Ask about the experience, not the product

The Difference Between Product Reviews and Experience Reviews

A product-framed review prompt - "How would you rate this product?" - invites customers to evaluate an object. The resulting review describes features, quality, and value: informative, but often dry and undifferentiated.

An experience-framed prompt - "Tell us about your experience" - invites customers to describe a story. The resulting review describes context, emotion, outcome, and feeling: richer, more relatable, and more persuasive to prospective buyers who are trying to imagine their own experience.

Research by Caprariello and Reis on experiential versus material consumption shows that people describe experiences in more vivid, emotionally resonant language than material objects. The framing of your review request determines which mode the customer enters.

Practical Prompt Examples

Instead of: "How was the product quality?" Try: "Tell us how you've been using it and how it's made a difference."

Instead of: "Would you recommend this product?" Try: "Would you recommend this experience to a friend - and what would you tell them?"

The shift is subtle but the output is substantially different. Experience reviews include use cases, results, and emotional payoff - exactly the content that converts prospective buyers who are on the fence.

Review Platform Implementation

Most post-purchase email flows allow you to customise the review request copy. Update your automated review request emails with experience-framed language. This is a one-time change to a single email template that improves the quality of every review collected thereafter.

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Research: Caprariello & Reis (2013), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology - experiential vs. material purchases and wellbeing.