here.

Pro-tip : But wait! How are you sure if you should become a book reviewer in the first place? If you're on the fence, or curious about your match with a book reviewing career, take our quick quiz:

Should you become a book reviewer?

Find out the answer. Takes 30 seconds!

What must a book review contain?

Like all works of art, no two book reviews will be identical. But fear not: there are a few guidelines for any aspiring book reviewer to follow. Most book reviews, for instance, are less than 1,500 words long, with the sweet spot hitting somewhere around the 1,000-word mark. (However, this may vary depending on the platform on which you’re writing, as we’ll see later.)

In addition, all reviews share some universal elements, as shown in our book review templates . These include:

• A review will offer a concise plot summary of the book. 
• A book review will offer an evaluation of the work. 
• A book review will offer a recommendation for the audience. 

If these are the basic ingredients that make up a book review, it’s the tone and style with which the book reviewer writes that brings the extra panache. This will differ from platform to platform, of course. A book review on Goodreads, for instance, will be much more informal and personal than a book review on Kirkus Reviews, as it is catering to a different audience. However, at the end of the day, the goal of all book reviews is to give the audience the tools to determine whether or not they’d like to read the book themselves.

Keeping that in mind, let’s proceed to some book review examples to put all of this in action.

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Book review examples for fiction books

Since story is king in the world of fiction, it probably won’t come as any surprise to learn that a book review for a novel will concentrate on how well the story was told .

That said, book reviews in all genres follow the same basic formula that we discussed earlier. In these examples, you’ll be able to see how book reviewers on different platforms expertly intertwine the plot summary and their personal opinions of the book to produce a clear, informative, and concise review.

Note: Some of the book review examples run very long. If a book review is truncated in this post, we’ve indicated by including a […] at the end, but you can always read the entire review if you click on the link provided.

Examples of literary fiction book reviews

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man :

An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his late high school days through three years of college to his life in Harlem.

His early training prepared him for a life of humility before white men, but through injustices- large and small, he came to realize that he was an "invisible man". People saw in him only a reflection of their preconceived ideas of what he was, denied his individuality, and ultimately did not see him at all. This theme, which has implications far beyond the obvious racial parallel, is skillfully handled. The incidents of the story are wholly absorbing. The boy's dismissal from college because of an innocent mistake, his shocked reaction to the anonymity of the North and to Harlem, his nightmare experiences on a one-day job in a paint factory and in the hospital, his lightning success as the Harlem leader of a communistic organization known as the Brotherhood, his involvement in black versus white and black versus black clashes and his disillusion and understanding of his invisibility- all climax naturally in scenes of violence and riot, followed by a retreat which is both literal and figurative. Parts of this experience may have been told before, but never with such freshness, intensity and power.

This is Ellison's first novel, but he has complete control of his story and his style. Watch it.

Lyndsey reviews George Orwell’s 1984 on Goodreads:

YOU. ARE. THE. DEAD. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak "Double Plus Good." Let me preface this with an apology. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can't help it. My mind is completely fried.

This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings, with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully developed language called Newspeak, or rather more of the anti-language, whose purpose is to limit speech and understanding instead of to enhance and expand it. The world-building is so fully fleshed out and spine-tinglingly terrifying that it's almost as if George travelled to such a place, escaped from it, and then just wrote it all down.

I read Fahrenheit 451 over ten years ago in my early teens. At the time, I remember really wanting to read 1984, although I never managed to get my hands on it. I'm almost glad I didn't. Though I would not have admitted it at the time, it would have gone over my head. Or at the very least, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it fully. […]

The New York Times reviews Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry :

Three-quarters of the way through Lisa Halliday’s debut novel, “Asymmetry,” a British foreign correspondent named Alistair is spending Christmas on a compound outside of Baghdad. His fellow revelers include cameramen, defense contractors, United Nations employees and aid workers. Someone’s mother has FedExed a HoneyBaked ham from Maine; people are smoking by the swimming pool. It is 2003, just days after Saddam Hussein’s capture, and though the mood is optimistic, Alistair is worrying aloud about the ethics of his chosen profession, wondering if reporting on violence doesn’t indirectly abet violence and questioning why he’d rather be in a combat zone than reading a picture book to his son. But every time he returns to London, he begins to “spin out.” He can’t go home. “You observe what people do with their freedom — what they don’t do — and it’s impossible not to judge them for it,” he says.

The line, embedded unceremoniously in the middle of a page-long paragraph, doubles, like so many others in “Asymmetry,” as literary criticism. Halliday’s novel is so strange and startlingly smart that its mere existence seems like commentary on the state of fiction. One finishes “Asymmetry” for the first or second (or like this reader, third) time and is left wondering what other writers are not doing with their freedom — and, like Alistair, judging them for it.

Despite its title, “Asymmetry” comprises two seemingly unrelated sections of equal length, appended by a slim and quietly shocking coda. Halliday’s prose is clean and lean, almost reportorial in the style of W. G. Sebald, and like the murmurings of a shy person at a cocktail party, often comic only in single clauses. It’s a first novel that reads like the work of an author who has published many books over many years. […]

Emily W. Thompson reviews Michael Doane's The Crossing on Reedsy Discovery :

In Doane’s debut novel, a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery with surprising results.

An unnamed protagonist (The Narrator) is dealing with heartbreak. His love, determined to see the world, sets out for Portland, Oregon. But he’s a small-town boy who hasn’t traveled much. So, the Narrator mourns her loss and hides from life, throwing himself into rehabbing an old motorcycle. Until one day, he takes a leap; he packs his bike and a few belongings and heads out to find the Girl.

Following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and William Least Heat-Moon, Doane offers a coming of age story about a man finding himself on the backroads of America. Doane’s a gifted writer with fluid prose and insightful observations, using The Narrator’s personal interactions to illuminate the diversity of the United States.

The Narrator initially sticks to the highways, trying to make it to the West Coast as quickly as possible. But a hitchhiker named Duke convinces him to get off the beaten path and enjoy the ride. “There’s not a place that’s like any other,” [39] Dukes contends, and The Narrator realizes he’s right. Suddenly, the trip is about the journey, not just the destination. The Narrator ditches his truck and traverses the deserts and mountains on his bike. He destroys his phone, cutting off ties with his past and living only in the moment.

As he crosses the country, The Narrator connects with several unique personalities whose experiences and views deeply impact his own. Duke, the complicated cowboy and drifter, who opens The Narrator’s eyes to a larger world. Zooey, the waitress in Colorado who opens his heart and reminds him that love can be found in this big world. And Rosie, The Narrator’s sweet landlady in Portland, who helps piece him back together both physically and emotionally.

This supporting cast of characters is excellent. Duke, in particular, is wonderfully nuanced and complicated. He’s a throwback to another time, a man without a cell phone who reads Sartre and sleeps under the stars. Yet he’s also a grifter with a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” attitude that harms those around him. It’s fascinating to watch The Narrator wrestle with Duke’s behavior, trying to determine which to model and which to discard.

Doane creates a relatable protagonist in The Narrator, whose personal growth doesn’t erase his faults. His willingness to hit the road with few resources is admirable, and he’s prescient enough to recognize the jealousy of those who cannot or will not take the leap. His encounters with new foods, places, and people broaden his horizons. Yet his immaturity and selfishness persist. He tells Rosie she’s been a good mother to him but chooses to ignore the continuing concern from his own parents as he effectively disappears from his old life.

Despite his flaws, it’s a pleasure to accompany The Narrator on his physical and emotional journey. The unexpected ending is a fitting denouement to an epic and memorable road trip.

The Book Smugglers review Anissa Gray’s The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls :

I am still dipping my toes into the literally fiction pool, finding what works for me and what doesn’t. Books like The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray are definitely my cup of tea.

Althea and Proctor Cochran had been pillars of their economically disadvantaged community for years – with their local restaurant/small market and their charity drives. Until they are found guilty of fraud for stealing and keeping most of the money they raised and sent to jail. Now disgraced, their entire family is suffering the consequences, specially their twin teenage daughters Baby Vi and Kim.  To complicate matters even more: Kim was actually the one to call the police on her parents after yet another fight with her mother. […]

Examples of children’s and YA fiction book reviews

The Book Hookup reviews Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give :

♥ Quick Thoughts and Rating: 5 stars! I can’t imagine how challenging it would be to tackle the voice of a movement like Black Lives Matter, but I do know that Thomas did it with a finesse only a talented author like herself possibly could. With an unapologetically realistic delivery packed with emotion, The Hate U Give is a crucially important portrayal of the difficulties minorities face in our country every single day. I have no doubt that this book will be met with resistance by some (possibly many) and slapped with a “controversial” label, but if you’ve ever wondered what it was like to walk in a POC’s shoes, then I feel like this is an unflinchingly honest place to start.

In Angie Thomas’s debut novel, Starr Carter bursts on to the YA scene with both heart-wrecking and heartwarming sincerity. This author is definitely one to watch.

♥ Review: The hype around this book has been unquestionable and, admittedly, that made me both eager to get my hands on it and terrified to read it. I mean, what if I was to be the one person that didn’t love it as much as others? (That seems silly now because of how truly mesmerizing THUG was in the most heartbreakingly realistic way.) However, with the relevancy of its summary in regards to the unjust predicaments POC currently face in the US, I knew this one was a must-read, so I was ready to set my fears aside and dive in. That said, I had an altogether more personal, ulterior motive for wanting to read this book. […]

The New York Times reviews Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood :

Alice Crewe (a last name she’s chosen for herself) is a fairy tale legacy: the granddaughter of Althea Proserpine, author of a collection of dark-as-night fairy tales called “Tales From the Hinterland.” The book has a cult following, and though Alice has never met her grandmother, she’s learned a little about her through internet research. She hasn’t read the stories, because her mother, Ella Proserpine, forbids it.

Alice and Ella have moved from place to place in an attempt to avoid the “bad luck” that seems to follow them. Weird things have happened. As a child, Alice was kidnapped by a man who took her on a road trip to find her grandmother; he was stopped by the police before they did so. When at 17 she sees that man again, unchanged despite the years, Alice panics. Then Ella goes missing, and Alice turns to Ellery Finch, a schoolmate who’s an Althea Proserpine superfan, for help in tracking down her mother. Not only has Finch read every fairy tale in the collection, but handily, he remembers them, sharing them with Alice as they journey to the mysterious Hazel Wood, the estate of her now-dead grandmother, where they hope to find Ella.

“The Hazel Wood” starts out strange and gets stranger, in the best way possible. (The fairy stories Finch relays, which Albert includes as their own chapters, are as creepy and evocative as you’d hope.) Albert seamlessly combines contemporary realism with fantasy, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth and the world as it appears is false, where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a very good book. It’s a captivating debut. […]

James reviews Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight, Moon on Goodreads:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of the books that followers of my blog voted as a must-read for our Children's Book August 2018 Readathon. Come check it out and join the next few weeks!

This picture book was such a delight. I hadn't remembered reading it when I was a child, but it might have been read to me... either way, it was like a whole new experience! It's always so difficult to convince a child to fall asleep at night. I don't have kids, but I do have a 5-month-old puppy who whines for 5 minutes every night when he goes in his cage/crate (hopefully he'll be fully housebroken soon so he can roam around when he wants). I can only imagine! I babysat a lot as a teenager and I have tons of younger cousins, nieces, and nephews, so I've been through it before, too. This was a believable experience, and it really helps show kids how to relax and just let go when it's time to sleep.

The bunny's are adorable. The rhymes are exquisite. I found it pretty fun, but possibly a little dated given many of those things aren't normal routines anymore. But the lessons to take from it are still powerful. Loved it! I want to sample some more books by this fine author and her illustrators.

Publishers Weekly reviews Elizabeth Lilly’s Geraldine :

This funny, thoroughly accomplished debut opens with two words: “I’m moving.” They’re spoken by the title character while she swoons across her family’s ottoman, and because Geraldine is a giraffe, her full-on melancholy mode is quite a spectacle. But while Geraldine may be a drama queen (even her mother says so), it won’t take readers long to warm up to her. The move takes Geraldine from Giraffe City, where everyone is like her, to a new school, where everyone else is human. Suddenly, the former extrovert becomes “That Giraffe Girl,” and all she wants to do is hide, which is pretty much impossible. “Even my voice tries to hide,” she says, in the book’s most poignant moment. “It’s gotten quiet and whispery.” Then she meets Cassie, who, though human, is also an outlier (“I’m that girl who wears glasses and likes MATH and always organizes her food”), and things begin to look up.

Lilly’s watercolor-and-ink drawings are as vividly comic and emotionally astute as her writing; just when readers think there are no more ways for Geraldine to contort her long neck, this highly promising talent comes up with something new.

Examples of genre fiction book reviews

Karlyn P reviews Nora Roberts’ Dark Witch , a paranormal romance novel , on Goodreads:

4 stars. Great world-building, weak romance, but still worth the read.

I hesitate to describe this book as a 'romance' novel simply because the book spent little time actually exploring the romance between Iona and Boyle. Sure, there IS a romance in this novel. Sprinkled throughout the book are a few scenes where Iona and Boyle meet, chat, wink at each, flirt some more, sleep together, have a misunderstanding, make up, and then profess their undying love. Very formulaic stuff, and all woven around the more important parts of this book.

The meat of this book is far more focused on the story of the Dark witch and her magically-gifted descendants living in Ireland. Despite being weak on the romance, I really enjoyed it. I think the book is probably better for it, because the romance itself was pretty lackluster stuff.

I absolutely plan to stick with this series as I enjoyed the world building, loved the Ireland setting, and was intrigued by all of the secondary characters. However, If you read Nora Roberts strictly for the romance scenes, this one might disappoint. But if you enjoy a solid background story with some dark magic and prophesies, you might enjoy it as much as I did.

I listened to this one on audio, and felt the narration was excellent.

Emily May reviews R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy Wars , an epic fantasy novel , on Goodreads:

“But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”

Holy hell, what did I just read??

➽ A fantasy military school

➽ A rich world based on modern Chinese history

➽ Shamans and gods

➽ Detailed characterization leading to unforgettable characters

➽ Adorable, opium-smoking mentors

That's a basic list, but this book is all of that and SO MUCH MORE. I know 100% that The Poppy War will be one of my best reads of 2018.

Isn't it just so great when you find one of those books that completely drags you in, makes you fall in love with the characters, and demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for every horrific, nail-biting moment of it? This is one of those books for me. And I must issue a serious content warning: this book explores some very dark themes. Proceed with caution (or not at all) if you are particularly sensitive to scenes of war, drug use and addiction, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism, self-harm, torture, and rape (off-page but extremely horrific).

