I have watched a LOT of perfume reviewers online, and I have a top ten list of advice I want to share with them. I would enjoy getting feedback from other members of this community on my list. Do you agree? Is there anything that should be added to this list?
1. Consider where you are video taping. Put that dog, cat or rhinoceros in another room, turn off your phone so it doesn’t ring. If you are outside, make it a nice area without distractions or noise.
2. Research the fragrance. Don’t review an unpopular fragrance, telling your audience “EVERYBODY loves this!”, when they don’t. Look the fragrance up on Fragrantica. If it doesn’t at least hit the 3.5 mark, then there is a lot of dislike out there. It might be the outrageous cost, or it only lasts 5 minutes on someone’s skin, or a lot of people just do not like the smell. I don’t care if you love it, if most people dislike it, you shouldn’t be trying to promote it to me. If you are trying to talk me into an unpopular fragrance, you must be getting a kickback from the manufacturer. 3.5 is the benchmark for a fragrance on Fragrantica. That translates to about 60 % of the reviews are positive on Fragrantica. This makes the fragrance worth sampling. If Fragrantica rated it at 4.0 or greater, most people (about 75%) really like it. Every decimal point above 4.0, means more people like it. You will never see a rating of 5.0, unless the fragrance just came out, unless only one person has voted. Perfume is the most subjective thing in the world!
3. Make sure samples are available. Talk about fragrances that I can TRY. Blind Buys are Stupid. I don’t want to blind buy a $600 bottle, or even a $30 bottle, and find out I hate it. If a sample is not available at a major department store, online at LuckyScent, Frag.net, fragx.net, or another reputable online perfume seller, do not tell me how wonderful it is. So many times a fragrance reviewer will make a fragrance sound like it is a aphrodisiac, and that it is a surefire panty dropper. Then I can’t find a sample anywhere, so I am being coerced into buying a full bottle. I am not going to buy it, if I can’t sample it on my skin first.
4. Display the product, while you are talking about it. Show the bottle if you have one, or get a screenshot from on-line. Put the name of the perfume, and the company on the video screen. Make it easy to know what perfume you are recommending. I should not have to dig through the comments below your video, looking for the name, or the link. Some reviewers will show the name and perfumer on the screen for two seconds, and then it’s gone. WHY? I shouldn’t have to replay your video multiple times, or click on multiple links, to figure out what fragrance you are talking about.
5. Check the volume on your video, before you post it. Make sure your audience can HEAR you. If you have a soft voice, get closer to the microphone. Buy a decent microphone.
6. Promote Available fragrances. If it has been discontinued, (or it is going to be) why would you try and sell me on it? It may be wonderful, but when you have wonderful, and its going away, why bother with it? There are too many great fragrances out there. Don’t send me looking for a unicorn.
7. Don’t include your husband/wife/partner in the video, if they don’t know anything about fragrances. I don’t want to hear “Its nice” its ok, I like it, I don’t like it or a rating of 3.7 from them. If that is your partner’s full description of the fragrance, keep them out of the video. They may look smoking Hot, but that’s not why I watch reviews. Its only the second reason.
8. Be classy. It turns a lot of people off when the F-bomb is dropped. Sexy and risque’ is nice. You want to be vulgar, go make a porn video, and leave the video reviews, to the intelligent people, that know their audience. Your video might appeal to illiterate teenagers, unemployed 30 year olds living in their parent’s basement, people in prison, or people that never leave their trailer. Those people don’t buy or wear a fragrance, they think their body odor is perfume.
9. Keep your personal life out of the review. Talking about past relationships, the car you drive, and lawsuits isn’t why I watch fragrance reviews. I stopped watching one reviewer, because they did that a lot.
10 Dress the part. If you want to be casual, because that is your audience, that’s ok. But look at what you are wearing, before you make that video. Wearing a t-shirt that is five sizes too big, has holes in it, or it’s so faded you can barely make out the rock band you saw 30 years ago, makes me think you don’t really care about yourself. Why would I take advice from that person? Comb your hair. Dress nice. Some reviewers wear a dress, or a suit and a tie. A reviewer doesn’t have to go that far, but I prefer Classy over Trashy every time.
Thoughts?
