My Silly Little Gang Review Process
How I handle reviewing products:
When a company contacts me to send me a free product to review, I let them know first and foremost that I only review products a paying customer would receive. This mostly applies to subscription boxes, but may also refer to bonus products that get added to a package.
If I received a product or subscription box at no cost, I will always mention it at the very beginning of the review.
While my reviews are generally positive, I will never accept compensation for a positive review. (To be fair to companies – I can only think of one time I’ve even been asked to give a positive review in exchange for a free product, and I responded letting them know that I could only promise an honest review. And I just never received that product). No company has ever offered to pay me money for a review.
My reviews are typically positive because most products meet my expectations. When a product is amazing and exceeds my expectations, I believe that’s pretty apparent in my review – I tend to use words like LOVE a lot in those reviews! 🙂
My expectations for products are:
- Did they deliver what they promised on their website?
- Did the value of the product (benefit of the product) come close to or exceed the cost? (While some companies make no promise of value, I don’t like feeling ripped off).
Most products do deliver on those expectations, hence my generally positive reviews. I have been sent complimentary products by companies that didn’t meet those expectations about value, and I was honest about that in the review.
When it comes to subscription boxes, there are some that will have absolutely nothing in them I will use, but it still might be a great box to a lot of subscribers, so while I’ll likely mention I intend to gift an item, I won’t give them a negative review. (Example of great items I won’t use: any food item with high sugar content).
I also purchase many of the products or subscribe to a ton of boxes that I review. I love trying out new products and subscriptions, and I also see it as part of the cost of running this blog. So we definitely spend a lot on products and subscription boxes each month. On the flipside, I can’t remember the last time I spent money on makeup, clothing, cleaning supplies, bath and body products, or coffee/tea!
I try to use a personal email address when setting up accounts with subscription box companies so I can make sure I am getting the full customer experience. (My FabFitFun, Ipsy, and Birchbox accounts are an example of subscriptions I have that are in no way tied to My Silly Little Gang).
I hope that this adds some clarity to my review process, and I truly hope you find the reviews helpful. Let me know if you have any questions!