Because, despite the fairly innocuous first 200 pages, the title speaks the truth: this is a book about war. All of its horrors and atrocities. It is not sugar-coated, and it is often graphic. The "poppy" aspect refers to opium, which is a big part of this book. It is a fantasy, but the book draws inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking.

Crime Fiction Lover reviews Jessica Barry’s Freefall , a crime novel:

In some crime novels, the wrongdoing hits you between the eyes from page one. With others it’s a more subtle process, and that’s OK too. So where does Freefall fit into the sliding scale?

In truth, it’s not clear. This is a novel with a thrilling concept at its core. A woman survives plane crash, then runs for her life. However, it is the subtleties at play that will draw you in like a spider beckoning to an unwitting fly.

Like the heroine in Sharon Bolton’s Dead Woman Walking, Allison is lucky to be alive. She was the only passenger in a private plane, belonging to her fiancé, Ben, who was piloting the expensive aircraft, when it came down in woodlands in the Colorado Rockies. Ally is also the only survivor, but rather than sitting back and waiting for rescue, she is soon pulling together items that may help her survive a little longer – first aid kit, energy bars, warm clothes, trainers – before fleeing the scene. If you’re hearing the faint sound of alarm bells ringing, get used to it. There’s much, much more to learn about Ally before this tale is over.

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One , a science-fiction novel :

Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles.

The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three.

Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.

Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.

Book review examples for non-fiction books

Nonfiction books are generally written to inform readers about a certain topic. As such, the focus of a nonfiction book review will be on the clarity and effectiveness of this communication . In carrying this out, a book review may analyze the author’s source materials and assess the thesis in order to determine whether or not the book meets expectations.

Again, we’ve included abbreviated versions of long reviews here, so feel free to click on the link to read the entire piece!

The Washington Post reviews David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon :

The arc of David Grann’s career reminds one of a software whiz-kid or a latest-thing talk-show host — certainly not an investigative reporter, even if he is one of the best in the business. The newly released movie of his first book, “The Lost City of Z,” is generating all kinds of Oscar talk, and now comes the release of his second book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” the film rights to which have already been sold for $5 million in what one industry journal called the “biggest and wildest book rights auction in memory.”

Grann deserves the attention. He’s canny about the stories he chases, he’s willing to go anywhere to chase them, and he’s a maestro in his ability to parcel out information at just the right clip: a hint here, a shading of meaning there, a smartly paced buildup of multiple possibilities followed by an inevitable reversal of readerly expectations or, in some cases, by a thrilling and dislocating pull of the entire narrative rug.

All of these strengths are on display in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Around the turn of the 20th century, oil was discovered underneath Osage lands in the Oklahoma Territory, lands that were soon to become part of the state of Oklahoma. Through foresight and legal maneuvering, the Osage found a way to permanently attach that oil to themselves and shield it from the prying hands of white interlopers; this mechanism was known as “headrights,” which forbade the outright sale of oil rights and granted each full member of the tribe — and, supposedly, no one else — a share in the proceeds from any lease arrangement. For a while, the fail-safes did their job, and the Osage got rich — diamond-ring and chauffeured-car and imported-French-fashion rich — following which quite a large group of white men started to work like devils to separate the Osage from their money. And soon enough, and predictably enough, this work involved murder. Here in Jazz Age America’s most isolated of locales, dozens or even hundreds of Osage in possession of great fortunes — and of the potential for even greater fortunes in the future — were dispatched by poison, by gunshot and by dynamite. […]

Stacked Books reviews Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers :

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Malcolm Gladwell’s writing. Friends and co-workers tell me that his subjects are interesting and his writing style is easy to follow without talking down to the reader. I wasn’t disappointed with Outliers. In it, Gladwell tackles the subject of success – how people obtain it and what contributes to extraordinary success as opposed to everyday success.

The thesis – that our success depends much more on circumstances out of our control than any effort we put forth – isn’t exactly revolutionary. Most of us know it to be true. However, I don’t think I’m lying when I say that most of us also believe that we if we just try that much harder and develop our talent that much further, it will be enough to become wildly successful, despite bad or just mediocre beginnings. Not so, says Gladwell.

Most of the evidence Gladwell gives us is anecdotal, which is my favorite kind to read. I can’t really speak to how scientifically valid it is, but it sure makes for engrossing listening. For example, did you know that successful hockey players are almost all born in January, February, or March? Kids born during these months are older than the others kids when they start playing in the youth leagues, which means they’re already better at the game (because they’re bigger). Thus, they get more play time, which means their skill increases at a faster rate, and it compounds as time goes by. Within a few years, they’re much, much better than the kids born just a few months later in the year. Basically, these kids’ birthdates are a huge factor in their success as adults – and it’s nothing they can do anything about. If anyone could make hockey interesting to a Texan who only grudgingly admits the sport even exists, it’s Gladwell. […]

Quill and Quire reviews Rick Prashaw’s Soar, Adam, Soar :

Ten years ago, I read a book called Almost Perfect. The young-adult novel by Brian Katcher won some awards and was held up as a powerful, nuanced portrayal of a young trans person. But the reality did not live up to the book’s billing. Instead, it turned out to be a one-dimensional and highly fetishized portrait of a trans person’s life, one that was nevertheless repeatedly dubbed “realistic” and “affecting” by non-transgender readers possessing only a vague, mass-market understanding of trans experiences.

In the intervening decade, trans narratives have emerged further into the literary spotlight, but those authored by trans people ourselves – and by trans men in particular – have seemed to fall under the shadow of cisgender sensationalized imaginings. Two current Canadian releases – Soar, Adam, Soar and This One Looks Like a Boy – provide a pointed object lesson into why trans-authored work about transgender experiences remains critical.

To be fair, Soar, Adam, Soar isn’t just a story about a trans man. It’s also a story about epilepsy, the medical establishment, and coming of age as seen through a grieving father’s eyes. Adam, Prashaw’s trans son, died unexpectedly at age 22. Woven through the elder Prashaw’s narrative are excerpts from Adam’s social media posts, giving us glimpses into the young man’s interior life as he traverses his late teens and early 20s. […]

Book Geeks reviews Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love :

WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5

SUBJECT: 4/5

CANDIDNESS: 4.5/5

RELEVANCE: 3.5/5

ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5

“Eat Pray Love” is so popular that it is almost impossible to not read it. Having felt ashamed many times on my not having read this book, I quietly ordered the book (before I saw the movie) from amazon.in and sat down to read it. I don’t remember what I expected it to be – maybe more like a chick lit thing but it turned out quite different. The book is a real story and is a short journal from the time when its writer went travelling to three different countries in pursuit of three different things – Italy (Pleasure), India (Spirituality), Bali (Balance) and this is what corresponds to the book’s name – EAT (in Italy), PRAY (in India) and LOVE (in Bali, Indonesia). These are also the three Is – ITALY, INDIA, INDONESIA.

Though she had everything a middle-aged American woman can aspire for – MONEY, CAREER, FRIENDS, HUSBAND; Elizabeth was not happy in her life, she wasn’t happy in her marriage. Having suffered a terrible divorce and terrible breakup soon after, Elizabeth was shattered. She didn’t know where to go and what to do – all she knew was that she wanted to run away. So she set out on a weird adventure – she will go to three countries in a year and see if she can find out what she was looking for in life. This book is about that life changing journey that she takes for one whole year. […]

Emily May reviews Michelle Obama’s Becoming on Goodreads:

Look, I'm not a happy crier. I might cry at songs about leaving and missing someone; I might cry at books where things don't work out; I might cry at movies where someone dies. I've just never really understood why people get all choked up over happy, inspirational things. But Michelle Obama's kindness and empathy changed that. This book had me in tears for all the right reasons.

This is not really a book about politics, though political experiences obviously do come into it. It's a shame that some will dismiss this book because of a difference in political opinion, when it is really about a woman's life. About growing up poor and black on the South Side of Chicago; about getting married and struggling to maintain that marriage; about motherhood; about being thrown into an amazing and terrifying position.

I hate words like "inspirational" because they've become so overdone and cheesy, but I just have to say it-- Michelle Obama is an inspiration. I had the privilege of seeing her speak at The Forum in Inglewood, and she is one of the warmest, funniest, smartest, down-to-earth people I have ever seen in this world.

And yes, I know we present what we want the world to see, but I truly do think it's genuine. I think she is someone who really cares about people - especially kids - and wants to give them better lives and opportunities.

She's obviously intelligent, but she also doesn't gussy up her words. She talks straight, with an openness and honesty rarely seen. She's been one of the most powerful women in the world, she's been a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, she's had her own successful career, and yet she has remained throughout that same girl - Michelle Robinson - from a working class family in Chicago.

I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading this book.

Hopefully, this post has given you a better idea of how to write a book review. You might be wondering how to put all of this knowledge into action now! Many book reviewers start out by setting up a book blog. If you don’t have time to research the intricacies of HTML, check out Reedsy Discovery — where you can read indie books for free and review them without going through the hassle of creating a blog. To register as a book reviewer , go here .

And if you’d like to see even more book review examples, simply go to this directory of book review blogs and click on any one of them to see a wealth of good book reviews. Beyond that, it's up to you to pick up a book and pen — and start reviewing!

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5 Tips on How to Write a Review

4-minute read

• 30th December 2019

While there is plenty of interesting feedback online, writing a review is a skill. But what goes into a good review? And how can you write one? In this post, we offer five tips for writing reviews like a professional .

1. Immerse Yourself

First impressions are important, but a good review will not stop there. Whatever you’re reviewing, make sure you have experienced it fully before writing anything. And this usually means giving it a bit of time!

Listening to an album or reading a novel once, for example, will give you a sense of what it is like. But doing it two or three times will help you gain more depth of insight, giving you time to notice small details and think about what you’re reviewing from different angles. If you don’t have time for that, though, you can at least pay close attention and take notes .

2. Consider Your Audience

As well as knowing what you’re writing about, you should think about who you’re writing for. This may include the following:

• Whether you’re writing for a specialist audience or the general public
• How much your assumed reader is likely to know already
• What kind of information your assumed reader would want to know

If reviewing an electronic device, for example, a specialist audience may want all the technical details. But a general audience will just want an easy-to-understand overview of the product.

3. Examples and Evidence

Having opinions is good. But you need to back them up with examples and evidence. For instance, in a restaurant review, it’s not enough to say that the food was “bad.” Your reader would want to know why it was bad. Were the ingredients fresh? Was it served cold? How was the overall experience? Did you raise the issue with staff at the restaurant?

Make sure to go into detail on a few points so your reader can understand why you’ve formed your opinion. Another tip is to compare whatever you’re reviewing with something similar, as this will give readers useful context.

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4. Short Is Good (Usually)

As a rule, most people won’t want to read a 20,000-word treatise before deciding whether they’ll see the most recent Adam Sandler movie . In fact, many publications require reviews to be under 300 words! Keeping your reviews focused and concise is therefore a good idea.

That said, longer reviews let you go into much more depth, so they can be more interesting and informative. But in an in-depth review, you should:

• Briefly outline what you are reviewing in the first paragraph
• Use the main body of the text to go into detail about your opinions
• Finish with a short summary of your evaluation

The opening and closing passages will give the reader a quick overview of the review as a whole. You may even want to include a separate summary.

5. Score Systems

Many reviews come with a score out of 5, 10, or 100. This offers a quick way for readers to get a sense of how good (or bad) the thing you’ve reviewed may be. We’re tempted to say not to worry about this (review scores have been causing controversy lately). But many people find a score helpful.

Which system to use depends on the situation. If you’re writing for a website or magazine, they may give you guidelines on how to score reviews. But if you’re self-publishing or blogging, consider creating an explainer so readers know how your rating system works.

And if you have written a review of anything, why not have one of our expert proofreaders check it to make sure your writing is the best it can be?

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100 Useful Phrases for Employee Performance Reviews

Estimated Reading Time : 11 mins

For any organization that’s dependent on teamwork and employees pulling together (by which mean every organization), feedback is critical. While feedback should be given and received on an ongoing basis, employee performance reviews offer an especially valuable opportunity for improvement.

Strangely, the inability to know what to say or write when it comes to performance assessments can create more problems than it solves. You may find yourself asking, “what should I write in a performance review?” or, “what are some performance review phrases I could use?” as you strategize. A loss for words stymies many business leaders and managers—especially when there are deadlines involved in the process.

Ace your employee review with our performance evaluation survey template !

Employee engagement and the employee experience tie in closely with your reviews. There’s no other choice but to get it right every time; otherwise, costly employee churn will result. This article outlines one hundred engaging review phrases for your application at relevant review sessions, so you can learn how to write impactful performance review phrases that will give you actionable data. Use them selectively and with due consideration. They work well for both managers and employees in an organizational environment that believes in a spirit of mutual growth and development.

These are some good questions to keep in mind while working through the performance review examples we will share:

• What should I write in a performance review example?
• What can I say in my performance review?
• How do I write my own performance review?
• What is an example answer for a performance review?

By the end of the article, you should be able to answer all of these questions!

Performance review examples, employee performance reviews, and employee engagement integrate closely to create transparency, encouragement, and cohesive teamwork.

Why Worry About Phrasing for Your Performance Review?

The fact is, too many of today’s performance reviews fall short of expectations, even with many great performance review examples out there. One study showed that 74% of new and young workers leave performance reviews uncertain of the managers’ sincere thoughts. Despite the conversations, they feel “in the dark”. Fortunately, this can be quickly rectified by focusing on how you phrase the performance review and feedback.

Of course, it’s much easier to build and work with your phrasing when you have examples to model after. That’s why we explore self-performance review and manager performance review examples to better understand what phrases garner the responses most helpful to your employees.

Effective performance review phrases that work to keep staff motivated and recognized

Enhancing your performance reviews circles back to positive and constructive communication, delivered through structured employee feedback sessions. They are the pillars of a healthy work environment. To begin with, identify the different areas of employee performance you will need to evaluate, to understand the various facets of feedback you need to provide.

To make it easier, I’ve categorized the key employee performance evaluation phrases into several focus sections.

Achievement

One can interpret achievement in many ways. Here are some phrases with the word used very specifically.

1. X achieves the highest performance levels when it comes to…

2. X provides compelling evidence that he/she… [state the accomplishment]

3. X develops programs/strategies that have delivered stellar results

4. X advanced production performance by ZZ% through [specific task]

5. X exceeded the original goal of [state the task] by ZZ%

These are powerful indicators of how employees work alone, in teams, with management, and with customers, and are good workday performance review examples of how to get important operational data. They can show how strong employees function and do well at tasks without direct supervision or influence. You can learn the ways your employee tracks and achieves their goals over the course of their workday, helping them better understands what works for them, and—as their employer—how you can help them continue to achieve success. Monitoring how people achieve is just as important as what achievement looks like to them.

