The simple answer: Because customers love them.

Nothing more important than that, right? Of course, I would not expect you to take my word just like that. So, here’s the explanation. It’s all about word-of-mouth marketing. What’s the first you thing you do before buying anything which you do not have much knowledge about? Get recommendation from your network of family and friends.

Now, translate that to the online world. According to the information gathered by Future Now (this is a really cool site by the way), about 70% of customers check more than 4 reviews before buying anything. More than half of them spend more than 10 minutes to read these reviews. Because reviews are honest opinion from recent buyers, their insights do matter to shoppers looking for the best product in town.

That’s why you should not tweak product reviews just to favor your products. Aside from being unethical, it destroys the trust between customers and sellers. Be brutally honest all the time.

Product Review Prototype

Luckily, big e-tailers have spent money and time testing different Product Review models that will help improve sales and build credibility. Of course, Amazon.com is one of the best in this field. Do not just copy the whole template but adjust it according to your needs.

Circuit City is one good example for product reviews. It is multi-dimensional, meaning it evaluates and sums up the key attributes common to a group of products. In this case, the item is Toshiba Satellite Laptop. Using different measures like battery life, performance, and display, it gives interested buyers a glimpse of the strong and weak points of the product.

For more details on how to optimize your Product Review section, visit Future Now.

This is a simple roundup of blog carnivals that articles from this blog have been accepted into recently. We just started last week so expect to see more of our posts in different blog carnivals soon.

1. Carnival of Sales & Management Success March 1, 2008 Edition published Still Stuck on Hard Selling?
2. Carnival of Business and Entrepreneurship #10 published Why Entrepreneurs Should Aim for the Heart, Not the Head.

Among multitude of insights from these carnivals, these are some of the highly recommended posts:

Silicon Valley Blogger’s Top 20 Dumbest Business Ideas That Made Millions…Or Not! posted at The Digerati Life. This goes to show that some ideas, no matter how absurd, survive and even grow in this hypercompetitive business world with sheer luck combined with brain cells.

Ralph Jean-Paul’s Bounce Back After Failure posted at Potential 2 Success. It provides a comprehensive insight about the 2 types of failures as well as the different coping mechanisms. True enough, we usually tend to “overanalyze our setbacks to the point of making them larger than life.”

Alex Schoenfeldt’s 8 Signs Your Prospect Wants to BUY! posted at Advice Network Founders Blog. Short and simple, exactly what the online world needs.

If you do start using blog carnivals to promote your blog, also see 10 Tips for Managing Your Blog Carnival Submissions at Logo Design Works blog.

What’s the common advice you will hear if you want to win in politics, war or sports like basketball or martial arts? Aim for the heart. However, this notion comes in different flavors. But that’s the essence. In the words of Blaise Pascal, “The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of.”

In war or any competitive sports, famous military strategists like Sun Tzu emphasize the need to break the morale of the enemy to ensure victory. Take away the spirit of a team and they will definitely lose. Aim for the heart, my friends.

On the other hand, this concept is more apparent in the ongoing US Presidential campaigns, particularly Obama’s passionate and catchy “Yes We Can” slogan. In fact, some even tout him as the next Nike of politics. Why? Because he appeals more to our emotions, not reasons. Aim for the heart, my friends.

There’s even an old experiment conducted in 1935 to study the contrast between emotional and rational appeal in political persuasion. Judging from my line of thinking, the result is quite obvious – emotions influence people.

The same is true for entrepreneurs, experienced or startups. It’s disappointing that some are still solely pitching about affordability and limiting market segmentation in terms of demographics. To make matters worse, some do not bother finding out the real sales drivers – the needs and motivations of the target customers. So, the next time you craft your message try to add more emotional hooks.