Tips for Writing and Evaluating Reviews

Anyone who has hunted for an apartment knows how valuable reviews can be in creating a clear picture of what to expect in a new home. Your opinion can help others decide if Independence Place apartments in Cranston, RI is the right place for them; reviews provide real-life insights into all aspects of a community. Today, we have some tips for writing and evaluating online reviews.

How To Write Reviews

• Be specific. Give details about dates of occurrences; this can help management of the community better pinpoint what happened and make real steps toward resolving an issue — if it hasn’t been resolved already. It also helps potential residents get a feel for the state of the community when they’re looking to rent there.

• Pay attention to spelling and grammar and use complete sentences. Use exclamation marks sparingly. Resist the urge to use more than one at the end of a sentence! Remember that poor writing mechanics can instantly devalue what you are saying — a reader may think, why should I trust what this person’s opinion is if they don’t take the time to write clearly.

• Discuss multiple aspects of apartment life. You obviously don’t have the time or space to talk about every positive or negative experience living in an apartment community, but you can pick out one that demonstrates your overall experience and fairly discuss that.

Evaluating Reviews

If you’ve ever taken time to read through a multitude of reviews, for whatever product or service,  you know they can range from being helpful to being laughable, so here are some tips on how to evaluate reviews:

• Take the extreme reviews (both good and bad) with a grain of salt. In fact, toss them out of consideration.

• Look for common themes among multiple reviews. If several people are saying the same thing, it’s likely their praise or complaint is legitimate.

• Read the overall tone of the reviews — are they mostly positive or negative.

• Prioritize the content. Focus on the reviews that are most relative to YOUR top concerns. For example, if there is an amenity that isn’t important to you, disregard reviews that are focused on that specific amenity.  

Of course, not everyone’s experiences are the same. Potential residents and apartment community staff need a comprehensive look into the different parts of an apartment living experience to know what is normal, what greater problems are more urgent to address, what to steer clear of, and what to take confidence in.

Take a minute and write a review about our apartment community. Thanks for reading today’s post. We hope you are having a fabulous summer here in Rhode Island.