Administration

There’s hardly a task or project that doesn’t require administration. These skills are always in focus to keep things running as they should. They span across every activity, and these phrases address admin talents when relevant in different ways.

6. X consistently analyzes administrative proficiency and creates improved procedures such as [state the tasks]

7. X built new and practical administrative plans such as [state the task] that resulted in impressive results, such as (state results)

8. X effectively facilitated systems for retrieving information through [state the task]

9. X is pivotal in bolstering administrative support systems through [state the task]

10. X is extremely well organized in maintaining documents through [state the task,] thus bypassing the duplication of information

Coaching and guiding subordinates and peers are qualities indicative of leadership abilities. Here are some employee review examples that demonstrate an employee’s interest in helping others solve problems:

11. X supports and guides his colleagues and subordinates constructively in [state the task]

12. X employs effective coaching methods to resolve disciplinary issues

13. X delivers with a consistent and result-centric coaching style

14. Employees respect X’s sincere concern for helping them resolve problems and capture opportunities

Communication Skills

Every employee working with others or closely in a team format must develop good oral, written, non-verbal, and listening communication skills. Some useful performance review examples for employees to create good feedback are as follows:

15. X demonstrates strong abilities in communicating expectations

16. X participates and substantially contributes to group discussions

17. X keeps meetings moving toward focused goals

18. X has a sound ability to communicate on even complicated matters

19. X adheres to company policies and principles while keeping all participants positive

Cooperation

Cooperation lies at the root of sound teamwork and project accomplishment. How well do your employees get along and fit in with the ideal team-player profile? Use the following phrases to reflect on these attributes:

20. X promotes team collaboration

21. X contributes ideas and technologies freely for the team benefit

22. X works in unison with his peers and team members by (state the task)

23. X believes in and demonstrates a spirit of cooperation by (state the task]

24. X clearly has no problems with sharing his expertise in (state the field)

Thinking out-of-the-box is a valued talent that can help businesses in every industry., when it appears the following quotes are quite expressive:

25. X regularly looks for creative options such as [state the examples] that drive [state the results]

26. X demonstrates astute and imaginative thinking when facing obstacles

27. X has no limits in experimenting to derive better solutions when it comes to driving [state the tasks]

28. X triggers and follows through on creative ideas such as [state the examples]

29. X is unafraid of exploring new ideas and approaches to (state the tasks)

A primary function of managers is to delegate work to others and divide the workload. These phrases should help to express delegating attributes when noted:

30. X encourages employees by giving them the authority to grow and achieve

31. X assists employees expand their visibility through [state the task]

32. X pushes and supports employees when it comes to solving job issues

33. X accurately divides responsibilities to match competency levels

34. X shows authority in delegating responsibility to his/her team

Improvement

Advancement in one’s job is a crucial consideration. You should be on top of that all the time, and feedback should be a primary focus if employees improve between reviews. Consider these phrases as “improvement “ constructs:

35. X is strong on constructing improvement methodologies

36. X thinks of new tactics and methods consistently

37. X noticeably grows and improves performance

38. X designs better ways of making things happen in (state the task)

39. X’s planning for improvement has contributed substantially to performance

Innovative endeavors and ideas are pivotal in many aspects of a business. When employees actively contribute in this sphere, the company should notice it. Here are terms that are innovation-centric and can connect closely to employee motivation.

40. X innovated numerous strategies such as [state examples]

41. X’s innovative capabilities come to the fore under the most adverse conditions

42. X never seems to run out of finding innovative solutions

43. X reflects a steadfast curiosity for innovative possibilities

44. X promotes innovative thinking by [state examples]

Interpersonal Skills

Teamwork energizes performance in practically every company in all industries. Lack of teamwork initiates employee churn and instability. Express your teamwork feedback by using the following phrases:

45. X understands everyone’s needs and never hesitates to lend a helping hand

46. X has a consolidated sound team and working relationships

47. X gives a new meaning to the term synergy

48. X relies on mutual dependence and appreciation of team challenges

49. X never ignores the importance of the company culture when working with his peers

Learning Ability

The inability to learn new technologies in the current digital age can create severe job obstruction. Fast learners should be commended. Consider including the following phrases in your reviews:

50. X shows the ability to learn quickly alongside the flexibility to change when needed

51. X can impart learning experiences effectively with others

52. X believes in and furthers the company’s learning culture

53. X shows commitment to the principle of continuous learning through [state the examples]

54. X’s responsiveness to new instructions, situations, methodologies, and procedures is impressive

Management Ability

A core review aspect lies in an employee’s management prowess. It boils down to the ability to manage a team at all levels. It converges on delegation, teamwork, dealing with conflict, and providing employee feedback (i.e., good and bad). The subordinates can apply the following phrases to evaluate their supervisor’s management capabilities:

55. X always gives the team the necessary support by [state the example]

56. X works closely with team members to create personal development paths

57. X insists on employees being accountable for their unique results

58. X supports the team with the tools and input needed for improving results

59. X accommodates organizational change easily and organizes his team well.

Planning goes hand in glove with management capability. However, it impacts jobs at all levels. When it does, reviews can follow phrases that read like this:

60. X understands the full meaning of workable action plans

61. X builds comprehensive plans that match changing circumstances

62. X is an action-person but sticks to well-thought-out planning

63. X stands out as a planner of groundbreaking strategic alternatives

64. X designs strategies directed at driving toward better results

All companies look for management and employee potential. They place it on a priority pedestal and view it as the lifeblood of the business. When potential is evident, there are ways to let employees know you’ve noticed it:

65. X has performed notably in his/her new management position

66. X transcended to the required level, warranting promotional consideration

67. X is moving up to bigger projects, responsibilities, and assignments

68. X efforts to acquire greater experience and skills for advancement are noticeable

69. X has developed enhanced growth potential through higher education and professional training

Problem-Solving

Genuine, self-motivated, problem-solvers are a rare breed. It depends on creative thinking merging with the ability to remain calm under pressure. Use these performance review phrases to rank the problem-solving talents and abilities of your employees:

70. X demonstrates a methodical approach to problem-solving

71. X is never short of creative solutions

72. X converts severe problems into compelling opportunities

73. X practically resolves core issues instead of surface symptoms

74. X has proposed numerous optional solutions that have worked well

Productivity

Productivity is the biggest contributor to ROI and revenue. Employee productivity under the microscope deserves the following feedback phrases:

75. X beats expected output standards hands-down

76. X always exceeds production expectations

77. X is integral to the achievements of the department

78. X substantial contributes to the ongoing continuation and viability of the division/ project/ organization

79. X never ceases to outdo set targets and performance goals

Project Management

Numerous companies and industries focus on project completions on time and without undue hassle. Project management is at the fore of these activities, and reviews using the following are in play:

80. X finished the Y project with outstanding results

81. X stays on course and on schedule to keep projects on target

82. X is a transparent and cooperative project’s manager

83. X keeps all the moving parts in sync and moving seamlessly in his/her/their managed projects

84. X is clear and definitive in outlining project goals and objectives

Supervisory Skills

Managers and supervisors are consistently under review for their unique skills. The following gives good guidance when reviews come around.

85. X delivers consistent employee recognition

86. X demonstrates a work situation that motivates employees and keeps them engaged

87. X effectively clarifies and defines employee responsibilities and duties

88. X readily provides employee support when needed most

89. X affords recognition when it’s due, anticipates and manages employee burnout extremely well

Time Management

Time is a limited resource, influencing profits, and revenues in every respect. Time consciousness is an essential ingredient in every project and organization. How well do your employees manage their time? Use the following phrases to let them know:

90. X shows diligence in meeting all deadlines

91. X shows time-consistency in meeting agendas

92. X knows everything about keeping meetings on schedule

93. X understands the meaning of punctuality and using time effectively

94. X Makes use of his/her discretionary time to the maximum effect

Vision is a very important construct for growth in the strategy of a business. The following last six phrases apply:

95. X fully appreciates the organization’s values

96. X supports and lives the company’s mission and vision every day

97. X transforms visions into action plans with foresight and fortitude

98. X has repeatedly transformed his/her visions and the company’s into action

99. X contributes consistently to the company’s goals

100. X sees things that most of the managers missed to create valuable insight

These phrases are of little use in a vacuum. As an HR manager, you should connect them to specific examples and data. The content above is a template and framework for your employee review program. Companies like Sogolytics can step in to add the professionalism you require to drive it home. They will help you to make employee reviews a living thing that pushes your overall employee contingent to greater heights and commitment.

Reviews are integrative and by nature include everyone in the company, from the top down. Don’t underestimate how important the review arena is to maintain work levels and ascending to unimagined goals. SogoEX will help you make it all the way by smoothing out the rough edges and filling in all the gaps around the foundation provided here.

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Peer Review Examples (+14 Phrases to Use)

‍ Table of Contents:

Peer review feedback examples, what are the benefits of peer review feedback examples, what are peer review feedback examples, 5 key parts of good peer review examples, 14 examples of performance review phrases, how do you give peer review feedback to remote teams, the benefits of a feedback culture, how to implement a strong feedback culture.

A peer review is a type of evaluative feedback. It focuses on the strengths and areas of improvement for yourself, your team members, and even the organization as a whole. This form of evaluation can benefit all parties involved, helping to build self-awareness and grow in new ways that we might not have realized before. Of course, the best examples of peer review feedback are those that are well-received and effective in the workplace, which we will go over in the next section.

As mentioned, peer review feedback is a great way to identify your strengths and weaknesses and those of others. The benefits are two-fold: it helps you grow in new ways that may have been difficult for you before, while also making sure everyone involved feels confident about their abilities moving forward.

For instance, organizations with robust feedback cultures can close any gaps that hinder their performance and seize business opportunities whenever they present themselves. This dual benefit gives them competitive advantages that allow them to grow, along with a more positive workplace. Leading companies that enjoy these types of advantages include Cargill, Netflix, and Google. Peer review feedback can also be a great tool to use for conducting your annual performance reviews. They give managers visibility and insights that might not be possible otherwise. The feedback can help you better understand how your employees view their performance, as well as what they think the company's expectations are of them. This opportunity is especially helpful for those who work remotely—it allows managers to see things that might be missed otherwise.

For example, if an employee works from home often or telecommutes frequently, it can be more difficult for managers to get a sense of how they are doing. This is where peer review feedback comes in—if their peers notice issues that need attention, this provides the manager with valuable insights that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Everyone must be on the same page about what exactly it is they want from these sessions and how their employees will benefit from receiving them.

A Gallup poll revealed that organizations that give their employees regular feedback have turnover rates that are almost 15% lower than for those employees that didn't receive any. This statistic indicates that regular reviews, including peer reviews, are important. However, so is giving the right kind of peer review feedback.

As such, when you have a peer review session, think about some good examples of the type of feedback that might be beneficial for both parties. These would be the relevant peer review examples you want to use for your organization.

One example would be to discuss ways in which the employee’s performance may have been exemplary when you give them their peer review feedback forms . This conversation gives the person being reviewed an idea about how well they're doing and where their strengths lie in the form of positive feedback. 

On the other hand, it also helps them know there is room for improvement where they may not have realized it before in the form of negative feedback.

Another example would be to discuss how you might improve how the person being reviewed conducts themselves on a day-to-day basis. Again, this action can help someone realize how their performance can be improved and provide them with suggestions that they might not have thought of before.

For example, you may notice that a team member tends to talk more than is necessary during meetings or wastes time by doing unnecessary tasks when other pressing matters are at hand. This type of negative feedback would allow the person receiving it to know what areas they need to work on and how they can improve themselves.

As mentioned previously, peer reviews are a great way of giving an employee concrete suggestions for the areas in which they need improvement, as well as those where their performance is exemplary.

To ensure that your team feels valued and confident moving forward, you should give them the best examples of peer review feedback possible. The following are five examples of what constitutes good peer review feedback:

1. Use anonymity. Keeping them anonymous so that the employee review makes workers feel comfortable with the content and don't feel any bias has entered the review process.

2. Scheduling them frequently enough. A good employee experience with peer reviews involves scheduling them often enough so that no one has an unwelcome surprise come annual or biannual performance appraisal time.

3. Keep them objective & constructive. Keep peer review feedback objective and constructive—your goal is to help improve the peers you're reviewing so they can continue to do an even better job than before!

4. Having key points to work on. Ask questions such as: what is the goal? And what does the company want people to get out of each session?

5. The right people giving the peer review . Personnel familiar with the employee's work should be the ones doing the employee evaluation, rating the reviewer's performance, and providing peer feedback.

You can use the following positive performance appraisal phrases to recognize and coach your employees for anything from regularly scheduled peer reviews to biannual and annual appraisals:

• "I can always count on you to..." ‍
• "You are a dependable employee who meets all deadlines." ‍
• "Your customer service is excellent. You make everyone feel welcome and comfortable, no matter how busy things get." ‍
• "The accounting work that you do for our team helps us out in the long run." ‍
• "I appreciate your helpfulness when it comes to training new employees. You always seem willing to take some time out of your day, even though you're busy with other tasks, to show them how we do things here at [COMPANY]." ‍
• "It's so nice to see you staying on top of your work. You never miss a deadline, and that is very important here at [COMPANY]." ‍
• "I can always count on you when I need something done immediately." ‍
• "Your communication skills are exceptional, and I appreciate the way you always get your point across clearly." ‍
• "You are always willing to lend an ear if someone needs help or has a question about something. You're great at being the go-to person when people need advice." ‍
• "I appreciate your ability to anticipate our customers' needs."

Negative performance review phrases can be helpful if handled the right way and often contribute to improving the employee's performance. 

Here are some examples of effective negative performance review phrases you can use:

• "You seem to struggle with following the company's processes. I would like to see you get better at staying on top of what needs to be done and getting it done on time." ‍
• "I'm concerned that your work quality has slipped lately. You're still meeting deadlines, but some of your work seems rushed or incomplete. I want to make sure that you're giving everything the attention it deserves." ‍
• "I noticed that you've been getting a lot of customer complaints lately. Is there anything going on? Maybe we can work together and come up with some solutions for how things could be better handled in the future?" ‍
• "You seem overwhelmed right now, and it's affecting your work quality. I want to help you figure out how we can better distribute the workload so that you're not feeling like this anymore."

When giving peer review feedback to remote teams, it is essential for everyone involved that the employee being reviewed feels comfortable and respected. And whether a peer or direct report gives the remote employee a review, the most effective way to ensure this happens is by providing open communication and constructive feedback throughout the process.

However, when you work remotely, it can be difficult to get the opportunity for peer feedback. However, there are ways of ensuring that such a process is still beneficial and productive.

