Simple Tweaks: Writing a Helpful & Informative Shoe Review

I spend a lot of time on shoe sites looking at shoes.  When I find a pair of shoes that I am interested in purchasing, the first thing I look to is the description from the seller.  Sometimes information I am looking for is not listed - such as calf measurements on boots - so I will seek out reviews to hopefully find out those missing details.  It seems to me that reviews are getting less and less helpful; they're only an opinion of how much the wearer likes a given shoe and maybe one other detail.  I am very happy to read that people like their new shoes, but PLEASE help the undecided by giving us some much needed specifics: sizing, comfort, your personal style, ease of walking, and quality.

Let's take a look at some actual reviews to see what you should and shouldn't be doing when you are writing one.

Example #1: Unhelpful
I come across reviews like these the majority of the time.  These particular reviews are for a shoe that could possibly have sizing issues for my small ankles (the ankle area is non-adjustable).  The shoe came out in January and this is pretty much all I've got to go on so far:

I am thrilled these ladies love their new shoes, but not one of these reviews tell me anything helpful.  I would assume that they fit because they love the shoes, but are they comfortable and are they easy to walk in?  Are they well made?  Does anyone have any suggestions on the ankle area?  Why doesn't my husband think the shoes in question are "man bait"?  Unfortunately I still don't know most of these details, so I have to continue to wait for more reviews that might or might not give me the answers of what I'm looking for.  As I said before, this is very frustrating and unhelpful.  In the future, please make sure that you are not leaving reviews like the above.


Example #2: Somewhat helpful but needs work
The shoe that was reviewed is a high heel with a pointed toe area which sometimes means you have to go a half size up.  I was waiting to read a review addressing this and these are two that do talk about it:

The girl who wrote the first review and I happen to be the same size and this was extremely helpful in answering my personal sizing question - but that's it.  The second review let me know it's comfortable so check that point off my list.  She addressed the sizing issue as well but she had the exact opposite issue as the girl in the first one.  She also did not state her normal size so I won't take her word for it.  In both reviews I would have liked to see more information about the shoe, but at least I've been able to get some questions answered.  These are a great start, but the next review is what they should have been aiming for.


Example #3: Optimal - helpful and informative
This is how I write reviews, and this is an example of one I wrote for ShoeDazzle for "Chiyo", a shoe I just received today from the gx by Gwen Stefani line (it was posted on their website before they did their update on 3/15/14):

As you'll notice I covered each of the 5 points:
- Sizing: 6.5 and true to size
- Comfort: not enough, needs gel inserts
- My personal style: I wear stilettos
- Ease of walking: easy to walk in
- Quality: incredibly well made, worth the price
I only had 500 characters to write all of that information into a nice paragraph, but was able to do it with a few characters to spare.  I was also able to squeeze my love for them in there.  If you're already taking the time to leave a review, why not spend a few more minutes giving us the best review you can give?

So what have we learned?

A good review makes all the difference between me buying the shoes in question and me deciding to wait - only to find out that I have to go down a size and they're sold out already.  I have created a checklist in infographic form for the next time that you are in the position to write one.  Please refer to this to help out your fellow shoe lover by writing a helpful and informative review the next time you are in a position to do so.  Thanks so much in advance!