The following are some examples of how to go about giving effective peer review feedback when working virtually:

• Take advantage of webcams or video conferencing to make sure that you can see the employee's facial expressions and monitor body language during a performance review, remote or otherwise. ‍
• Just like with any in-person performance review, it's critical to schedule a regular time for sessions so they don't catch anyone by surprise. ‍
• Make it clear at both your end as well as theirs what the overall goal is—this helps them prepare ahead of time and ensures there are no unforeseen surprises. ‍
• Ensure that you keep the feedback objective with constructive criticism, as this is what will allow them to improve their performance in a way that they can take advantage of immediately. Include all these key points in your company peer review templates also. ‍
• Be prepared for these sessions by having a list of key points you want to cover with your peer reviewer—this helps guide the conversation while ensuring no important points are overlooked.

When employees enjoy their work, understand their goals, and know the values and competencies of the job, job satisfaction increases, along with their performance. In addition, the link between productivity and effective feedback is well established. For instance, 69% of workers said they would work harder if their efforts were recognized, according to LinkedIn.

Continuous and regularly scheduled performance appraisal feedback helps with employee development, clarifies expectations, aligns goals, and motivates staff (check out our article Peer Review Feedback to find out why peer feedback is so essential), establishing a positive workplace. Lastly, a workplace that dedicates itself to motivating people to be better will improve employee engagement and the levels of performance.

If you haven't implemented a culture for using feedback yet, there are several effective ways to go about it. One good way to kick things off is to first identify teams or some other similar organizational unit and have them experiment with the social feedback system.

While the frequency of peer reviews should be given every three to four weeks, or even at the end of a project sprint , the cycles for building a strong feedback culture can be quarterly or monthly, depending on your preferences and operations.

After the three cycles are finalized, you typically have built up enough feedback information to start the organization on its path to a strong feedback culture.

Knowing these peer review feedback examples and tips on giving them to remote teams will help you become more comfortable with this type of evaluative discussion. It can be difficult at first, but remember that the benefits are worth it! And remember: when giving peer review feedback, make sure you keep each session objective. This helps ensure they're constructive and that both parties walk away feeling as though they've learned a lot from them.

Want to keep that morale sky-high during Feedback Friday and the peer review process? If so, be sure to check out Matter , with features that allow you to give public Kudos all inside Slack.

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12 Proven Ways to Encourage Customers to Write Reviews (According to 100+ Marketers)

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It doesn’t matter if you run a B2B or B2C business, marketing agency or SaaS company, eCommerce shop, or local store: reviews are essential for every business.

But it can be tricky to get people to write positive reviews about a business. As Growth Hackers ’ Jonathan Aufray says, “Most happy customers will never tell you that they’re happy. Unhappy customers will let you know.”

So, how do you get happy customers to write raving reviews for your business on public websites? To find out, we asked more than 100 marketers to share their best tips.

Customer Reviews – What Are They and Why Are They Important?

How to ask customers for reviews: 12 proven ways to get your customers to write reviews, top customer review sites your business should prioritize.

Customer reviews are personal opinions on a company’s product or service that customers write about to help others better understand the quality of said product or service. Many people read these reviews to learn more about businesses and research their products or services before making a purchase.

One reason customer reviews are important is that they help with SEO, especially if you are a local business. But speaking of benefits for any business in general, having reviews on popular review sites lets you own more SERP real estate for branded search terms.

Most importantly, reviews are crucial for your business because they have a huge impact on the buying decisions of your prospective customers. As consumers and prospects have turned more to self-guided research, they rely more on the opinions and experiences of other customers in reviews when evaluating options and making purchasing decisions. Our own research also confirms that “customer proof” is the most important factor when evaluating 2 (in our case) software products.

Lastly, having positive reviews helps build trust and confidence in your business and its products/services.

If you’re struggling to figure out how to encourage customers to write reviews, consider these proven tips that our respondents recommended:

• Start By Just Asking
• Create a Process for Asking for Reviews
• Automate the Ask
• When Making the Ask, Target Satisfied Customers
• Personalize the Ask
• Explain Why Reviews Are Important
• Make Writing a Review as Simple as Possible
• Provide a Template for Reviews
• Engage With Your Existing Reviews
• Offer an Incentive
• Send Review Request Emails at the Right Time
• Follow Up on Your Requests

Pro Tip: Here Is Your Go-To Dashboard For Measuring Your Customer Support Team’s Responsiveness to User Concerns

No matter your role in customer support – agent, manager, or VP – your core focus is to ensure that customers’ issues, complaints, and information requests are always dealt with promptly and efficiently. But to stay on track, you probably have to log into multiple tools and spend hours manually compiling data into a comprehensive report. Now you can quickly monitor and analyze your customer service performance data from HelpScout and Stripe  in a single dashboard that monitors fundamental metrics, such as:

• New MRR. How much monthly recurring revenue (MRR) comes from new customers? Track new customer MRR at a glance.
• Revenue churn. See how much MRR your business lost due to subscription cancellations and downgrades within a specified period of time.
• Refunds . How much money in refunds and cancellations did you lose last month? See the total amount of money refunded to customers within a given time period.
• New customers . Track the number of new customers acquired by your business each day, week, or month.
• Customers helped by team members . Evaluate the performance of your customer support team members based on the number of customers they helped individually and their happiness score.
• Customers helped . Get a day-to-day update on the number of customers your customer support team assisted through live chat, email, or phone.

Now you can benefit from the experience of our customer support experts, who have put together a plug-and-play Databox template that contains all the essential metrics for monitoring and analyzing your customer service performance and its correlation to churn rate. It’s simple to implement and start using as a standalone dashboard or in customer service reports, and best of all, it’s free!

You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.

To set up the dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Get the template 

Step 2: Connect your accounts with Databox. 

Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.

1. Start by Just Asking

According to Greenvelope ’s Alex Kelsey, the best way to encourage customers to write reviews is to “just ask. More often than you think, your fans and customers will be happy to write about their experience with your business, product, or service.”

Our respondents offered lots of ideas for how to ask customers for reviews:

• “Ask in every email you send, especially if you are on the customer support team. You don’t have to make it a big thing, but something as simple as adding a link to a review site in your email signature can work great.” (Megan Moseley, Referral Rock )
• “Reach out to customers on Twitter and—in a friendly way—ask them to write a review. Most of them will!” (Miguel Piedrafita, Blogcast )
• “After every job, we give our customers a small business-card-sized handout with a QR code that takes them to our Google My Business page. It opens a window on their smartphones that links directly to where they can write a review for our company and post it on Google.” (Kaitlin Martin Choice Windows )
• “Include a call to action on the base of a menu, invoice, or receipt—or even a sign on the back of a toilet door: “While you’re sitting here, why not give us a review?” It’s a bit cheeky, but if it suits your brand, why not!” (Erica Stacey, Scout )
• “Hand out flyers explaining how to write a review. Our flyers come with a bit.ly link that sends customers directly to Google’s review platform.” (Dr. Bryan Bruno, Mid City TMS )
• “After a customer makes a positive comment about your business, ask the customer to post it online while he/she is still on-site. Have the customer come behind the desk to your computer or produce a tablet, and direct the person to type in that comment.” (Elliott Jaffa, Dr. Elliott B. Jaffa Associates )

2. Create a Process for Asking for Reviews

One way to make sure that you’re asking customers to write reviews is to have a process in place for making the ask.

“ Chocolate Films has been pursuing Google reviews for a year,” says Alexandra Lens. “We quickly reached a 5-star rating and have maintained it since.” 

“To achieve this, we made asking for reviews an integral part of our production process. At the end of each great video project, our account managers ask the client to leave a review as part of their sign-off emails.”

“Clients and account managers are happy at the end of a successful project and will have established a great relationship, so incorporating asking for a review as part of the production process has worked really well for us,” Lens says.

3. Automate the Ask

Other respondents use a series of tools to create and automate the process of asking for reviews.

“If you can automate your review process based upon specific actions, then it will be even easier to scale and ensure continuity for review requests,” says 9Sail ’s Kyle Kasharian.

As LoclWeb ’s Jorge Sheffy says, “Asking for reviews manually is not recommended. It will become too much of a burden on you and will also be much more inconsistent.”

Several of our respondents shared examples of how they automate their review-request processes by creating a poll.

Pop-Up Forms + Follow-Up Emails

“We use a pop-up form on our site to get reviews after customers have made a purchase,” says John Holloway of NoExam . “This form automatically populates the review on Shopper Approved, a third-party review site.” 

“We then follow up two weeks later via email and ask customers to write a more thorough review of their shopping experience. We’ve collected over 1,000 user reviews with this method.”

Monthly Customer Feedback Request Emails

“We send out customer feedback emails every month asking our clients and candidates to complete a 30-second survey about our customer service,” says Fiona Kay of Nigel Wright Group . “At the end of the survey, we ask if they would be happy to submit a Google review.”

“Since introducing this, we’ve experienced a huge increase in the number of reviews we’ve received, the vast majority being positive. We now have an average star rating of 4.6 across our nine office Google My Business pages.”

Online Booking Systems

“Some of our clients use online booking systems for their services,” says Niles Koenigsberg of FiG Advertising + Marketing . “We’ve used these systems in the past to successfully acquire customer reviews.” 

“After their appointment is finished, customers receive an automated message (text, email, etc.) that asks them to:

• schedule their next appointment and
• leave a review to help the business improve their services.” 

“It’s a great tactic to engage with customers when the quality of the service is fresh in their minds. This way, you receive more honest feedback and get that review in quickly before they forget about it.”

Review Acquisition Services

“The best way to encourage customers to write reviews is through a dedicated review acquisition service,” says Michael Anderson of GeoJango . “These companies will automatically send an email to your customers and ask them to leave a review after a specified number of days.” 

“Some are geared towards eCommerce and will have their own review-capture platform. Others focus on local businesses and will work towards acquiring reviews through Google, Facebook, and Yelp.”

Not a HubSpot Marketing user? No worries. We have similar dashboards for SendGrid , Marketo , Seventh Sense , Mailchimp , and ActiveCampaign .  

4. When Making the Ask, Target Satisfied Customers

“You shouldn’t just focus on getting reviews,” says HealthJoy ’s Rick Ramos. “You need to focus on getting good reviews. You can do this by encouraging reviews after a customer has expressed satisfaction.” 

David Peterson of HealthMarkets agrees: “We’ve had success inviting reviews from customers who provide us with positive survey results. If they can be stewards for our company and brand because of the experiences they’ve had, we encourage that.”

So, how do you find out who’s had a great experience sending review requests to the right customers? Our respondents offered several suggestions:

• “We utilize an NPS survey that goes out to all of our clients on a quarterly basis. If a client responds with a promoter score, we send them an automated follow-up email asking if they would be willing to write a positive review.” (Jasz Joseph, SyncShow )
• “We use a combination of SurveyMonkey and GatherUp. SurveyMonkey helps us distinguish happy from unhappy customers. We extract the happy ones and upload the lists to GatherUp where we have templates and automatic rules for the email sequences that will ask for a review.” (Nada Pupovac , No Bounds Digital )

And Chas Cooper of Rising Star Reviews says you can also use this process to “turn unhappy customers into happy customers.”

“First, ask the customer to rate your business privately. If the customer would give you a 5-star rating, then encourage him/her to write a review. But if the customer gives you a bad rating, ask what you could do better, fix any problems you discover, and go the extra mile to make the customer happy. Then encourage a review.”

“If you ask for a private rating before asking for a public review, you’ll get a second chance to impress unhappy customers, and you’ll raise your average star rating in the process,” Cooper says.

5. Personalize the Ask

Several respondents said you’ll get more reviews if you personalize the ask.

For example, Casey Hill of Bonjoro recommends “sending a personal video to the customer, thanking them for supporting you, and asking if they would leave you a review. Personalization is a key lever in rapport-building and a great way to maximize reviews.”

Ollie Roddy of Catalyst Marketing says that “the best thing to do is ask someone personally. Call them and physically go through the feedback/review form with them. It will only take your account manager two minutes, but the likelihood of someone saying no is insanely low.”

“Your submissions rates when sending someone a link though will be much lower. That’s not because people are rude; they’re just plain busy,” Roddy says.

Another way to personalize your ask, says Digital Marketing Consultant Rotem Gal , is “to create a specific review funnel for each product/service.” 

“If someone is buying a product directly from your mobile app, he/she should be able to review it from the mobile app. If someone is buying a service from your website using a desktop computer, he/she should be able to review the service from the desktop via a follow-up email.”

6. Explain Why Reviews Are Important

“To increase positive reviews for your business, inform and educate your customers on how important reviews are to your business,” says Miva ’s Luke Wester. “The customers who want to support you will show their support in the form of positive reviews.”

Lauren Triance-Haldane of PathFactory agrees: “Before the vendor sends out a review campaign, we send a heads-up email to our customers letting them know we’re about to run a review campaign, asking for their participation, and outlining why it’s beneficial to everyone to leave reviews.”

Brooks Manley of Engenius gives us an example on how to explain why reviews are important for your business: “Push the idea that leaving a review benefits other consumers. Some people are much more apt to help ‘others like them’ find the best business, product, or service—as opposed to helping the company get one more 5-star reviews.”

7. Make Writing a Review as Simple as Possible

“It’s important to remove any friction from writing the review,” says Garrett Sussman of Grade.us . 

“We use an email drip campaign and send customers to our review funnel landing page. The review funnel provides our customers with a few review site options to choose from. Each option has a direct link to the write-a-review URL of the various review sites.” 

“When customers have a few review sites to choose from, they are more likely to take the time to leave a review on the site that they’re familiar with,” Sussman says.

Alistair Dodds of Ever Increasing Circles agrees, recommending that you “send your best customers a direct link to your Google My Business review section.”

“When sending the email, keep the email short, make the customer feel special, and include a link to take them straight to the review process,” says Hans van Gent of User Growth . “You want the process to be as easy as possible for them so that it will take the least amount of time.”

And Samantha Kohn of AutoVerify suggests “using a platform that automatically requests the review and takes customers directly to Google, Facebook, and the system’s own review platform.” 

“Review services that have their own platform are the only way to encourage reviews from non-tech-savvy customers without asking them to sign up for a Facebook or Google account in order to write the review,” Kohn says.

8. Provide a Template for Reviews

Another way to make it simple for customers to leave reviews and write testimonials is to write some part—or all—of the review for them.

The Blogsmith ’s Maddy Osman recommends “providing a template in terms of the response you’re looking for.” 

“To give an example, whenever I reach out to people I’ve done business with to get a testimonial, I share a few bullet points about what I perceive as the highlights of our business relationship that they can either use or ignore.” 

“A nice side effect of this approach is that it allows me to influence what they’re going to say. And as a bonus, my clients appreciate that they don’t have to think too hard about sharing feedback, which increases the likelihood that they’ll provide a testimonial,” Osman says.

9. Engage With Your Existing Reviews

Lika Djukic of Best Response Media says that the best way to encourage customers to write reviews is to engage with the people who’ve already written reviews.

“People who wouldn’t generally leave reviews—regardless of whether they are satisfied or not—will feel encouraged to leave a review if they see replies and feedback from businesses.”

“It’s better to respond to negative reviews and try and resolve the issue rather than shying away and ignoring the review. The same goes for positive reviews: a simple thank-you message goes a long way,” Djukic says.

Lots of our respondents agreed that engaging with your reviews is crucial. In fact, when we asked our respondents how often they respond to customer reviews, 53.5% said they always respond, and another 30.7% said they respond most of the time.

Another way to show customers that you’re engaged with their reviews is to share your reviews on social media.

Here’s a client’s review of Databox we shared on Twitter.

10. Offer an Incentive

If you do decide to offer an incentive for reviews, consider this advice from NeverBounce ’s Nick Harley: “If you’re going to offer an incentive, make it clear in your email subject line. Otherwise, you may not attract as many respondents as possible.”

Our respondents offered lots of suggestions for types of incentives that work for their customers.

Discounts/Credits

Another approach: Justin McGill says offering gift cards and credits has worked well for Gist . “We combined a partnership with Capterra to give $20 gift cards for reviews with three additional account upgrades should users choose to leave a review.”

Charitable Donations

“We partner with our G2 Gives program to create social good through user reviews,” says G2’s Lauren Pope. “Anyone who leaves a software review on our website can choose a participating 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and G2 will give that charity a $10 donation for their review.”

“Currently, we partner with Chicago Tech Academy , and all of the money we donate through our review campaigns goes back into helping prepare the next generation of tech employees. It all aligns with our mission of creating an inclusive tech experience and promoting real-time, fresh user reviews,” Pope says.

Best Company , according to McCall Robinson, uses a similar approach: “We run fundraising contests to encourage people to write reviews. For these contests, we partner with a local organization and commit to donating a certain amount of money for every review we receive within a certain time period.” 

“This encourages consumers to write reviews on our site because they are, in turn, helping raise money for a local organization. It’s a great way to get the word out about your company, incentivize review generation, and to do good in the process!” 

“Customers also love a company that is willing to give back to the community,” Robinson says.

Free Publicity

“When customers provide us with reviews, we always backlink to their websites and tag them on social media,” says Danny Peavey of One Week Website . “We make it a priority to highlight one or two customer reviews per week. Our customers love the shoutouts and the attention for their businesses.”

Vito Michael of Vaetas takes the free publicity incentive even further: “We started a vlog (video blog) and invite our customers on for guest episodes. We interview them using Zoom and record the interview. They range in time from five to eight minutes.”

“The format is:

• customers provide an overview of their businesses and how they help their customers,
• they provide helpful business tips, and
• they explain how they’re using our product in their businesses and how it benefits their businesses.” 

“We also post a link back to their websites and LinkedIn profiles, as well as share the videos on social media.”

“We send out a personal video email invitation to each customer based on our content calendar. The response has been overwhelming because it’s a win-win strategy,” Michael says.

Free Content

“Content is an extremely important commodity, so it’s always an excellent place to start when looking for an incentive,” says Angela Ash of MailCharts .

“ Create short ebooks that offer information, explain your company in more detail, and provide additional products or services that might appeal to your current customers. Once a review is submitted, you can automatically email them a copy of your ebook as a thank you for sharing their experiences. It’s that simple!”

11. Send Review Request Emails at the Right Time

So, when is the best time to ask for a customer review?

When it comes to getting customers to write reviews, many of our respondents said that timing is everything.

Getting the timing right when asking customers to write reviews is important, but it varies greatly from business to business.

When Should You Ask for Product Reviews?

If you’re seeking product reviews, Graham Charlton of SaleCycle says to “time emails so the purchase is fresh in the customer’s mind and they’ve had time to use the product.”

Frank Pinder of Oxatis recommends “sending an email after the customer has purchased the product and following up 1-2 days after he/she receives it.” 

However, the type of product purchased should influence when you ask. As Kim Kohatsu of Charles Ave Marketing says, “If your product is, for example, a skin cream, wait until enough time has elapsed from delivery for the customer to notice the product’s effects.” 

“If you ask for reviews at the right time—when customers are feeling positive about your product—they are more likely to leave them,” Kohatsu says.

When Should You Ask for Service Reviews?

Knowing when to ask for service reviews, again, depends on the type of service you’re offering.

“Try to ask for a review as close as possible to the completion of the service,” says Marc Howard of BizPayO . “If you’re a digital agency, ask for the review right after the project is complete or the payment has been made. Even if the service was a free consultation, it’s still an opportunity to ask for a review.”

For service businesses that work with clients on an ongoing basis, Kurt Uhlir of ShowCase IDX recommends asking for reviews at major milestones.

“Even the happiest customers are busy,” Uhlir says. “But when they’ve worked with your brand and are approaching a new milestone (e.g. renewal, completion of a campaign, additional purchase, etc.), they are usually focused on the benefits of your product/service and are motivated to see you succeed.” 

“Timing your request for an authentic review to right before a milestone does two things:

• it improves the chance that they’ll take the time right then to write the review, and
• it gives you the opportunity to follow up after the milestone with a reminder if needed,”

12. Follow Up on Your Requests

While most of our respondents agreed that asking is one of the best ways to get more reviews, several noted that it’s helpful to ask more than once.

“You should ask for a review,” says Donna Duncan of B-SeenOnTop . “And you should also remind those who are agreeable to writing a review but don’t follow through.”

“We have obtained nearly 100 Google reviews from our clients within the past 1-2 years with an email campaign,” says Alex Cascio of Vibrant Media Productions . “Both direct contact and follow up were key, as many of the customers would put it off or say they would ‘get to it soon.’”

There are tons of potential review sites you could include in your email when asking for reviews, but you probably don’t want to add links to every possible review site. Instead, it’s better to focus on the channels your customers are already using.

To provide you with a starting point, we asked our respondents to weigh in on which business review websites they think are the most important for B2B businesses.

The top responses included –

• Google Business Profile – here, you can list your business on Google with a free Business Profile. Then, people can leave reviews for anyone to see.
• Glassdoor – is a website for both jobseekers and companies – here current and former employees anonymously review companies.
• Capterra – this is a free online marketplace vendor serving as an intermediary between buyers and technology vendors within the software industry.
• LinkedIn – is a business and employment-focused social media platform. You can both build your brand and get reviews either for your company or even for you personally by having people endorse your skills.
• Trustpilot – is a digital platform that allows customers to review a business from which they’ve purchased a product or service or contacted customer service.
• TrustRadius – is a buyer intent software that  helps businesses track verified reviews and ratings of different products .
• Clutch – is a B2B research and reviews platform that provides detailed analysis, client reviews, and ratings of companies offering various services.

Above All, Provide a Great Experience

None of these tactics will work if you don’t focus on one thing, and that’s making sure you’re providing an exceptional product or service. In most cases, exceptional customer service is enough to encourage your customers to write a review. Or if nothing else, they will certainly spread the word around. 🙂

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Peer review examples: 50+ effective phrases for next review.

Let's face it: giving feedback can be challenging, especially when it comes to peer reviews.

As a peer, you're in a unique position to provide constructive feedback to your colleagues. You want to help them grow and develop. But finding the right words to use is no walk in the park.

🙋 We're here to help you ensure your feedback is effective and actionable.

We collected a comprehensive peer review sample: 50+ effective review phrases to use in your next performance or skill review, helping you provide feedback that's supportive, constructive, and inspiring. You'll find peer review phrases for positive performance and constructive peer review feedback examples.

Plus, we've also included tips for giving peer review feedback (and how not to do it), supported by multiple peer feedback examples.

❓ What are peer review feedback examples?

Peer review feedback is part of an  employee's development and performance process and an essential component of 360 feedback.

Performance reviews are a key of 360 degree feedback systems and can be the difference between a happy employee and one who is just going through the motions.

Think of peer reviews as a thermometer that measures an employee's performance, skills, abilities, or attitudes by their fellow co-workers and team members.

As part of a wider performance management system , peer reviews help an organization in the following ways:

• 🎯 Can be used as a goal-setting opportunity.
• 🔎 Peer feedback helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual employees, teams, and the company as a whole.
• 🌱 Suggestions from peers can help employees and team members develop personally and professionally .
• 🔗 Boost employee motivation and satisfaction and strengthen trust and collaboration within the team .
• 📈 Through peer reviews, employees can receive constructive criticism and solutions on how they can work to meet the company's expectations and contribute to its growth.

🌟 33 Positive peer review feedback examples

We structured these positive feedback samples into competency-specific examples and job performance -specific examples.

🗣️ Communication skills

• "You effectively communicate with colleagues, customers, vendors, supervisors, and partners. You are a key driver of our high customer satisfaction scores."
• "You are an excellent communicator, and you are adept at discussing difficult issues effectively and straight to the point."
• "Tom has excellent communication skills and always keeps the team up-to-date on his progress, ensuring the team is always on the same page."
• "John is an excellent mentor who is always willing to share his knowledge and experience with others, providing guidance and support when needed."
• "Your approach to giving peer feedback is exemplary. You have a knack for delivering constructive insights in a manner that fosters growth and understanding. Your peers, including myself, value the way you phrase your feedback to be actionable and uplifting."

🤝 Teamwork & collaboration

• "I appreciate the way you collaborate with your team and cross-functionally to find solutions to problems."
• "You're an effective team member, as demonstrated by your willingness to help out and contribute as required."
• "Sarah is a true team player who always helps out her colleagues. She consistently meets deadlines and produces work of a high standard."
• "Bob is an excellent collaborator and has built strong relationships with his colleagues. He actively seeks out opportunities to share knowledge and support others on the team."

🤗 Mentoring & support

• "I appreciate that you never make your team members feel belittled even when they ask the simplest questions. You're eager to help, and you're exceptional at mentoring when people need advice."
• "I appreciate how Julie is always willing to share her knowledge and expertise with others. She is an excellent resource for the team and is always happy to help out when someone needs guidance."

😊 Positivity & attitude

• "I appreciate how Sarah always brings a positive attitude to the team. She is always willing to help out and support others, and her enthusiasm is infectious."
• "I appreciate how Maria always takes the time to build relationships with her colleagues. She is friendly and approachable, and she has a talent for bringing people together."
• "I appreciate how you remain calm under pressure and greet customers with a smile."

🙏 Professionalism & work ethics

• "I admire how you uphold organizational standards for inclusion, diversity, and ethics."
• "I appreciate how John builds relationships with clients and colleagues. He is always professional and courteous, and he has a natural talent for making people feel comfortable and valued."
• "I appreciate how David always takes a thoughtful and considered approach to his work. He is always looking for ways to improve his performance and is never satisfied with simply meeting the bare minimum."

⭐ Quality of work & performance

• "Your copy-editing skills are excellent. You always ensure that all articles published by the content marketing team are thoroughly edited and proofed, which is very important here at (COMPANY)."
• "You've improved XX by XYZ%, and you've streamlined the work process by doing XYZ."
• "John has a great eye for detail and consistently produces high work quality. I appreciate the way he is always happy to lend a hand to others when needed and proactively offers ideas to improve processes."
• "Karen is a fast learner and has a keen eye for detail, making her a valuable asset to the team."
• "I can always count on you to give our customers the best customer experience, and I appreciate the way you go over and beyond for them."

🚀 Innovation & initiative

• "You are always suggesting new ideas in meetings and during projects. Well done!"
• "You constantly show initiative by developing new ways of thinking to improve projects and overall company success."
• "Jane has been doing an excellent job with her projects, and her creativity and innovative ideas have helped move the team forward."
• "Samantha has a creative approach to problem-solving, and I have noticed that she often comes up with unique and innovative solutions to complex challenges."

🌱 Self-improvement & learning

• "You are constantly open to learning and ask for more training when you don't understand XYZ processes."
• "You accept coaching when things aren't clear and apply what you learned to improve XYZ ability."
• "David is a role model for the rest of the team with his continuous self-improvement mindset and focus on developing his skills and expertise."
• "I appreciate how Karen is always looking for ways to improve her work and is never satisfied with the status quo. She is a great role model for the rest of the team."

💼 Leadership skills

• "You show great leadership signs by owning up to mistakes and errors, fixing them, and communicating with others (quickly) when you're unable to meet a deadline."
• "During our recent project, I noticed how effectively you lead the team. Your ability to listen to everyone's input, make decisions promptly, and delegate tasks was truly commendable. The team felt both supported and empowered under your guidance."
• "Your leadership during challenging times is admirable. You remain calm, focused, and provide clarity when most needed. This not only keeps the team aligned but also instills a sense of trust and security amongst us."

😥 23 Examples of effective  negative performance peer review examples

All of the above are peer review examples for positive performance .

But it's not always that we only have good things to share.

So, what happens when you want to give negative feedback in cases of low or disappointing performance?

If handled rightly, negative feedback can improve an employee's performance . The key is giving criticism constructively.

📉 Overall employee performance

• "While your presentations are always well-researched and insightful, they can sometimes run longer than scheduled, which affects subsequent agenda items. For future projects, consider practicing time management during meetings or working on summarizing key points more concisely."
• "I've noticed that you often work late hours to meet deadlines. While your commitment is commendable, it's crucial to balance workload and ensure that tasks are spread out adequately. Perhaps adopting a more structured approach to project management or seeking delegation opportunities could help prevent last-minute rushes."
• "I've observed that while you excel in your core tasks, there's occasionally a delay in responding to emails or returning calls. This sometimes causes minor setbacks in our project timelines. It might be beneficial to set aside dedicated times during the day for communication or using a tool to manage and prioritize your inbox."

🧠 Mindset & perspective

• "You seem to focus more on what can't be done instead of offering solutions. I would like to see you develop an open mindset and work alongside our teammates on brainstorming solutions."
• "Jane has strong ideas but could work on being more open-minded and considering the perspectives of others to create a more collaborative work environment. I highly encourage her to actively listen to others' ideas and provide constructive feedback. As a result, I think she will become a better collaborator."
• "Lisa seems to stick to familiar routines and processes and be resistant to change. I think that she could benefit from being more open to change and new ways of doing things to encourage growth and innovation for the team. For a concrete suggestion, I would recommend for her to exchange ideas with new team members with different backgrounds or skill sets to broaden her perspective and challenge her existing ideas."
• "I think your ideas are really creative and valuable, but I've noticed that you sometimes struggle to communicate them effectively in meetings. I think it would be helpful for you to practice presenting your ideas to a smaller group or one-on-one, and to ask for feedback from your colleagues on how you can improve your communication skills."
• "Greg tends to be unclear or vague in his messaging, causing confusion and misunderstandings. I encourage him to practice active listening techniques such as asking questions to clarify understanding, and summarizing the conversation."
• "I've observed challenges in your approach to communicating with remote workers. At times, there seems to be a disconnect or delay in relaying vital information, which has led to inefficiencies and misunderstandings. It might be beneficial to revisit your communication tools and strategies to ensure that everyone, regardless of their location, stays informed and aligned."
• "I appreciate your attention to detail and your commitment to producing high-quality work, but I've noticed that you sometimes struggle to take feedback or suggestions from others. I think it would be helpful for you to practice being more open to feedback and to work on developing your collaboration skills."
• "Frank often puts his personal goals above the team's objectives, causing conflict and tension in the workplace. He could work on being more of a team player and prioritizing the team's objectives over personal goals to avoid conflict and tension and help the team meet our goals faster. For example, I would like him to attend our team-building activities or events to help build stronger relationships within our team."

⏰ Time management & meeting deadlines

• "I've noticed that you're having difficulty meeting your deadlines. I think it would be helpful for you to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces, and to communicate with fellow colleagues if you need more time or support to complete your work."
• "Alex could benefit from developing better time management skills to prioritize tasks effectively and avoid delays and missed deadlines. I think that with the right time management training and resources, he will discover time saving processes."

🛠️ Task execution & quality

• ‍ "I noticed you aren't meeting your targets. Let's get on a call in two days to go over your cold email strategy . Perhaps you can use an email verification tool to validate prospects' addresses." ‍
• ‍ "Jim could benefit from working on his organization skills and prioritizing his workload to avoid missed deadlines and inconvenience for the team. He could work on creating a system to better manage his workload and set reminders for important deadlines."
• "Although he is very fast at handling customer requests, Tim is not detail-oriented and often overlooks important aspects of a project, leading to mistakes and oversights. One idea for improving his attention to detail while maintaining his fast response time could be to implement a system of double-checking or quality control." ‍

📈 Explore 45 performance review phrases and extra tips and tricks for giving better performance feedback.

💼 Professionalism & attitude ‍

• ‍ "Peter could benefit from improving his professionalism in the workplace and avoiding negative or gossipy conversations that create tension. I think that focusing on more positive and constructive interactions with colleagues could help create a better work environment and work relationships."
• "Samantha can be confrontational and abrasive, making it difficult for others to work with her. She could work on being more approachable and collaborative. One way to do so is by practicing active listening and binge more mindful of how she communicates with others."

🌱 Personal development & growth

• "I appreciate the effort you're putting in, but I've noticed that you're struggling with certain tasks. I think it would be helpful for you to receive additional training or guidance in those areas."
• "Sarah has great potential but there is room for improvement, especially with regards to seeking out opportunities to contribute and taking initiative on tasks. I think she could benefit from setting goals and creating a plan to take more ownership of her work."

• "During team meetings, it would be beneficial if you could encourage other team members (especially quiet ones) to voice their opinions. When a few individuals dominate the discussions, it might be stifling innovative ideas from others."
• "I've noticed you generally give feedback in group settings. It would be more effective and respectful to provide constructive criticism in private to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment or tension amongst the team."
• "When receiving feedback, I've observed that you sometimes become defensive or dismissive. Truly embracing feedback can catalyze growth and development. It might be beneficial to explore methods or strategies that foster a more open and accepting attitude towards feedback."

🌱 Use your peer's feedback to create a development plan to set the path for growth? First, set concrete professional development goals . Then, define the concrete steps that will make your goals a reality.

📝 How do you write a peer review: Does & don'ts for giving feedback to peers

The following steps will help you learn how to write a peer review for your co-workers.

For each step, we included positive peer feedback examples and negative peer feedback examples.

By following these guidelines, giving quality feedback should no longer feel like an intimidating task.

1. Think about their work

Before writing your peer review, think about your colleagues' contribution to the workplace.

Then, to get you started, ask yourself the following questions?

• What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses?
• How can they improve?
• What are their latest accomplishments?
• What do I like or appreciate about them?
• What do I wish they did less? What do I want them to do more?
• What are their expected competencies? (In case your company uses a competency model ).

🔴 DO NOT  make the peer review personal. Try to avoid using "I" such as "I don't like..." or "I'm not comfortable with..." when giving constructive feedback.

🟢 DO Tie your comments to the goal of the peer review and not your personal references.

👎 "I don't really pay attention to what John does, so I can't say much about his work."

This peer review example is not helpful or constructive feedback because it doesn't provide any specific information or insights about John's work or his abilities. The feedback is vague and non-specific.

This kind of feedback is not only unhelpful, but it can also be demotivating and discouraging for John. He may feel that his contributions are not valued or recognized.

Recognition is something that people need to stay motivated and engaged. Last thing you want is to disengage and demotivate your peers.

👍 "John has a great eye for detail and consistently produces high-quality work. I appreciate his ability to prioritize tasks and his willingness to help others when needed."

This peer review sample is a good peer review example. It acknowledges John's strengths and provides specific examples of his skills and abilities.

The reviewer highlights John's ability to produce high-quality work, his attention to detail, and his willingness to help others, which are all positive attributes that contribute to the team's success.

👎 "I don't like the way that Mary interacts with others on the team. She can be really abrasive and confrontational, which makes it difficult to work with her."

This peer review example is overly negative and vague, providing no specific information or insights that could help the colleague improve. It also uses emotionally charged language that can be interpreted as a personal attack rather than constructive feedback.

The feedback is also specific and actionable, which can help John continue to excel in his work and contribute to a positive work environment.

👍 "I've noticed that Mary sometimes comes across as confrontational or abrasive in team meetings, which can create tension and make it difficult to collaborate effectively. I think it would be helpful for Mary to work on developing more positive and collaborative communication skills, such as active listening and empathy, to build more positive relationships with her colleagues."

This is another good peer review example because it acknowledges Jane's strengths and accomplishments while also providing specific and actionable feedback on areas for improvement.

By focusing on specific behaviors that Mary can improve, such as organization and task prioritization, the feedback is constructive and helpful for Jane. It also provides her with specific strategies for growth and development in her role, which can help her to continue to excel in her work.

Overall, this kind of feedback can be a powerful tool for helping colleagues to grow and develop in their roles, and for promoting a more collaborative work environment.

2. Be mindful of your colleague's feelings

While it's okay to give constructive feedback and share your honest thoughts on a peer review, you should communicate your opinions professionally without being rude or insulting.

Also, instead of constantly reiterating their weaknesses, let their strengths shine and think of solutions that could motivate them to do better.

🟢 DO be mindful of the tone of your feedback. Using harsh or judgmental language can damage relationships and create a negative work environment.

🔴 DO NOT  use condescending language when evaluating your colleague's performance.

Let's look at some peer feedback examples.

👎 "I don't believe my colleague can function effectively in this job."

👎 "I'm not really sure what Mary does around here. She seems to just be coasting and not really contributing much to the team."

👎 " Mary's work is consistently subpar and it's frustrating to work with her. She needs to work harder."

These are poor example of peer feedback because they are overly negative and do not provide any actionable steps for the person receiving the feedback to improve their performance.

Words like "subpar" and "frustrating" can be hurtful and demotivating, and don't give any specific information on what exactly Mary needs to improve on or how to do so.

👍 "While there's room for improvement, I appreciate the effort Mary puts into her work. I think she could benefit from more training and guidance on how to prioritize tasks."

👍 "I think Mary has the potential to be a great team member, but she could benefit from improving her communication skills. I would suggest that she work on being more clear and direct in her interactions with others."

These are better examples of constructive peer feedback because they acknowledges Mary's effort and provides specific steps for improvement. The reviewer uses more positive language to acknowledge that Mary is trying, and suggests that training and guidance could help her prioritize tasks more effectively or her communication.

The positive examples are more specific, actionable, and solution-focused, and are more likely to lead to improved performance and a more positive work environment.

By focusing on specific areas for improvement and suggesting a way forward, the feedback provides Mary with a clear path to success and encourages her to continue working hard to improve her skills.

3. Explain in detail

While your goal, when given a peer review form, is to focus solely on a particular area of your co-worker's performance, it won't help them in the long run.

🟢 DO share a comprehensive review helps your manager identify their areas of improvement and helps your colleague understand how others view their overall performance at work.

🔴 DO NOT focus on a single event or project. Discuss how they operate daily and their attitudes to work.

Do they have excellent communication skills?

Are they great at communicating with people?

How do they approach brainstorming sessions or when asked to handle complex tasks? 

🔴 DO NOT  critique every tiny detail about your colleague's performance. For example, a colleague's approach to handling a difficult task may be to take some time away from everyone or work and come up with answers than yours.

🟢 DO Understand and appreciate that everyone has different working styles, and it makes up their personalities and who they are.

Let's analyze some concrete peer review feedback examples.

👎 "Samantha's work is good."

👎 "Jane is a great teammate. Great work."

For the negative examples of peer review comments, the feedback is too vague. It doesn't provide enough detail for the recipient to be actionable or meaningful.

👍 "Samantha has great communication skills and is always willing to step in and help others. She excels at problem-solving and is able to stay calm under pressure."

👍 "I really appreciate Jane's ability to stay calm under pressure and help us problem-solve when things get tough. She's always willing to pitch in and go above and beyond to make sure the team succeeds, whether it's taking on extra work or providing a listening ear when someone needs to vent."

For the positive examples of peer review comments, the reviewer provides specific examples of the colleague's behavior and how it positively impacts the team. As a result, the feedback is more meaningful; the receiving peer can use to continue to be a great teammate in the future.

👎 "I can't believe how poorly Tom handled the client meeting last week. He was disorganized and unprepared, and it was clear that the client was not impressed.

This example of peer review feedback is overly negative and strictly refers to a single event. There is no indication that John always displays the same behavior. It also does not acknowledge any strengths or positive attributes that Tom may possess, which can make the feedback feel overly harsh and unfair.

👍 "I think Tom has a lot of potential, but I have noticed that he tends to struggle with giving presentations. I think it would be helpful for him to work on his preparation and public speaking skills, perhaps by attending a workshop or training session. With some additional support and training, I believe Tom could continue to grow in his role and make a positive impact on the team."

In this example, the reviewer does not refer to a single event but to a recurring behavior. By providing specific feedback and actionable steps for improvement, the feedback is more constructive and helpful for the colleague. It also focuses on growth and development rather than criticism and negativity.

This is what we call an effective peer reviewer.

4. Write clearly

Summarize what you've noticed about your co-worker's performance.

🟢 DO mention areas of improvement you've noticed and highlight areas you hope you see their work on in the future.

🔴 DO NOT beat around the bush with your answers during peer reviews.

Ensure your answers are clear, concise, and easy to understand.

👎 "Brian is fine, I guess."

This peer review doesn't provide any specific information or insights about Brian's work or his abilities.

There is a clear example of non-effective feedback. There is nothing actionable for Brian. Even if, on the surface, the reviewer did not share anything negative, there is no take-away for the reviewee.

👍 "I've noticed that Brian has been taking on more responsibilities lately and doing a great job. I think he could benefit from more opportunities to showcase his leadership skills and contribute to larger projects."

This peer review sample is a good example of constructive feedback. It acknowledges Brian's growth and contributions to the team, and suggests opportunities for him to further develop his skills and take on more responsibility.

By acknowledging that Brian has been taking on more responsibilities and doing a great job, the feedback is specific and provides actionable steps for Brian to continue to excel in his role.

👎 "I think Mary is a good worker overall, but there are some things she could improve on. Maybe she could be more organized or something."

👍 "I have noticed that Mary tends to struggle with prioritizing her tasks and meeting deadlines. To help her improve in these areas, I think it would be helpful for her to work on creating more detailed to-do lists or setting reminders for herself. Additionally, I think Mary could benefit from some additional training or support in project management skills."

📜 Templates you can use for you next peer review

Employee peer review templates for annual performance reviews

While there are different ways to create a peer review template, we recommend using Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Not only are they easier to use, but they are free too. With these two online document creation tools, you can say goodbye to purchasing expensive peer review templates or downloading special software.

Here is our free Google Forms template you can give colleagues to send each other meaningful feedback.

• 🌱 Make it as easy as possible for people to give each other meaningful feedback.
• 🧩 It's 100% customizable so you can truly make it your own.

➡️ Download your free peer review feedback form here.

You could also use Zavvy's feedback tool to collect peer reviews.

With Zavvy, you can create peer review forms that are relevant to the department or job.

For example, peer review forms for sales representatives, customer support specialists, or receptionists should focus on soft skills. In contrast, a Cybersecurity engineer or software developer might focus on technical skills.

This means that you'll need some kind of sheet that outlines your peer's competencies.

Don't forget to leave blank spaces on your peer review forms to allow the reviewers to add important yet overlooked topics.

If you're using Zavvy, you can either have reviewees choose their peers themselves - or have managers do it for them.

➡️ Facilitate feedback and growth with Zavvy

When implemented and done right, peer reviews can offer insights that you might never have otherwise discovered and increase an employees' performance.

Zavvy makes collecting feedback a breeze . With just a few clicks, you will have recurring feedback cycles.

• Select the types of feedback you want to collect - any combination of self-review , downward, upward feedback, or peer reviews.
• Customize the survey forms for each feedback type (Or use one of our ready-to-use templates ).
• Define your anonymity settings (Should all feedback be anonymous ?)
• Decide if you want to include a performance calibration step .
• Select the participants for your review cycle (For example, Taktile automates feedback cycles for their new hires at the 6 week, 12 week, and 18 week of their new hire journeys).
• Define the timeline for writing, nomination and feedback sharing tasks.
• Double-check all the details and activate your cycle 🏁 .

But, it's one thing to collect peer review feedback, and it's a different ballgame to use it to propel employee growth.

Don't leave your employees wondering what comes next.

Instead, roll out learning and development programs to improve their skills and put them on the right career path .

📅 Want to ensure a cycle of continuous development and grow your people? Book a demo  today.

Keke is Zavvy's expert in learning experience. On our blog, she shares experience and insights based on her studies in learning design and experiences made with our customers.

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Real Estate Blog

9 Sample Good Reviews for Real Estate Agents to Use

I’m writing this post for agents who want to be able to send this to their clients to show how to write a good review. A sample good review for real estate agent is so important, and this is how to help!

You don’t need to be a professional writer to create a good review for your real estate agent. You might think writing a review is hard, or you don’t think you are good at it, I’m going to show you how easy it is. Every great review has several key elements. In this post, I’m going to show you how to write a good review for your real estate agent.

Why Are Reviews Important?

Did you know that 93% of customers read reviews before making a decision? When you are making the biggest purchase of your life, you want to make sure you have a great agent working for you. Reading reviews about them on a real estate website is a great way to make sure you have a good fit.

In 2021, 68% of home sellers reported finding their agent via a referral from friends or family member. What might be a great agent for your parents doesn’t mean they are a good one for you. Reading some reviews can help provide clarity about how they work. You want to make sure they truly have your best interests in mind, not just a commission.

69% of recent home sellers surveyed said that they would gladly write a review for their sales agent if requested.

So what’s stopping you from writing one for your agent?

Elements of a Great Review

A great review doesn’t need to be long. In fact, you can usually communicate everything you need to in a few sentences or a single paragraph. Following these steps and examples, you can finish the whole process in about 10 minutes, it is not a lot of work. I’ll guide you every step of the way.

Positive reviews usually have a few key elements:

• Start with praise for the agent.
• How did the agent make you feel?
• Tell the story of your house hunting journey
• Describe how quickly the agent was to respond
• How the agent acted on a phone call
• How the agent showed benefits of the house (and pointed out shortcomings)
• Say why you were looking for a house.
• Give a specific example of what you liked about them helping.
• Talk about an obstacle that you worked through together
• Mention that you would use them again
• End with some kind words.

Not every review needs to have all these parts, but the bold ones are the most common parts.

The goal is to express yourself so that anyone reading the review will understand what you went through, and how your agent helped.

When asked about the most important trait they look for in an agent, prospective home sellers chose “professional reputation” more than any other trait.

• Thank the Agent
• Talk about a quality they have that you found useful.
• Be detailed
• Describe an obstacle the agent helped you overcome
• Describe a Fear that the agent helped make go away
• Use good grammar and punctuation.
• Talk about a feature(s) of the house you love

DON’T:

• Get too personal
• give specific addresses or locations
• talk about things that are not related to your experience
• use inappropriate language
• Write a review unless you have a transactional experience with the agent.

Examples of Good Reviews for Real Estate Agents

Sample review 1.

{Agent Name} was truly exceptional. I met them at a home buying seminar that was focused on the {neighborhood }area. I was impressed with their level of knowledge and the amount of data that they had about the market. It was a no-brainer for me to work with them since I was set on buying in {neighborhood} and I’m so thankful I did. 

{Agent Name} was ALWAYS available for home tours. Their responsiveness was incredible. If they didn’t pick up, they always call back no longer than 5 minutes later. Seriously. I purchased a newly constructed condo so it wasn’t a straightforward deal. They told me that going in and highlighted the concerns they had and the research they wanted to do to make sure progress was being made and I wouldn’t have to wait for a long time to move in. 

They did an incredible amount of information gathering about the process, status of city and county inspections, and reviewing all the non-standard documents like what is a GF Number that you get when you are buying new construction. The delivery of the information was straightforward: present the info and talk about pros/cons/strategy for moving forward. They really treat the situation like they are purchasing the property – they look out for you and have your best interests in mind. 

{Agent Name} will work with you to make your desires a reality. {Agent Name} is also very well versed at dealing with other real estate agents. When there were disagreements about certain verbiage in documents, {Agent Name} was patient and worked through some tough situations without breaking a sweat. Their cool, calm mindset kept my anxiety low and gave me the confidence they would get the job done – and they did! 

Their promptness, knowledge of the market, strategic mindset, kindness, good energy made a potentially chaotic purchase process simple. I’ve already recommended him to two of my good friends. When I am looking to buy again I will not hesitate to call {Agent Name}.

Sample Review 2

Tired of “good enough” products and services? I am! Looking for the best Realtor who “does more”—and makes you feel like your needs are first priority? I was! Luckily, I found {Agent Name}. As housing is being snapped up in {your city}, I would never have time to begin the entire process from {your old city}. They offered to tour the property via video, and they provided all details necessary (including a hand-sketch of the property). {Agent’s name} and her team managed all facets of my By way of background, I am a first-time home buyer. I had no idea about every step of the process whatsoever when I first started taking a look at homes, or what to expect throughout the process. I also work in the service industry and am very aware that it is wildly important to ensure that: (1) your clients have the necessary information to make informed decisions (whether small or big, like purchasing a house); and (2) that their expectations are established appropriately and met. {Agent Name} exceeded in both aspects.

The amount of effort and time they put into walking me through the process is unbelievable. From the first day that we met, they spent their entire evening walking me through the “big picture.” From there on out, they were always available to provide me with the information that I needed (or didn’t need, but needed for the sake of my sanity) – every decision that I made, small or big, mattered to them. Not only did I feel like I had all the information I need to make those decisions, but I also felt like I was in good hands. Especially because, as a first-time buyer, I didn’t know all of the questions I should be asking (or do’s and don’ts, for example) and they would proactively provide this information, which made me feel like I was walking through this process with eyes wide open. From an expectations perspective, I don’t know how {Agent Name} does it – and to the fault of everyone else I worked with – they set my expectations really high and not unrealistically high because they would meet them.

Obviously, making an informed decision is the most important part of buying a home. But personally, as being “emotionally” invested as well in buying a home, having someone who properly set, managed, and came through with: expectations was such a lifesaver and made me feel so at ease throughout the entire process. And on a related note, as a first-time home buyer, I’m not sure what to expect, what’s good/bad, etc., and they were always so candid and provided their own perspective of different aspects of each home that she thought would be relevant to my decision making based on what they had learned about me. I truly appreciated their input and relied on it heavily. This is an invaluable quality to have as a service provider and not everyone has it, but, IMO, it is crucial to keep those around that do. It’s easy to push paper and get the signatures, but they are really focused on making sure people are satisfied through the process and with the outcome. Again, a first-time home buyer, this process is very stressful. Yes, there are a number of things that people can do to make it easier. But as you can see, based on the above, {Agent Name} went above and beyond (as I’m positive they do with all of their clients) and truly made me feel like I had a confidant/partner throughout.

I’m one of the first of my friend group to buy a house, so there were no – “well what do you think” or “what feedback did you have in your experience” talks – except with {Agent Name}. And that’s not in their job description, and it truly makes me consider them not just an agent, but a friend. Overall, I would strongly recommend {Agent Name} to anyone looking to buy or sell a home, especially if they are first-time homebuyers. I would trust them with my eyes closed and their attention to detail and level of time/dedication to their clients is outstanding.—from lending to sourcing reputable inspection companies to closing (Quickly!). They even helped us go over the ALTA statement which was completely new to us. This is the new model, that other tired agencies can only aspire to. I cannot say enough about my experience with {Agent Name}. They set the highest standards, and truly practice “service above self.” You won this customer!

Sample Review 3

{Agent Name} was 15 out of 10! They bent over backward for us. We started looking in {City Name}, but after 3 months it wasn’t working out, so even though she’s based in {City Name} and lives in {City Name} she was more than willing to continue to work with us when we started looking in a nearby place. 

When we found our dream home, there was already one more offer on it and they were going to decide that night. {Agent Name} and their associate agent helped convince them to wait until the next afternoon to make a decision, so we could submit our offer. 

They were up with us working on our offer into the early morning hours. They helped us figure out the best way to position our offer and what price to go in at to give us the absolute best chance that the sellers would accept our offer over the other one. 

We felt like we were working with our best friend rather than a real estate agent. 

If I texted them a question or an update they would often respond in 2 minutes or less. Outside of her colleagues, she has many family members including her husband who are all involved in real estate which gives them a wealth of knowledge and unique viewpoints. When you choose to work with {Agent’s name} (and I HIGHLY recommend you do) they will make contact with you quickly and invite you to meet anywhere that’s convenient for you to discuss what you want, deal breakers, price ranges, neighborhoods, etc.. after you finish, they will give you their opinion/feedback on what you said and ask follow up questions and suggest you check out things you might not have considered, etc.

Sample Review 4

{Agent Name} and their great team ({Team 1} and {Team 2}) are FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!!! They made the selling process so easy and helped me understand what was happening every step of the way. We moved to Florida in the middle of the sale and {Agent Name} went above and beyond to go to the house and check on it while we were away. The night before the closing the final walk-through happened and we accidentally left some clutter in the rafters of the garage. Oops! Long story short, {Agent Name} was ready to go to the house the night before closing with their volun-told sons and clear out the clutter just to save us a little money…yeah, they are crazy, in the best possible way! 

But this just speaks to her commitment to making sure we were well taken care of. Thank you so much, {Agent Name}! Make sure to get your Florida license so you can sell our next home as well!

Sample Review 5

We loooooved working with {Agent Name} ❤! We’re a young family with a 1-year-old toddler and we really needed to upgrade from our 1 bedroom rental to our first home which we envisioned to have 3 bedrooms. IN JUST 3 WEEKS {Agent Name} helped us score a move-in ready condo with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 14 feet high ceilings, 2 garage spaces, balconies, and a deck with dream views in a prime location just a few minutes walk from 24th BART station. I really appreciated how {Agent Name} went above and beyond to help us during every stage of the process: They frequently sent us great matches for what we were looking for. They would accompany us to see the places and, since they are so experienced, they would point out subtle things that we would have missed but were really important for our decision process. I love that they also helped me with the emotional toll of buying a place in San Francisco: Every time I would have little anxiety attacks, they would be there for me and have the right words to calm me down. They were soooo patient!

Once we found the right place, they turned into a fierce strategist and got us the place within 2 days of it being on the market with a preemptive offer! I still can’t believe they were able to convince the sellers to sell it to us with “only” 16% above the asking price in an area where 30% above asking is the average! The place was actually listed pretty low considering there hasn’t been a ~1900sq feet with that layout and perks for the past 3 years for that price, so, for SF standards, we got a really good deal! {Agent Name} is just AMAZING!

Another huge perk about {Agent Name} is that they are also a real estate lawyer and knows the field extremely well. They were able to support us during the stressful mortgage process, were an indispensable line of communication with the bank, and helped us get an unheard-of interest rate, especially considering we are first-time buyers. Their advocacy moved mountains! We consider ourselves extremely lucky and blessed to have had them as our Realtor! I would rate them higher than 10 if I could! We will eternally be grateful that they helped us find our beautiful home.

Sample Review 6

Through the purchasing and selling of my parents’ many properties and some of my own, I have met many realtors in my life. Regardless of state borders, what I am usually faced with in a Realtor is unprofessionalism, impatience, and money-driven without your rights as a seller/buyer in mind. Meeting {Agent Name} was like finally able to breathe after being suffocated for so long. 

{Agent Name} was immensely patient with our seemingly endless questions. They asked questions on our behalf that we didn’t think of to make sure the home we were touring didn’t have hidden issues or was updated to code by licensed individuals/companies. Once we got into escrow, {Agent Name} was diligent in making sure all inspections were in place, communicated with the seller’s agent, and kept us informed on a daily basis. 

I am not sure how you can have a better agent than {Agent Name} and their entire team. If we ever need to sell our current home, we know exactly who to call when the time comes =)

Sample Review 7

I remember when we first met {Agent Name} at a house we didn’t know if we could afford and wasn’t at all what we wanted. We didn’t have any connection to them, just window shopping really. We didn’t know if we should even buy a house, or even if we had a right to dream about what we want because we were worried about our finances.

{Agent Name} changed all of that. They realized we didn’t have anyone managing our finances or looking at what loans we could afford. They introduced us to {Mortgage Broker} at {Name} Lending who significantly changed our lives and allowed us to dream again. Once we had our finances in order and a budget to work with, {Agent Name} helped us to dream again.

It was phenomenal – we gave a HUGE laundry list that was essential if we were going to invest in a house. {Agent Name} didn’t even blink – they found us at least a dozen properties or more that fit right into what we wanted and helped us navigate dozens of real estate websites and look at other possible properties like pros. We felt like a team!

We found our dream property and just as we were leaving the listing agent was there and {Agent Name} got the information from that agent that was pivotal to negotiations to get the price to exactly what we could afford – and have the sellers pay for closing costs!

Even during the closing process when we found another potential home – {Agent Name} was thorough in taking our interest seriously and gave us reliable information to move forward with the house we originally decided on. It turned out the other house was a hidden nightmare! Thank goodness {Agent Name} caught that.

All in all, now that we’ve moved in and renovated – {Agent Name} still shares excitement in our before and after pictures and feels more like a trusted friend than just another real estate agent. We couldn’t be more happy with the service we received from {Agent Name} and will definitely recommend them to everyone we know!

Sample Review 8

As first-time sellers, my wife and I were initially intimidated by the process. Our “To Do” lists read like a Game of Thrones novel. This was before we called {Agent Name}.

We got to an item on our list that said, “GET COOL PERSON TO HELP SELL OUR HOME AND MAKE US MILLIONS”. So, we called {Agent Name} and it was like we unleashed magic.

Here’s how the magic went down – In addition to customer reviews and history, they looked cool. Second, on meeting them the first time they didn’t talk down to me after telling them, “We don’t have a clue about this whole process…”, in fact, they came prepared with a calming and professional demeanor and spoke to us like we were buddies heading out for a picnic. They will come across like your long-time neighbor, and that’s an added bonus. 

Next, they are no BS. If {Agent Name} doesn’t know, they tell you, “I don’t know, but I’ll have an answer for you shortly.” They are as prepared as a professional in the field can be for most questions and concerns. 

I can confidently say, if Dentists were half as courteous, as professional, as honest and responsive as {Agent Name} – I’d make dental appointments every week. They turned out Game of Thrones Novels into Cliff Notes that became less intimidating with every piece of advice they offered. {Agent Name} keeps things realistic (which means we had to drop our goal of making millions and settle for a little less). In fact, it wasn’t just good advice, it was great advice.

My wife hates surprises, and she hates being blindsided by negative situations. {Agent Name} was like a “Wife Whisperer”. Without drugs or alcohol, they kept my wife calm after being hit by a few surprises. I thought to myself, “I must learn this Jedi Mind Trick”, but it wasn’t trickery. It was {Agent Name} sincerity and their quick response to our concerns that kept my wife calm. Basically, they took care of things right away. Go figure – if I take care of things right away, my wife stays calm? Interesting.

To summarize – {Agent Name} made us feel like friends and they made the whole process feel easy.

Sample Review 9

By way of background, I am a first-time home buyer. I had no idea about the process whatsoever when I first started taking a look at homes, or what to expect throughout the process. I also work in the service industry and am very aware that it is wildly important to ensure that: (1) your clients have the necessary information to make informed decisions (whether small or big, like purchasing a house); and (2) that their expectations are established appropriately and met. {Agent Name} exceeded in both aspects.

The amount of effort and time they put into walking me through the process is unbelievable. From the first day that we met, they spent their entire evening walking me through the “big picture.” From there on out, they were always available to provide me with the information that I needed (or didn’t need, but needed for the sake of my sanity) – every decision that I made, small or big, mattered to them. Not only did I feel like I had all the information I need to make those decisions, but I also felt like I was in good hands. Especially because, as a first-time buyer, I didn’t know all of the right questions I should be asking (or do’s and don’ts, for example) and they would proactively provide this information, which made me feel like I was walking through this process with eyes wide open. From an expectations perspective, I don’t know how {Agent Name} does it – and to the fault of everyone else I worked with – they set my expectations really high and not unrealistically high because they would meet them.

Obviously, making an informed decision is the most important part of buying a home. But personally, as being “emotionally” invested as well in buying a home, having someone who properly set, managed, and came through with: expectations was such a lifesaver and made me feel so at ease throughout the entire process. And on a related note, as a first-time home buyer, I’m not sure what to expect, what’s good/bad, etc., and they were always so candid and provided their own perspective of different aspects of each home that she thought would be relevant to my decision making based on what they had learned about me. I truly appreciated their input and relied on it heavily. This is an invaluable quality to have as a service provider and not everyone has it, but, IMO, it is crucial to keep those around that do. It’s easy to push paper and get the signatures, but they are really focused on making sure people are satisfied through the process and with the outcome. Again, for a first-time home buyer, this process is very stressful. Yes, there are a number of things that people can do to make it easier. But as you can see, based on the above, {Agent Name} went above and beyond (as I’m positive they do with all of their clients) and truly made me feel like I had a confidant/partner throughout.

I’m one of the first of my friend group to buy a house, so there were no – “well what do you think” or “what feedback did you have in your experience” talks – except with {Agent Name}. And that’s not in their job description, and it truly makes me consider them not just an agent, but a friend. Overall, I would strongly recommend {Agent Name} to anyone looking to buy or sell a home, especially if they are first-time homebuyers. I would trust them with my eyes closed and their attention to detail and level of time/dedication to their clients is outstanding.

What Happens to Your Review?

When you submit your review to a real estate website, the webmaster will post it on the agent’s page, along with their contact information. The agent may also put it on their marketing materials and showcase the online reviews at an open house. Your review may also appear on social media platforms like Facebook to LinkedIn.

According to a recent study – most people find a real estate agent online. A great review of your experience is a great way to help others learn about the agent’s customer service. It is social proof that they do a great job.

A positive experience is something potential clients are looking for. It may be the most important thing in your agent selection process. Remember new clients are looking for excellent service and honest opinions.

Some sites sort the top agents by five-star reviews. That way you know you will get outstanding service on the purchase. of your new home

Less Than Great Experiences

If you need to write a bad review don’t make it personal. Focus on expressing how the agent could have improved the process for you. Turn it into a learning experience so the agent can grow and improve with the feedback. You want to make sure other first-time home buyers do get a great experience in their real estate transactions.

The buying process for your first house can be difficult, and if the agent doesn’t put the hard work in, it should be shared as constructive criticism privately instead of publicly.

Final Thoughts

As you can see good real estate testimonials can help both first-time home buyers as well as more experienced people.

2 thoughts on “9 Sample Good Reviews for Real Estate Agents to Use”

My name is Michael. Recently I had my house in Hurstville listed with (redacted). It was deemed sold for $1.95mil. The buyer put in a 1% deposit to which I agreed. Later the deal fell through. Because this was an unconditional agency agreement I was still liable for the full commission even though in my opinion no sale had eventuated. The 1% deposit did not fully cover the agent’s commission plus advertising cost. The principal agent from PRD was not willing to negotiate. Vendors be very careful who you have to market your property. Please make sure you have a clause in your agency agreement that commission is only payable upon settlement. Please check with your solicitors for more information on this matter. Expensive lesson for me

Hi Michael – Thanks for the comment – I don’t usually leave comments like these up on a review page, but I think it is important to address this. When you hire an agent to sell your house you sign a contract with that agent (or their broker or company) and agree to a lot of different things. One clause that is often overlooked reads something like “if you receive a FULL Price offer for your home, and the deal does not complete, you are liable for the entire sell side commission”. It sounds like this is what happened to you. The selling agent (in this case your agent) spent money marketing your house, taking photos, and doing other work related to the sale. They enforced this part of the contract to cover their time and expenses. As always, be careful when you sign any contract. Make sure you understand every part.

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5420 N Clark St

Chicago, IL 60640

Rascher Ave & Balmoral Ave

Andersonville, Edgewater

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Food was delicate with subtle flavors, noodles were fantastic with an excellent texture, portions were on point and the vibe was lively. Service was friendly and the space was comfortable and approachable -- Been living in Andersonville for several years now and it's great to see new restaurants coming in -- a great addition to the neighborhood. The line was long but the wait was worth it -- I will definitely return to try more things on the menu!

If this is what authentic Taiwanese noodles taste like, I don't ever want to visit Taiwan. Went to visit Minyoli the first weekend they officially opened and felt I had to share for anyone out there thinking about coming here. It pains me to write bad reviews, as neither me nor the business really gain anything from it, but I feel a responsibility to paint an accurate picture of what Minyoli has to offer after giving up nearly 3 hours of my time for the abysmal meal I had. We came on a Saturday afternoon for lunch at around noon. Waited an hour for a table, 30 minutes just to order after being seated (yikes!), and then another hour for the food. This meal was not worth a 2.5 hour wait. To start, we ordered the appetizer trio, and selected: fried chicken, fish cakes, and sweet potato fries. The fried chicken was flavorless. If you've ever had Taiwanese fried chicken, you'd know it has a distinct salty taste to it. This was lacking severely at Minyoli and they only gave 4 tiny pieces. The fish cakes were also very bland. Same with the sweet potato fries; which were also soft and soggy, I would hardly call them fries. Very disappointed in this appetizer, I would recommend the fried chicken or fish cakes from Hello Jasmine if you want a taste of what Taiwanese snacks should taste like. Onto the noodle dish. I ordered the traditional braised beef noodle soup and felt that it was very salty yet had no flavor. The noodles were well made but undercooked and did not taste like anything as the broth had no taste itself. The beef was decent, but had you given me this bowl of noodles at any Chinese restaurant, I would not bat an eye or order it ever again. I'm sorry, it's truly nothing special. I'd recommend Katy's Dumpling House in Oak Park if you want some good hand made noodles. At the end of the day, as a Chinese American, I cannot in good conscience recommend this restaurant. With such a limited menu, you gotta be able to hit your dishes out of the park and there wasn't a single thing I consumed at Minyoli that made me want to come back. There are much better places to seek Chinese - Taiwanese food in Chicago. I fully expect this restaurant's ratings to be in the low 3s, if not lower. Leaving 2 stars because the ambiance was pretty nice and because the food was still edible.

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'Oh my god': Stormy Daniels testifies on spanking Trump, his gold tweezers, and silky PJs

Porn star Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday in Donald Trump's hush money trial and her testimony did not disappoint those who anticipated juicy revelations.

Trump is on trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege Trump covered up reimbursements paid to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who was convicted of violating campaign finance law when paying Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to stay quiet about their 2006 alleged sexual encounter.

While Trump has denied the allegation, Daniels' testimony about the July 2006 night provided plenty of details.

Judge Juan Merchan appeared upset that her testimony contained so much arguably irrelevant information, sustaining many of Trump lawyer Susan Necheles' frequent objections.

Here is how Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, described the evening as she answered questions from prosecutors:

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Donald Trump trial live updates: Stormy Daniels is back on the stand in hush money case

Daniels was not an eager participant

She described being shaken by their sexual encounter, the New York Times reported , but she didn't say no. She "didn't say anything at all."

Daniels was 27 when she met Trump at a golf tournament

Daniels described working at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006 while she was under contract as an adult film director, writer, and actress. Daniels was 27 years old. She didn't know Trump's age, but she knew he was probably as old or older than her father. Trump was 60.

A Trump bodyguard named Keith approached Daniels at the tournament, saying Trump would like to know if she would like to have dinner with him, Daniels testified. She ultimately gave the bodyguard her phone number.

Daniels said she received advice that day about going to the dinner, which could open up professional opportunities.

Trump met her at the door wearing silky pajamas

Daniels said when she arrived at Trump's hotel suite, she said hello and he came out wearing silk or satin pajamas. She made a joke by asking if Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine, knew Trump was wearing Hefner's pajamas.

She told Trump to go change and he obliged, she said. He put on a dress shirt and dress pants.

Trump said he wasn't sleeping in the same room with his wife

Daniels described seeing a photo of Melania Trump when she was talking with Donald Trump in his hotel suite. She said to Trump: "She's very beautiful – What about your wife?" Trump told Daniels not to worry about that, that he and Melania Trump didn't sleep in the same room, according to Daniels' testimony.

Daniels spanked Trump's butt in the hotel suite

Daniels thought Trump was being rude, and she told him someone should spank him, and he gave her a look as if he was daring her to do it.

She took a magazine, instructed him to turn around, and swatted his behind with it, she testified. They then continued to talk "and he was much more polite."

Trump said Daniels reminded him of his daughter

While talking about the possibility of Daniels appearing on "The Apprentice," Trump said to Daniels that she reminded him of his daughter, who is smart and beautiful, Daniels testified.

Trump had a pair of golden tweezers and golden manicure tools

Daniels described the items in Trump's bathroom, noting Old Spice, and manicure items that appeared to be made of gold, such as gold tweezers.

'Oh my God': Daniels thought seeing Trump posing on bed in underwear

When Daniels came out of the bathroom, Trump was on the bed posing in underwear, as if waiting for her, she testified. She said she thought in her head, "Oh my God," and asked herself what she had misread.

Daniels said she laughed nervously when she came out of the bathroom and saw Trump on the bed in his underwear. She said she at first tried to make a joke and step around to leave.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked whether Trump wore a condom and Daniels said no. Hoffinger asked if Daniels said anything about it – appearing to refer to not wearing a condom – and Daniels replied: "I didn't say anything at all."

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9 places to nosh on bagels in southern Maine

From old-school spots to foodie favorites, there's a 'hole' lot to try.

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Bread and bagels at The Works Cafe in downtown Portland. Photo by Aimsel Ponti

From New York-style boiled bagels to Montreal-inspired wood-fired ones, there’s lots of great bagels in southern Maine and several shops have the accolades to back that up.

In 2023, Bon Appetit named bagels from Rose Foods and Rover Bagel among the best in the country.

Two years before that,  Food & Wine Magazine put Rover, Forage and Scratch Baking Co. on its list of best bagels in the U.S.

Whether you like yours toasted with cream cheese or as the bread for your breakfast sandwich, you can find plenty of styles and flavors from Biddeford to Brunswick.

BEACH BAGELS

The offerings at Beach Bagels include a French toast and marble bagel, and the cream cheese menu comprises spreads like strawberry, olive and honey walnut. Along with breakfast sandwiches, Beach Bagels has hearty breakfast options like omelets and pancakes. Best of all, you’re steps away from a beach stroll. Just don’t let the seagulls steal your bagel. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily WHERE: 34 Old Orchard St., Old Orchard Beach. beachbagels.yolasite.com ______________

Dutchman’s opened in 2022 as a pop-up housed at Nomad pizza in Brunswick’s Fort Andross building. It’s since become a permanent fixture there and uses the pizzeria’s wood-fired ovens to bake its bagels. The hand-shaped, honey-boiled bagels come in plain, roasted garlic, poppy and a bagel-of-the-day flavor.

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday to Sunday WHERE: Fort Andross, 14 Maine St., Brunswick. dutchmans.me ______________

FORAGE MARKET

Making bagels at Forage Market involves a two-day aging process. The bagels are naturally leavened with wild yeast starter and baked next to a hardwood fire. There are usually five flavors available, including sesame and garlic. Breakfast sandwiches (including vegan options) are available. Forage also has a location in Lewiston. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 123 Washington Ave., Portland. foragemarket.com _____________

MISTER BAGEL

There are 10 or so Mister Bagel locations in Maine, including South Portland and Falmouth. It all began with the Portland location, which was the first bagel shop to open in Maine. The late Rick Hartglass started Mister Bagel in 1977, and it is still a family business. Music fans will appreciate the breakfast sandwich menu, which includes The David Bowie (bacon, egg and American cheese), the Jimmy Buffett (egg with roast beef and cheddar) and The Lady Gaga (avocado, salt and pepper, with or without egg).

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 599 Forest Ave., Portland. misterbagelforestave.com ______________

At Rose Foods, the menu varies depending on the day, but there are usually six to eight flavors available. For example, should you pop in on a Friday, you’ll find a poppy and onion bialy (a cousin of the bagel that is not boiled). Rose Foods also makes a number of bagel sandwiches, including the Classic Nova with Nova lox and the Classic Whitefish. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily WHERE: 428 Forest Ave., Portland. rosefoods.me

______________

ROVER BAGEL

At Rover Bagel, you’ll find wood-fired plain, poppy, sea salt, sesame and everything bagels available most of the time, and the spread game here is strong with cream cheese options like lemon-thyme-honey cream and chili-garlic.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 10 West Point Lane Suite 10-204, Biddeford (Pepperell Mill). roverbagel.com

______________ Advertisement

SCRATCH BAKING CO.

You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the line of devoted fans waiting for Scratch Baking Co. to open, especially on weekend mornings. Along with the popular Maine sea salt, plain and other everyday flavors, Scratch has a daily special bagel. There’s honeyed rosemary on Wednesday and jalapeno cheddar on Thursday. Scratch is also famous, at least to locals, for its P-Cheese spread. It’s a pimento cheese recipe made with cheddar, mayo, roasted red peppers and seasoning and was passed down to co-owner and head baker Allison Reid by her grandmother, Mern.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 416 Preble St., South Portland. scratchbakingco.com ___________

THE MAINE BAGEL

The Maine Bagel is a drive-thru with several breakfast and other kinds of sandwiches available. With a bagel list that features egg and bialy among the standards, the family-owned spot is the perfect place to stop on your way to Pine Point Beach. The Maine Bagel really shines with a dozen kinds of cream cheese spreads, including raisin-walnut, lox, strawberry, cranberry-nut and bacon-chive.

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. WHERE: 117 Route 1, Scarborough. themainebagel.com Advertisement

THE WORKS CAFE

The Works Cafe is an institution on the edge of the Portland’s Old Port. It opened in 1990 as Bagel Works before it changed its name in 2002. The original shop in this regional chain opened in Manchester, Vermont, in 1988, and there are 11 locations around New England, though just the one in Maine. Gone are the ’90s-era banana-walnut bagels and cold pizza cream cheese, but The Works Cafe is still a reliable place to grab a salt, multigrain or cinnamon raisin bagel, among others. The menu also has bowls, sandwiches and smoothies.

WHEN: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily WHERE: 15 Temple St., Portland. workscafe.com

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